Preparations

Jonathan and I have been married now for over 8 and 1/2 years and been together for almost 10! Such an incredible 10 years it's been :) Things in our lives have been so "stable" for the last few years (if you can ever call residency life stable) so adding in George has been something so new to figure out.

I THINK that physically we are prepared. In the past months we have not only prepared the nursery, but remodeled a bathroom, put down hardwoods in our carpeted room, and (are in the process) of having living room furniture slipcovered (in anticipation of the many varieties of bodily fluids and sticky foods common to infants and toddlers).

We took a relaxing baby-moon as instructed.

We made sure our highlights are fresh.

We are expecting and trying to prepare for residency-like fatigue and sleeplessness (maybe worse?).

We have been instructing E and PA on proper baby etiquette (like no licking his face or barking during his naps). Per pet expert instructions, they also have a special blanket that George will sleep on in the hospital and will then go into their room so they can smell his sweetness in advance of meeting him.

BUT!!!! What about the MOST important part of preparing for George? (I've seen the "Babies" documentary and have worked with indigent children long enough to know that babies don't even need diapers to survive and thrive, much less all this other stuff!) What about the emotional and the spiritual preparation for being parents and welcoming a new person into our family?

Over the past months, I have listened to many, many parents (old and new) try to describe this transition and asked for advice on making it ourselves. However, so many times I've heard "there is really no way to prepare for it." Although probably this is true, it is still incredibly frustrating for a "planner" such as yours truly!!!

God loves me. (And probably tired of my rambling prayers on the subject.) So he sent me such a sweet answer this morning via email :) Thank you Alisa (fellow over-planner) for this amazing article.

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2011/07/preparing-my-heart-for-motherhood.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PassionateHomemaking+%28Passionate+Homemaking%29

I know I won't be totally ready for Baby G no matter what I do, but this is such an encouragement and these seem to be some wonderful guidelines for preparing our hearts and spirits for our little blessing!