34 weeks and a day

Oh pregnancy - why do you seem to take so long? On one hand I've been procrastinating a bunch of things having to do with the baby, so it's probably good. But MAN, am I even impatient. Patience has never been my strong suit. I think I have enough intensity to process things pretty fast, but then I'm like, 'wait, I'm (mentally) ready for this, and I'm only 20 weeks pregnant! Let's just do it already!!' Maybe it's because I'm not brave. So the only way I've ever been able to do anything new is just prepare the best I can, as fast as possible, and then jump in. Otherwise the doubt creeps in. And so I've got this whole nine months of creeping doubt. Not big doubt, just mild episodes of panic. I know it'll be fine. It'll be like with Ainsley, it's be a month or two of really tough adjustment until I figure out patterns and schedules, and then I'll feel (mostly) in control and it will start to be more fun. That's just how I roll with life changes. 

In the meantime, we've had a pretty bustling couple of weeks. Mike's been on two work trips. Ainsley and I went to a wedding out of town this weekend (my parents came as a babysitter/wedding date). It was at this campground/lodge/resort place with pools and a splash pad so Ainsley had a blast of course. The wedding was beautiful. I was a wee too pregnant to be all that fun, which is too bad because there were a few people there I used to work with - it would have been fun to let loose. But nothing you can do about that.

And then Mike's sister and mom are coming tomorrow for a couple days, with our nieces Ava and Hannah. The three girls are very close in age, so it's really special when we can all get together. We are to the point where we can't even Skype with them because Ainsley gets SO excited and just runs around all crazy and grabs all her toys to show them. It's pretty cute. Then this Saturday is my baby shower, so that will be fun too. 

So there are lots of things to take up the next few weeks. I am just taking it a week at a time, and trying to enjoy my last little bit as a mother of one fantastic kid. If this next one is one iota as cool and weird as Ainsley, then we are the luckiest people in the world. 

parenting is ...

... choosing your battles at the grocery store.