There are things I will miss about being pregnant, however, especially since this will quite likely be the last time I experience it. It is such a surreal and awesome thing to be growing another human being inside of you; one that is impossible to explain unless you’ve gone through it yourself. Again I will say that I have been very fortunate, with both pregnancies, to have been able to just enjoy it all without the discomforts and pains and issues that many women seem to have during or throughout their nine month gestation.

I wonder if at some point down the road I will want to be pregnant again, because I do enjoy it (not love, but enjoy), because it is an amazing journey, and because my body acclimates to it very well. I guess we’ll cross that bridge if or when we get there, but for now, I’m ready to move on from being pregnant to being a mom of two and remembering what it is like to have a newborn.

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to get a little more serious about getting our house sold. This Sunday will be the third in a row that we’ve had an open house. We’ve lowered the price, but not by much and had a home inspection done. It turns out we need a new roof, but other than that they told us we should have no problems selling it as is. It’s gotten a lot of looks and we have come close to getting an offer on several occasions, so I’m very hopeful that it will sell in the next month or so. It needs to sell in the next month or so.

As of today, our new house is still just foundation and a poured basement, but our builder’s schedule has them starting the framing next week. Matt and I will be spending our afternoon picking out our granite, cabinets and hopefully all the flooring. All of the exterior stuff like the siding, stone, and shutters has already been decided, and here’s the inspiration behind our choices:

So far, Matt and I have agreed on most everything (there was some back and forth on the stone choice, but that’s really it), and it helps that we do seem to have very similar tastes, for the most part. I’ve also been able to share some of my ideas and inspirations with him ahead of time (thank you Pinterest!) so going into these things we have some clue of what we are looking for instead of being completely indifferent, which is why I’m expecting that this afternoon will be relatively painless and with minimal argument.

Like I said, we’re moving right along, with everything. It’s a little stressful trying to get all of the pieces of this puzzle to come together nicely, but it’s also exciting at the same time. A new baby, a new house: these are some pretty major changes in our lives, but change is good.

The three of us were at a wedding and reception for our daycare lady’s daughter earlier in the night.  Kendal danced and ran around and laughed with all of her daycare friends that she had not seen in over a week. She most definitely missed them over the holiday break, however, she did get a little teary as I was getting her up and ready on Tuesday morning (her first day back since December 22^nd) and told me that she was going to miss us. I think she was more tired than anything, but it certainly tugged at my heart strings thinking that she really loved all of the extra family time we had. After some consoling and reassuring that I would come and pick her up as soon as I got off work she seemed to be okay, and I didn’t hear that she shed any more tears when her daddy dropped her off either, so yeah, I think she was mostly just tired.   

It’s those little special moments though that I am trying to enjoy and remember as our final days with “just Kendal.” I want to give her all of the extra love and time that I can before her sister arrives and steals some of my heart and attention away. I’m not afraid that I don’t have the capacity to love them both, I’m really not, it’s just going to be different for all of us. I know there will be challenges, and adaptations, and adjustments but I’m also sure it will quickly seem normal and natural as we welcome our new baby girl into our lives and become a family of four.

With a little over a month to go until Due Date, we have entered final preparation mode. The crib is up, the bedding and newborn clothes are washed, and the car seat bases found. The anticipation is growing and I’m absolutely certain that our new arrival will be much more celebrated than the arrival of the New Year.

Even though we didn’t go to the mall and “see” Santa this year, she did get a personalized video from him, compliments of Portable North Pole. She was soooo excited to hear that she was on his Nice List, which we were then able to use to threaten her with when she was not being so nice. Now that it’s over and Santa has come and gone we have resorted to threats of calling Santa to take her presents back. It’s mean, I know, but it’s amazing how well it works! I’m not sure what we’re going to do come mid-January when even that begins to seem like a meaningless and empty threat.

Probably my favorite part of the whole Christmas experience was to see how excited she got opening each and every present. With each gift she opened she’d say, “Oh! Just what I always wanted!!” She was so gracious and appreciative and said “thank you” many times without being prompted.

I’ve always thought that Christmas is a magical and joyous time, but it has become even more so getting to see it through my daughter’s eyes.

Here’s some pictures from all of our celebrations.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Santa Came!

It's a Lalaloopsy Doll! She quickly learned they don't sit or stand or talk so maybe not as cool as she thought!

Matching shirts for her and her sister.

In her Christmas dress on Christmas Eve at Grandma Lynn's and Papa Glenn's

Grandma Eli and her grandkids and great-grandkids

Sitting with Uncle (almost) Rusty opening presents.

Candyland from Krissy and Rusty and baby stuff from Grandma and Papa.

Cousins in their Christmas jammies

A kiddy i-pad from Grandma Rob.

A recorded book from Dee Dee.

And a trampoline from Grandma Rob. She's already twisted her knee jumping on it.

A talking, dancing, egg laying, dragon from Papa Gene. And Toy Story Operation. Finally what she was asking for (one of the many things).

If the gift itself doesn’t get you to order, the brilliant acting should be enough to convince you.

I’m now 30 weeks pregnant and we haven’t even begun to put a nursery together. We don’t even have the or any crib in our house to set up. I do have most of Kendal’s newborn clothes washed and ready to go although most stuff isn’t going to be appropriate to dress a February born baby in when she was born in July. I haven’t bought much either simply because it’s just more stuff we currently don’t have a place for. Not knowing if we were going to be moved out of our house by now has really delayed the baby preparedness process, and I think after Christmas and New Year’s are done I might start panicking a little bit. But since January is notorious for being the suckiest month of the entire year, at least I will have something to busy myself with.

However, along with getting ready for baby, we have many decisions to make regarding the new house as well. Siding and shingles and stone and shutters and cabinets are just a few of the first decisions we have to make and I want to try and get as far ahead of schedule as we can so I’m not having to drag a newborn in and out in the dead of winter.

And let’s not forget that as long as our house is still on the market we’re still “on-call” for random house showings and bi-weekly open houses.

We just might be crazy or at least we will be by the time this is all said and done.

I don’t expect much sympathy and really am not asking for any since I know we are not all so blessed. We’re expecting our second child and building a brand new home; how fortunate are we?! I think the stressfulness of it all is just a good way to keep us in check, to keep us humble, and to remind of how very lucky we are.

Unfortunately, Eric and Kelsey didn’t get to celebrate and enjoy their new son for too long before they had to admit him to the NICU for a probable infection, potential heart murmur, and possible enlarged heart. An echocardiogram proved that his heart was just fine, and a couple of days worth of antibiotics cleared up any kind of infection he may have had. However, they later found a “dimple” on his lower back which led them to do some additional scans for spina bifida, but again, he checked out okay.

Thank the Lord, he was released from the NICU yesterday morning and finally got to spend the day in the same room as his Mommy! At last, Eric and Kelsey could really celebrate! The three of them will be going home today.

We went up last night to meet our nephew and to congratulate the new parents on their beautiful and officially healthy baby boy.  If I didn’t believe in the ole wives tale about a mommy with terrible heartburn delivering a baby with a full head of hair, I do now. The little guy has a full head of long, dark hair! And, if I had any doubts about my little brother being a father, which I didn’t really, I’m now convinced that he is going to be (and has been) AWESOME – he’s a natural!

We’re so proud of all of them, but especially that adorable nephew of ours!

And Kendal the Outlaw

Pretty good, huh?

Kendal had a great time playing with all of the cousin’s kids up in Bloomfield and in Wahoo. And because it’s only once or twice a year that we usually see these people, they were like new found friends to her.

Matt caught a glimpse of his future when Kendal hopped into the passenger seat of a battery-powered Cadillac Escalade and took off with a boy.

It was an image he’d rather forget, but it does give him plenty of time to figure out what he’s going to do when it’s for real. My guess is he’ll follow them.

Anyway…

Once again, our blessings this year (and always really) are too many to count.  I feel very privileged and humbled to have been blessed with the life that God has granted me, especially for faith, my family and friends. How could I ask or want for more?

I’m days away from entering my third trimester already. While it has gone fast, and the weeks until the new year will fly by, I have a feeling I will be painfully aware of the days remaining come January 1. The month of January sucks as it is, but I’m anticipating this January will be far worse just waiting for February 17th. I know, great attitude. Really though, pregnancy has treated me well, really well, again. I’m very lucky in that regard. I’m just impatient. I have the full glucose test tomorrow to check for gestational diabetes. I failed the screening last week, but I did with Kendal too, so I guess it wasn’t surprising. We’ll see what happens.

My brother and Kelsey are just waiting, and have been since last week, for the arrival of their little one. I believe they had an appointment today to schedule an induction… for next week. Unless, that baby comes of it’s own free will, which he/she most certainly could, Kels will not get her wish of delivering before Thanksgiving. I feel so bad for her and my brother, but mostly Kels. Waiting sucks, especially after you’ve been waiting since the day you found out you were pregnant. Then throw a major holiday in the mix, when you’re supposed to be making plans with family, and the waiting gets even more unbearable. What they don’t know is, it’ll all be worth it in the end. All of the frustration and anxious anticipation will be over soon; they’ll meet their newborn baby, the days will fly by, and they’ll start to thinking that time is passing too quickly. Nonetheless, I’m pretty darn excited to be an Aunt, whenever it happens.

No home sale yet, but we’ve had really good traffic, surprisingly good, and a second viewing last week that seems pretty promising. We’ll see how it all plays out, but it’s nice to not be in such a hurry anymore. Not now that we’ve decided to build, but more on that tomorrow.