A Family of 3...

Dave and I have been talking a lot lately about how different it will be to no longer be a family of 3. After 5 and half years or so, we're pretty well set in our ways! Caroline is easy to take places, she gets in and out of the car by herself, buckles herself, feeds herself, can get her own snacks, and we haven't had to change diapers in over 3 years! Things are going to change around here big time.
The last couple of weeks we've been trying to cram in a lot before we are no longer a family of 3. One last date night, a fun mommy-daughter day, and family outings around town have kept us busy. This last weekend we asked Caroline what she wanted to do, and she said, "Go to Chuck E Cheese!" Luckily, we had a bunch of tokens left over from the last time we went, so it was easy to say yes.

We had a fluke week of great weather so we had a picnic in the park one Saturday.

And here is us all dressed up on our last Sunday as a threesome:

It sure will be interesting to add someone to our family. I keep wondering if it will be a strange adjustment, or if he will fit right in seamlessly. Either way, we're going to find out in a few days - and we can't wait!

One Week To Go!

So in ONE WEEK we get to hold our little boy! I started thinking about it at about 4:30 this morning and got myself so excited I couldn't go back to sleep!



This picture is a little skeletor-looking, but we love that it looks like he's playing peek-a-boo!



So a little update:

I had to/got to have an extra ultrasound a few weeks ago because I'm measuring small. The ultrasound showed that he was growing just fine and is just in a sprawled out, posterior position that makes it seem like I'm only 33 - 34 weeks. I had my "last" appointment today and she ordered another ultrasound for tomorrow for the same reason - to get a growth scan, because I'm "too small". I'm not worried at all and part of me just thinks she's trying to squeeze everything she can out of our insurance, but it's kind of neat to keep seeing him, so I'm not complaining! I promise I'm eating (although, I haven't had the healthiest eating habits these last few weeks - lots of grilled cheese, candy, and junk) and I've gained weight within the appropriate norm, so it's not my fault!





My pregnancy has been SO different this time around. With Caroline, I was swollen and gained much more weight. I felt pretty miserable by this time. I couldn't wear my wedding ring or most of my shoes. But with this little guy, I still feel great! I can still wear high heels and shave my legs! Woot! I have minor complaints (heartburn, backache, etc) but nothing that I feel is really burdensome. Some wonderful ladies in my ward hosted a "Pamper Party" for all the pregnant girls in our ward due in March (four of us I believe) and it was SO fun. We ate, did nails, got massages and chatted. A true ladies-night!



So we are counting down the days until 1. Grandma comes and 2. Miles comes. I'm about 90% excited, 10% nervous. Ok maybe 80/20.

questions of ownership

This weekend we set up the bassinet in our room where the baby will sleep. Our cats - who usually will not come within 5 feet of one another - have decided this is their new hangout. We may have a problem!

Random Unblogged Pictures

I wanted to blog, but didn't have much to say so I decided to just go through my camera and post the few pictures I hadn't posted already!

Caroline had a Valentine's party at her preschool that she was SO excited for (like, had a hard time sleeping the night before excited!) We made this little mailbox to hold all her valentines.
I had no idea it would be coming back FULL of candy!!! Seriously, it was like Halloween all over again!

Caroline and Gus (whom we often refer to now as Fat-Gus)

Caroline does some pretty great crafts at preschool, but I think this has been my favorite so far. They talked about their teeth and made this with beans!

I thought the cavity-filled black-eye-pea teeth were too funny!

We've had so much snow here this winter. They had to cancel preschool a few times, but hopefully it's past us now - I'm more than ready for spring.

Caroline "reading" a book to her friend Hayden.

Her awesome fashion sense. We've been lucky and gotten a lot of hand-me-downs lately (including this "fur" coat) that have encouraged Caroline to explore all kinds of interesting outfit combinations. She usually changes her clothes about 3 times a day (not including in and out of pajamas). I only put my foot down for school and church, so if you see us running errands and Caroline is wearing (yesterday's example) an embellished green t-shirt, brown skirt with pink and orange flowers and purple shoes, please know that I did not dress her that way!

Celebrations!

We had a very fun week last week with lots of celebrations. Seriously, it's been a while since we were this social.
- The young women in our ward threw myself and another leader a surprise baby shower at mutual! It was so fun and I really was surprised. I'll have to borrow pictures from someone for that one.
-We had dinner with some people from Dave's work.
-We had friends over for food and fun during the superbowl. We might have to "entertain" more often - it was a great time, good food, and my family is apparently more willing to help clean house if they know people are coming over!
-And my friend, Cara, threw me a wonderful baby shower! We've SO been looking forward to this. When I say "we" I mean Caroline and I. She kept calling it "OUR baby shower!"

I wish I had gotten pictures of the decorations, which were a cute ABC theme, and the food. The food was amazing. Honestly, best baby shower food ever!

Caroline helped open presents. She was going a little fast, so I had to get down to her level!

Our friends were so generous and Miles is already a loved and lucky boy!

Thanks to everyone who showered us with love last week - it was wonderful and much appreciated!

Projects

I've heard the question, "so what do you do with yourself, now that you're not babysitting and Caroline goes to preschool?"
I've always been a little sensitive about this, I feel like I constantly have to justify to myself and others how I spend my time since I only have one child. But honestly, having Caroline in preschool a few mornings each week hasn't really changed how I spend my time at all. We didn't put her in preschool so that I could have more time, but so that her time was better spent. For example, I drop off Caroline, go grocery shopping, come home and put things away, do some laundry, clean a bathroom, etc. and go pick her up. Those are all things I would've done with her home anyway, but instead of her sitting in front of the TV or playing Barbies by herself while I get stuff done, she is playing with other kids, learning, doing crafts, and gaining social experience.
BUT the last month or so without having extra kids, I have found more time to do some projects around the house I've been wanting to do, and it feels great to cross some things off my list!

1. Going through all of Caroline's old clothes.
We had boxes and boxes in storage of all of Caroline's old clothes. I told Dave that if our baby is a boy we would go through all of the girl clothes and condense it down to 2 boxes of favorites. (The clothes are 5 years old already as it is and IF we have another baby and IF it's a girl, it probably won't be for a few more years and let's face it, onesies don't last forever)
So THIS:

Got paired down to THIS:

Hooray for more storage space!


2. We didn't have a dresser or a changing table for our little guy, but we did have this ugly thing:


Which we turned into THIS:

Voila'! Problem solved.


3. I had ugly throw pillows. That's a problem.


So I made covers for them that look like THIS:

They bring a little more color in the room. And I like that they are slipcovers, so i can take them off and wash them!

4. We wanted our 3rd bedroom to go from storage room to Guest/Baby's room. (I don't have a before picture. It would've been embarassing anyway) So we cleaned it out, bought a little guest bed, and I made curtains and a crib skirt. It's still not finished; I need to get bedding for the guest bed and put something up on the walls.

I'm enjoying this time of "nesting" :) 5 Weeks to go!