Feed the birds

Last weekend, I took the kids and went with my sister Bonnie to visit another sister, Melanie, and her family, in Bellingham. I love Bellingham...I lived there until I was in the 4th grade, and there's still so much I remember about it. Every time I visit I think to myself, "I could live here again". Anyway, we went to one of the local parks to feed the seagulls. Travis loved it...Jayna just fed herself:) I tried scanning in a couple of pictures from when I was 4 and my mom had taken us to feed the birds, but it didn't work. Oh well. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Baby anticipation

I'm finally close enough now to the birth of this baby that it's starting to become real. We still have about 9 weeks left, but I know those will fly.

In some ways, this pregnancy has had a "been there, done that" kind of feeling...I know what to expect in terms of symptoms, emotions, etc. Because I've had Travis and Jayna to keep me busy, I sometimes even had to remind myself that I was pregnant! (this doesn't happen anymore...my physical body, along with a ton of baby movement, is a constant reminder:) Also, with the first there's obviously more anticipation and preparation, and with Jayna there was still a lot of that because we knew she was a girl and had that to look forward to and prepare for. On top of all that, I think other people have become kind of used to seeing me pregnant...it's just not as big a deal as the first or even the second one was (I'm TOTALLY not complaining or thinking anyone's reaction should be different...just observing that that's how it is).

My point is that I am now having fun trying to think of creative ways to celebrate the impending birth of this baby! I'm not buying any clothes at this point for baby - it makes more sense to wait until after baby is born and we know gender - but I did pick out a simple outfit for either gender for coming home from the hospital. Steve's been taking monthly pictures of my belly growth (which I'll post at some point toward the end), and I just finished crocheting a blanket (pics below).

In the next couple of months, we also plan to take the kids to Build-A-Bear so they can make a bear for the baby to bring to the hospital, and I just thought of the idea of having a little contest for all of you blog followers to guess baby's gender, arrival date, etc. (watch for it later!).

And sure enough, we are more excited all the time to meet this baby!

The family clothing closet

Can you tell which part of doing laundry I loathe? That's right...folding the clothes, and especially putting them away. Steve installed these shelves, which makes the folding part easier, but now the clothes just sit on the shelves until we need to wear them. But hey, they're clean!

I need to get past this mental block I have against putting clothes away...what is the chore that you dread the most?