I need to shush!

I have a big mouth. I need to stop telling people about my plans to become an SMC. At least count, I believe ten people are in the know. My parents and sister are 3 of them, but I've told some friends and a few friends/colleagues at work. Am I crazy? Why am I spreading the news so fast? It's not like I'm pregnant yet, or even planning to start trying for like 5 more months. But I've always been one to "talk it out" when I had something on my mind - good or bad, I don't hold it in. How many people do other thinkers/planners tell before they're actually pregnant, or at least trying? Is it normal, ok even, for so many people to know at this point? Is it going to drive me crazy when I'm trying, but not pregnant yet, when all ten people keep asking me how it's going? (I believe the answer to that last one will be YES for sure!)

It just seems like this should've stayed a secret to more people, for longer. Maybe writing here will help - I'll tell my readers (which I have none of at the moment, since I haven't posted that I have a blog anywhere), and maybe that'll satisfy the need to talk. It's just that it's so exciting, that I can't maintain a "same-ol'-same-ol'" attitude when people ask me what's going on in my life!

On to other things. My parents are coming up the last week in August to start looking at houses. They're not ready to actually buy anything yet, but they want to get a feel for the area and just start to see what's out there. They've decided they want to be within about 15 minutes of me, which is great. What they need to figure out is exactly what they want, since they currently disagree on this point, keeping in mind the types of houses that are most common in New England. My mom wants to downsize and get a 3-bedroom ranch with central air. Good luck. There just aren't too many ranches around, and central air is somewhat of a rarity around here. She doesn't want steps because she has bad knees (she's had 2 knee replacements, but they're still not the greatest). My dad thinks they need a 4 bedroom house. They need a master, of course, a study/"cave" for my dad, and a guest room. My dad says they need at least one other room where me and the baby will sleep when we sleep over (and where the baby will sleep during the day when they're babysitting). They've decided they'd take the baby to their house instead of staying at mine when they're sitting, partially because of all the stairs in my house. And the sleeping over thing is because of my crazy work schedule. Most weeks, I work three, 12-hour days, which are really 12-and-a-half because of a half-hour unpaid dinner break. Plus travel time, so it's like 14 hours total for whoever's babysitting. On those days, I work from 11:30am to 12:00 midnight. Instead of me picking the baby up at their house and waking him/her up coming home, their theory is that we'd both just sleep over. My theory is that this is fine, but we don't need our own bedroom - why can't we just stick a crib in the corner of the guest room and sleep in there? We just won't sleep over when they have guests in town, which I doubt will be all that often.

They think they'll be ready to seriously look at houses next spring or summer, when I'm (hopefully!!) already pregnant. I told my mom they need to keep in mind whether or not they'll be doing any major work on the place, since that'll take some time, and it's a definite possibility since my dad loves doing stuff like that.

Anyway, I'm excited for them to come up, look at some places, and also help me do some stuff around my house. I moved in just over a year ago, and I still haven't done things like hung pictures on the walls or hung curtains in the dining room! It'll be fun spending the week doing some actual "planning" things that I need and want to get done before becoming a "tryer".

One of these days (right now, maybe??) I need to post for the first time on one of the SMC/choicemom message boards. Why haven't I done it yet? Not sure. I think for one thing, I'm not even sure where to start! Also, I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up with all the message boards, so I want to just pick one, at least to start, and I don't know which one to pick! I've also been spending SO MUCH TIME reading other SMC blogs that I've barely had time to post on my own, plus figure out the message board things, plus read all the SMC-related books I've bought!

To end on a very positive note... Of all ten people I've told about wanting to become an SMC, not a single one has had anything negative to say about it. Sure, they've said things like, "It's not gonna be easy!" (no shit!), but no one has really had an issue with it at all, and they've all been very supportive. Yay for supportive friends and family!