A shift in thinking

It's amazing how just the idea of having children can change how you start thinking about things.

For instance, Ben and I have been discussing getting another dog. Our dog has been with other dogs almost the whole time I've had her. We've noticed that she seems to be a little lonely since we started living by ourselves, and when other dogs come to visit she is happier. We had decided to wait until Ben had a job, so we would have extra money for a second pet. I had a thought the other day, though. If we wait until he has a job, which may be August or later, we may already be pregnant at that point (oh, Lord I hope so...) and would be faced with a new dog and shortly after a baby. The sooner we get another dog, the more time we have to get it acclimated. So, we're going to be looking at dogs to adopt soon.

Another shift in thinking was when we were buying a bed recently. We debated whether we would get another queen or get a king size instead. The things we considered were the space in our bedroom, the need of another mattress, and the possibility of little children finding their way there from bad dreams or fussy nights. We had all but settled on a king until we saw the price of king size mattresses. Holy moly. We decided that was definitely a purchase that could wait and stuck with a queen. We'll just have to get cozy on those fussy nights.

It's not just purchases that shift our thinking, though. We've talked about how our choice of words will need to change (we each have our favorite blue words), how our relationship will be different and in what ways we'll need to baby-proof the house. I'm glad we have these conversations, but I know there are things we haven't even realized need to be addressed. We'll figure it out together and I can't express how blessed I feel to have such an amazing partner in life. I'm so happy to share this journey with him, and I know he will be a fantastic father. There is no shift in thinking there at all.