more recent news

of course, foremost in my mind is the countdown to baby's arrival. today marks 37 weeks. huzzah! i'm down to weekly dr. visits, and i'm feeling guilty that my bag isn't packed yet. i guess i subconsciously don't believe it "could happen any time now." then again, i was induced twice. anyway, highlights from the past week or so:
1. the election is over!
2. prop 8 passed! (although it doesn't feel over on that one)
3. Wicked was amazing. really thought-provoking story, witty dialogue, great music. kudos to troy for getting tickets and initiating a date!
4. dean got his first "big poop" prize--rocky the crane car. all he could talk about once it was out of the package was taking it to kansas grandma's house so rocky could help gordon get back on the tracks. so, kansas grandma, we're coming for you! (for those of you unfamiliar with our potty training terminology, a "big poop" is one that is completely on the toilet--not some here, some there, let's pick some up from anywhere)
5. the weather cooled off for a couple days. that was awesome. i wore long sleeves one day, even.
6. i got to play my flute with the stake choir in stake conference today. i think the practices were more fun, but it's such a pretty piece, and several people commented on my playing afterwards. yay mommy!

things i learned (maybe for the first time, maybe again)
1. protests that block the streets make it hard to get from our house to the theater in under two hours. (our date just happened to be the same night as the protest in front of the temple, causing the temple and sections of santa monica blvd to shut down, which made traffic, well, wicked.)
2. expecting to complete three errands in the same outing, with two kids in tow, is just too ambitious for one as pregnant as i.
3. expecting to be able to recover from such a morning quickly is also too ambitious for one as pregnant as i.
4. the secret to a clean (enough) house is just doing something every single day.
5. it's really okay to call someone for help when i find myself drowning--it's what friends are for. i don't have to do everything myself. (thanks, ellen!)
6. the list of things that need to be done is often shorter on paper than it is when everything is swimming around in my head. and not everything is really an all-day project, even though it seems that way. deciding to do one thing per day and then actually doing it is really satisfying.
7. i can change the mood in our house by singing a song.
8. potty training really is a process. all processes have ups and downs. the bottom line is, as long as progress is being made, things are moving in the right direction.

parting thoughts:
perspective breeds patience. when you step back far enough, an hour, a day, a month gets shorter in the grand scheme of things. anything that is not eternal is temporary. we need to use the stages in our lives to learn eternal truths that we can take with us.
i need to remind myself of this often, especially when i'm changing diapers or picking up every toy we own again, but knowing that it won't be this way forever is what keeps me going sometimes. i know i will miss things about this time in my life in the future, so i'm trying to just enjoy the ride--and i do, often. my dad told me, "these are the good old days," so i try to think of things that way. these are the stories our kids will crack up about in 10 years and the rest of their lives. life is good.