busy, stressed, crazy, exciting, exhausting, hopeful...

...these are the things that describe my days lately.

I just started a brand new school year. My kids are, undoubtedly, adorable and I'm so thankful they are happy to be at school. It makes my job so much easier and fun. They definitely require a whole lot of patience. They are kinder kids still and won't be first graders for a little while. They are still maturing and learning how we do things in our new class together. It's a learning process that takes a while, but is well-worth the effort when January rolls around and they basically run themselves. I look forward to that. Work has had me feeling tired, stressed, and hard to prioritize to get all my things done. Do I always feel like this the first week of school? probably...

Due to the amount of patience that is required of me at work (let me remind you: it's a lot!) my poor husband has been getting the me that has run out of patience. I think I've been hard to live with this week. It's a good thing he loves me and knows that it's my first week of school. He's been great this week and I don't know what I would do without him. :)

We got a call from our agency yesterday letting us know that our birth mom had a doctor visit and she is dilated to 2cm. The doctor said that baby girl could come at any time. Birth mom will be 36 weeks soon and she only carried her last kiddo to 37 weeks. The reality of how soon this is happening has begun to hit me. My house is a disaster and it's just grungy. I want to rip everything open and clean everything out. I want every closet organized and cleaned out. It has been hard coming home to my house that feels like a project I don't have time for. Another thing we wanted to do before baby girl comes is paint our house. It's not looking promising, unless some wonderful friends want to come help us paint... any takers?

I know that being dilated 2 cm could still mean a couple weeks, but it might not. Baby girl could come at any time now. I danced around the house like a fool when I got that phone call yesterday. I just can't wait to meet this little peanut. I now need to focus on getting from here to baby with my house & car cleaned out. I also need to prepare my sub plans for our awesome, long-term sub, Jenne. All I have to say is this:  teaching has to be in the top 3 jobs that it is hardest to be gone from for maternity leave & praise God that I am only working half time. Full time maternity leave would be terrible.

One more baby note: we got our hospital plan and found out some details about the birth. Our gracious birth mom wants to give us the opportunity to be present for the birth, so Cameron and I get to be in the delivery room. There are even plans that Cameron will get to cut the cord and I get to be the second person to hold her, right after her birth dad. These plans could change in an instant if she decides, but we are thankful that we are included at this point. Not only does it make us feel included, give us the benefit and privilege of being at her birth, and make us happy... it also helps us feel secure in what is going on. It helps us know that right now, she still knows that it's better for sweet baby to be raised by us. That little reassurance goes a long way in this crazy life we are leading right now. Please keep praying for us and for our daughter's health. Pray for birth mom and dad as they decide to let go of their darling little girl.

Stay tuned- we think baby girl will be here soon and you wouldn't want to miss it!