not too much longer!

well, almost 6 weeks and counting until caroline's arrival....i'm getting to that point where i'm so ready to not be pregnant anymore, but it's shocking when i think about having another baby in 6 weeks!! ahhh!! we are so excited to welcome this baby girl into the world, don't get me wrong! i've just already forgotten what a newborn cry sounds like in our house, and i was thinking the other day about how strange it will be to dress a baby who can't sit up or even hold her head up yet... i'm sure it will all come back in an instant-- though neither brian nor i will miss the little boy sprinkler that comes fully assembled at birth. :)

i am feeling pretty good... i really can't complain. my back is pretty sore most of the time, but i know that's just a part of pregnancy- especially toting around ethan on top of this belly of mine! it's pretty hard to sleep well at night anymore (i'm SUCH a stomach sleeper), but that's to be expected too. i really think that this is one way God prepares moms-to-be for the middle of the night feedings once the baby comes.... i'm not used to a good night's sleep right now, so i won't miss it too much more once i'm up to feed caroline. i'm thankful that overall, i'm still feeling ok. i went to the dr. friday, and she said i'm measuring a week ahead, but i know that doesn't mean much of anything. everything looks good for now... caroline continues to kick and kick and move and shove every possible body part against my belly as much as she can! please continue to pray for God's peace and guidance as we anticipate this little girl's delivery! i just can't wait for her to be here!

the nursery is (finally) pretty much done. we still have a few odds and ends to put together, but at least she'll have a place to sleep! i'm really happy with how it turned out. i'll have to post some pictures of it soon. it's a vintage nursery with old kids' books and dolls and a precious ABC wall hanging my mom made, and nursery rhyme things..and my doll cradle that my grandfather made me years ago.... not your typical pink girls' nursery! i don't think there's an ounce of pink in that room, actually. :) lots of primary colors with a vintage tone to them. check back for pictures.

here's a picture for you... on the left is me at 33 weeks with ethan... on the right is me a few days ago at 33 weeks with caroline. my belly is SIGNIFICANTLY larger this time around! look at that girl sticking out!!! but i was happy to notice that i don't look quite so miserably pregnant in my face this time around-- i guess everything has gone to that belly of mine! just thought this was a pretty entertaining comparison... i wonder how big she'll be!


have a great week! enjoy the beautiful fall weather God has given us!

ck meets the bumbo chair

brian has deemed karina "ck" for "cousin karina"... but it could also be for "cute karina". :) ethan shared his bumbo baby seat with her today, which he has not used in forever because of his fat fat legs! from the day we got it, his legs have gotten stuck in that thing! my first true blog post was dedicated to ethan's fun new chair, and that was a year ago this week! wow, how time flies! anyway, karina seemed to like her new view of the world. :) maybe she'll get more use out of it than ethan did!

cousins! (karina looks a little frightened...
she knows what ethan is capable of doing to her!!) :)

nope, your legs are still too fat, buddy!

tonite makes three!

ethan survived his THIRD haircut tonite... yes third. three haircuts before the 15 month marker... the girls out there are all pretty jealous, ethan!! auntie kristie had a great idea-- to let him watch a video to distract him while she went to work. this worked much better than the torture chamber that happened last time! he did well till "wheels on the bus" came on, and then he wanted to go "up and down, up and down"....ha. it's still probably not as short as some of the grandparents would prefer it to be, but it seems pretty short to me. he wouldn't be ethan without those curls in the back! i'm sure his hair will be in his eyes again in like one week, but oh well. his hairdresser is cheap. :)

feel free to reminisce with me about his first and second haircuts... i can't believe how much he's grown since then. here's some pictures from tonite's trim, but first a few of his long locks...

it was definitely time for a trim...now on with the show!

the mop that needs a chop!

apparently ethan LIKES his long hair...

"well... what do you think?"

"aww, i'm glad you like it..."

"did ya leave my curls in the back?"

"i can SEE!"

gram getting some practice with a baby girl!
cousin karina says she's doing a pretty good job!

strollers for dummies

my sweet friend tyler has indefinitely loaned us her double stroller since her 2 girls are pretty much out of the stroller phase.... it's wonderful!!! and it's one less thing to have to shop for before caroline comes!! ethan and i took it for a test walk around the neighborhood this morning (SUCH a beautiful day!), and it drove great. :) i'm sure people driving by were wondering why i was pushing around 1 kid in a double stroller, but oh well. maybe they saw my big belly and put 2 and 2 together...

anyway, when tyler gave me the stroller, she showed me all the features, but that was over a week ago, and i'm pregnant... so i wanted something i could refer to when i had questions about the stroller. i found a manual for a similar style online, and i was browsing the explanations of the features.... and i came across the "folding and unfolding" instructions. this is important to know, i thought... so i read on. boy oh boy, what would i have done without these valuable instructions?????? check out the first sentence....

photobooth... a great way to waste your time

i mentioned how much fun photo booth was while we were visiting eric & kristi... well, brian's mom's new laptop also has this great feature, so i thought we'd share some hilarious sights of our family! in an instant, your child can turn from alien to a really really fat kid... and your husband can go from having the jaw of jay leno to gaining 50 lbs to looking like mr. tumnus from chronicles of narnia! (ahhhh!) it's perfect entertainment on a road trip, as you can see ethan in his car seat. you can take normal pictures too, as you can see from the first one up there, but where's the fun in that? enjoy these pictures, and if you get a new mac laptop (or imac, i think), you too can have this much fun!!