let summer begin daybook

Outside my window...
Rainy and 63 degrees.  An unexpected grey day in the middle of glorious early-summer weather.  I welcome it, though, because it's helping me keep A-Girl indoors and calm while she fights this cough.

I am thankful for...
babies.  family.  SUMMER.  a hot cup of coffee.  fresh baked chocolate chip cookies (after months of craving).  friends.

I am thinking about...
everything and nothing.  My mind is in a delicious whirl.  Now that the demands of the school-year have ended, and I've spent about a week in that hazy 'blur' of emotional and energetic recovery... I can't stop my spinning mind.  Seems like the creativity in me is spinning full force around my home, my family, thinking about baby, and life in general.  What a wonderful way to spin creative juices!  So satisfying and so free-form.  Like I said - delicious.  a few snippets?  well, okay... sure:

• amazed at my preschool daughter -- her use of language astounds and entertains me endlessly. quips like "I'm sorry to tell you"... and "seriously..."  and "I have been thinking about...." 
• my first classroom children have graduated and I recently got the list of the colleges and universities they'll be attending -- Brown, Pitt, Wash U, Cornell, Michigan, Tulane, Syracuse, Penn State... it's got me thinking about the passage of time, my own children, my mark on these children (if any... haha...), and the important things in life
• re-arranging my house. gotta make room for baby and make this place even more "ours" - love having time to ponder this!  There's something to be said for sitting in a space and just absorbing how it makes one feel
• god, life, religion -- why is it this becomes such a focus for me when I'm pregnant?? and fades into the background of day-to-day life otherwise?
• life. school. career. motherhood. 

Learning all the time...
I'm trying to learn to 'go with it' -- something I'm not bad at, but can always improve. :) For example - our quiet day today. going with it. sausage-pregnant-lady-legs? going with it.

Ains will be learning to swim - lessons begin this week!

From the kitchen...
spontaneity is the key here.  and whatever my baby-momma-body craves at the moment. Which, truth be told, is pretty much pasta and cheese.  All the time. with plenty of salt.  and a banana a day. and sparkly cold drinks - go figure.

I am creating...
life.  a baby girl!  And it's taking more energy than I like to admit.  I have napped for an hour each day since school let out.  I've begun to sleep in until 9.  Had no idea I was this tired.  And have to put my feet up after putzing around -- they are swelling this pregnancy more than last.

I am working on...
picking away at projects around the house.  Haven't opened up my lengthy to-do list yet... but have:

• scrubbed out the washer/dryer
• scrubbed out the window  A/C units  (possibly grossest job ever, as they were in the rat-infested shed)
• sifted through the initial (massive, MASSIVE) piles on the desk - you can see the desk now! :)
• cleaned the house several times (basic stuff)
• caught up reading some blogs
• refined our list of baby names (still long, but I love all the names on it!)
• played with my Ainsley-Girl

I am going...
to take my pup to the vet today.  Badly torn claw-nail.  Poor pup.  I've re-bandaged at least 5 times now.

Oh, will also update my blog.  Eventually.  Honestly - I haven't even uploaded pictures onto the computer in months. MONTHS.  Look for a random, catching up post soon.

I am hoping...
this baby girl stays in my womb full term.  Giving myself progesterone shots weekly in this effort, and so far our twice a month ultrasounds show things are good.  I also hope she flips kinda soon.  The kicking down low is getting a bit uncomfortable!

I am reading...
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
Just finished this one.  Wow. Lisa See is up there in my favorite 3 authors of all time.  Thank you, Sarah, for recommending.  You know me well.  They have a stack of her books at the library - but I may want them on my shelf for always... decisions, decisions....

What I Know Now: Letters To My Younger Self - Ellyn Spragins
Just started it - as I decide whether to trek to library or bookstore for another Lisa See book.  So far have read letters from Madeleine Albright and Maya Angelou, among other women.  Insightful.  Lovely. Nice to read during this thoughtful chapter of my life: pregnancy during summer.

Mercy Watson chapter books - Ainsley ADORES them!  Can't get enough.  Have read the entire DC library system's supply.

I am praying for...
good health. long life.  For my girls.

I am hearing...
rain out my window.  The garbage truck barreling past.  Elizabeth Mitchell CD (love this kid's music).  The pitter-patter of Ainsley's independent play (picture: watercolor paints out, glue stick strewn on floor, stickers everywhere, polly pocket stuff all over, dollies carefully arranged on the couch...)

Around the house...
much needed projects getting done - and more to happen as I reconsider the use of our space and how we'll best fit another being here with us.

One of my favorite things...
pellegrino seltzer water, lemon flavor, nearly frozen

A few plans for the rest of the week... 
ambitious ideas....

• swim lessons for Ains
• vet for Jake
• determined effort to nix the cough
• re-arrange kitchen
• plan re-arrangement of living space, bedroom space, and bathroom - making room for baby and next steps to making this house more comfortable and cozy on a budget
• upload photos... blog? dare i list it? will it happen?? :)
• garden
• oil change the car
• clean bathroom (again)
• clean the oven
• more laundry
• hang with my friend Laura
• pre-natal yoga (love it!)

A picture thought I'm sharing with you...