nostalgia

part of getting ready for davis has required a great deal of organizing, sorting, storing and throwing away things that we just don't need anymore to make room for the massive amount of stuff that comes with having a baby. this has been a challenge for me--i was born with the "pack rat" gene and it's hard for me to part with something that's sentimental or brings back a positive memory of some sort. (i also have horrible housekeeping skills and keep a cluttered house--cluttered, mind you, not dirty. i've been like this since i was kid and thankfully, justin understands and tolerates it.) so a couple of weeks ago, we cleared out some room in our bedroom so that we would have room for his pack and play/bassinet that we'll use in there for the first couple of months. justin did a great job of creating piles of stuff for me and allowing me to say "keep" or "trash" then making it disappear. just what i needed

this weekend, we headed home to fayetteville for a similar purpose--getting our room ready there, including going through a bookshelf of stuff that has easily been there untouched for the past 10 years. i brought back a huge storage tub of stuff that will go in our attic that i couldn't throw away, but it's neater, less dusty, and we have some room for davis' things there now.

we also got together with our family and celebrated all of the late july/august birthdays--there are 5 in our immediate family!

my cousins and aunt blowing out the candles. i got to spend some extra time with them on saturday doing back-to-school shopping, where we unsuccessfully looked for school-appropriate length shorts. i'm not sure i would do well being a teenager these days--there were few choices that would have passed my requirements for length, much less what their school requires!
and sunday, after seeing a ton of people at church and having a nice lunch out, we unearthed another addition for the nursery--a changing table that was made for me almost 28 years ago by my grandfather, whose name will be davis' middle name.
obviously it needs a little bit of wood putty here and there, and we'll give it a fresh coat of paint and some new shelf liners. but i'm so proud to have this piece of furniture used by my son.

and in all of this sorting and throwing away and going through old memories and hauling pieces of furniture that used to be mine--something kinda hit me. so much of the stuff that i've been putting away in storage tubs and yard sale piles are things that represent my life growing up and the friends i had and the things i did. and i realized that it was putting away one childhood in order to prepare for another--and that made me feel old. and wise. and very nostalgic.

as did this--finally getting around to ordering our 2009 yearbook. i think i love this one even more than last year's....
and flipping through the pages, it's very hard to believe that this all happened last year...it feels like so long ago!
but the layouts and photo quality are just perfect (and we realized that we are obsessed with our dog and she's probably in the book more often than we are.)
and then we think how different this year's book will be--and next year's book is just unimaginable at this point. wow. how things will change.

okay, enough seriousness. let's close this up with a "justin and pepper on the couch" picture.
ahh, yes, that's more like it. wouldn't be the end of a blog post without one :)

(p.s. i passed my glucose screen! thank goodness! going out tonight to celebrate and getting a doughnut for dessert--ironic, yes, but i'm so excited about it and have been looking forward to it allll day.)