Maternity Leave

... has officially begun!  I am home.  It's bliss.

We spent all of Saturday together.  Enjoyed the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art), browsed the art and then came home for a glorious nap.  It was truly such a easy-going anniversary.  I loved it - although I missed the little monkey from time to time but I knew he was having a ball at Apko's house. We woke up really late - about 10:30 pm and felt famished.  We decided Chinese would be great at midnight so we got dressed and went out to a place called Jade. We had a really good time. We laughed and laughed.  I ordered Bean-sprout Noodles, with no bean-sprouts.  LOL.  Then for my combo - substitute egg roll for spring roll, hot and sour soup for Wonton, and no bean-sprouts in my bean-sprout noodles.  We were laughing to the point of tears.  The Asian waitress was not impressed.

Sunday was nice too.  Seeing hubby lead the worship service was great.  I loved the song line up and I really felt like the church was really encouraged to see him up there getting involved and really loving it.  The small little church officially has a name: Faith Community Church.  Pretty straight forward.  I like it.  This Sunday I will be preparing the lesson for the KIDS program - The Tower of Babel.  Any fun suggestions?  I was thinking of bringing the game Jenga.  You know, building a tall tower, and I can say that we all speak different languages (ie. I speak Romanian too and some of these kids speak Slavic languages).  I can tell the kids that we can only speak in the other languages that we know.  Seems like it'll be fun.  :)  Any other suggestions?  What would work as a snack?  To go with the theme... something to do with languages or towers...

Then we spent yesterday and today working on hubby's small business paperwork.  It's kindda funny.  The guest bedroom needs to become the baby room.  But then that means we have to move the guest bedroom.  So that means we have to finish the basement.  To finish the basement we needed to move hubby's office out of it.  So, guess where it went.  In the guest bedroom!  So that poor room is going from a guest bedroom to an office to a nursary all in three months.  As soon as the basement is done the office is moving down there again and that room will finally meet his final destination - baby room.  And you better believe with the crazy nesting kick that I'm on - it's gonna get done.

To give you a glimpse into this hyper-drive "nesting stage" that most preggos go through during the last few months of the pregnancy:

Sunday after lunch, while Noah took a nap, I went outside in the back yard and weeded my entire flower garden.  It runs the length of the back of my yard.  I haven't weeded since Easter time (well, I haven't but my father-in-law came over and did it once since then - I love Apko!).  So, completely devoured by mosquitoes, I came in, showered and lathered on Benedryl cream.  Then in the evening I decided that my vegetable garden would be jealous if I don't tent to it a bit too.  So hubby, Noah and I all ventured out in the backyard once again.  While hubby cleaned the BBQ, and Noah played hockey and chased "butterflies" with his blue net, I weeded the vegetable garden, pulled out my ever-expanding mint (I must have pulled about 2/3 of it) and replanted two tomato plants.  Nate took Noah in at some point during that whole thing and gave him a bath, pjs and cuddles while mama was still working away at the garden. The sun set and it was getting dark fast.  I put away all the tools, raked the weeds, bagged them and brought in all that mint.  After singing Noah his bedtime song, I washed all the mint and hung it all up in my laundry room.  I have about 6 or 7 bundles.  I love peppermint tea so how perfect is that going to be?  And to top it all off - I showered again and then we watched a movie.  That sounds crazy right?  All in one afternoon.  I felt like I had super-human determination.  I really didn't know that nesting applies to the outside of your house as well as the inside.

It's so nice to be taking care of business around the house.  I get such a sense of accomplishment.  I can exhale and smile.  Then reward myself with something all for me.  Like Pride & Prejudice last night.  The newest version.  Such a great movie.  Nate was out at hockey, Noah was tucked away in bed and sleeping and I was lost in the world of Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennett.  I can watch that movie a million times.

I still dream of work.  TO DO lists and mail and phones and appointments.  I'm sure with time they'll be less and less.  And I'll dream more and more of babies... and diapers, spit-up, crying, and 4 am feedings.  I truly can't wait - and I'm not being sarcastic one bit.