Keeping Busy and Waiting...

During the month of February, we've been trying to keep busy as we anxiously await the arrival of Baby #3. We were able to do a fun gymnastics class with our MOMS Club a couple weeks ago. Both of the girls loved it!




The girls each made a big (and biggest) sister t-shirt to wear once the baby arrives. Isabella has already started wearing hers to bed!

My friend, Rachel, came over with her girls, Charlotte, Emily and Lily, last week since we haven't seen them in a long time.

Emily and Sienna willingly posed for a picture

The closest we could get to having all four girls look at the camera

A picture from last week at 37 weeks and 3 days. After taking this picture, Isabella said, "Your belly looks like your bum-only bigger!" Gee, thanks! That's just what I wanted to hear...

My mom has been here for a little over a week now and she's such a huge help! It's a relief to know that she's here to be with the girls when I go into labor. Now all of my friends/neighbors are off the hook. It was a little stressful to think about scrambling for child care if I had had the baby before she arrived. Everyone jokes that I'll go beyond my due date now. That's not even funny!!!!

Winter Fun

So, this has been another fairly mild winter so far (especially compared to Wisconsin!). We'll get a few inches of snow and then it will warm up and rain for a couple days and all the snow will melt. Last Thursday, it was pretty cold outside, but my mom took the girls on an adventure walk down to the end of our neighborhood. They collected treasures like pinecones and rocks (in Sienna's hood, apparently) and walked around the little marsh several times.

What a difference a day makes! We got several inches of snow on Friday, so we bundled up the girls and my mom took them out to play in the snow. Usually, I'm all for building a snowman and pulling them around on the sled, but I'm not really in a condition to do that these days. Luckily, Nana is a good sport! It's all I can do just to get the girls dressed in their snow gear!

What's a day in the snow if you can't come in and warm up with some hot chocolate (with marshmallows, of course)!?!

We had much milder temperatures this weekend, so Mike took the girls sledding (or sled riding, as he would say!) on Saturday, and he took them to a local golf course to look for animal tracks on Sunday. He really wanted to take them ice fishing but realized that it was too much work to get a fishing license and all the gear. Plus, I doubt that the ice is very safe considering the lack of consistentely freezing temperatures. Since Mike ventured out on his own with the girls both days, I didn't even ask him to bring the camera along. I knew what the answer would be!

I had a dream...

...that we were having a boy! In my dream we were having one more ultrasound before I delivered, but we still didn't want to know the baby's sex. For some reason, a bunch of our family and friends were there (although I don't remember recognizing anyone) and everyone yelled out, "It's a boy!!" I tried to plug my ears, but I could still hear everybody. Then I was mad at myself for finding out at the last second rather than waiting until the baby was born. Who knows what this means but it's the first dream that I've had about the sex of this baby!

My sister, who predicted that we are having a girl, came up with the name Amanda Kathryn. Sorry, Katy, but we're not naming this baby after you as much as I like the name Kathryn.

A couple more predictions

We have two more votes for girls. My mom thinks that we are having a girl and so does my friend, Carrie. Carrie thinks that the baby will be born on February 28, and she jokingly suggested the name, Marlena (after the character on Days of our Lives).

My friend, Liz, just had a dream that we had a boy and named him Arnold! She's taking her kids to a place called Arnold's today and her son's middle name is Arnold. Maybe that's why the name was on her mind.

Noone has guessed the correct names yet!

Preparing to be big (and biggest) sisters!

Yesterday my friend, Marie, came to visit for the day with her adorable 9 month old daughter, Ailish. Isabella loves all babies and especially liked interacting with Ailish for a good part of the day. Sienna was happy to play with her for a while but was more interested in having Marie play a game or watch her do a puzzle. I think this is how it will be when our baby arrives!

Sienna and Isabella showed Ailish their finger puppets

All three girls

Isabella really wanted to hold Ailish

Ailish and Isabella got a kick out of eachother!

They look like they could be sisters!

Thinking about the fall...

It's hard to believe that it's already time to make school decisions for the girls for the fall. Isabella will be off to kindergarten and Sienna will start preschool! Boo hoo!!! I can't even imagine sending them both off to school! Right now Isabella attends our town's integrated preschool as a peer model (meaning that she does not receive services for special needs). We're hoping that Sienna will be able to go there next year, too, but she has to be chosen in a lottery since there were so many applicants (particularly girls, unfortunately) this year. Last week she went for her "playdate" so the teachers could meet her and the other incoming students to determine who will qualify as "model" students. We're hoping that Sienna gets chosen in the lottery! Apparently, there's no preference for siblings of current students. Sienna could potentially be in school with several of her friends (including Lily, Lauren and Luke) who are siblings of Isabella's friends.

The parents stayed in the room for the first few minutes and then we met with the principal in the library while the children played in the classroom and interacted with the teachers. Sienna seemed right at home and didn't want to leave!

Afterwards, I asked Sienna what she liked most about school. She said, "drawing and sandbox!" I think that she'll really be ready for school in the fall, but will I...?

Sesame Street Live

For the past three years, I have taken the girls to see Sesame Street Live with our MOMS Club. I bought the tickets this year hoping that I wouldn't have had the baby by now. I was a bit nervous about driving an hour south (almost two hours from the hospital where I plan on delivering) to see the show, but luckily, everything worked out. Plus, several of my friends were there, and I figured that someone could have taken the girls (and me!) if I had to leave suddenly.

We're ready for the show to start!

Sienna wasn't so sure at first. This is what she does when something makes her nervous. She's actually peeking between her arms. I can picture her doing this when she watches a scary movie some day.

For the second part of the show, the independent big girls wanted to sit together. Isabella's friend, Elise, was nice enough to share a bit of her cotton candy.
Sienna was happy to sit with her friend, Lily!

The Finale

Sienna, Lily, Isabella & Charlotte

More guesses

My friend, Sarah, said that she thinks that we'll have a boy (mainly because she has two boys and wants us to have a boy!) She thinks that the baby will be born on February 29-Leap Year Day!!! Ever since I found out my due date I have said that I wouldn't want to have the baby on Leap Year Day, but I guess it's unique. It would also continue the family trend of holiday birthdays since my birthday is St. Patrick's Day and my sister and mother-in-law's birthdays are on the 4th of July. Sarah also thinks that the baby won't be bigger than 7 lbs, 8 oz.

My cousin left a comment and also predicted that we'll have a boy on March 3 who will weigh 7 lbs, 8oz and be 20" long. She suggested the name Mason.

I've reopened the poll so you can vote for boy/girl if you haven't done so already!

36 weeks, 2 days

A few guesses

So, noone has left a comment but I have gotten a couple e-mail (or verbal) predictions.

My sister thinks that we are having a girl.

My friend, Katrina, thinks that we're having a boy.

My friend, Sheri, had a dream that we're having a boy!

My mother-in-law thinks that we'll have a boy on March 1 (the same birthday as our nephew who will be 15!!!)
She also predicted that he'll be 8 lbs 3 oz (Yikes!!) and 20". She likes the names Zachary and Ethan.

Keep the guesses coming!!!

Any predictions?

So, I'm just about 36 weeks along in this pregnancy! Does anyone want to guess the sex/arrival date/weight/length of the baby? If you would like to make a prediction, please leave a comment (or you can e-mail me and I can post the responses). According to the poll on my blog, slightly more than half of you think that we're having a boy. Mike claims that he's getting a "boy vibe" and I kind of agree but figure that we'll probably have another girl. Either way, we'll be completely happy! We're just anxious to find out at this point. To give you a frame of reference, here are the girls' stats:

Isabella (8 weeks early)

3 lbs, 11 1/2 oz

16 1/2"

Sienna (a week and a half early)

6 lbs, 1 oz.

20 1/2"

Also, my technical due date (40 weeks) is March 11. Feel free to give us name suggestions although we're pretty sure that we've decided what it would be either way. Don't bother asking us either because we won't tell you!!!

Little Rascal

Usually, I can trust that the girls won't get into mischief while I take a shower in the morning. This morning I left Sienna playing quietly (perhaps too quietly) in her room. This is what I found when I checked on her ten minutes later!! Notice the completely empty bookcase on the far right in the photo. When I called her and walked into her room, she ducked down where she was sitting knowing that she had done something she shouldn't have done. What a stinker!

After we worked together to put all the books back in the bookcase, you can see what it should look like!!

P.S. You may be glad to know that Mike's 11 hours of sleep served him well last night. He seemed refreshed when he headed off to work this morning. Let's just hope that the "Man Cold" doesn't return this evening!

Man Cold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXLHWmjA5IE

Before reading this post, be sure to watch the above video! It's hilarious and frighteningly true in our house. The girls and I got home from Isabella's gymnastics tonight to find Mike in bed at 6:00 with a "Man Cold." He was all wrapped up in the blankets and claimed that he had a fever and achy legs. He has two ways of fighting off illnesses since he usually won't take any medicine. If he has a cold or the flu, he says that he can sleep it off. If he has a fever, he "sweats it off" by wearing multiple layers to bed and getting really sweaty. I'm sure that's not healthy but that's what he has always done. Thankfully, he doesn't get sick all that often. Unfortunately, both of the girls have various forms of colds now too, so all three of my "babies" are sick.
I told him that he didn't feel warm but we took his temperature anyways. At 98.0 degrees, it was BELOW normal!!! Then he said, "See! Good thing I'm wrapped up in the blankets!" as if he's hypothermic or something!!! Since Isabella is much more sympathetic than I am, she suggested that we bring him dinner in bed. He got his chicken noodle soup and was definitely asleep before both of the girls. Let's hope that he "sleeps it off" and is back to "normal" tomorrow!!! He won't take a sick day from work, but he sure milks it once he gets home!!

Super Bowl Party

It's too bad about those Patriots!!!! I'm sure that there are lots of unhappy fans around here after the big loss (and many ecstatic fans around the country who were glad to see them lose). We went to watch the first half of the Super Bowl at our friend, Tom's, house. As usual, Mike couldn't just root for the local favorite. He (very vocally) rooted for the Giants and even painted Isabella's face. A couple years ago, he drew the Chargers logo on Isabella's face when they played the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Of course, he gets a huge kick out of riling up all of our friends.

#10 (for Eli Manning) and NY (Giants logo)

As if rooting for the other team wasn't bad enough,

my attention-seeking husband had to pretend to eat the enormous sub!

Of course, the girls thought that this was hilarious!

Knowing that Isabella and Sienna wouldn't care too much about the football game,

we brought along our DVD player and they camped out in Tom's bedroom for a while.

A few stuffed friends came along for the party, too!