Getting Ready for Baby!

Remember when I posted about us making a countdown chain to help us countdown to the baby? Well, seems like just yesterday, but that was almost 40 days ago! Needless to say, we are getting really close to having the baby. In fact, here's an updated picture of our countdown chain - that's right, just 5 more days to go!


As much as I hate having my picture taken (especially when pregnant), I thought I better put a few pictures on here of how big I'm getting.


I'm feeling very pregnant these days - I'd be lying if I said I felt like anything smaller than an elephant! So you can imagine that I can't wait until the blessed day comes.


That's right - our little active baby boy is right in there, just waiting to join our little family.


We've been busy getting things around the house ready. The first item on our list was to rearrange Zach's room so that there was room for the crib, changing table, etc.


I think it looks so cute in there with both of their beds. Even though the baby won't actually be sleeping in there for a few weeks, we wanted to get it all set up so we were ready. Can I just say I'm so grateful we built a house with BIG rooms?


This is the quilt my Mom made for the baby - she makes a special pieced quilt for every grandchild. Hailey went to the fabric store with us to pick out all the material (that's a whole other story, but I'll not get into it) and she informed us that the new baby really wanted green. So we found some pieces with green, blue (to match the blue already in Zach's room), and brown. I absolutely love it!


Other than the boys' room, you pretty much can't go anywhere in our house without running into something we've done or set up for the baby. The family room has the pack and play (that we use for naps and changing when the baby is really little), the bouncy chair, and


the baby swing.


Up in our bedroom is the baby car seat (which has yet to be installed in the car - but will be this weekend!) and


of course the bassinet.


And of course you can't leave out the baby book we bought to document the first little bit of our little one's life. I was so happy to find a baby book with the exact same colors as the baby quilt my Mom made for the baby - it couldn't go more perfect with it! You can't tell from this picture, but the part that wraps around the spine is brown, so it has all the colors that the quilt does.


And I couldn't help but take pictures of all the diapers I've been stocking up on lately. I forgot to take a picture when they were all stacked in my closet, so now there are some in the downstairs closet,


the boys' room,


and the boys' closet. Don't worry, these aren't all Newborn sized diapers - I remember with my last two that we were in size 1 diapers quicker than I thought, so I made sure to buy a few packages of Newborn sized, but the rest are sizes 1 and 2. Needless to say, we won't have to buy diapers for quite a while! Honestly, I think we have around 25 packages of diapers and the baby's not even here.


Getting things ready has been so much fun. We are lucky that our two boys will be born close enough in the year that we can use all of Zach's clothes that we saved from when he was little. It's been fun pulling out all the baby stuff and clothes and remembering when Zach wore them or used them. The best part has been telling Zach and Hailey about how they both use the same things that our new baby will. They both think that is really neat.

We are scheduled to have the baby C-section on June 3rd - it's been a bit of an up and down past couple of weeks with having a few minor problems in the pregnancy (darn that blood pressure and swelling!), but everything is holding steady and it looks like we're going to make it to the 3rd! As hard as it's been at times, I'm really grateful that we've made it this long. I feel so much better knowing that the baby will be 39 weeks before he's born and shouldn't have any problems.

Little baby, we can't wait for your arrival! As Hailey continually reminds me, it's taken forever for you to grow in Mommy's belly! We're so excited to have you come out and join our family, we love you so much already!

Patriotic Program Highlights

On May 26th, Zach's 1st grade class, as well as 2 other classes, presented a Patriotic Program for friends and family to see. After working for over 2 months on songs, actions, and speaking parts, Zach was so excited for us to come and see him perform.

Here he sitting in his spot, just patiently waiting to get started.


For their costumes, each class was in a certain color (Zach's class was obviously in red). They decided to do class shirts as a keepsake for the year. Each child drew a picture of themselves, then they put them all on the shirt.


Zach's was dead center - the perfect spot! Loved his rendition of himself - especially the ears!


Nana and Papa came down for the special event - which made Zach's day! Here they are with Hailey, patiently waiting for the program to get started.


Here's a picture of all 3 classes so you can see how neat it was to have them in red, white, and blue. Zach is on the bottom row, about half way in the red section.


A little ways into the program, they sang "It's A Grand Old Flag" and as they were singing, they moved into position, making the flag with their colors. It was really neat to see them make the flag!


They did a ton of fun things with the program including slideshows of each class, a tribute to family members serving in the military, etc.

One of the things Zach was really excited about was doing the wave - so we got it on video.



Each child had a part to say in the program. I was really impressed with how quickly Zach memorized his part and said it so well during the program.



During the program, each class had a turn to get up on the stage and perform a number. Here's Zach's class performing theirs. He's in the back row, which made it hard to video, but you can see him in the middle doing all the actions and being so cute!



We had to get a quick picture with Nana and Papa afterwards - we were so happy to have them come down and see the program with us!



And of course a quick picture of our little family. Don't pay any attention to the huge pregnant lady who looks like she's about to burst!



Zach, we had so much fun coming to watch you in your program. We are so proud of you for doing so well in 1st grade - you're getting so big and we can't believe you're going to be a 2nd grader!

WE LOVE YOU!

Soccer Pro

We have been looking forward to soccer season for a few months now. We love being outside and rooting for our favorite little soccer player - Zach. He absolutely loves playing sports, especially soccer.

I have forgotten to take the camera to more games than I'd like to admit, so these pictures and video clip are courtesy of Jeremiah who took them a week ago when I wasn't able to go. Funny how I remembered to send the camera when I wasn't going to be there!

Here's Zach protecting his goal. Technically, they don't have goalies at this age, but his coach is still teaching them to help protect the goal when the ball is down there.


Here's our little number 12 getting instructions from the assistant coach. We've been so proud to see him listen and follow the instructions that they give to him.


And here he is chasing down the ball. He really has some speed when he decides to kick it into gear.


And here's a little video clip of him in action.



He has really done well this year. It's been fun to watch him add new skills to the ones he's already learned in past years playing. He scored 4 goals his first game and at least 1 per game since then. I think he's really having a fun time playing, I know we sure are having a fun time watching and cheering for him! GO ZACH!