Come On!

So maybe Big Sister Ella knows more than she's willing to lead on about her knowledge of mommy's growing belly. Yesterday, while getting her snapped into her car seat (which has now been moved to one side of the car so the new baby's seat could be installed on the other side), Erika asked Ella "So Ella, who's seat is that?" Ella's response: "Baby!" Erika: "That's right! And where is baby?" Ella (after pointing to Erika's tummy): "Come on, baby!" It was all pretty comical considering she says the same thing to Cooper when we're coaxing him out the door for his hot afternoon walks: "Come on, Pooper!"

Totally Trucks! (Not just for boys!)

Last Friday, we took Ella to a Reston event called "Totally Trucks" that allowed children to climb, touch, and ride about two dozen different types of trucks ranging from mail trucks to fire engines. In prepping Ella for her morning adventure, Erika explained all the different machines she would see and how many of them would be similar to the trucks she reads about in her "Things That Go!" book (which she totally loves). Her response with a simultaneous hand clap: "Yeah! Trucks! Yeah! Trucks!" And Tim thinks she's too girlified! Whatever!

"Driving" an ambulance....she just found the horn and was feeling a little shy about the noise she made!

So excited to be in the fire truck!

She's ready to put out some fires - Ella to the rescue!

Watching some live action - the "diggers" and "loaders" and dump trucks were a major hit

Ella, do you have a license to drive that?

Ok, she can reach the hand bars, but her feet don't quite reach the pedals.....

Ella with her mommy

All the children received free construction hats; Ella proudly wore hers!

Bump, Bump, Bumping Along

"Are you sure you're not having twins?"
"Erika, you're really big!" "Why is there a ball under your shirt?"
"So, how much longer do you have?" "Is it uncomfortable?" "When are you due again?" "Looks like you could dust corners with that belly button!"


These are just a few of the comments Erika's been hearing for oh, the last two months of so. It's all pretty comical and admittedly, the belly is BIG! At our 34 week ultrasound, for example, the baby measured a whopping 6.5 pounds (for comparison, Ella measured at 5.25 pounds during the same week) and when the doctor announced that we had "nice, healthy baby," we knew we had a whopper growing. We were immediately assured, however, that 99% of second births are delivered naturally so there should be no problems....this of course, is coming from a MALE doctor who never in his life has given birth to a baby, let alone a 9+ pounder, which we're guessing the weight to be! Tim says it's going to be boy (rather, he hopes given the weight!) and mother's instincts agree with his premonition but with that said, we'd love to welcome another little girl, too. We'll be happy with either and Erika's really more interested to know if this next one will resemble her in ANYway.....Hmmmm. Just a little over 3 weeks to go before we'll know!

One day shy of 24 weeks

One day shy of 24 weeks

One day shy of 27 weeks

Almost 31 weeks (yes, that's correct. 31, not 37)

And, most current: 36 1/2 weeks

A Return From Summer Break

To no surprise, the summer is just flying by and given the last blog post, it seems like just yesterday that Ella was splish-splashing in the rain puddles! We've had an incredible summer and most of it is due to watching our extraordinary little girl grow and develop in so many ways. She certainly adds to the spontaneity and simple pleasures that this summer has offered for our family. She has been changing so much over such a short period of time that it's been hard to keep up with her developments; Erika's been attempting to document it all in her baby book but she's running out of pages and space! Luckily, there are blog postings to track everything! Ha! Just recently:

• Ella is finally expanding her vocabulary every day. If not by adding a few extra words, she's just begun putting two and three words together. Her little voice will just melt your heart, too. Just tonight, she pointed to a button on her shirt and said "button." She'll ask us to "sit" with her to play her toys, or beg for a "nak" (snack) after a swim at the pool, or invite us to dance in a circle to "ashes" ("Ring around the roses") - one of her favorite nursery tunes. Or, she might demand "mommy!" for something or will murmur "sorry" to a friend after pushing him to the ground (yes, she asserts herself quite well!). She loves "pooper" (Cooper) and plays with "baby" all the time by feeding her "milk." She'll tell us how she goes down the "slide" or plays at the "beach" with her "toys," and she'll also re-read and re-read "Brow Brow" (her favorite book Brown Bear Brown Bear) over and over and over again....mastering the animal names and sounds and describing their "feet" and "eyes." She mimics us all the time, too by saying "good girl" or "I'm gonna gettcha" (a game she and daddy play) or "I love you." She also knows her name and will combine "Ella" with words like "Ella booboo" or "Ella eat."
  
• She's so confident on her feet. Forget the stair railings. Forget mommy's hand. Erika about flipped out the first time she saw Ella walk down the stairs without holding onto a thing. Yikes! She's still encouraged (and sometimes forced!) to go down stairs on her tummy or holding onto the railing but at almost 2 years old, she's feeling increasingly more and more independent and sometimes mommy's ideas or just not that great.
• Yellow, yellow, yellow! For awhile, all things were "yellow" when asked what color they were but finally things are starting to click for her. She avoids green for some reason but can identify red, blue, purple, and of course yellow objects.
• Her ability to recount events is pretty astounding. For example, ask her about her trip to the beach and she'll immediately launch into a gargle of gibber jabber with descriptive hand movements to tell you about the waves, the toys and the sand, her ride in the bike seat, and the sand castles she made. Or, she will show you how she goes underwater at the pool by closing her eyes, sealing her lips, and dipping her head down. Most amazingly to us recently happened the morning after a night of spotting two frogs in our neighborhood. Tim showed her how the frog ate bugs with their tongue so we spent some time observing the frogs and describing to Ella the color of their skin, their body parts, and how their tongue works to help them eat. So, the next morning, we asked her about the frogs she had seen the previous evening. Sure enough, her hands went into descriptive movements and she shows us with her tongue how the frog lapped up his meal of bugs!

So the big question we get all the time is "Does Ella know she's going to be a big sister?" Hmm, that's the million dollar question. Does she actually get the fact that an actual baby is in Erika's belly? Probably not. She will however, feed the baby (imagine her placing a spoon to Erika's naval) and kiss the baby. Of course, sometimes when asked "where is the baby, Ella?" she'll pick up her own shirt and proudly flaunt her own little belly. She's improved though, when it comes to babies - Erika was once holding a neighbor's new baby and Ella proceeded to attempt to pull the baby off Erika's lap. However, just recently while holding the same baby, instead of wanting the baby off mommy's lap, Ella herself wanted to hold the baby. So....good news for Baby Carlson! He or she will be happy to know that big sister Ella will be more likely to share mommy's lap and not be forced to the floor! And, speaking of new baby, we're about 4 weeks away from our due date (which is coincidentally Labor Day, September 7th). Now, looking at the belly, you'd think the due date would be NOW; the belly is just huge. Earlier this week, a three-year old neighborhood girl came up to Erika, tugged at her shirt, and asked "Why do you have a ball under your shirt?" Well, if that doesn't just sum it up right there! It was pretty funny and my laughter only confused the poor girl since all she wanted to do was play with a ball!
Despite the huge belly, we're getting ready for our little one. The nursery is as ready as it'll get for now and Erika has fulfilled her nesting mode by organizing storage closets (don't ask), laundering newborn clothes, and starting to pack the hospital bag. Tim has learned to not ask questions and just go with the flow. . . can you really argue with a pregnant women??!?!?
So, here are just a few pictures of our lives over the past two months....!

"Sunglasses" please! Often, we can't leave the house without them. No different for pictures, too!

At Virginia Beach over Father's Day weekend

Ella gives "Pooper" some summer love....Cooper the Pooper is quite the Trooper

On a family hike in June to Maryland's Great Falls.

Some July pool time

Celebrating the 4th of July at a neighborhood fireworks display

Enjoying the clear blue water of Florida - Ella and Erika with cousins Camille and Anne-Perry

Beach bike ride with daddy

Staying busy on the beach

Go figure, she actually LIKED being buried!

Ella finally has a hat like Daddy

Catching up with the Reemsnyders at Smith Mt. Lake - last weekend of July. Here, Erika and Shea pose for their traditional pic with the babies (it first started with pregnant bellies)

Splish Splash, I Was Taking a Bath!

Well, not really since a bath is what she needed after this video clip.  If you're a germophobe are a new parent who still thinks they can keep their child from getting messy, than think twice before watching this video.  I wasn't THAT bad but Erika did get some strange looks from parents coupled with envious stares from little kids.  One parent did remark how "cool" it was that I was letting my daughter do this while other parents were probably dialing CPS on their cell phones. Finally, Ella was joined by another toddler whose parents finally relented to his persistant attempts to walk through the water. The puddle was a huge temptation and once she took the first step into the rain puddle, it was kind of hard to stop Ella at that point.  But sometimes, we all need to live a little, even if it means we get just a little wet! And yes, she was drenched, riding the way home in just her diaper.  Plus, if the grandmother is doing it, why not!!?  Note that this was NOT approved by Tim.  Absent from the action, his disclaimer reads:  "yeah, I wouldn't have let her do that!"  

Turning 30!

As much as we'd like to reverse the aging process, neither of us recently turned 30....that would be wishful thinking!  We recently celebrated Monica's 30th birthday with our first house party on Great Owl Circle and it was so much fun!  It was great to have the Carlson's and Monica stay with us (we actually had room this time!) and so much fun to celebrate a huge milestone such as a 30th birthday with Monica!  

At Rio for dinner:

(Ella looks like she's had one too many magaritas....or chips!)

At the party:

It's not ALWAYS about Ella!

Ella is keeping so busy that we feel we've been neglecting our little number two. Maybe it's due to the fact that we also don't feel the need to read up on the baby and pregnancy books but by not doing so, it's sometimes easy to forget that we're expecting again....well, sometimes! Erika's definitely "nesting" early but probably due to the fact that we all know time is going to be pretty limited once the baby comes along and we're juggling two babies and school. Besides the nursery, which we'll wait to paint and decorate until we know the sex, we feel "ready" for this one. We just purchased a double stroller this past weekend and let's elaborate on this. There's a huge difference between a single and a double stroller. And it's not just the price. For example, when people see a single stroller, they might think "Oh! How wonderful! One baby, so nice and simple!" or "There's a nice looking couple pushing along one little baby!" Now, when you see people pushing a double stroller, it's all quite the opposite. We can already read people's minds: "Poor parents. A baby and a toddler!" or "Thank goodness I don't have to push around a double stroller!" or "It sure is nice to sit here with my paper and latte watching the tired-looking parents push two kids around!" Yes, we know people out there exist. So, what it all comes down to is this: come September, we're full fledged parents. No way of getting around it. But don't worry, you'll never see Erika toting a fanny pack at Disney World or Tim wearing sneakers and jean shorts waving frantically to Micky Mouse. Our friend Andrea jokes around that the minivan is next. We're holding off on that one as long as possible!

With that, we've got some baby shots of the ever growing tummy. One thing is for sure: second babies pop much faster than the first one. If Erika had a quarter for every time someone asked if she was due in July, we would have that double stroller paid off in a jiffy with some spare change left over!

One day shy of 22 weeks:

And, one day shy of 24 weeks:

People ask if this pregnancy is any different than it was with Ella. And the answer is yes and no. First, Erika's not working out nearly as much (can there please be more than 24 hours in a day?) so she's not feeling as in shape. As for the baby, we've got a kicker, mover, and probably a screamer. Maybe it's pregnancy brain, but Erika really does not remember that Ella moved around nearly as much as this one does. In fact, during the last two doctor appointments, the main comment from the doctor was (while listening for the heartbeat) was: "Wow! hear that? that's the baby moving! All the movement is making it hard for us to hear the heartbeat!" Hmm, is that really a good thing? Does anyone have any research data on the correlation between active fetuses and active babies?