Coming attractions...

It's hard to believe this, but I'm almost 30 weeks along in my pregnancy, and that means that we'll have a new member of our family quite soon! Exciting as that is, it is also a bit daunting and a bit worrisome. There is so much to do between now and then. Since the holidays, I've been getting into organizing and preparation mode, trying to get this house into shape before the baby comes. I've been cleaning stuff that hasn't been cleaned in a while, decluttering places that are full of clutter, and generally trying to get things ready. We've also been trying to gather the things we'll need for the baby which seems like a lot (since we gave away most of it after Ellie) and also try to think of a name for this little one (which for those of you who might not know is a BOY). We've had many generous friends and relatives come to our rescue with donations of baby clothing and other items, so we're coming along quite nicely in that respect. As far as a name goes, we will have one by the time baby gets here, but we're notorious for waiting until the last minute (Ben's name was decided on in the car on the way to the hospital...). So I'm not expecting that one to get settled right away!

Anyway, I just wanted to post and let people know how I'm coming along here "cooking" this little guy - he's growing nicely, moving busily around, and I'm doing fine health-wise too. So... getting close... we'll keep you all updated on how things are going!

They came out!!

I posted a long while back that Ellie had some loose teeth (at the tender age of not-quite-four!). Well, she waited and waited and waited. The teeth got looser and looser until they were hanging by threads. Finally one came out! Or rather it was helped out by her daddy. She very excitedly placed it in her brand new tooth box (which came fortuitously in her stocking), and the next morning she was thrilled to find that the tooth fairy had brought her 5 shiny dimes! The remaining loose tooth seemed as if it couldn't last another day, but actually hung on for another week or so, finally coming out with some determined wiggling in the car one day. We managed to hang on to it without losing it in the car until we got home, placed it in the magical tooth box, and lo and behold, the next morning, 5 more shiny dimes! She was so very excited. Somewhere in there Ben lost a tooth too, and Madeline has one that she is sure is going to come out very soon.



Here are some pictures of Ellie first with one tooth missing and then with two missing...