She is almost here!

Wednesday, March 28th, is the day that we get to hold our baby girl for the first time! Well, I get to hold her in my arms for the first time, that is ;). My stomach has had plenty of holding her time. March 28th is my due date. I am being induced on that day and we are SO SO excited. We can hardly stand it! It's worse than waiting for Christmas as a child. She is so loved already!

I came across a website that has something posted that says this:

The Nesting Instinct:

Many pregnant women experience the nesting instinct, a powerful urge to prepare their home for the baby by cleaning and decorating. Or perhaps you'll want to tackle projects you haven't had time to do, like organizing your garage or closets.

As your due date draws closer, you may find yourself cleaning cupboards or washing walls — things you never would have imagined doing in your ninth month of pregnancy! This desire to prepare your home can be useful because it will give you more time to recover and nurture your baby after the birth. But be careful not to overdo it.

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Wow, slow down there! Are you kidding me? As soon as I read this I couldn't believe it. It was describing me down to a T. I read it to my husband and he just laughed and said, "That is crazy. That describes you perfectly." 

I didn't know there was a name for what I have been doing. I have been doing this for the past month. I heard that women get a strange burst of energy towards the end of their pregnancy, but I didn't realize there was an actual name for it. I don't ever remember getting the "sudden burst of energy" with my other pregnancies, but that was over 8,5, and 4 years ago, so who knows, maybe I did. If I did, I didn't use that time to do the "nesting" thing. 

I did have a burst of energy a month ago, but now I'm just running on fumes. Slow, exhausting, annoying fumes. I'm wearing myself out. I can't believe that I haven't gone into labor yet with all I've been doing. My little girl must reeeeallly like my nice warm stomach, and that's quite alright. Hopefully she won't have jaundice like all my other babies had, since she is staying in longer than all my others babies did.

I do get overwhelmed often and start crying. I vent to my husband, with tears streaming down my face, saying that she just needs to get here. My husband just holds me, wipes away my tears, and then fills me up with encouraging words. I'm so thankful for him. 

So, I am a Nester right now, and I will be until my baby girl is born. I keep thinking the more that I do now the less I have to do when she's here.

I am so thankful for my husband and my kids for all the help that they have given me. Ben has done countless hours of cleaning with me right by my side. He has had many days with minimal sleep.

The girls cleaned their room the other day without me having to beg them a million times to clean it. I only had to ask once and they did it. The whole time they cleaned they sang stuff like this: "I love cleaning, cleaning is so much fun." It was so cute.

Marshall has been a champ! He LOVES a clean home. His room is always so neat and clean. He is always helping me clean up around the house. He asked me a couple of months ago, "Why don't we keep our house as clean as Aunt Angie's house?" Ummmm.... because.... that's why.... just because!!

He has been my little cleaning buddy, always so willing and more than happy to help me clean and organize. He has been right by my side tonight, helping me get stuff done.

I am so thankful for my husband and my kids and for all that they do for me.

The nesting thing for me has gone a little something like this:

Laundry

Laundry

Laundry

and more laundry

Sweep

Mop

Sweep again and again and again

Mop again and again and again

Wipe down table and counters again and again and again

More laundry

Vacuum x100

Scrub walls
Scrub walls some more
Shop for things for our little baby girl
Get all the baby's things set up and ready for her arrival

Cross off things on my list

Add more things to my list

Cross off

Add more (you get the picture)
Deep clean all the bathrooms

Unpack the boxes that have been sitting in the loft area for the past almost year

Go through all my kids clothes

Organize and clean the kids closets

Organize and clean mine and Ben's closet

Clean mine and Ben's room

Clean the girls room

Then have the girls clean their room after they mess it up again
Vacuum all the rooms

More laundry

You get the picture. The nesting stage is bitter-sweet.

This will probably be my last blog post before my baby girl is born. I can't wait to post pictures and her birth story. Stay tuned! It will be coming soon! :)