I'd love to say something profound tonight, but the honest truth is I've been staring at my computer screen (and American Idol, I won't lie) for the last 20 minutes, and I think all the profundity I may have had to offer at some point today has been drained away. So this will strictly be a what you see is what you get post.
* Rachel and Lips are coming to visit this weekend, weather-pending. (Further proof that I am too tired to be profound: I just typed that they are coming to visit "this weather, weekend-pending." Egads.) She hasn't been down since the day after Thanksgiving, and he's never been to our home. I'm looking forward to it.
* Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary is in three weeks and I've yet to scan the pictures I'm using for their gift. I am secretly hoping that this time-crunch will result in a level of technological and creative genius previously unseen in my efforts.
* That being said, it took me more than a month to create Elaina's birthday video, and that was only encapsulating one year. It's quite possible I've bitten off more than I can chew, but it's an event worth much celebration, so I will give it my best.
* I have eaten so much popcorn this pregnancy that if we have a boy, we may be forced to name him Orville.
* Facebook is supposed to be the great connector, but I'm sad when some folks I really would like to connect with again don't seem to have a page. I would love to talk with Bill Bray again, who was the chaplain of the university and the team leader when I went to Russia. Or David Pollitt, who was my boss (and one of the only bright spots) during my time in Nashville.
* I can hear Chappu snoring on Josh's lap across the living room.
* The MOPS group at our new church meets again on Monday. I'm going to go, and I am fairly certain I will dread it the entire day only to have a decent time, which will be followed by a few hours of self-doubt because I am still new and not part of the group, and because I am beginning to think it is impossible to meet another mother at these things who, like myself, works full-time outside the home. But I'll never make friends if I don't try...so I have to try, like it or not.
* Every night I check on Elaina as she sleeps, and every night, the sight of her so peaceful makes me teary. I am so thankful to be her mother. I am so thankful for her smiles. I am so thankful for the ways she is teaching me about God's love. I am so thankful for this new side of Josh that I get to watch and enjoy and love. I am so thankful for the opportunity to teach her and to watch her grow. I am so thankful for the little sighs she makes in her sleep, for the way the smell of her baby lotion wafts up while I peer into her crib. I am so thankful.
* I haven't done a great job keeping a journal for our new baby. I feel guilty about it and hope he/she understands it isn't because I love any less, but more that I am so stinking tired most nights that all I want to say would be inked gibberish and not the words of love and excitement I really want to share.
* We are supposed to get snow on Saturday. I am so sick of snow the thought of more makes me want to curl into a ball and cry.
* I still haven't put up all of our winter decorations. I have no spring decorations with which to replace them and I know bare walls are a source of stress for both Josh and myself. My only hope is that Gordman's or Michaels will have something suitable (Wal-Mart was a complete bust.).
I believe I'm going to lie down now and watch Josh play his video game and feel our new baby bounce around and revel in the fact that tomorrow is Friday and I won't have to be up before 6:00 for two whole days once I make it through then.
Good night, friends.
