This weekend, we celebrated fall without a baby. We're getting so close and now it seems that every morning, every day, and every night that passes takes on a whole new meaning. Every night, I go to bed and wonder if it will be the last night I fall asleep without a newborn baby. Every morning, I go to school and wonder if it will be the last day I see my students for awhile. And every weekend, I wonder if it will be our last before we have a baby at home. Soon, this waiting game we've gotten pretty good at playing will turn into the stark realization that it's time to go to the hospital. Time to have a baby. Time for our lives to change...forever.
How unbelieveable. To leave the house, the two of us, and return home as three. To finally get to see this baby we've been dreaming about for the last forty weeks. To live the reality that has seemed completely surreal for so long.
So what did we do on this first weekend of fall? Possibly the last weekend before becoming parents?
-We slept in. Listened to the rain do the work outside while we curled up under the covers.
-We casserole'd'. A pot of coffee, a couple of Johnson's bakery donuts, and a trip to Fareway for five pounds of hamburger, three pounds of Italian sausage, chicken, and all the essentials to transform our kitchen to a restaurant assembly line.
We were rock stars. We had three casseroles made in a little under an hour. Beau manned the hamburger frying station, and I did the chopping. A pound of mushrooms for chicken tetrazzini. Cumin, chili pepper, and a pinch of cayenne for Mexican lasagna. Egg noodles al dente. Spaghetti noodles al dente. Lasagna noodles al dente. The sounds of Ben Harper could not compete with the smells of the world's best lasagna sauce filling the air. It was a lot of work, but I remembered how much fun it was to share a kitchen with my husband. We now have five casseroles in our deep freeze...cross that one off the nesting list!
-I baked. One of my favorite ways to define the season of fall is by eating tremendous amounts of Honeycrisp apples. It's a good thing they are only in season a short time, as $1.99 per pound is a bit pricey; however, they are well worth it in my mind. This morning, I woke up early and baked a pan of apple crisp and monkey bread. It was one of those mornings where I wish I could have slowed time and trapped the smells that were coming from the kitchen.
-Church. Like everything else, I keep wondering if it will be our last Sunday as two. Since I've been pregnant, I have sat through church with a solid lump in my throat every Sunday. It's a guaranteed hour each week that I can sit quietly with Beau and take in the sheer magnitude of the blessing that is growing in my tummy. I'm in awe, of the One who gave it all.
Baby J rocked out to the music throughout most of church. I can't wait to dance with him in my arms!
-We continued to nest. I swear I've mopped the kitchen floor more in the last few weeks than the last year. Beau got in on some nesting of his own...let's just say, Jade now has the cleanest litter boxes on the block. I think he also felt sorry for his baby's mama, as he returned from Hy-Vee with not only kitty litter, but a pretty bouquet of fall flowers. I'd say they did the trick!
-We walked. Maybe the longest walk we've went on since 'my condition' (as we like to call it). I'm not sure if it was the absolutely gorgeous late afternoon weather, or the fact that I was motivated to walk this baby out, but I think I could have kept going. Sad to say, the only response to our walk was a series of Braxton Hicks.
Another weekend in the history books. Another weekend without a baby. We tried to tell him while we were on a walk that the weather was way better out of the womb; however, I'm learning that this little man will come when he's ready. So, in the meantime, we will continue to enjoy this time together, time we will probably never really look at the same again.
Happy Fall. Happy last week of September. Happy Baby.