Anticipation

This time of year always brings with it a flurry of activity, from cleaning closets and switching out wardrobes to maximizing our time in the fresh air and enjoying the glories of fall. We've been in hyper-drive as far as the cleaning out and organizing goes this year, considering we had to switch four rooms around. All in preparation for baby girl.

The highlight of this room roulette, at least as far as Clare is concerned, is her new room. Most especially the maps! And the desk! How she loves them both. At any given time of day she'll mention some place she recently located on one of her maps. She spends hours each week playing school in her room, which I think she truly views as her sanctuary. Mission accomplished.

With the house now restored to post-painters order, I have thrown myself into preparing for the holidays ahead of time. I'm not really a procrastinator by nature anyway, but with a January 4 due date I really don't want to get caught by surprise at Christmas. After all, the kids are very excited for the baby's arrival, but I'm pretty sure their excitement would be clouded if she preempted their also eagerly awaited Christmas.

Nevertheless, while I keep myself busy with the many tasks that attend the holidays, I think we are all increasingly aware of how soon our family is going to grow. My extremely prominent belly alone is a stark reminder. It's nice to have so many distractions to keep me from growing too impatient these last few weeks. But we are most definitely waiting. (An appropriate mode to be in as we enter Advent.) I think we're ready, too...