Pregnancy Post #14, How Alice has helped us get ready.

          My Doctor told me 37 weeks is considered "term", so I'm days away from term and it's getting real. I know he's getting ready because I'm feeling more pressure from him pushing down. I think I stress this more in my Christmas posts, but I am a BIG list maker. As a result, I've kind of looked at the registries and compiled a list of things we still needed. Yesterday we took out our gift cards we got a bunch taken off the list. By the end of Friday, we will have everything we need before he gets here, and a LOT of the stuff we know can wait.

          We have been busy around the house, my nesting has continued. We've been doing laundry and organizing a LOT. Where Jake sleeps is waiting for him now. I'm getting used to having his set up RIGHT beside me while I sleep... oddly enough, I sleep better now than I did without it there.

           Cale and I have had some quiet moments in the last couple days where we've discussed different things we feel strongly about when it comes to raising Jake. Not that we haven't had random talks like this many times over the years, but these tend to be a little deeper.

           I can't tell you how happy I am that we have Alice. I feel like to a lesser extent, Alice has taught Cale and I to parent together. I don't think it would shock anyone to know, I'm the authority in our house, the enforcer. Alice's boundaries and rules have been solidified by me, but Cale backs up my moves. Cale is more laid back than I am, and before we got her, I told him, the deal is, we're on the same page always, we never undermine each other, even if we don't 100% agree, we are united. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how he would do with this. We've had Alice 4 years now, and we're a team. He has done fantastic. So I walk into parenthood confident in us as a team. Good thing because we're close now.

         One thing I have to share too, Alice sleeps in our room, generally she just lays on top of a pillow on Cale's side of the bed. The first night Jake's bed was set up in our room, I heard her moving around in the middle of the night. I woke up to her pillow being right beside Jake's bed. I keep telling people, she knows I'm having puppies, she just doesn't know how many.

          K, Luv Ya, Bye

          Nancy