Sitting on "Go!"

Well, our littlest guy is officially due in 11 days.  We spent this last weekend trying to put the finishing touches on the nursery.  We have been slow to make decisions there, so we are awaiting much of the wall decor still.  Part of it will be Newbie's name, which is still not officially determined, so not able to be officially ordered.  Once ordered, the letters will take six weeks or so to be made.  Aunt Cat is making the other major wall decor and hopefully bringing it with her when she comes to meet the little guy.  Aside from those things, I think we have everything as "ready-to-go" as possible.  Still, it is hard to say we are "ready."

DH has to work this week and so do I.  We have Nanny K on stand-by to care for LO at any hour of the day. (God bless Nanny K!) We'd really like to meet Newbie, but we're hoping to meet him next week rather than this one.  At my OB appointment today, I was a "generous 3 cm," and she thinks my labor will be short when the regular contractions start.  It is so hard to have everything in place and still live our lives.  You know...you stock up on essentials, but they get used.  You have laundry done, but it gets worn.  You wash the car, and it gets dirty.  (Ok we haven't done that yet, but I want it to be clean at the right time!)

Then there's LO.  Maybe it's just a phase for him, or maybe he has the idea that something is about to happen around here.  He was been terribly affectionate lately.  The other night I got about 12 hugs and a few kisses over the course of one bedtime book.  Maybe he was just stalling?  He has spontaneously offered "I love you" to DH and me a number of times.  On the flip side he cried for an hour today before settling down for his nap.  He hasn't done that in many, many months.  As ready as we can make the house, there just is no making LO ready.  We've read books, we've visited the babies at the nursery, we've talked about baby brother A LOT.  Is it too much to hope for just a few days of calm family time now that we have most of our "stuff" in order?  Last night one of my girlfriends told me to "enjoy the quietness of (having) one."  We'd like to do that this weekend and early next week.  We know there will be a lot of chaos before we figure out how to enjoy the fun of two!