Mama Dove

Growing up, I always wanted a cool nickname. My sister Jessica couldn't say her name, so it came out as Kika. And it's stuck even to this day.

How adorable, right? Except I never got a nickname...and I always felt left out. And so for whatever reason, as a tiny babe, I decided that "Dove" would be the perfect nickname. Please stop laughing. I have absolutely no idea where that came from. I was like 6, for the love!

I may or may not have also used that as an argument that I was destined to have a Gibson Dove. For some strange reason, I've had difficulty winning that argument with Matt, although I can't imagine why...

So in true Mama Dove fashion, I have been nesting like a crazy woman these days, cleaning out all the junk we've accumulated over the past 10 years. The crazy thing is, when we moved to Boerne four years ago, we decluttered and got rid of SO. MUCH. CRAP. And yet, here we are, closets busting at the seams, and I'm left racking my brain trying to figure out where we are going to store everything that comes along with a baby. Or a toddler. Or a preteen...y'all...we could end up with any age child, isn't that crazy?

Some of our conversations have looked a little bit like this:
C: "How about these computer speakers?"
M: "Keep them."
C: "What? Why??"
M: "Because I might need them someday..."
C: "But they've been sitting here in this cabinet for the past 6 years untouched!"
M: "Fine, Goodwill..."
**Insert eye roll emoji here**

After a few weeks of this, we had ourselves a car load full of junk to donate. Hello, tax deduction! It's the first of many, I'm sure, because we are still swimming in stuff. Seriously, how does that happen??

Sometimes I feel a little dumb doing all this, because we haven't even taken the licensing classes to foster yet. But it's the only thing that I can do right now to prepare. I've mentioned it to another foster mama, and she reassured me that it is totally normal for me to be nesting like this. It's funny how women do this, even when we don't have the hormones that go along with pregnancy. And I also have to remember that if I were pregnant, I'd still be doing all these things.

And so I purge on, clearing the junk, and making space, trying my best to create my nest to be able to accommodate a baby. Or a toddler. Or a preteen...

And like everything with this journey, it's going to look different. But I'm finally in a place where I'm totally OK with that. And it's amazing.