The Second Time Around

It hit me like a ton of bricks today - I'm in my third trimester. My baby girl will be here in two-and-a-half months. This pregnancy has literally flown by. And I don't have a single picture of myself pregnant. I mean, sure there are a few photos with me in them, but none that really show my pregnancy...and it makes me kind of sad. When I was pregnant with Violet we took at least one belly photo a month, and I really and truly thought I'd eventually get around to that kind of stuff with this pregnancy, but life just moves too fast these days. I feel like I don't really get a minute to sit and think about this new baby, this pregnancy. I'm too busy working all day, chasing after my toddler, and squeezing in a few minutes here and there to blog. It's so, so different from the last time I was pregnant and it pretty much occupied my every waking thought.

I know things are only going to get busier when the new baby is here, and I'm really worried that I'm missing important things - that I'm going to look back and regret not taking pictures of my belly and not keeping a journal about my pregnancy and, and and...

So I've decided (just now as I write this post - this is literally stream of consciousness, working it out as I type here) that maybe I should think about what is important to me with this pregnancy, get it down on 'paper', and really focus on those things. Before it's over and I totally miss it. So here's what I'm thinking so far:

• Take at least one photo of myself pregnant that I love
• Take a photo of Violet interacting with the baby (she's started to talk to my belly, give it kisses, and even sometimes tries to pry open my belly button to see her 'baby sistuhr') 
• Write a few letters to Violet and to my new little girl
• Take some time to do the practical stuff - look into getting my insurance company to pay for a breast pump, decide on bottles, pick out a couple of new baby outfits and blankets, turn in my maternity leave paperwork, etc.
• Finish the nursery
• Plan the baby's baptism for when my sister is here visiting from Australia
• Come up with a for-sure name for our new little girl

These are the things that I feel should be on my mind, things that are important to me that I want or need to get accomplished. Maybe, just maybe getting them down in a concrete form will help? I hope so! On a positive note, I think Violet has actually finally turned a corner with the whole sleep thing, so hopefully that will help this tired mama get it together! (More on that to come - hopefully I'm not jinxing it by typing it on here, eek!) Anyway, sorry for the rambling post. If you made it through I applaud you! xo, Lauren

P.S. Anyone know the original source of the beautiful image above? I found it here.