35 Weeks: Keep on Keepin' On

Six weeks of bed rest down, two to go.

Goodness, it's been hard. I've been humbled, really and truly. I've essentially been removed from my life, unable to get Lyla out of her crib or throw food in the crock pot or run to Target or wash Nora's clothes or any of those small, exquisite things I would have been doing all this time.

But the world—and our little world—has somehow continued on, and everything is fine even though my to-do list has been neglected. I think it's good to be reminded of that sometimes.

I've also learned that:

• Your mom is wonderful to care for you when you're a child, but you don't fully appreciate her until you're big and you still need her. And then you see her caring for YOUR child and your respect for her quadruples, times a million. At least that was my experience. (Miss you, Mom! Come back soon!)
• I can learn to cut my own bangs by watching YouTube. It definitely wasn't my first choice but the situation was dire.
• Ryan is even more capable than I thought he was. And I thought he was pretty capable before.
• Lyla is more resilient than I thought she was.
• Downton Abbey is even better the third time through. I'm only a little bit embarrassed to admit I know that.
• We are not in control. Ryan and I thought we had this whole pregnancy planned out, thought we knew just how far apart our children would be, thought we had a pretty good idea of how big our family would be at the end of this time called "the childbearing years." But we are not in charge of that. God is. And even though we have always prayed about our decisions, we're learning to listen to Him even more closely.

Some more developments from this week:

• My mom and dad sold their house and I'm still processing the news. My bedroom was apparently a big selling point for the family's little girl, and the thought of that room belonging to someone else made me both sentimental and happy. I'm one part in mourning but nine parts excited for my parents to move on, and ninety percent isn't bad.

• I had two doctor appointments last week, one with my OB and one with the perinatologist. The OB said things like "Don't sneeze too hard or she might fall out!" and "I'm afraid you're going to deliver at 36 weeks." The perinatologist said things like "Everything looks beautiful!" and "We might be laughing at ourselves when we have to induce you at 40 weeks."

So we basically have absolutely no clue what to expect or what to tell people.

• Ryan and his team finally submitted their app to the App Store last week and it's available now! If you're in to the Book of Mormon, you'll like this. You can download it (for free!)—and read an earth-shattering (not) app description by Yours Truly—by searching "Mormon Games." If you're not an Apple person, you can see most of it on the website (mormongame.com).

• Work keeps time passing and the mind moving. I was just brought onto a new project and am really excited about the possibilities. You can see my first couple clips here and here if you've got a lot of time on your hands.

And ... that's it for now I guess. Stay tuned for more baby growing.