Ready for Takeoff

Claire has started to leave toys on my belly to "play with the baby." I'd say we're both beyond ready for her to come out and join us in the real world.

Spiders, an obvious choice for an infant

As I sit here on the couch, about to go make dinner (creamy chicken noodle soup and a giant loaf of ciabatta bread, and probably some sliced cheese because cheese goes with everything), staring at my packed bags and the pile of wrapped Christmas presents (my parents are going to drive them back to the lake house since we'll be there for the holidays), I am so glad tomorrow is D-Day because there is literally NOTHING left for me to do. I scrubbed all of our exterior windows and reorganized the kids' playroom bins for goodness sakes. I finished Landon's photo book last night and Claire's arrived in time for wrapping a few days ago. I am ready x 1,000,000. Maybe not ready for an actual baby- as we lay in bed last night JP and I both looked over at the cozy little co-sleeper set up in the corner of the room and discussed how completely insane we were to go back to fractured sleep and nighttime feedings and maybe, just maybe this was all a huge mistake. But we're here and it's happening and when it's not nighttime, we're both quite thrilled at the idea of welcoming a third baby into the fold. Mostly because that baby is going to grow into a toddler who's going to grow into a kid and it's the trio of freewheeling kidlets we're particularly excited to watch grow and play and to drive around the country to climb mountains and other piles of rocks. All in all, it promises to be quite an adventure.

An adventure that should be starting mid-afternoon tomorrow. My mom flies in tonight, Claire's big sister shirt is waiting on her dresser, and Landon's big brother shirt is packed in his backpack to change into after school. Just a few more hours until we meet our baby girl and I welcome wine and waist lines back into my life (maybe not all at once) and say goodbye to the giant belly I'm currently typing over/around. At this point, it really can't come soon enough- till tomorrow everyone!