the essence

I ran some errands today & stopped at Barnes & Noble while I was out to finish off my gift card & relax. I know I don't work as hard now as I used to, but part of that is on purpose. I'm trying to take advantage of as much down time as I can & just relax before the baby gets here.

Last night Ray mentioned how much our lives are going to change soon & that we won't be alone anymore, just the two of us. I tried to reassure him, first by telling him that the first couple of weeks will be really hard but that once the baby is here he won't be able to imagine not having him here. I think we're going to be making a more concentrated effort over the next few weeks to spend time together & go out.

This has been a very busy week. I'm feeling so great in my second trimester. I definitely have more energy! My house has been so much cleaner as of late. It makes me feel so good to have a clean house. The house had been quite a mess for so long & never consistently clean. And, I've been cooking a lot more! I've been gathering more new recipes to try, too.

Rach & Ruth came over Tuesday while their apartment was worked on. We were able to run some errands together (Walmart is a little more bearable with a friend) & get some stuff for camp next week (yea!). In the evening I went over to Charisse's to help get ready for her daughter, Lexi's, second birthday party the next morning.

I went to her house a little early Wednesday to finish preparations & the party went well. It was a cute polka dot theme. We didn't open presents at the party (too difficult & boring with the other kids around) so while Charisse cleaned up & I watched the girls (her other daughter, Bella, is almost four) we let Lexi open some presents to keep her busy. She & her sister opened the gift I got & pulled it out. It was an electronic bubble machine which they seemed to like. Then, Bella looked inside the gift bag & got very excited yelling, "Batteries! There's batteries in there!" So, apparently an exciting gift for a four-year-old is batteries. Two-year-olds enjoy tissue paper. :)

The birthday girl




Last night we were at Jen & Gabe's for pizza dinner until almost midnight & tomorrow Jen is coming over to scrapbook with me. She's pregnant with her second daughter & is due eight days before me. We figured it would be a good idea to get some scrapbooking done before the babies arrive. Her friend Jamie, who is due with a little boy three days after me, may be coming over as well.

Have I mentioned there's another girl at church having a boy with a due date just 26 days after mine? Lots of babies due at the end of the year!