Hail to the new year

What a blur the last few weeks of December were. Getting everything accomplished on the never ending list of things that must be done didn't seem possible, but in the end Christmas cards were mailed, gifts were bought and wrapped and after all the flurry we did have time to enjoy the holidays.

The holidays were spent driving from one small town in Alabama to the next. Sleeping in uncomfortable beds and eating all kinds of things I shouldn't even speak of. When you are pregnant there are more painful signs that you have gotten off your normal diet than gaining a few extra pounds. Like swollen hands and feet and having to drink some powdered fiber substance until you feel like your stomach might explode in order to clean the pipes. But we did have a nice visit with our families, with a few moments of crazy thrown in just to spice things up.

For New Years we headed to Atlanta to visit my college roommates, their husbands and kids. Seeing your long time friends with their little ones is something that is difficult to explain, but once you are expecting a baby of your own it is even more eye opening. Things that I learned while spending two days in a house with toddlers: 1. No sleeping past 6:30. It doesn't matter that the room you are sleeping in is downstairs. Little ones are LOUD. 2. To parents of little ones, 6:30 isn't that early to begin with. On New Years Day we all found ourselves at the Georgia Aquarium at 8am. Keep in mind it takes 45 minutes to get to the aquarium from their house. But getting there had its advantages. There were no lines and we actually got to the enjoy the aquarium almost completely by ourselves.

So the holidays have passed. At least on the calendar, we still have a tree to take down and Christmas gifts to put up. Hopefully that will get done today. Our cats are going to miss sitting under the lit tree and pulling the ornaments off.

As for us, well we have officially entered the year in which roo will arrive. Now it seems there is another mad dash of preparation that must occur. Guest room that must be turned into a nursery, books that must be finished in preparation of the birth, and work which must be accomplished before taking time off. Overwhelming at times, most definitely, but at the same time I have never been one that accomplished anything without a deadline. And this deadline has by far the greatest reward at the end.