Tying up loose ends

It's funny, with Matthew and with Samantha I hit my weekly milestones on Mondays.  Tomorrow I will hit 29 weeks.  By this time with Matthew I had already gone over 5 weeks with little to no fluid surrounding him and confined to a hospital bed being waited on.  I will be 4 weeks away from how far along I was when I delivered Matthew.  I already know Samantha will have the opportunity for a stronger start than he had.  She will have had all this time with fluid surrounding her, helping her grow and learn to breath, expanding her lungs and helping her mature.  That is a lot to a little one.

All I have to do is keep that water intact for 6 more weeks.  That would get me to my reunion, Samantha's (the sister, not the baby :P) wedding and to 35 weeks.  At 35 weeks, baby girls have a really good chance of going home with mom if they are born.  That's what we want.  We don't want to subject her to the NICU, we want to take her home.  With us.  6 weeks and we're there.

And that isn't too far off.  I'm determined to have everything ready by then.  And for the most part, we do.  We have everything we could possibly need to bring her home today.  She has more clothes than she'll be able to wear in a month, all washed in gentle baby detergent and hanging up or folded in a drawer by size.  She has a beautiful nursery that her big sister is so excited to read to her every night in and a co-sleeper for her to sleep next to us in every night.  I have found a photographer to do maternity shots of our family, one who is willing to help us incorporate her big brother into the pictures in addition to her big sister.  We will be doing them either at 32 or 33 weeks, depending on when we can get the perfect time :)

And because I know having a 1st grader and a newborn at home will not be a walk in the park, I've finished most of the planning for Kaitlyn's party.  I have my "idea list" and my "to-do" list.  I have my shopping list, complete with costs and links to where I'm ordering what from.  I have my diagram ready to set up for the party, I have the invite list, invitations made and waiting for a picture of Kaitlyn to complete it.  I have envelopes addressed and waiting to be sent (unless you don't think 12 weeks before the party is too early to send them :P).

I have plans started for Dusty's 30th surprise party and hope to finalize a lot of them this week.  And of course, I have my Christmas shopping list made so I can keep my eye out for things now.  If Christmas wrapping paper was already out, I would probably buy it now just so I can wrap as I go if I find anything early :)

Kaitlyn has picked out her Halloween costume.  I had planned on ordering it, but she is really close in the size charts and I don't want to get too big or too small, so as soon as those Halloween stores open up, we're there :) 

I've been determined to go to start the day and go to bed every night with a clean house, all the laundry washed and put away and dishes done.  Just in case.  I have most of my doctor's appointments for the rest of the pregnancy scheduled, and I have the greatest family to help us :)