Home Stretch

This was the sunrise through our front porch this morning. It was pretty magical. 

We have been working on, cleaning, painting and rearranging our front porch area the past week and it's turning out nicely. Just need Nate to re-hang the porch swing. Also a new front door that isn't made of wood and doesn't swell in Iowa's heat would be nice.

We had a consultation with the pediatric nephrologist this morning. A few things, 1) Why are all doctors so hard to understand? I don't believe I'm stupid by any means, however, either they are trying to dumb it down to help us and we get lost in translation or they do it on purpose. 2) Apparently baby boy's kindeys are both dialted. I guess the left one wasn't has much of a concern as the right and so there for they failed to mention it. This opens up another possible problem as there could be a blockage in his urethra, which would cause both kidneys to dialate. Awesome.

He was very friendly and informed us exactly what would happen regarding baby's case once he enters the world. He was very clear that he must be contacted after birth and will order an ultrasound as well as want to see him personally. He said to be especially pushing in this regards as some pediatrians don't feel the need to bring up specialists. However, we know we are delivering in the best hospital for our case and that no matter what, this is not life threatening by any means. So we are trucking right along with only 8 weeks, give or take. 

Not sure how that will effect my ability to turn the steering wheel.

We've lucked out with getting 2 date nights the past 2 weekends. Of course this resulted in us going to the tile shop and dinner. Then the second night dinner and the baby store. Of course I got to pick all of Nate's drinks out for him, let'st just say he had a lot of rum and vodka. 

I sent Nate this picture last week with a little note of gratitude for working so hard. It's been a year this week that I have been staying home with these two. I get to be apart of their everyday lives and I know I will never get this time back. Very soon I see Cece approaching those lovely "Tween" years and then on to puberty! 

School starts back up in less than 3 weeks for Cecelia and she is ready to go. She misses her friends during the summer and as much as we enjoyed our laid back schedule this summer, my girl loves a good routine and structure. She likes knowing what her days will be filled with and what is coming next. She is a bit like her Mama. 

Arlo has a home visit with his pre-school teacher the first week Cece is in school and then he begins on his birthday. I'm not sure how he will handle school and structure. Authority figures kind of get the middle finger from him 90% of the time. He also said that if he cries then Cece is required to stay with him throughout the rest of the day. This boy is in for a very shocking next few months. Eventually, it will even itself out. Arlo does everything on Arlo's time, you can push him, guide him or literally throw him into it but he will fight it until he decides it's a good thing. 

With a couple more weeks left of summer and the baby's crib scheduled to arrive within the next few days, life is getting busier and I'm longing to hunker down. I want to watch my kids catch more lightening bugs, go down the slide at the pool a few more hundered times, scrub dirty little bodies from hours in the yard and then tuck them both in while the sun is still setting and smell their clean little heads. 

Geez kids make you feel all the feels, am I right?