Goodnight, Baby...

I just put Luke down to bed. Ahhhh...the sweet bliss of a quiet house! :) Don't get me wrong, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the noises of our busy household full of squeals, giggles and that pitter-patter of tiny feet moving about, but I also love the serenity of the evenings; when the tv is off, the dog is quiet and things are back in order. Tonight is especially quiet, since Ty isn't home again until later. It's just me and Tess, chillin' here in the office...relishing the solitude.

Anyway, I titled my blog "Goodnight, Baby" not because of the solitude, but because last night at bedtime was the first time Luke truly acknowledged the baby! After bath, jammies and giving Tess her nightly goodnight snuggle, we always walk over to his rocking chair, position his Snuggie just so on my shoulder and he climbs up into my arms (no more lifting for me, right?!) and I sing him a few songs before putting him into his crib. Well, last night, as he was climbing up into the chair, I asked him "Do you want to say goodnight to the baby too?" and sure enough, he lifted my shirt, ever so gently placed the sweetest little kiss on my belly and said "Nigh-nigh, Baby!". Awwwww.....talk about melting my heart! Up until now, he's always been reluctant to pay ANY attention to my belly, and most of the time just seems oblivious. But the same 'moment' was repeated again tonight, so I'm thinking this whole baby-idea is starting to stick. We'll see. :) I love the idea of him already bonding with his little brother or sister!

Let's see...what else??? We had quite a busy day today. We started off our morning with Sarah and Hudson at the Tiny Tots Circle time at the library. It was all about dragons today! :) We hadn't been for quite some time, so I made sure to bring Luke in a few minutes early to get adjusted. I'm noticing that he really doesn't like the unfamiliar and needs several minutes and LOTS of preparation beforehand for new experiences. He is definitely my slow-to-warm child. That's okay by me, since after a bit of time, he always warms up to nearly every situation. Like today, for example...he sat ever so still, hands clasped in his lap, looking straight ahead as he sat on the library rug for nearly the entire 20 minutes of story time. It wasn't until the end, that he felt the freedom to stand up and move around a bit. Once the stories and songs were through, Sarah and I let the boys play in the park outside, while we sat in the sun and chatted a bit. Sooooooo nice! It was another beautiful, clear, warm day, so I had no objections to sitting outside and soaking in my 20 minutes of vitamin D producing sunlight! :) Mmmmmm!

After the library, we were supposed to hit up Costco for some much needed things, but it was already a few minutes after 11 and I just couldn't bear the thought of trudging through Costco for an hour, hungry, and tempting the tantrum-monsters, since it would be getting close to nap time. Instead, I opted to appease my craving for a smoothie at Jamba Juice and headed to Target instead for diapers. Ended up spending WAY too much time (and money I might add) while I roamed the isles. Found some things for Luke's Easter basket, a potty-training-companion stuffed animal to help Luke learn to use the potty (more on that later), a decent fitting maternity swimsuit for the upcoming trips to the pool (although WHO knows if I'll actually fit into it by then!) and some new towels for the guest bathroom. Guess I can scratch those things off my list! :) We left Target around one, and hustled home for Luke to nap (he actually did REALLY well during our little outing!) and for me to get some laundry done. He napped for over two hours today, which I'm now attributing to the new black-out shaded we just had installed in his bedroom, so I was able to not only get some laundry done, but the mail sorted,our Target things unpacked and put away, old bills and papers filed, the office desk organized, the house generally picked up AND check my email! Whoohooo! Yes...I was a busy beaver. After nap, we headed over to my friend Tami's for a nice, long walk and then she invited us to stay for dinner, since both our husbands were going to be gone late tonight. Nice. No cooking for us! :) And now, Luke is safely in bed and I'm here typing away feverishly, with hopes of getting some of my back-logged photoshopping done too!

I love days like this....I had tons of energy and feel so productive! Tomorrow we will meet up with our NICU buddy Brayden and his mom Jamie at the park in the morning, then it's Luke second tumbling class in the afternoon. (We missed last week's class since he was so sick and I was out of town). As for the rest of the weekend, we have our tax appointment Saturday morning and then dinner out with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday that night. I am working again in the ED on Sunday afternoon/evening, so that day's pretty much shot for me. Busy days for us, but I like it...most of the time. There have definitely been days lately, when I just miss the slower times. I'm not one to LOVE being so scheduled and busy, although do I like to have things planned with friends and all too. But I do tend to like the quiet days at home, with nothing planned mixed in with the busy ones. There just needs to be a good balance, ya know? The last few weeks just seem more busy than usual, I guess.

Well....I s'pose that's enough rambling for tonight. Just in case ya'll are worried.....and since so many of you have been asking (thanks for that, by the way...it's nice to know you are all thinking of me), I haven't had anymore spotting since Saturday. :) Had a little bit of cramping last night, but it too was short lived and is most likely from the baby and my uterus growing. So, no worries. I am still anxious of my appointment next week though. I'm curious to hear Dr. Hage's answers to my questions.

Okay....signing off for tonight! Sleep well, my friends! :)