2/26/11

Saturday, I woke up to a big fat cold staring me right in the face. Actually, it was inside my face, so I couldn't really see it, but I felt it. All over. One thing about this pregnancy is that, if I get the least bit stressed or tired, or germ-exposed, my body completely shuts down, followed by a week or so of an extreme sinus/congestion nightmare. Ahhh, good times. At least the bambino is still thrashing and thriving. My body is taking care of #1, which happens to be someone other than me at the moment! While I complain at my lack of immunity, I am thankful and grateful for how this process works.

Since I was in such dire straights, Ben went alone to our oldest niece Tess's last basketball game. What kind of husband does this, you ask? MINE! :-)

While Ben was gone, I felt good enough to haul my sick Saturday self to the library where I had a book on hold. Also, L.B. wanted donuts for breakfast. Hey, I don't argue with the kid! I just do what I'm told. :-) I got to the library to discover that not only one, but two books I had held were ready. FANTASTIC! I went from there to the grocery store to get donuts, but also something for dinner, because our cupboards were bare. A roast sounded good, so I got 3 lbs. of meat, a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, a can of soup, and some onion packets.

I got home and started throwing stuff in the crock pot just as Ben walked in the door....carrying grocery bags of roast, potatoes, carrots, and onion soup. Without even talking about it, we had both decided to fix a pot roast for dinner, gone seperately to the store, and gotten all of the ingredients. Our kitchen counter was overflowing with about $50 worth of roast fixin's. We had both bought enough food to feed our immediate families, and then some. The best part is, neither one of us could remember fixing a roast in our almost four years of marriage. FOUR YEARS gone roastless, and on the same day, we both decide to make a roast.

We just stood there in disbelief for a long time before we both just busted out laughing. There wasn't anything else left to do! We combined some of mine and some of his, and started roasting away. For the rest of the day, we kept saying things to each other like, "Hey honey - you know what sounds good for dinner? A roast!" or when Ben went to run an errand, I said, "Hey babe, I'm thinking about fixing a roast for dinner. Would you please run by the store and get the stuff on the way home?" Oh boy, those jokes never got old.

After we settled down from our dinner debacle, we got to work on the nursery. Here are some shots of our work in progress:





I can't take much credit here - Ben painted the walls, vacuumed the room, and moved all the furniture around. Finally, we got the crib up (Thanks, Aunt Pam!), and thanks to Ben's brother and sister-in-law, we had the bedding already, so I washed it and put it together.




This was where things got surreal. All this time, we have been waiting and anticipating the arrival of our firstborn. And now, the room was coming together, the crib was assembled, the bedding was on, and we were standing there over what would soon hold our biggest, greatest love and accomplishment. We both just looked at each other and smiled for a long time. It was all really happening! THANK YOU, LORD!!!!

After we found the perfect spot for the crib, Ben went and got the moon that we bought on our honeymoon. This moon was hand carved, and we got to meet the artist who made it, in a small village in St. Lucia. He even carved his initials on the bottom of the moon for us that day. Out of all of the pieces that we could have come home with from that trip, Ben chose the moon, because he wanted something for our nursery someday. I'll never forget that day in St. Lucia, and I'll never forget Saturday, when he took it out of our bedroom, where it has been hanging for three years, and placed it above our baby's crib, where it belongs.




There were many other small things we did that day, like organizing gifts and toys, washing more baby stuff, rearranging furniture in 300 ways before we found a place we liked for it all, etc. etc. Oh! And enjoying our wonderful roast dinner. :-)

It was just a Saturday most like any other, but it was so special, and I'll never forget it. The cold, the roast, the books (one of which I started and finished that day while Ben was doing the hard work), the crib, the moon...all parts of the story leading up to the greatest ending, AND beginning, we will ever know. Both Ben and I will look back on this day and remember how we felt, what we did, and how our lives were never the same afterwards.

I LOVE this story. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

HOLLA -