Getting There

**madison snuggling with 'baby brother' on a park bench, in forest park - st. louis.**

i'm officially 35 weeks pregnant and don't find it necessary to provide any more visual documentation than the above picture. :) just think large and uncomfortable with awhile still to go.  we're really hoping this little boy joins us in a few short weeks, as long as he's good and healthy of coarse. 

for some reason i thought things would start to wind down the closer it got to his due date but the opposite keeps happening.  a brief summary of the last week?  sure, why not: a haircut, Easter dinner hosted at our house, a week of teaching preschool, missionaries plus investigator over for dinner, mutual, the temple, 36 hour family vacation to st. louis, stake youth dance (yours truly in charge), visiting teachee over for dinner, presidency meeting, carpet cleaning, dr appt, new calling for dan (EQ president, though he's still acting as executive secretary till someone else is called), and this weekend i'm helping with a class for our stake relief society conference and we're hosting a BBQ for all the derm residents and their families.  this doesn't include daily household and familial responsibilities, which take plenty of time themselves.

i'm exhausted...to put it lightly.

the neat thing amidst all this craziness is that it seems like we're finally figuring things out.  living life going full speed ahead has taught us to prioritize better than we ever have before.  we're finally, maybe, starting to get this parenting thing down and our girls on a routine that works (just in time to throw a new baby in the mix!).  we are more consistent than ever before when it comes to the important but simple things like reading scriptures and saying prayers, as a family and a couple.  we're communicating more about our schedules and wants and needs as we're figuring out how to balance all of our responsibilities.  and we're learning how to really love and serve and be more diligent in our callings.

it's almost like the crazier life gets, the better we're getting at fitting all the pieces together.  hopefully adding all the changes a new baby brings will just be one more piece to our puzzle.  either way, they're getting closer - baby brother's arrival and where we want to be as a family.  both have us smiling.

outside the st. louis temple, on the way home from our mini vacation.

 

 timber......

pictures and details of our trip in the near future!