I haven't forgotten!!!!

I love my blog. It's happy and has pretty colors.

Well, I have finally gotten caught up on my housework and laundry and boy oh boy, it feels GOOD!!!!! I can't tell you the last time my laundry was all done and put away but I hope I can keep it up! Wish me luck.

The baby has begun to kick harder and more frequently these days. I don't just feel her when I'm laying down at night in my bed holding real still, but also when I'm up and about or riding in the car, etc. It's such a sweet feeling and a quiet reminder that I have a new life growing inside of me. How lucky am I?!

While I feel VERY blessed and honored to house a growing soul, I am also frequently reminded that I'm not a young, spring chicken anymore and the aches and pains are a lot more noticeable as a 31 year old than when I was an 18 year old mother-to-be. I try my best to take it all in stride and remind myself "why" things hurt but it's hard to always stay positive. I do try though and that counts for something!!

The weeks are flying by. I can't believe I'm 24 weeks pregnant tomorrow. Talk about exciting! I don't think I'm having a baby shower, although a friend asked if I was and inquired why not since any baby at any birth order is a reason to celebrate!! I have to say I agree about celebrating a new life, but I'm not into the whole baby shower game thing and I definitely don't need anything for her (except diapers which everyone always needs)...

I am getting nervous about delivery and am not really sure why. I've never had any complications giving birth. At this point, I'm a pro!!! LOL... I know what to expect and what to do and not to do, but knowing each pregnancy and delivery is different, that unknown brings me anxiety. I asked Thong the other day if he wanted to go through a birthing class with me (again)... which I certainly don't feel the need to do, but don't want him to feel excluded from any part of this whole process, so asked in case he wanted to have at it. I had to laugh when he replied that he didn't even do anything last time to help me because I already knew what to do! I beg to differ that he didn't do anything to help, but had no choice but to laugh.

As of now, the baby's first name will be Madeleine. Thong and I discussed Vietnamese names yesterday and he suggested the name Hoai Mi' (his mom's name was Hoai which is pronounced WHY)... yes, he was serious, and NO he didn't think about what I was about to say through fits of hilarious laughter... I said you want to name our child WHY ME???????? (That's how it would be pronounced)... HAHAHAHA... He started to laugh and said he didn't think of it that way and was only thinking about the name in Vietnamese which is apparently a very well-respected name. SO THEN... I asked if he had any other ideas and one was Hue which I liked and the another that he liked was Phuoc (yes, it's pronounced how you think)... I was about to pee my pants I was laughing so hard at this point and said "This poor baby! You want to name her Phuoc Hoai Mi" I still crack up thinking about it. Bless his heart. He is so innocent. He really doesn't THINK of things like this. It takes my little convoluted mind to put it together, but thankfully ONE OF US thinks this way or our bundle of joy would be bound to relentless teasing at some point in her educational future!

Well I would write more but the kids are all off to bed and the house is finally quiet. I'm going to pull my sheets down and climb into a nice clean bed and watch some tv before drifting off to lala land. Goodnight, friends.