Coming together

Well, things seem to be coming together a little bit better these days. This might be a long post, so I'll bullet point.

• For starters, our weekend was super productive. We finished off our guest room. Okay, not completely - we haven't really decorated it - but we did finally take the leap of getting a sleeper sofa so guests aren't relegated to an air mattress on the floor. We had a hard time deciding on how to furnish the guest room - bed, or sleep sofa? Single function or multipurpose? We finally decided on multipurpose, so that if need be (and second child should appear on the scene sooner rather than later) we can always move the study downstairs. Unless we decide to turn the formal sitting room into a study, but that would require the installation of French doors if I'm working from home because company policy decrees that I need a door on my workspace for privacy. And depending on my hours, being hidden away downstairs would be much more conducive to a productive work life is the kidlet's in the house. We actually had a fun Saturday evening at Ikea. After purchasing our sleeper sofa and arranging for delivery, we had dinner in the café - for $10! And it was a really yummy dinner! I had a vegetable soup that rivals my mom's homemade, and a pretty decent salad. Hubs had Swedish meatballs with lingonberries and those were some tasty Swedish meatballs (as is now customary, I finished my dinner and then started mooching off his plate).
• Sunday I did laundry, finally finished painting the closet in the study, and got things ready for my mom's arrival on Friday. I was so exhausted by Sunday night that I fell into bed and slept harder than I have in ages.
• Also, on Saturday Hubs' dad got released from the rehab place and came home! We welcomed him with homemade signs and had a family lunch to celebrate his homecoming.
• In between putting up signage and lunch, we popped out to visit a church daycare open house that made me think I'd died and gone to Heaven. So. Wonderful. And so $$$$$. But all in all, things are looking up with the daycare situation, at least a little bit. I visited another center about 5 minutes from our house yesterday, and it was a step up from what I'd been seeing. I also got in touch with one of Hubs' childhood friends whose mother used to do in-home daycare, and got several referrals from her (sadly, she herself no longer provides daycare). So there are more options than I'd imagined and I'm excited (rather than dreading) to check them all out and find the best situation for us.
• On a work front, I'm focused on getting my numbers where they would need to be so I'm competitive for an at-home slot. This means über productivity, and I'm exhausted by the end of the week. But I think I could pull it off... fingers crossed. The work-from-home program is becoming very desirable and the competition is definitely stiff, so please cross fingers!
• Today we had an OB appointment and heard the baby's heartbeat - everything's looking good and the baby was moving around like crazy! Our doc had trouble keeping up with him. This is a huge relief because I've read a million things that suggest that as a relatively thin person, I ought to be feeling the baby move by now. And I'm not. At all. So hearing the heart hammering away was much appreciated reassurance. Next Friday we go for our 20 week ultrasound and find out the gender!
• Poor Hero was sick yesterday! He didn't even greet me when I came home last night - he just lay on the floor and looked up at me piteously. He was lethargic and his belly seemed swollen. He just looked up at Hubs and I as if to say "Fix it, please..." It was heartbreaking. But I'm happy to report that last night he threw up, and hence this morning he appears to be back to his normal self - energetic (although still slightly less so) and with wagging tail. When I came home from the OB's he jumped up to greet me and pawed me until I petted him. That's the dog we know and love :)

And that sums up things with us. It's been a tiring few weeks but all in all I'm much more hopeful that things will work out okay for our future. Deep breaths and full steam ahead.