It’s the second day of the New Year. Yesterday I took down my 2008 fairy calendar and put up a shiny new 2009 fairy calendar. That was exciting, of course. I also continued painting in what will soon be “the baby’s room.” Right now, it still has the look of a cluttered storage space, mainly because my elliptical machine had to spend the holidays in there to make room for our Christmas tree in the living room. Soon, though, the tree will go to the stream to make nice little fishy hiding places, the elliptical will go… someplace else, and the baby’s room will actually start to look like a room for a baby.

Since yesterday was January 1st, we went to my parents’ house for my mom’s traditional New Year’s Day meal of pork roast with dumplings, cooked in sauerkraut. It’s what she had every year growing up in Pennsylvania, and it’s as much a part of the holidays as the standing rib roast and Yorkshire pudding she makes every Christmas.

January’s arrival also means that we only have three more months before another small someone arrives. A small someone who reminds me of his presence every day with a floor routine that would certainly rival the ones we saw at Beijing 2008. Ben and I sit on the sofa most evenings and laugh as we watch my tummy bounce this way and that, and I think Deacon hears us laughing and bounces harder in response.

Even so, there’s a certain feeling of unreality about it all. How on earth did I suddenly get to be almost seven months pregnant? And hey, I love having a basketball tummy and feeling good about it, but I’m not quite as crazy about the case of the disappearing anklebones. And this whole labor and delivery thing — can’t I just skip that part and have UPS bring the baby instead? They’re good at delivering things, right?

Still, this little boy gets bigger every day and constantly closer to his very real entrance into our lives. We’re eager for his arrival, but we’re also enjoying our last few months as “just us” — going out to dinner, cuddling on the couch, sleeping through the night — who knows when any of these things will be this easy again?

I really haven’t made any resolutions for the New Year, mainly because I have a feeling that in just a few months, life will be so completely different that the things I might have felt were important right now will seem tiny and very far away. Don’t get me wrong — I’m still working on the same things I’m always working on, like becoming more patient and less selfish. Motherhood will probably provide me with a swift kick in the butt in those areas, so I expect to make astounding progress this year.

All through Thanksgiving and Christmas, we’ve been saying, “This time next year….” Of course, we really have no idea what this time next year will be like, but it’s fun to make predictions anyway. Since this was our last “just us” Christmas, Ben was supposed to get a really good gift, because in the past he’s always spoiled me rotten with great, creative presents while I’ve given him sweaters. There was a laptop computer at the store that he said he wanted this year, and I was excited that for once, he was going to have something he was really enthusiastic about. He was supposed to buy it before he left work one day, but he kept putting it off and coming home without it. I finally asked him about it on Christmas Eve, and he said he had decided not to get it after all. Turns out he never intended to get it. He just didn’t want me to be suspicious if I noticed a big charge at the store when he bought me the digital Rebel we’ve been drooling over for years. So he still managed to outdo and surprise me, but I’m taking comfort in the fact that at least it’s something he can use and enjoy, too. And he says that my real gift to him is the fact that I’m giving him a son. Which is a pretty good gift, I guess…

So last year is gone. This year, so far, is pretty good. And this time next year is looking even better.