All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready to Go...

Well, sort of...our hospital bags are packed, and we're as ready as I guess we'll ever be to go have these babies! The bags are in the car, the car seats are in the car, the nursery is all set up (for now, anyway), and we are playing the waiting game. My blood pressure was getting a little higher than the doctors wanted to see it, so as of last week I have been home resting and waiting. It's quite a different lifestyle from working full time, especially since Sarah has been going to school. In fact, as of today, I think I could get used to this pace :-) When I went to the doctor last week, they did a routine ultrasound and discovered that Baby Lauren decided to flip around and she is no longer head-down, so at this point, they are recommending a C-section just to be on the safe side, unless she changes her mind and turns around again. We went ahead and scheduled the C-section for next Tuesday, August 31st! I can't believe it's just over a week away!!! I have tried and tried to coax the babies to go ahead and be born now, but it looks at this point like we will be going all the way to the 31st :-) I will be 38 1/2 weeks at that point, so it's still just a little before my due date, but I'm sure they will be plump and healthy by that point!

Two weeks after the babies are born, we're moving. Great timing, right? After a long, grueling summer of trying to sell our house and having no "bites," we suddenly got an offer one day! What an answer to prayer! We are closing on this house sometime between now and September 16th. We also have an offer on a "new" house (after a LONG weekend of stressful home searching- the house we picked was the LAST of about 30 that we looked at), and we'll close on that one on September 16th. So the bags at home are somewhat packed as well. Well, there is still a long way to go, but I think we've made outstanding progress and will be in great shape for moving out in just a few weeks! It's very strange to spend weeks and weeks in your house surrounded by boxes, and boxes, and boxes.....but I know packing now is the smart choice and that once next week gets here, our minds will be elsewhere!

Oh, by the way, Jeremy started a new job two weeks ago. We can't do anything simply, can we? He started his job as "Assistant Professor of Physics" at Kennesaw State University and has been commuting 1+ hours each way at odd hours of the day to avoid Atlanta morning and evening traffic (hence the move to Acworth). So far he seems to enjoy his new job and is so excited about getting his research program going. He's teaching one class this semester, which doesn't sound like much, but it pretty much takes up most of his time at this point. Hopefully once that gets settled into a routine, he will have more time to focus on his research. He's also planning to go to Colorado at the end of September to present at a conference. Thanks to Mimi, who is planning to come stay the week with us here while Jeremy is gone, I think we might survive the week while he is out of town!

My goal this week, besides relaxing and enjoying what I feel like is my last week of "me time" forever, is spending some quality one on one time with Sarah and making sure she knows how special she is to all of us and that she will be a great big sister and that more importantly, she is already a great daughter :-) As much as I'd like to be glued to the couch at all hours of the day, and as hard as it is lately to get up and down off of the floor, I've still tried to do what I can with Sarah and make sure she is enjoying the rest of her summer and getting lots of "mommy time." We've spent a lot of time at the pool, and we are all so excited that Sarah finally wants to swim all by herself (with her floaties)! She has been nothing less than terrified of being let go of in the water ALL SUMMER, until one day this past weekend Nana was able to sneakily let go and Sarah actually realized she enjoyed it! Yay Sarah! This will make going swimming with three children a bit easier (I didn't say easy!) next summer, I assume. Enjoy the assortment of pictures below--it's been awhile since the last update!















Look at me! I can swim all by myself!















Painting a masterpiece for her new bedroom




















Sarah "performing" for her last day of dance/gymnastics at The Little Gym















Is that a big belly or what???















Sarah and her new best friend (ie. cousin) Elizabeth















Mary Evelyn's wedding was so much fun!




















Preparing for her debut as "The Flower Girl"




















Sarah with her quadruplets- I hope she doesn't think I'm having 4 babies!




















At Mary Evelyn's bridal luncheon, reading her new flower girl book




















Getting ready to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July!















Mommy tried out taking black and white pictures :-)