"I'm in a Hurry to Get Things Done"

I am still very much in shock that I will soon be the mother of two.  Carly has become relatively easy to take care of, so I'm realizing how chaotic life will be when Luke arrives.  Because of this realization, I've been spending my days being as productive as possible.  Other than some aches & pains, and some major head pain that the doctor has said must be cat scanned as soon as I'm no longer pregnant, I feel good enough to have sheer productivity during Carly's naps, and even sometimes when she's awake.  I went nearly 2 weeks without, so I haven't needed to nap when she naps.  That ended this week as I worked a weekend of closing, but oh well.  It just means that I wont get to be productive during her naps because I must, for the sake of my health, catch up on 4 hours of missed sleep/night.  Here are some of the highlights of getting organized before baby comes or before I feel too uncomfortable to get them done:

• Meal Planning:  It has been rather difficult to cook the past 18 months.  I really don't know how I do it, but somehow I manage to get food on the table each night.  Each day, however, it's a struggle.  I've been doing my fair share of trying new and easy recipes and writing down the ones that are a big hit.  I need to organize my meal planning into categories of chicken, beef, pasta, stews, etc., so that I can look at my ingredients and quickly scan my list of go-to meals.  Pinterest is really a wonderful thing, and if you don't have an account, you should (its not another social networking site...its a search function with photos for whatever you need to tackle)! My Mom is going to spend 2 weeks with us in November, so I've found hundreds of pre-made crock-pot recipes that you merely put in a bag and place in the freezer that I'm hoping we can make together.  The tricky part will be finding enough freezer space since we don't have a deep freeze.  Regardless, meal planning has been in my thoughts!

• Luke's Room:  I love to decorate, so designing Luke's safari-themed room has brought me nothing but pleasure.  Brian has been more than willing to help, and we embarked on painting this week.  We will transition Carly into a big-girl bed at some point before Luke arrives (or at least that's the plan), so his room will be rather empty until then...but at least the walls will look cool!  

• Carly's Clothes:  I hadn't been packing away Carly's clothes for the just-in-case that we were carrying a girl.  So...that had to be done this week.  We said goodbye to some clothes that are way too small and off into a box they went.  I'm grieving it...we have such great clothes and only God knows if we will ever get to use them again.  So many memories in them and thoughts of the people who gave them to her.  I have a few friends who are pregnant and if any of them are having girls I will definitely send some clothing lovin' their way.  We also brought out new clothes and organized into piles of "this can be used this fall/winter."  We discovered that she has next to no cold-weather clothes, so that was good to find out!  We've saved money already on not having to buy her heavy winter coats, hats, gloves and boots!  We just need to get her some light jackets that she can wear t-shirts underneath and she will be all set! ;) I will say, Carly was very helpful when trying on new clothes.  I showed her her Christmas dress for this year and she gasped, "Pretty!!"  I asked her if she wanted to try it on and she delightfully said yes. I even brought my full length mirror into her room and she did a 360 degree spin in front of it!  Oh my goodness this child is so much fun!  She proceeded to allow me to try on multiple clothes/shoes and enjoyed running around in them.

• Unpacking Boxes:  I have finally unpacked every single box we had stored (mainly in Luke's room).  It feels so good to know where everything is!  The only mess I have left to tackle is the storage space under the stairs...but it is largely filled with Carly's big-girl bed and Christmas supplies, so I am going to wait to organize until everything is out for Christmas.  That will be a treat!

• Scrapbooking:  I have very little time for photo projects, but I will have zero time come January, so I am nearly up to date on our scrap book.  It's always been a hobby and it feels good whenever I have the chance to relax and reflect on our memories.

• Christmas Shopping:  First of all, I LOVE Christmas shopping.  Sometimes it's hard to come up with an idea, but when I think of one I really enjoying finding it/making it.  I've begun to think about our family members and have picked up a few things along the way.  Hopefully I'm able to send many of them back with my folks when they are here the beginning of November.

Our main goal of each day, however, is to love on each other and enjoy the stage we are in.  I've loved having a family of three and we have some fun times together.  I've been a bit envious of everyone up North talking about fall, but we've tried to be in the spirit here, too.  We've been eating pumpkin flavored foods, but we are still in our tanks and shorts.  I don't care how nice our Florida winters our, I will always carry the opinion that having 4 seasons is the most exciting way to go. The temp has dropped from about 93 on average to 87, so that's made a difference for my running, but this morning gave me a true taste of what's to come when I stepped outside to run and it was only 78!  The downfall was that it was so humid my glasses were foggy most of the run!  HA!  And yes, I am still running.  Last week I logged 12 miles, so I was pretty happy with that.  It's interesting, you'd think I'd be a stud at running a 5k by now, as often as I run 2+ miles, but it truly just gets harder.  Running has been my saving grace the past 23 weeks and I'm dreading the day I have to stop.  It's been my way of self-medicating my nausea, head pain and lack of energy.  It's caused me to have strained ligaments in my pelvis, a hyper-extended IT band and a pulled hamstring muscle, but has still been totally worth it. ;)   I haven't actually talked to my doctor about it, but everything I've read says stop at the 3rd tri.  So...only three more weeks of running. :(  One highlight of being pregnant and pushing a stroller is that I get lots of cheers from people walking by.  You just don't see a woman with a belly pushing a toddler in a jogger all that often. ;)

I feel like there is quite a bit to get done around here in the next 3.5 months...and definitely feel pressed for time.  I was in no way prepared for what life would look like after Carly arrived so I have been mentally preparing to essentially be out for the count until at least next summer once Luke arrives.  I'm so thankful for the growth that comes with being a mother!  Lord willing, expectations are set up correctly for January, which is why I'm in a hurry to get things done now. ;)