baby presents

the kids and i had a big day on friday, officially one week to the day before baby #3 is scheduled to arrive. greta was off school for an inservice, so we got haircuts, went to the toy store, went to the bookstore, and went over to our friends the arthurs house for a playdate and lunch. it was a great day!
the trip to the toystore and the bookstore were to pick out a toy and a book for the kids to give to the baby when she arrives.....sort of a welcome present. we talked about this at length....WHY we were going there, WHO we were getting something for. greta and otto even came up with a book they wanted to buy for the baby. and then we arrived. and they just wanted to play with the toys at the toystore. who can blame them? greta at least gave a half hearted attempt....she found a toy that she thought the baby might like, along with one she liked and one she picked out for otto. ha!
when we got to the bookstore, i thought i was in for more of the same. but luckily for me, the store's credit card machine was down and they could only take cash. so one book for the baby later, we were out of there. but greta keeps assuring me that even though the book is for the baby, "everyone in our family can read it because we share books".
we can't wait for the new addition to our family!

otto gets practice

here is otto, changing the baby doll's diaper. we're trying to get some practice in, because we're gonna need a little help next march. yep, we're having another baby! due date is march 2nd, but i will have to have another c-section so most likely the baby will arrive a bit earlier....possibly february. (and no, 2011 is not a leap year).
i am 14 or 15 weeks along (i can't remember) and am feeling pretty good. the first trimester of this pregnancy was not too bad, but definitely worse than with greta or otto. i felt some nausea, lots of killer headaches, and was unbelievably tired. like, i could sleep for days i was so tired. but i think i've turned that second trimester corner. people keep asking if we are going to find out the gender of this baby like we did with the other two, and i think so. i know that we have one of each....but there are plenty of surprises (let me tell you!) the day of delivery that i think we'll take the surprise at the 20 week ultrasound, thank you very much.
we feel so blessed to be adding to our family yet again, and can't wait for greta to be a big sister again and for otto to become a big brother. and yes, we will have to go from "man to man" defense to "zone"....we'll do our best. :) so in the meantime, we'll keep letting otto practice his diapering skills.....

new "toys"

so we're clearing out our third floor room to make a space for the new baby. our third floor had become a sort of dumping ground for all of our "stuff". snowboarding gear, sleeping bags, all of my montessori albums...the list goes on. on saturday we took the last trip of stuff to goodwill. greta was pretty amused to see all the stuff pile up in the family room as joe brought it down. this guitar case was on it's way to the basement, but greta found some use for it while it was still in the room. now that the third floor is as cleared out as it's going to get, we have someone coming to help us figure out how to configure the room to best utilize the space. we're thinking about half-walls to sort of separate the room into two sides and to also allow for a gate or door. we'll see. for right now, it's just exciting to see a new room taking shape.

Greta Has a Message She'd Like to Share

         

The new addition is set to arrive on May 1st, 2009.