I'm a failure!!

I did not blog yesterday...I can't believe it.
Well, yesterday I was very injured and I was bedridden, so I couldn't be counted on to entertain. Apparently my attempt to escape my doctor's terrifying hands on Tuesday resulted in major injury to a muscle, so I spent yesterday a little bit laid up, trying to rest it.
When Andrew got home last night, we decided to go for a walk, but it was pretty cold, and I wanted a candy bar. So we drove to Walmart and wandered around, and we tried to decide on a treat to buy with the last $6 on our Walmart card. We had fun, but I had contractions the whole time, and once they started to get painful, we headed out. We watched Sanjaya get kicked off AI, and then we went to bed. I woke up with contractions, but obviously they were just for fun. For a second there, I really thought I was going into labor, but here I am, blogging away!
We sent out an email to our friends last night, imploring them to come up next weekend to help with painting, moving and getting stuff done on the new house. I think we're going to have a decent-sized group to help us out- it would be so great to get everything done in one weekend! If Lucy isn't here, I'll help, if I'm in labor, I'll labor at the apartment and we'll put someone in charge and have the baby, and if she is here, we'll continue with the work, feed the baby, and introduce her to the people who are working so hard to give her a bedroom! I know we're crazy to try to get it all done so soon, but we have a summer with a new baby ahead of us, and I don't want to spend every single weekend painting and housebound, and I want Andrew to be able to concentrate on Lucy and not getting all these little things done. Besides, everyone we've invited up are people who would be coming up to meet her anyway, so we're killing two birds with one stone.

Andrew and I talked more last night about our dreams for our children. I think we're both people who have high expectations of children. I think that when you don't, they learn not to try. I'm not talking about expecting them to become doctors. I mean having faith in the fact that they are just as capable as adults to make a difference in this world. Andrew and I have been dreaming about the people they'll become since...well, almost since we met. When you meet the right person, you fall in love with the influence they have on the people around them, and I knew that Andrew would be a capable and effective parent, just as he's a friend, son, colleague and spouse who always goes the extra mile to make a difference.
For Lucy, we hope that she spends the early part of her life asking herself, "Does this make me a better person?" We want her to learn the qualities that make a person a person of compassion and change, and we want her to recognize those qualities in herself. As she gets older, we want her to ask herself, "Does this action make the world a better place?" My biggest hope for her is that she can impart great love on the people around her, and create change in the world she lives in. I know it's hard as children become teenagers, but obviously, it's possible, even today, to raise children who become adults. Lots of children stop right on the edge of adulthood, and end up retaining the "values" they should shed. But there are people out there who rise above themselves and join the adult world to become leaders for the people around them. I know that Lucy will be a smart girl, and I know that she's going to be an amazing person.
I suppose that means discipline. Andrew and I were both raised in families who weren't afraid of conflict, and it shows. Parents who are afraid of discipline are the people who raise children I'm afraid of.
I'm glad children grow by the day and they don't just turn into adolescents overnight. On the other hand, it would probably be a lot easier to stick to our guns if we didn't keep thinking back to how adorable she was as a toddler. It's a tricky business, this parenting thing...