Expecting

We are two weeks away from the due date of our new baby and the excitement is mounting.

I'm feeling mostly ready, having gathered baby things from friends and family, put the house in better order, and finished all the important paperwork I had been neglecting. Of course, there are still endless tasks to do, but if I were to go into labor right now, I'd feel prepared. Mostly, now, I feel like we're waiting, joyfully anticipating what this new little being will be like.

Annabel is especially interested. She talks about her new baby sister all the time and always wants to "listen to the baby." She is really quite sweet and gives hugs and kisses to my belly throughout the day.

More and more I think about how this baby will change our family. Not just the whole roller coaster of having an infant in the house again, but the changes in the family dynamic. Annabel will go from the baby of the family (a position she relishes) to being a big sister, and the middle child. How will that change her?

We joke about how we've decided this baby will be our Buddha-baby, a child that brings peace and calm and enlightenment to our family, but who knows what she'll be like?

We're waiting to find out.