Around the house

1. It's good to have Noah over again after a long sickness in both households. Praying the bugs stay away from now on!

2. The girls have been spending time in their new room. Olivia still cries about her old room.

3. I've been spending a lot of time reading with Mila lately. She is becoming a little book fiend!

4. Throwing coins in the fountain before our food arrives.

5. Happy after lunch and ready to tackle some errands with me.

6. I have been craving fruit, fruit, and more fruit.

7. Puzzles on the floor.

I have been patiently waiting for warmer weather and green outside my windows by doing some spring cleaning and getting this house in order. I have donated at least four large yard bags full of things and I've found plenty of piles to go through and things to recycle, and it has felt so good! I don't know if I can say I'm nesting, because I think this kind of stuff is always on my mind. It's just that now I have a new energy for it because I have a deadline that's quickly approaching. I want this house in near perfect shape before this baby comes so I can soak up every minute with her and not worry about things that need doing or clutter that's accumulating. To me, order on the outside equals peace and order on the inside.

Today I took three prints in to get framed and I may take a few more in tomorrow without the girlies there to distract me. It will be good to get things up on the walls and forget about it. My sisters threw me a baby shower this past weekend, so I hit up Babies R Us today to exchange some items that I got doubles of or in the wrong color and got some more things off my registry. I finally feel like I'm moving forward in getting ready for this baby to arrive. I feel like I'm on a roll now, and only this painful pelvis will stop me from getting it all done! :)  We also sold my SUV that we will soon outgrow (I'm still sad, though it was weeks ago) and I am driving a temporary car until I get the big, gas-guzzling SUV we need to fit our munchkins.

In other news, I have a bunch of pictures of some vintage adult clothes I want to sell that have been sitting on my desktop for weeks now, and I have every intention of starting listing the items on Etsy tomorrow morning.   I am declaring March Etsy month (unofficially of course) because that is one other thing that is creating piles and clutter in this house. Once I get it all listed, at least I can put the piles away. I have also been thrifting lately, which is really time-consuming, but I'm always glad I stopped by afterwards. I just wish Mila and Olivia didn't hate shopping so much! Those girls complain from the minute we step foot in a store.

I started teaching Sunday School again last fall after a very long hiatus (say, all my baby-making years) and I am loving it. It is challenging me to dive deeper into every subject we cover so I can speak with authority on it, and it has really caused me to grow in my relationship with God. I am learning all kinds of new things that I never took the time to research properly before. I am co-teaching the older kids' class, ages 7-12. I'm still trying to get a grasp of what's too hard and what's too easy for them, so I hope I get that sorted out soon. Next Sunday we are planting wheat grass with them that they will give to their parents on Easter, which should be lots of fun.

I had another ultrasound last week and it was reconfirmed that we are indeed having a girl and everything looks good. Praise God for his provision and care, and for hearing our prayers over our baby girl. She weighs 3 pounds, which is right on schedule. She is also dancing on my bladder and causing backaches like never before now--just making sure I am aware of her presence--so I have been getting lots of massages and back scratches. I have also eaten more grapefruit during this pregnancy than I probably have in the past five years. I can't get enough, and my favorite is sitting down with B in front of the coffee table after the kids are in bed and devour our grapefruits.

In even other news...we did a little family/maternity photo shoot by the river yesterday with Julia and Yuriy so I can remember this baby bump long after it's gone. Well, I twisted my foot a couple times trying to walk in heels on large, unstable river rocks. It's harder than it seems! It was also really cold and windy, the very opposite of the day before when it was 57 and beautiful outside but I was too busy inside to enjoy it. Our photo shoot didn't last very long, but I'm sure J and Y got some good ones.

xoxo,
Tanya