Getting Ready for Baby

Baby Alex will be here in 15 days (or less). December 8 is my absolute last day. I will either be induced or have a c-section depending on how my ultrasound after Thanksgiving goes. In addition to the usual prep work of washing baby clothes, packing the hospital bag, and locating the baby gear in the attic we've done a few fun things too.

Last Sunday, Laney went to the sibling class at the hospital where I will deliver. They talked about what happens when Mommy has a baby, keeping clean before touching the baby and got a mini-tour of the L&D ward. I didn't get to see her in class - but this is how she looked when she came out - they dressed like Doctors (and also avoided passing flu germs in the ward).

Then we continued a tradition I started 3 years ago with Elena . I took Kathryn to Build-A-Bear for her birthday back in 2006 and she made herself a Hello Kitty and she made a bear for Elena too. That bear is now well traveled and great friend of Elena's.

On Monday I took the girls to Build-A-Bear. The girls each made their own bears (a Panda for Kat & a pink bear for Elena) and they made a bear for Alex.

Here they are warming up the hearts & making wishes for the bear.

Elena giving her new bear a "bath".

The newest stuffed members of our family - Toby, Cindy & Loki-San.

Halloween Pictures

There are a lot pictures in this post as I am playing catch up. These cover three weeks worth of Halloween festivities.

Two weeks before Halloween, my friend Byrony & I took our girls to a pumpkin patch at the local halter club. The girls got to go on pony rides & enjoy a petting zoo.
Then we picked out pumpkins. Both girls became obsessed with the tiny white ones with orange stripes, so I ended up buying one of those in addition to a regular jack-o-latern sized one.

The following week Kat was invited to a Halloween party. She went as Neil Gaiman's Death from his Sandman comic series. She hasn't read much of the series, but she thinks the character looks cool (I agree).

On to Halloween night - here's Laney & the aforementioned white pumpkin and my electric jack-o-latern. Unfortunately, the other pumpkins I got during our trip to the pumpkin patch rotted before we could carve them.

Me & Laney. Looking at it, I find it hard to believe I am 33 weeks pregnant in this picture.

Laney & Daddy

Our little butterfly - all ready to trick-or-treat. She was so excited. She would not say "trick-or-treat" at a single house, but she always said "thank you".

Greetings from Plague House

Our most recent news is that Laney is currently recovering from what is suspected to be the "piggy cold" (that's Kathryn for "Swine Flu"). The doctor's office is hypothesizing, they don't send out for the CDC confirmation as the treatment for both flus is the same. Luckily, we caught it early enough that she qualified for TamiFlu. The pedetrician was also able to give me a prescription to put Kat on a preventative dose of the same stuff & my doctor prescribed me the same. And to think I finally got my vaccine on Friday!

Laney has been consistently running a 102 fever since Sunday afternoon, but she woke up from her nap today fever free & in a good mood. This was evidenced by the fact that my living room floor spent most of the afternoon coated in Barbies & their accessories. The good mood mostly continued, but the fever is back.

As to the rest of us, no one has run fever. Kat & I have coughs and headaches & I am feeling more run down than usual (which is a trick).

On the home front, literally, we have an offer on the house. We're still in the option period and the inspection is tomorrow (holy cow!). We still need to find a new house to live in and fast. We're supposed to close on this one on November 30 & be out by December 1. I really need to pack.