Monday, March 16, 2015

we're entering a new stage of life

i'm at the point in pregnancy where i have to remind myself that i'm not going to be perpetually pregnant... with two kids.  eventually i'll turn into not pregnant... with three kids.  that's kind of terrifying to me because this current stage is really nice and easy and i feel like i have the benefits of three kids while only having to do the work required for two kids.

the transition from one kid to two kids wasn't a huge deal.  i mean, brady was kind of a nightmare of a newborn, but in all of the practical aspects of having kids, it wasn't a big deal.  we were already used to having toys in all corners of our house, a highchair at our kitchen table, and diapers in my purse.  adding another carseat to our car wasn't a big deal and adding a kid to a previously empty bedroom was also no big deal.  the transition from two to three though is requiring more of an adjustment.  first, we've kind of maxed out the bedrooms in our house.  i realize i'll sound spoiled explaining this, but it should come as a surprise to no one that i'm high maintenance so let's just get over the spoiled part, okay?  we have a four bedroom house.  one is the master bedroom, one is abigail's room, one is brady's room, and one is the guest room.  we don't have any spare bedrooms this time around and every day i'm changing my mind and freaking out and having all this anxiety over how i should configure things to make life with this new baby as easy as possible.  with abigail being our easiest and deepest sleeper, it makes sense to put someone in her room with her... either brady or new baby. the problem though is that i don't really want to mess with brady, and i have no clue what new baby will be like.  another idea is to put a pack n play in our master closet, but from my experiencing having brady sleep in a moses basket/carseat by my bed for several weeks, i've gotta say that it's a pain having your child sleep in a place that doesn't have a designated spot for nursing, diaper changing, and dressing.  i need everything to be in the same spot.  we could also put new baby in a corner of the playroom but i'm not sold on that.  or we could put new baby in the guest room (as a guest herself) and just make do for a while... which is actually our best option at this point... hoping that after a few months, it will be clear whether we should move brady in with abigail or new baby in with abigail.  another option is to just finish our basement... but that's not the most financially sound thing to do because we won't recoup the costs when we sell... which will likely be before baby number four.  anyways... those are my thoughts during the day.

also, i was planning to keep my rav 4 until we had four kids.  it's really small, but i figured that i could make it work if i bought three slim fitting carseats.  well, after a lot of research online about our rav four, i discovered that the latch and seat belt configuration and spacing wouldn't allow for a safe install for any carseat in the middle position.  so that eliminated my dreams of fitting three across and i talked to chris about needing a new car.  well, we're likely going to get a minivan in the next two weeks.  i'm excited for the change, but also getting really nostalgic and sad about letting go of my rav 4.  i've never really loved this car, but lately i've realized how much i've actually learned to like it!  i really enjoy driving stick... not just for the extra safety in the snow, it's just kind of nice day to day.  although it is a pain when i need to do something like collect brady's banana peels before he throws them overboard.  because driving stick requires all four limbs.  but even aside from being fun to drive, it's just a nice little compact car that turns well and is easy to park and whatever.  also, it's not super nice or flashy... it just blends in and makes you feel at home.  and has never made me anxious to have my kids eat in the car or get their dirty or snowy shoes all over.  it was really basic and had cloth seats and, as i said, never stole my heart or had me excited to drive it.  whatever minivan i get will be far nicer... so that's great.  but the rav 4... i've known it the whole time i've known my honey.  this was the car he had at byu when we met.  when i got interested in my honey and learned that his car was manual, i told him i'd always wanted to be able to drive stick shift (goodness bless diana and lisa, because despite putting in so many hours with me during high school... i was still horrific) and he took lots of time teaching me.  when we got engaged and realized i would need to be able to actually drive that car in traffic and on hills, we had even more lessons.  it's crazy to me now that i've been driving this car for our entire marriage.  who would have ever thought on those first few dates and group outings to the ice skating rink that years later, i'd be trucking our two kids around in that car... to preschool, the library, playdates... and that we would take family roadtrips and outings together in that car.  it's been fun to have it grow with us over the years.  my first memory in that car was sitting in the middle of the back with my roommates and honey's as we drove someplace super exciting like to ice skating or wendy's.  i remember listening to some sort of punk rock music and berating honey for not wearing his seatbelt and laughing with sawah about who knows what.  it's all pretty crazy since that was in january of 2006.  ; )

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