Baby on the brain

After months of being mostly distracted with remodeling and other activities, I am now becoming more focused on the fact that {gulp} we're gonna have THREE children. Three DAUGHTERS, in fact.

My biggest concern about being a mom of three is whether I will ever be able to convince my family members to babysit for me again. ☺ When it was just one child, I felt no hesitancy asking grandparents or aunts to baby sit. I mean, after all: my lil' baby girl was gorgeous and they probably WANTED to enjoy some time with her. {Right? I said... RIGHT?} And then I had a second, and yeah, the diaper bag was bigger... the task more involved. But as long as I didn't cash in the baby sitting favor too frequently, I still didn't feel it was too much to ask.

But to ask someone to watch your THREE children, ages 4 (by then) and under? Hmmm.... not sure how that's gonna go over!

Not that I leave my kids with a sitter every other day. But sometimes.... sometimes, I go out to eat with my husband by myself. And it's nice. Real nice. ♥

Other than wondering if my relatives will run the other direction when I start a conversation with "Are you available.....", I have been thinking a lot about our newest little bundle of baby goodness. How big will she big? What about her temperament? Will she have red hair or brown hair? Blue eyes or green eyes? Is brown eyes possible? Maybe I'm way off but I don't think a blue eyed father and green eyed mother can make a brown eyed baby...? It would be fine if we did....

I think it would fun to have a blond baby this time. Seth was blond as a child so that, I do believe, is possible!

Maddie is getting quite excited about her new baby sister too. She cheerfully remarks "Mommy, your belly is getting really really big!" as she strokes her unseen baby sister. She woke up one day and said that she had a dream about the baby, and in the dream we named her "Ella". Ahhh.... so cute. But we won't be naming her Ella. For starters, Seth is not a fan, and with an "Eden" already in the family, it just wouldn't work. But the big fuzzy bear that the girls push around in a stroller all day has now been given the honor of the bearing the name "Ella".

We do have two names in mind for this wee girlie. But I think we're just going to wait to met her before deciding. Actually, I know my husband.... after hours of watching me laboring, whatever I like will be fine with him. I don't mean that I'm planning on manipulating him about it; I just know how he has been in the past. For the first week or two after delivering a baby, I could ask for just about anything and he gladly agree with me. ;) He's just too tender to me.

And as silly as it may be, I went ahead and registered for this baby. Ya wanna know why? If you create a baby registry at Target, you receive a $20 gift card! So I went ahead and picked out a few things... little things my mom had been asking what color I liked of and so forth, so Target will get a little business out of it anyway. And I got $20 just for my time! Woo-hoo. Truth is, I think registering is super fun. I remember registering for our wedding and spending 4 plus hours running around Target with the scanner, having a blast. Seth started laying down on the sample bedding and making loud snoring noises to {subtly} hint that he. was. tired. of this whole dumb thing. ☺So Maddie was my registering partner today. She had fun too as we browsed through baby items. So if any of you are expecting and have a few minutes to spare, take advantage and get yourself a free gift card!

Another fun baby related thing to do: The Look-alike Meter at MyHeritage.com. It's a cool gadget that allows you to upload a picture of your child, yourself and your spouse. The meter then calculates the percentages of look-alike-ness. I tried it for the first time the other day and it was a hoot! Creating an account was fast and easy, and uploading photos went up very quickly too. I'll attach my results to my blog soon. In the meantime, check it out and see who gets credit for your little darling's good looks. Unfortunately it does not calculate who is to blame for the stinky feet or bad behavior.

One last bit of baby... I was reading a new parent magazine and saw this helpful idea, which I plan to try out. To make middle of the night sheet changes faster and less disruptive, plan ahead with an extra layer of sheets. Directly on top of the mattress, put a plastic waterproof cover, then a sheet, then another waterproof cover, then a second sheet. When the inevitable happens, just shed the first 2 layers to reveal a clean sheet. No figuring out which way that crazy fitted sheets goes in the dark and no fishing around in the linen closet for the right sized sheet.

Now... do you think that could work on the child itself? Hmmmm....


Love,