Waiting

Two big weeks have gone by since the baby shower. I thought these weeks without work or any real schedule in my day would drag by. But surprisingly I have found things to do around the home to fill my time. I have organized drawers, cleaned rooms (over and over), made art for the baby room, and cooked some fun meals. I think that my nervous energy has caused me to kick the activity level into high gear. Many moms would tell me to conserve what precious energy I still have "pre-baby" life, but I honestly feel like I have had a good, solid five and a half years of conserving energy without children in our lives. I am ready for action! The oddest result of my nervous energy activity has been the taking up of scrapbooking. Yikes...I never saw that one coming! I don't tend to be someone who likes to sit down alone and work on things in solitary confinement, and although I consider myself creative in some ways, I do not consider myself crafty. I enjoy activities around and with people. Well, much to my and Matt's surprise, I have enjoyed working on a scrapbook for Karis. I figure, the chances that I will work on it much after she is born are so slim, I might as well get a head start on it now so that I might be encouraged to continue when she is born. The other night I attended a scrapbook night at my church. I walked in and realized just how out of my league I was. The ladies had their mounds of supplies piled around them. A few of them had what I call the cadillac of scrapbooking supplies (a massive suitcase filled with supplies from top to bottom). They had many different kinds of markers, papers, stickers, and cutting devices to cut through virtually any material and create so many patterns. I couldn't help but introduce myself, "Hi, My name is Alina, and I am not a scrapbooker." If you could have seen me....my lone scrapbook, a few scrap pages I bought at the dollar tree that day, my tape dispenser that I grabbed off my desk before dashing out the door, and my scissors. I sat there very carefully cutting a "straight" line in my photo with my old scissors when my generous friend next to me with her "cadillac" of supplies, bashfully (and with I'm sure a ton of sympathy as her motivation) offers for me to use her handy-dandy photo cutting machine. Then she offered to give me one of her extra edge cutters. I gladly accepted. (Those things are cool!) Turns out scrapbookers are very generous! ....I wracked up that edge cutter, some stickers, and a few other items. So there it is...I have found relaxation and a sense of accomplishment in my recent scrapbooking. Check out some of the work...and hold the applause...this is amateur work, folks!

I thought I would also share a picture of the art project I worked on for Karis' room. It was fun using items all within the house to get creative and decorate her room. I found these old glass frames in a drawer and then I put the left over scraps from her quilt to good use. What do you think? I was pretty happy with how they turned out!

Matt and I have been enjoying our forced time together the last few weeks. Surprisingly, we haven't gotten too sick of each other. Because he works from home, I do have to be mindful of his need for quiet and no distractions. Sometimes that is hard to do....I mean, how long can you ignore a human being in the room next door to you? I can't go very long, much to his frustration at times. But then again, I more than make up for it by fulfilling his many requests for coffee and water refills throughout the day! Every day now we just look at each other multiple times and say, "Is today the day?" We are crazy with excitement. This coming Tuesday I will be 39 weeks, so within the next 2.5 weeks Karis will definitely enter the world. I don't know if I will post again before the big arrival so I'll say farewell to you all (for the last time as a woman with no children). We'll try to update you guys as soon as she arrives... so stay tuned.

My cup runneth over

Today my friends threw me a beautiful baby shower! I feel so blessed by all the gifts and care that went into each gift and card given to our family. I am so exhausted at the moment from a full day of activities, and I will share more later. I wanted to post a couple of pictures from the day. I am getting bigger every day as I am just 3 weeks from the due date. I feel as if I could give birth at any time now. I finished up work on Friday, and now with the shower celebrated and over, I am officially in the homestretch. Yikes! Here we go...on a BIG adventure!