Productivity

I was just reading a post on Ashley's friend Sara's blog, and it really struck a chord with me. Sara and her husband just adopted so are going through the same kind of "new parent" adjustments I am right now, and she blogged about productivity, or the seeming lack of it, with a new baby.

I'd have to say I agree that's one of the hard adjustments I'm going through right now too. It is absolutely incredible to me what I haven't been able to get done in the last six weeks, and it's also incredible to me why I care when I have a wonderful, amazing, beautiful boy to spend every day caring for. I would so love to have the perspective to be able to not care whether the house is clean, laundry's done, dishes washed or whatever. But just today I was feeling totally overwhelmed about it again.

Someone I very much respect has told me that if she had one thing to do over again with her kids, she would rock them more. I try to remember that when I get stressed out, but it's not easy. So, let me help my conscience a bit by saying THANK YOU to those people who have given gifts, brought meals or done other nice things for which you have not yet received a thank-you note (it's on the to-do list), thanks for humoring me for my poor judgement in insisting on a complicated birth announcement, those of you who have not yet received one (they're going out in waves), and if you come to our house, please overlook the clutter and dog hair.

pictures of Brett

Hey Swell, there's something new on here finally! :)

A few weeks ago, we had pictures taken of Brett...here is a link to a slideshow the photographer, Alison Demski, put together with some of the pictures. She did a great job, the only question is how we're going to afford all the pictures we want to buy!

Baby Brett is here!

Thank you for the support, visits and prayers surrounding baby Brett's birth! It's good to be home and we are working on getting adjusted to being mom and dad!

We've been mostly just staying at home in the eating-sleeping-diaper change cycle, but we've taken a couple of outings to places that will become important in Brett's life...

Target

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Chipotle

Baby coming soon!

Here's the update...if Baby Swanson hasn't come on his own by Monday, we'll go in Monday night to prepare for baby to be induced on Tuesday morning. We joked that we'll give him the full 40 weeks to make his own decision, but then we have to start being the parents and laying down some boundaries for him. Hopefully this will set a good precedent. So this time next week we should be back home with baby!

Winding it up

I'm working on winding up work this week...weird to think I have only 5 days left at PV for a few months or for much longer than that. Plans for what is possible for my job position as far as part-time options are supposed to be made during the first part of the summer and I am to decide whether I want to choose that option or stay home by July 16. I don't know how I will feel about all this at that point, but I know I want to make a choice that makes baby the priority of my time, and I give you permission to keep me accountable to that decision.

I think it will become very clear to me what I want to do after baby is here, whichever way it goes, so I'm trying not to worry too much about it. For those of you who have listened to me worry about it for the past 6 months or so, you didn't miss anything, I just decided to start not worrying. :)

Welcome to Life 2.0

I've decided "Life 2.0" is a good way to describe what we are about to embark on with the birth of baby. It will definitely be a whole new version of the old program, with many upgrades and improvements, but undoubtedly some bugs and glitches that we'll have to work out. (As a matter of fact, that would have been a super-cute theme to do for baby announcements...oh well, too late! Anyone else should feel free to use that idea!)

It's just undescribably weird to me not to have any idea what life is going to be like after the baby is born. I no longer know what an average day in my own life is going to be like. I know it won't take long to figure it out, but standing on this side of the situation, it's very odd. I don't feel like I can make commitments for "A.B." (after birth) because I don't know what will be good times to do things and what will be bad times, or what I can expect as far as how much control I'll have over what I can and can't do. When I went to my dentist last and they wanted to set my next appointment for July, they asked if 10:30am was an OK time, and I thought "I have no earthly clue." Sounds great, but what if that's the middle of naptime or feeding time?

I told Craig and a few others that I think there are some things that are so big and overwhelming in life that God must just make it so our brains can't take it all in and comprehend the full magnitude of it. Otherwise, how could I be sitting here acting relatively normal and working on work stuff knowing that we'll be parents in a week and a half? When I say, "we're having a baby in a week and a half," that registers almost no emotion, like I don't even understand the words. The only explanation I can think of for this is God's gracious protection for my emotional health! Apart from that having no theological basis, I believe it! :)

Progress!

So I went to the doctor today and she said I was dilated to almost a 2 (out of 10). She said "rough guess...I'd say a week. Or your due date. Probably won't be this weekend." As excited as I've been to hear a prediction of progress, I almost wish she wouldn't have said that, because I know everything at this point is a total guess and I don't want to get my hopes up. Not to mention that "a week or my due date" is 11 days different. But she did bet us a Diet Coke that it was a boy just from examining me before we had our ultrasound, so who knows?

Waiting...

This waiting to have a baby is weird. I know I'm still 3 weeks (2 weeks and 6 days) out, but technically it could be any time. I've never had a major medical anything, so the idea that labor will happen at any moment makes me feel a lot like a ticking time bomb.

It's funny how it changes the way I look at things. I feel more compelled to pick up around the house with the thought that it might be the last time I leave the house for a couple of days and other people might be there while I'm gone. It makes me want to get loose ends tied up and over-communicate about everything at work, in case it's the last day I'm there maybe for a few months or maybe forever.

It makes me think...isn't this the way we are supposed to live as followers of Christ? Not the obsessive house-cleaning part, but the part about living as though we aren't guaranteed tomorrow to finish things up? Keeping loose ends tied up in life and in relationships, not waiting to have conversations we know we need to have, etc.? Hmmmm...interesting.

Where are they now?

If you were asking this question about Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, here's the answer:

http://tv.msn.com/dearcorey

Apparently, these two have their own advice column now through MSN where you can go an ask them about life's greatest questions. And they're going to have a reality show on A&E. Maybe I could ask them what we should name our baby?

Hiccups

The last week or so the baby has been getting hiccups a lot. At least I think that's what they are. If not, then he has an incredible sense of rhythm to his kicks. I feel bad for him because he's probably thinking "what in the world is happening to me" as I often do when I have hiccups. I wish I could tell him that hiccups were the only thing in life that happen to you that are beyond your control, but I think we all know that's not true!

It's so alien...I'm looking down at my shirt and it is moving by itself. That is one of the neatest and most bizarre parts about being pregnant!

Cleaning resources

Here's a couple of resources that have jumped out to me since the cleaning post...maybe these will help those of us who are challenged:

Real Simple daily plan that allegedly allows you to maintain a "sparkling house in just 19 minutes a day."

Real Simple's definitive cleaning schedule, aka the "periodic table of cleaning." Incidentally, I think I've had a copy of this on my fridge since it was originally in the magazine, and that doesn't help. You have to actually follow it. Just FYI.

Let's talk about cleaning

I've had this conversation with a few of you before, but this efficient housekeeping gene was never installed for me. I feel like I spend so much of my free time at home cleaning or picking up or something, but there's got to be a leak in my system somewhere, because I can still walk into our kitchen or bedroom at any given time and chances are, it's a disaster of clutter and needs to be vacuumed, dusted, something. I have paid enough attention to confirm that this is a real problem and not just the "one thing's out of place so the house is a mess" sort of syndrome. I'm not sure if it's a discipline problem, a systems problem or what. Do you guys have tips, ideas, thoughts, routines, that help you? Emily, can I just follow you around for a few days and see how you do it? :)

The infamous window boxes are done!

Tonight I finished another decoupage project for the nursery...these are boxes that will go at the top of the nursery windows instead of fabric valances. After months and months of thinking about this, I still really like the stripes, which is kind of a miracle in itself!! Thanks again to super-creative Hannah for coming up with this idea!

Miranda on Guiding Light

Here's a shot from Miranda's latest soap opera appearance...she's the one in the middle with curly hair. I also have a video of it if anyone wants to see!

Nursery decor

Many of you have heard me attempt to describe what I am doing with nursery decor involving scrapbook paper, and I now have some pictures to show what in the world I've been thinking. One of the things I wanted to do was decoupage some wooden storage bins with some of the paper I like, and I've got them done! It's true that these aren't done in the famous striped paper that started this whole idea, but I'll be using plenty of that soon too! Here are before and after pics.

thisisbroken.com

Whenever I need a mental break from work — you know, once every six months or so :) — I like to check out the blog thisisbroken.com for some comic relief. It's a site where people can submit pictures of signs, products, computer screen shots, etc. where things are just funny or don't make sense. Parking signs right next to each other that contradict each other, foreign translations that just don't quite translate, etc. Check it out.

Fun on Starbucks.com

Hee hee hee, I'm posting about Starbucks on my blog...luckily I don't think Craig ever reads it!

My friend Amy sent me a link to the Starbucks website, where you can design your own custom drink and it will create a graphic representation of it designed by fashion designer Mychael Knight. To the left, you will see my current drink, a grande decaf nonfat dry hazelnut cappucino with an extra shot. I would never actually order all those options at once because I'd feel a little too yuppy, but that is how I like to roll. (Remove the decaf after baby.) If you get lucky, you could get your drink on one of their limited edition T-shirts, but seems like they go quick.

Go here to make your own drink illustration! (Communication types: how's this for fun, interactive viral web content that educates people about your product?)

My sister's TV debut

My sister Miranda, the aspiring actress, has had her network television debut! She was an extra in an episode of One Life to Live that aired on Feb. 12. The picture below is a still shot from one of the scenes where you can see her best...she's the one in the background in the black dress. She got onscreen shots four or five times, but this was the best one. She'll also be "girl who gets flirted with in a diner" on OLTL March 1, and then she'll be "girl mistaken for a main character's deceased daughter" on Guiding Light March 7. Set your DVRs!

PS, Technically, I guess I can't say she's an "aspiring" actress anymore because, well, she has been on TV! :)

When will winter be over?

So as you noticed, since I haven't blogged in a long time I just threw up a desperation post of the top ten facts about Jack Bauer, copied from an email. These are admittedly very funny, but it seems to be cheating. I think I haven't been in the blogging mood lately in part because this whole winter thing is really getting to me this year. Cold makes me miserable. I don't like not being able to go outside very much. I don't know if I'm just getting old, but this winter is definitely making me crochety.

A few bright spots:

I was sitting by the big window in our living room on a recent Saturday morning and I could hear birds chirping, and it was like there was a little hole in winter and spring was peeking through.

Most of the snow and ice is finally almost totally melted from our front yard and sidewalk. This is especially good, since because the way the sun hits our street, our neighbors across the street haven't had snow in their yards for days and days.

Those few hours, was it last Tuesday? It was 52 degrees. I went outside at work and stood in the sun for a few seconds without my coat. As I went back inside to get back to work, I believed especially that humans were not meant to work in offices with no windows in front of computers.

Wow, so this was uplifting, wasn't it? I just wanted you all to wallow in my wintry misery with me for a few minutes. :) Thanks for indulging.

Top Ten Facts About Jack Bauer

For my 24-watching friends, this is pretty amusing...

1. If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.
   
2. Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys.
   
3. Jack Bauer doesn't miss. If he didn't hit you it's because he was shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.
   
4. If Jack says "I just want to talk to him/her" and that him/her is you -- well amigo, you're in trouble.
   
5. Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead. It just makes him angry.
   
6. Jack Bauer does not sleep. The only rest he needs is what he gets when he's knocked out or temporarily killed.
   
7. As a child, Jack Bauer's first words were "There's no time!"
   
8. Jack Bauer's family threw him a surprise birthday party when he was a child. Once.
   
9. Everytime Jack Bauer yells "NOW!" at the end of a sentence, a terrorist dies.
   
10. If you send someone to kill Jack Bauer, the only thing you accomplish is supplying him a fresh set of weapons to kill you with.