Things to do before baby gets here

OK, now it’s real. Now I’m pretty sure there’s going to be another baby here in December.

Suddenly my mind is filled with things I need to get done before she arrives. I’ve been procrastinating a bit. Part of me feels less worried this time. But now that I know what it is, it feels different. Now there’s a little face and a little girl I have to get ready for, and it’s a lot more exciting. And if you know me, you know I love to make a good list. So, here it is.

1. Come up with name for the baby. A few of you have asked, so I’ll let you in on what we’re thinking. We have a list, but can’t seem to decide on one. Indie, Marlo, Ruby, Celia or Cecilia. I also like Iris and Ivy a lot, but Steve has ruled those out. Anyone have any thoughts, ideas? I mean, I can’t promise I’m going to do a poll and let you name my baby, but I’m open to some ideas. Or you can say something like “Indie is cute!” I like those comments as well.

2. Clean out/freshen up nursery. It’s nice that we’re not starting from scratch, but I have turned the closet into a bit of a storage area and I’d like to hang a few new things and possibly rearrange. Something to freshen it up for the new baby.

3. Get out baby clothes. And baby items. Seems early to get out that big stuff from the attic, but people tell me that time flies with the second pregnancy, so maybe I should just do it. But where will all this stuff go???

4. Load up on supplies. Thank goodness I’m pretty much done buying diapers for Ella, because it’s time to stock up for the new baby. We really need to pick a name. Poor new baby deserves that much.

5. Get Ella to sleep in her big girl bed. We’ve developed bad habit of Ella sleeping in our bed. This will not be ideal when new baby needs to sleep in our bedroom and is waking us all up every few hours. This is going to be tricky.

6. Make room for pack-n-play. I’m not sure the pack-n-play will fit nicely anymore with all our bedroom furniture we’ve bought since Ella. It might be time for the elliptical to find a new home.

7. Get out bassinet for downstairs. I’ve learned with Ella that it’s imperative to have essentially everything I need on both levels of the house. Including a place for baby to nap.

8. Buy a babybook. With Ella I had a baby calendar, where I tracked all her firsts and big milestones, then a scrapbook for all those special keepsakes. I think this time I’ll get a cute little babybook that will serve both of these purposes. Since I’m not even finished with Ella’s 1-year scrapbook at age 2.5, things aren’t looking good for another scrapbook.

And the new baby is a …

Well, once again those crazy myths about the heartbeat, and even my own bad guessing at our baby gender was wrong … We are pleased to announce we are going to have another GIRL.

I love it. I love the idea of two little girls, two little sisters to play and share clothes and dolls and have tea time together. Not that a boy wouldn’t be a good little tea time mate, but you know … two girls, how fun.

And as soon as I can, I’m going to get my hands on some of those cute little baby leg warmers called “baby legs.” Yes, there’s already new stuff out for girls since I had Ella. Steve’s in for some trouble isn’t he?

On a serious note, of course an ultrasound is for more than just finding out gender, so I was really praying that everything would look healthy. I was starting to be concerned about the size of my belly too lately – it just doesn’t seem that big. People are shocked when I tell them I’m about six months pregnant. But everything looks good. The baby is 1 lb and 3 oz and she measures just fine for everything and all her little parts look nice and healthy.

Ella didn’t know quite what to think of it all. She was very quiet and confused looking in the ultrasound room. But she did perk up to tell her Grandma that “it’s a girl!.” And she even more excitedly told Grandpa that we’re having a girl and she’s having a boy. Guess she wanted to be part of the fun.

So, here’s your first look at Ella’s little sister:

I may have another thumbsucker on my hands!

I’m back, if you noticed I was absent

I don’t know why I haven’t blogged lately. I think sometimes there is just too much to blog about and it’s too overwhelming to narrow it down and focus on one thing. But atlas, my floors need cleaning and Ella’s taking a nap and I really don’t want to clean my floors.

My new niece entered the world last week (yay!) unfortunately while I was away on my trip (boo) but I got to see her about three days later and she’s a little doll. Tiny with lots of black hair. And the labor went so well, and it seems as if the mommy and daddy are adjusting well to life with two kids. This simultaneously eases my worries about my upcoming due date and scares the bejeezus out of me. I mean, can we all be so lucky? This may mean that I’ll be the one who’s in labor for 36 hours while my oldest child is deep in the trenches of her terrible twos. Otherwise I’m staying extremely positive.

So, anyway, I guess I’ll just touch on a few things as of late …

1. Our trip was really nice. That Opryland hotel is quite amazing. Ella really loved the boat ride through it, taking the shuttle bus to the mall, riding the train and the carousel at the mall, and our really nice Lincoln car that we rented to take there. I guess she pretty much likes any kind of ride. I thought it was really funny when we got back and while riding in my car she said “I want to ride in the Lincoln!” I said “Me too, Ella. Me too.”

2. I did manage to ruin my new phone on my trip. I don’t want to really get into details, and it’s already been replaced. But it was a few long days without it. I’ve already grown so fond of having Internet and e-mail and instant messaging all on my phone all the time.

3. Ella did pretty well going to the potty on our trip. She would actually tell us when she had to go and we would pull over for her. I did have her in pull-ups the whole time because I was way too nervous of the site of poop in public at some fabulous restaurant or shop in Nashville. And she did have a few accidents but, pretty good.

OK, that’s all I really feel like writing for now … but stay tuned, we’ll know little baby’s gender in exactly ONE week from today! A lot of us seem to be guessing boy now.

Italian Beef recipe – easy and awesome

My computer is frozen so I’ll take a minute for a quick blog. My friend gave me a recipe for “Italian Beef” the other day, which I had never heard of, and it was so good it’s going to become a regular dish at my house.

Here it is.

Italian Beef

Ingredients:

1. Chuck Roast
2. Jar of Pepperoncini peppers
3. Packet of Goods Seasons Italian Seasoning

Directions:

Put Roast in crockpot. Add packet of seasoning. Cut off stems of peppers, then pour entire bottle of peppers, juice and all, all over dish. After cooking on low for 8 -10 hours, shred and put on sub-type bun, place provolone cheese on top and place in oven for a few minutes. Also, the juice made the bottom of my bun a little soggy, so you may want to flip it over in the oven just once.

And that’s it! Enjoy!