With my parents coming in less than two weeks, Dave and I are trying to clean the house as much as we can. We’re re-arranging furniture, throwing old things out, recycling what can be recycled, and possibly even buying new furniture. I’ve had my eyes set on getting one of those audio racks because our music collection is starting to get out of control. We have CDs randomly dispersed around the house and it’s hard for me to find any particular album to play immediately.

What’s important is that we make this house a home, and it is indeed a home. It is filled with baby gurgles and laughs and baby talk and lullabies and family noises. It is perfect in whatever state it is (minus the many loads of dirty laundry that always needs to be done all the time).

How amazing that life has become so simple yet so satisfying these days. My days are very predictable — feed baby, burp baby, change baby — and yet it is so incredibly lovely and wonderful. The first month was hard, I’ll give you that. But now, it seems like I can’t remember what it was like pre-baby. With a baby taking over your whole life, you end up really prioritizing your free time. And right now, my free time is entirely spent on the computer. Haha. Not much new there. I just find it rather amusing.

Even priorities that concern the self have changed as well. I don’t really take mind about what I’m wearing these days or how I look (which isn’t really far from the past, haha). I do notice certain things changing (like how much weight I’m losing exponentially, without even the help of the average diet pills), but they’ve ceased to be of much importance to me.

I suppose, what I’m trying to say is… pregnancy and motherhood have made me even more of a humble hippie. Heh.

Do you know what your BillsIQ is? I think as far as my life is concerned, my bill IQ has changed depending on what lifestyle I’m leading and what phase of life I’m in. When I was in college, I had a really hard time managing money, and found myself in several different small (albeit still stressful) financial disasters, all of which concerned overspending and credit card debts. I had to ask my parents for assistance many times because of the mistakes I made, and thank goodness they were in the position to be able to help me. Now, I’m a lot smarter about my money and my spending, and know how to save a lot more readily. It’s hard when you’re put out there on your own for the first time, and all you want to do is enjoy that freedom — having your own money without anyone telling you how to spend it is a dangerous thing if you’re not as prepared as you should be. Some mistakes last a lifetime (I hear of people owing hundreds of thousands of dollars well into their old age because of the crap they bought and accumulated before they even hit 25 years old), while others only take a few years to fix. I hope I am never in the position to be in another financial disaster ever again. But if I do, at least I know there are places out there to help me understand money better and how to cope with it.

One of the things I’ve been very grateful for during these last few weeks after bringing Lily Bean home is a simple household. I’m not one to crave living in a mansion with lots of bedrooms, bathrooms, and a theatre complete with home theater seating. I like things simple. I realized how very simple I like things when we brought the baby home… it makes life a lot more manageable, especially with having to look after a newborn baby. I like that I can clean the house in under an hour. I like that it doesn’t take a week to vacuum the whole house. I like that I don’t have much to dust to keep surfaces clean. I like all that. So, I’m entirely grateful for my simple needs, and our simple home.

One of the things I’m so grateful for still, that doesn’t seem to get old, is that I’m all completely done with paperwork at work. I was supposed to be caught up before July rolled around, but I actually got done on July 4… waay before Baby Lily Bean was born, so I have nothing to complain about. It’s so nice not having to worry about all those reports and summaries that come with every single case. I love it. My memory stick is completely full of all these cases, and they’re all closed. Closed out, woohoo!! I hate that nagging feeling that I didn’t do what I’m supposed to do for work. I guess my work ethic is better than I thought it was. Haha. So now that everything is done, I just have to concentrate on loving Bean and taking care of her. I can do that. Easily.

It’s been a while since I’ve created a “gratitude” post. I will do one now, since there are so many things to be grateful for right now. Most of them will have to do with our latest addition, Ms. Lily Bean herself. Bare with me. I am absolutely in love with this little creature we brought into this world, so it’s gonna be sappy and corny for quite a while.

- her beautiful face
- her five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot
- her little mouse squeaks and squeals
- her loud, “listen to me!!!” yelps when she’s hungry or demanding
- the way she looks when she sleeps
- her big dark eyes
- her perfect little button nose
- her rosebud lips
- her :O facial expression
- her farts and torpedo poops — they’re SO funny!
- her cuddles
- Dave and the way he has fallen in love with his daughter
- the way Dave talks to her
- Dave’s support and overall generosity to help me heal and get better
- family
- everyone healthy and happy
- getting my xray done today — WOOHOO!!
- everyone so excited over Lily Bean’s birth
- her chubby cheeks — the Lu cheeks!

Ah so many things to be grateful for. Even though I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in several weeks, this is completely worth it. She is such a precious little gem. The only thing that I have to complain about is that I can’t get back into my yoga routine for 6-8 weeks after the birth while I’m healing after the c-section. I miss yoga soo much, and not being able to exercise during and after the pregnancy is killing me. I miss being in tuned with my body that way. My tum is going down nicely, on its own, while my uterus is getting back to the shape it was before pregnancy (aka: small). I’m not one to use anything like Fenphedra diet pills, so exercising and eating right will be completely awesome. I can’t wait!

I discovered a site that’s really neat… full of weird little talented stuff that kids do. It’s called Gonnabe.com. At Gonnabe.com, there are some really talented things to see. This particular one that I’ve linked is a little funny spoof on America’s favorite all-time classic Barbie doll. It’s not how you remember her, though, but it’s a helluva lot funnier, I’d say. It makes me want to check the site out, and I think you should do the same too. There are some pretty cool things to see there! It’s a good place to start if you’re a kid (or your kid) who wants to be in the entertainment business. Check out all the different “Be” entries there. Some of them are pretty cute and others are just plain hilarious! It’s pretty kid friendly too, and quite entertaining.