Charon is now telling everyone we meet that she's five, and her birthday was "a long time ago." I love this age. The concept of time is fascinating to me, and kids teach you so much about it. To a five-year-old, last week seems like long ago, and it's way too hard to wait until tomorrow. I've been telling Charon that our baby will arrive around Halloween, hoping that will help her to picture when it will happen. Right now, Halloween feels like ages away for her.
Now to me, Halloween is fast approaching. I am getting a little bit anxious about everything we want to do to get ready for the baby. I know we won't get everything done, and I know I have to let go of some things and just trust that life will go on joyfully once Penguin is here. In a few months' time, I expect we will be oblivious to the state of our filing system.
That said, I'm going to use this entry for goal setting, exploring what I really want to accomplish before we add a new member to our family.
First, I started knitting a baby blanket. I bought some lovely wool yarn for this. The pattern has me knitting with two strands at once, so I am using two colors together: pure white, and a multi-colored yarn that has shades of white, purple and turquoise blue. Very pretty! It is a good refresher project for me; I've knitted a few things, but it's been a while.
I also bought some yarn and a pattern to knit a cardigan sweater for Charon. I picture her wearing it to kindergarten, but I don't expect to have it done by the first day of school, just before Penguin arrives, because after that my hands will be quite full. I chose purple yarn because it is her favorite color, but when she saw the picture of it in turquoise on the pattern, she decided she should have that color, too. I told her that if it wasn't too hard to make, maybe I could knit her the turquoise one for first grade.
I need to read the book on giving birth that I have: Birthing From Within. I've heard great things about this book, and one of the midwives in the group I am seeing recommended it to me. I am planning for a water birth, so I should find some info about that process, too, and learn more about it so that I'm very comfortable with the idea when the time comes. (I'm already feeling like this will be a wonderful choice to have. Everyone I know who's experienced a water birth says they wouldn't give birth any other way.)
I have lots of appointments to squeeze in before Penguin comes: dentist, eye doctor, Charon's dentist and pre-kindergarten doctor appointment, etc. And soon, I will be seeing the midwife every two weeks. That's amazing! Time is flying now.
I'd like to organize some get-togethers with friends and family before baby comes. Going out for dinner or seeing a movie in the theater will feel like a luxury in a few months! I recently saw the new Harry Potter movie, and I'm looking forward to an evening out with my book group soon.
Pete has decided that he will probably be the main cook in this house for the next couple of years. He has been researching healthy recipes, and exploring vegetarian options for us. He says, "Once the baby comes, my hobbies will have to be cooking and doing the dishes. I'd better just get used to it now!"
The two of us are also working on getting the house in order. I've learned that I don't have much stamina lately for physical work, and that Pete can get a lot more done if Charon and I find another adventure to keep us busy on a weekend afternoon. That's hard, though, because when Daddy's home, she wants to be with him, and he with her. We are finding a few things we can work on as a family, and that helps.
I'm not sure what our house goals should be. That is the most overwhelming area to me right now. Pete is scheming on how we can baby-proof everything immediately, and I know he's right, that Penguin will be crawling and cruising before we know it. We are also working on networking our computers, getting rid of stuff we don't need any more, and finding a place for everything. Lots of our time has been spent organizing the different areas of our basement: laundry and tool zones, clothing storage, play, craft and exercise areas, and finding a spot for miscellaneous junk that doesn't go anywhere else.
And of course, I want to get out all of Charon's baby things and decide what to keep: baby clothes, cloth diapers, books and toys, and baby equipment and gear. I have a backpack diaper bag I like, and we should be set with bouncy seat, stroller and car seat. I'd like to make sure the car seat we used with Charon isn't too old. (I think we got it just before she turned one. We used an infant seat before that, but I liked this Britax convertible better.)
We've started thinking about how to set up our beds to be safe for the baby and comfortable for us. Right now, we all sleep in the upstairs of the house, which is an attic that we finished and made into one big master bedroom with a bath. Charon is on a twin mattress on the floor, across the room from us, and Pete and I share a queen mattress. We think we will add another twin next to our queen; Pete can sleep on that, and I'll take the queen with Penguin. We also want to leave room for Charon in case she wants or needs to crawl back in with us. Penguin will start out with us because I learned from Charon that breastfeeding is so much easier when you co-sleep. When she was a newborn, we had the crib right next to our bed, but by the end of the first month, I was exhausted from sitting up to get her out, nursing her on the bed, and then lifting her back into the crib. I learned how to nurse lying down, and set things up so that we could both fall asleep together on the big bed. The two of us both slept better.
I'm going to quit now before I get too overwhelmed. We can do it, right? Or at least, we will do what we can, and that will have to be good enough. As my friend, who is due at the end of August, told me, "If baby comes now and we don't get anything else done, that's okay. I will just sit here with a beautiful naked baby, and people will bring outfits for the baby and food for me!" She's right; that is what happens. 
