April 2013: Preparing...

Uff-da!! This whole getting ready for a baby thing is more work than I remember!!! There are three main areas in my life that I've been working on getting ready before Baby comes (please don't come early...please don't come early...everything is marked out by the day as to what will get done when!). Here's the 3 crazy parts in my life right now that I'm making preparations in:

1. WORK
Full time ministry...while I'm on maternity leave, weekly programming for 200+ children must go on. I have successfully secured 32 volunteers (not including normal weekly leaders/teachers) to take over just weekly things that I usually do to make Sunday mornings happen in 15 different classrooms with 3 different curriculum's to get ready for each week. (Not to mention, a huge summer ministry of VBS will be happening shortly after I return, so I'm trying to get volunteers and registrations in place for all of that too). So...here's my system of how it's going to work. Thank God for Bins and Post-it notes (this is only 1/2 of my office. The other half looks the exact same way!!)

2. SEMINARY 
Set to graduate in May, my goal is to be done with ALL COURSE WORK before baby arrives...so that basically means by this coming Friday, I need to have completed 3 research essays (10-12 pages each), a presentation, and 2 final tests. Yeah...good luck with that (I think I can...I think I can...). I also had to get certified to do pre marriage counseling (which I completed the training and certification process for on Saturday! yay!). If you need me this week...you can find me at the library...or in front of my computer during each spare minute of my life (sorry Michael and Addi...this week is gonna suck!)

3. LIFE 

Unlike preparing for Adelyn to arrive, we are keeping it minimal for this baby (poor girl...), as we know we will only be in our current "temporary apartment" for [hopefully] 3-4 more months. But with that being said, we have dug out the car seat, ordered a new crib mattress for a small crib that we already had, 

And of course, Michael was most excited to go out and buy some new back drops for our photo studio, as he can't wait to get some snapshots of the little one. Adelyn was a great model as she "tested" out some of the back drops...

I have washed and organized all the baby's new clothes, and we continually are talking to Adelyn about caring for her new baby sister and talking about where the baby will sleep and swing, etc. Adelyn is a great care taker for her dolls...so she will be most anxious to help out with the new baby...(once we get her over wanting to eat baby's heads!)

And thanks to my INCREDIBLE family and friends, I am now fully stocked with a few new outfits and lots and lots of diapers!! My friend Katie planned a small brunch for me and 2 of our other friends where I was given some great clothes and necessities for baby...and the Simon Side of my family threw me a Diaper Dash Party, which filled up Adelyn's closet with lots and lots of diapers, wipes, and other things for the new baby!! What a blessing! Here's some pictures from the Diaper Dash, complete with an Acapulco Dinner, amazing cupcakes, a Diaper cake, "deep thoughts" written on diapers, great family, and boxes and boxes of Diapers...

While I know that some things are completely out of my control with this baby (whether she will decide to wait until d-day to come or not...or the insane snowstorms that we have been having lately...)

This week is full of finishing all the preparations (still need to clean the house and pack our bags too!!). During this week, I will attempt to enjoy this last week of pregnancy, while working my little behind off to get life prepared so that all I have to do once the little Miss arrives is to enjoy every single minute.

Wish Me Luck!!! (and Prayers are welcome too!!) The Race is on...