Being Prepared

Well I think we are ready for this baby to come. Of course, now that we are ready he will probably wait until the last possible time! But at least we are prepared. We are finished with all our Christmas shopping, Christmas cards and scrapbook pages have been mailed, the tree is up and presents are getting wrapped a little at a time. Baby clothes are washed and hanging, the car seat is washed and waiting and the cribs are made.
We also went major food stock up shopping this weekend. I didn't want Thomas or my mom to worry about shopping for meals and such so we got lots of staples and basics and all the non perishables for meals. The pantry is full and so is the basement food storage shelves. Thomas joked that if some catastrophe happened we'd be pretty close to having our years supply, if we rationed appropriately. But at least we won't have to shop much until after the baby is at least a month old. So now we just need a baby. And I need some rest. I have been having lots of contraction the past few weeks but after visiting the doctor yesterday he said they weren't doing anything so not to worry about it, except they really hurt!! I am still 5 weeks early so I would like to wait a couple more weeks. We have scheduled the c-section, if I make that long, for January 4. It is actually a pretty bad day for it. It means that the day I come home, Monday, will be the girls first day back to school. It will just be hard for everyone involved to try to get everything done, but I guess we'll make it work. My wonderful mother will be here for at least 2 weeks, or until I get clearance to drive again. Thomas is going to take of the 4th and 7th. Although he loves being with his new baby, someone has to work!! He'll have to stay with me at the hospital too. I guess our hospitals policy is that after a c-section I can't keep the baby in the room with me unless I have another adult with me all night. So someone will have to stay because my baby is not leaving my room!!!

Anyway, I already appreciate all the sacrifices people are planning on making for us. It is weird how much more is affected with the kids being so much older than they were when Broc was born. My poor mother will be run ragged after a few weeks.

In other news, well not much else is really exciting. We took the kids to get Christmas picture taken this evening. They all did wonderful. They turned out really cute. I can't expect perfection, but accept they are kids who don't always know how to smile perfectly!! Good thing they are still beautiful. We also had Broc do some alone for his 5 th birthday. He is SO photogenic. All of his turned out fabulous. He just lights up for cute girls behind a lens. I will get those emailed as soon as they send them to me.
Well I hope everyone is getting excited for the season. The kids are all pouring over all the Christmas books and loving each of them. I love seeing the excitement in their eyes when we talk about Christmas and giving and helping others. They were very excited to buy gifts for a family who is struggling right now. And they eagerly talk about Christ and his birth and Mary and Joseph. They are extremely excited for Christmas Eve when all my family will be here. They are very eager to see those from far away.

I hope we can enjoy the rest of this month in anticipation for our new arrival and appreciation for Christ's birth.