So close!

3 weeks left! Just 3 little bitty weeks! It's really hard to believe this little journey of ours is almost over, and the beginning of a new, BIG journey is about to begin. But I want ya'll to all feel sorry for me- this weekend began on Friday with a temperature of 113 degrees! Yeah, 113 degrees on June 1st. This is going to be one hell of a summer.

I'm sort of all over the place with my emotions. I'm dying for this baby to come, but I'm also overwhelmed by everything we need to do before he gets here. I'm sure this is normal. We are THIS CLOSE to finished with the kitchen. In fact, Ray promised me this morning that it would be done today. He and his mom (who is amazing!) have spent every minute of the past few weekends, and some nights after work, putting the kitchen back together. I wish I could say I've been a big help too, but mostly I just get in the way for a few minutes at a time, then head back to the couch to lay down to try to ease the pain in my ribs and back. It's frustrating feeling so useless, but I just keep telling myself that I'm doing the best I can, and I won't be this pregnant forever. Luckily my husband is an angel and doesn't mind doing pretty much everything for me, without any complaints!

I've been working full time all the way through my pregnancy, and plan to continue up until I go into labor. I'm in the middle of the busiest season of the year at my job, so I'm trying to do everything I can to get organized and ready for my maternity leave. After the baby is born I'll take a couple weeks to relax with him, and then I'll work from home for about a month. I'm really lucky to have a great boss and a job that allows me some flexibility. I'm definitely nervous about getting back to work after the baby's born- I know I'll just want to be with him every second, but Ray will be home with me for the full 6 weeks, so he'll be a big help. Isn't that amazing? He get's 6 weeks paid paternity leave. It's unheard of.

After our 6 weeks are up, I'll go back to work full time. I'll be able to bring baby with me some days, and I should be able to work from home some. The rest of the time we plan on sending him to daycare. This really breaks my heart, but I feel like as long as we keep it to just a couple days a week, I'll be able to handle it. I am already imagining many tear-filled mornings after I drop him off. It's just something we have to do.

My parents will be here for the birth, which is really really wonderful for me. My mom will be such a big help, during the delivery and after, and my dad will be such a calming presence for me. I know that just having him there, waiting and praying, will make me feel safe and worry free. I would really love it if all my brothers and sisters could come too- if I was giving birth in Georgia I know they'd all be there, waiting to meet their new nephew! It would be so wonderful to be able to introduce my little boy to his aunts and uncles (whoa that's weird!), and for them to be a part of such a big event in my life. But it's expensive and a lot to ask for all 6 of them to fly out, without being certain when he will be born. I'd hate for them to come, only to have to leave again without having him yet. But it does make me sad knowing that they'll miss his first few days. We'll just have to Skype like crazy!

Life has been so busy and crazy these last few weeks. In my mind I had hoped that the last few weeks of my pregnancy would be easy and relaxing. I'd imagined Ray and I spending a lot of time together before we're never just the two of us again, but it's not really working out that way. We're spending time together, but it's time spent working on the house and talking about the baby and all the things still left to do. That's okay though. I am really looking forward to our time at home together as a family, getting to know our new little boy and just being together all the time. It sounds too good to be true!

I'm beginning to get emotional thinking about meeting this baby for the first time. I have a hard time picturing him, and imagining what our life will be like once he's here. I still think of him as a part of me, and it's hard to think of him as a little person- an actual, real baby. My baby. I just can't wait to see him and touch him and hold him for the first time. I'm not very emotional or sentimental normally, but I have a feeling motherhood is going to change that. Yesterday I tried to read him a little Dr. Seuss book that you're meant to read to babies in the womb. Ray found me sitting in the middle of the nursery sobbing like a weirdo and reading to my belly. I can't imagine how silly I must have looked to him. He's sweet though, so he just sat down next to me and hugged me while I finished reading. I remember seeing my friends in the few days after they had their first baby's, and I was always struck by how much love they seemed to exude. They all seemed so happy, so in love, and SO emotional. I guess that's just the way it goes.

Here are a few little pictures from my shower a while back. It was such a sweet day- my friend Rachel worked so hard to make it special for me. She even included sweet little details from our wedding. I was so touched!

These little tags were a detail taken from our wedding- Rachel's brother Tim is really good at calligraphy, so he wrote out all the table numbers for us. Rachel had him make these for the shower.

More little tags to write our names on. 

Tim also made this sweet little sign, with a quote from the blog. It's in the nursery now!

Gifts from our registry. I have such sweet friends!

These are the cutest little animal cupcake tags that my mom found. So sweet!

Alright ya'll, I'm off to pitch in with the kitchen. I know I've said it before, but next time I WILL have pictures of the finished product to show you. Until then!