Signs of Spring

Last night after putting kids in bed...ish (aka they fought bedtime for quite a while), I happened to notice the sunset out the door window as I was coming downstairs. It was beautiful-firery oranges and pinks, but still with white clouds against the blue sky. I stood there at the window for a moment and prayed, and while watching the sunset, I noticed that the tree in our yard, and the neighbor's hard, has buds on it.

Spring is here. Sixty degrees and rainy today. April showers bring May flowers, right? {Click here to see some beautiful free printables by my favorite graphic designer. I have one printed out and framed on our entryway table. And this one as well which is taped to my chalkboard in my office right now.}

 

Spring is here. Buds are on the trees, weather is getting nicer {and windier!} Hope has sprung. Easter will be here soon. We'll remember why He came to die-to give us Life. We'll celebrate why He clung to a cross-to give us Hope.

Spring is here. That means Chloe comes soon. We hit 33 weeks this week, and our doctors even breathed a slight sigh of relief that we've passed the 32 week mark. We'll pray she makes it full term. We're thrilled she's packing on the weight {2lbs 2oz back at the beginning of the month; 2lbs 14oz this week}.

The house is beginning to show signs of all things baby, even if we can't bring her home for nearly a month or more after she comes in May. It's the planner-the nester in me. With everything else we'll be focused on {making sure she's feeding ok, making sure she's not turning blue if she doesn't have that first heart surgery! That one freaks me out, a lot! Making sure we're figured out meds and so on}, I want to at least know when we walk through the doors a month after delivery that everything else is ready.

 A friend blessed us with a swing/vibrating seat for her. I'm googling today how to clean the seat lining to the kids' old carseat {why does it not have washing instructions on it!!}{I think carseats and DIY nursery decor are about the only thing my husband and doctor have allowed me to google these days!}, and excited to put in the new carseat head protection for wee little babies and carseat straps...they're pink with little grey birds ;). Bought a cute little headband set. Found a set of pink crib sheets on clearance {Lord knows we'll need them, esp. since she'll have a G-Tube and might have many messes...and because a certain older sister ruined all the other ones with the great crayon-in-the-washer-and-dryer-incident}. Bought my first ever pack of preemie sized diapers...CANNOT believe how TINY they are! Tempted to put one on Abi's baby doll for a size comparison pic. Washing up all the receiving blanket material I bought for a friend to sew the edges-will need them to tuck beside her in her crib and carseat since she'll be so little. Laying in bed at night feeling her movements. And she flipped-head down now, but still CSection. Still thankful for a bit of relief though from her flipping.

I called a friend who'd offered her pack-n-play with bassinet and changing thing on it. Borrowed it the other day and gave her our plain pack n play to borrow. I set it up in our room with the kiddos the other evening. Then yesterday while in the garage I spotted the box from our pack n play, the one we were blessed with as a gift from the staff my husband works with back when our son was born, the box that showed the bassinet included on the side and thought what in the world??? Took the box down and opened it to find, get this, a bassinet attachment and changing thingy. We HAD ONE THIS WHOLE TIME!!! How did I not realize we had this?!? I even borrowed a bassinet when our daughter was born because we were needing one, all the while it was in our BASEMENT! Sigh. So I'll be taking down my friend's and setting up ours instead. Go ahead. Laugh at me. My husband did.

Don't get me wrong-still a LOT of fears and concerns now that we're in the homestretch of 6 weeks till delivery, but continuing to choose to wrecklessly love her.

It was a long winter. The longest I've known. Oh how I wanted to get past the snow and grey and gloom. But I think there are times we have to go through the greyness and gloominess of winter to truly appreciate the blossoms of spring. We have to go through the valleys so that our eyes are forced upward to the Creator of the mountains. We have to feel the burn of fire to appreciate the scent of the spring rain on the way.

New baby birds are chirping. New grass is growing. New stems are starting to burst through the ground. New buds are on the trees. And soon we hope to hear a baby's newborn cry and celebrate new life.

Welcome, Spring.