What a crazy week it has been! If you live in Texas, you know exactly what I am talking about. One day of work this week, followed by 4 snow days means a 6 day weekend! Dave and I love working for the school system during days like these. While I must admit, there were a few minutes of boredom that started to creep up over our long, cold, stuck in the house snow days, I tried to tell myself that when I’m at work, I really wish that I could be at home just resting and relaxing. And so that is what we got…four weekdays just to rest, relax, and anticipate our doctors appointment on Friday.

But, of course, when schools close, doctors close too. So alas, our appointment on Friday was cancelled, and we have to reschedule before we can find out if this little bundle will be Colleen or Calvin. Many people have asked me when our appointment will be rescheduled. Well, just like the schools, the doctors office was closed for 4 days, so all those people who had appointments on Tuesday , Wednesday, and Thursday will get to reschedule theirs before I get to reschedule mine. So, at this point, who knows! I’m trying to remind myself (as my dad so reminded me earlier this week as well) that for years, people have had to wait till delivery in order to find out, but when you have your heart set on something, it is that much harder when it is unfulfilled. I’m just going to pretend that he or she wouldn’t have been feeling cooperative at our appointment anyway, and we would have had to reschedule.

One thing that did help with the let down of missing our appointment was getting finalized plans for a special trip my dad will be making to Grapevine at the end of March. Since Dave and I don’t have much family close by, we have struggled with how we can make everyone feel like they have a part in this event. One thing that I had imagined and thought would be nice would be if my dad could help Dave and I with the nursery. Let’s face it, I won’t be “helping” as much as I’ll be supervising. I envisioned a beautiful room for our son or daughter put together with lots of love by their father and grandfather. When I expressed this desire to my dad, I knew it would be difficult for them to arrange their schedules for it to work out. But, thanks to the amazing support of my stepmom, Pam, my dad is going to be able to come down for a long weekend in March to help Dave prepare our nursery! I’m so so so excited about this!! Not only does that mean that we will have a beautiful nursery, but it means my dad will get to share in this experience in person, not just through photos and blog posts. I’ve already started making mental list of things that I want to do, and have even included a few household things that I know Dave could use some extra hands with (we seriously need a new ceiling fan in our bedroom….only one lightbulb socket works!). It will be a special time for me, for Dave and my dad, and for my family as well. Can’t wait!

One thing that has caught me by surprise during pregnancy is my dreams. A few of the books I had read told me that dreams can be more vivid during pregnancy, and I’ve had some friends attest to this as well. My dreams, in general, are usually one of two things: so extremely random that you wonder what on earth must have I been thinking when I fell asleep OR straight out of a CSI episode…with all the violence, death, blood, suspense and horror you would expect. Well, during pregnancy, both of these categories seem to have increased in intensity and vividness. Let me give you a rundown of some of the more interesting ones I remember:

· I was invited to go on tour with Katy Perry for the sole purpose of making her cupcakes after each show
· A flock of rabid beavers and ducks had moved in under our house and were slowly eating away at the foundation in attempts to attack Dave and I while we slept
· Driving late at night in the car, I crash into a mechanics shop because I start having an asthma attack and can’t breathe. The mechanics working there don’t know what to do to help me, so I end up dying in their parking from suffocation.
· I’m the curator of an old clock tower and part of my job is to kill all of the mice that like to make their homes in the very top part where all the big gears and mechanics of the clock are
· I’ve been asked to conduct Choir Camp (remember participating in this at Memorial Baptist, Sarah??) for the summer, but no kids show up and I end up putting on a one woman show

And this last one is the most recent and probably the most vivid and scary

· I go to get in the car for work in the morning, and under my car is a murderer who shoots my ankles so I can’t run away and ends up leaving me in my garage to die

Now, I know these are just dreams. Just my mind releasing all of its pent up thoughts from the day. In fact, I would probably be the first to agree that most dreams have meanings and are projections of your subconscious. Maybe my thoughts and fears about what the next few years of our life hold are escaping in these dreams. But, when you wake up at 3 in the morning after just having been shot in the ankles in your mind, it’s really disturbing and creates some very interrupted sleep patterns. I must say, the frequency of these dreams has tapered off in the last few weeks. I used to have them every night, but now it is more of a twice a week thing, and that’s been really good for my sleep patterns. But, when I do lay down at night I am starting to wonder what pictures I’m going to create for myself while I’m asleep.

Well, that’s enough for this week. I’ll leave you with these few pictures below. When we were stuck at home for 4 days, my nesting instincts were really starting to kick in, so Dave and I tackled all of the closets in our house, including the pantry. We spent a good hour pulling out all the food, cleaning off all the shelves, throwing out old stuff and combining like items. The results are pretty nice, and we have a pretty functional pantry now….even with some room for a few canisters of formula, should we need it :>).

The empty pantry ready for some organization.....

all the junk we cleared out.....

The finished product!