3 Weeks & Counting

I can't believe it! Only about 3 weeks left until Baby arrives. Clara was a week early, and as much as I'd like to end the general discomfort of the end of the pregnancy, I'm not ready for him/her in 2 weeks! 3 weeks would be fine! But, of course, I know there's not much control I have over the matter.

We at least have made some progress with getting the house ready. Aaron swapped out my office furniture and put together the crib and moved the changing table into what will be Baby's room. I use the word "room" very loosely. Poor thing is barely bigger than a walk-in-closet and doesn't even have a door or a closet. It's basically a small bonus room upstairs that the furniture luckily fits in. It's the best we have at the moment. We didn't want to get rid of the spare bedroom since my parents come down to visit often and I don't want to get rid of that furniture, either. Aaron and I figured we probably won't be here long enough for Baby to even realize "Hey, how come my big sis has a real room and I'm stuck in this sardine-can-excuse-for-a-bedroom?" And, if we are, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

I did a bunch of baby laundry last weekend and we now have clean linens, blankets, and burp cloths. On the list for this weekend is washing clothes and covers for all the gear (swings, bouncy seat, car seats, play mat). Aaron is training in the field for 9 days and won't be home til next week so I'll have plenty of time to do all that and manage Clara, right? Well, it's supposed to be a rainy, stormy weekend, so the least I can do is toss some laundry in inbetween entertaining the munchkin and napping when she naps, right?

I'm going for weekly OB visits now. Everything is going right according to plan; good blood pressure for me, good heart rate for Baby, and belly measuring right on track. I found out today I am GBS+ just like with Clara, but at least this time we know what it means and know not to freak out like we did last time when we had no idea what it meant. Baby has "dropped" which gladly allows me to breathe easier and eat a bit more at meals, but annoyingly results in at least hourly (usually more frequent) trips to the bathroom.

That's the "Baby" update for now. I'll be sure to keep you posted. Until later...xoxoxox

Big Sister Practice

I wanted to share this little story with you guys. If this is any indicator as to what type of big sister Clara will be, we certainly are in for a treat.

The other day we were swinging on her tree swing in the backyard. During a break, when I was sitting on the patio chair, Clara came up and said "Baby's turn to swing". So, again, lifting my shirt to access my belly button, she stuck her fingers inside and "got baby". She was so cute and careful. She walked all the way to the swing, cupping her hands gently and talking to "baby" saying, "you swing, your turn". She sweetly set "baby" down on the swing, told it to hold on tight with two hands and proceeded to push the swing. She was even saying things like "wee", "you having fun?" Then, out of the blue she was done. She left "baby" abandoned on the swing in pursuit of another adventure - picking dandelions!

Catching Up...

Oops! Sorry, It's been quite a while since my last post. Things were really busy early in April with traveling to Detroit for Easter, Aaron working nearly 24 hours a day for 2 weeks with his leadership course, and then heading up to South Bend for grandpa's 80th birthday party. My energy level has been optimal on any given day past 7:00, so I'm sad to say our blog was the object of my neglect.

Congratulations are definitely in order for Aaron. He successfully completed the Army's Warrior Leadership Course, graduating as Honor Graduate. That means he was the 2nd top graduate in his class of over 100 soldiers. We are quite proud of him. It was a lot of work and I know he busted his butt every day he was there.

Easter weekend was quick, busy, but fun filled. We went to a few playgrounds with Auntie Keri, decorated eggs and celebrated Easter with the extended family.

Clara and her cousin Brooke in nearly matching Easter dresses

Spring has sprung in Kentucky in the past few weeks and my mom and sister has asked me to share pics of the daffodils and tulips Keri and I planted last fall.

We celebrated Aaron's birthday last week. It was more than a week late, but he was busy at his course on his actual birthday. I baked a cake and Clara helped me decorate it. Clara just loves singing "Happy Birthday" and, naturally, she loves eating the cake!

Clara is often coming home with different hair-do's than she left the house with in the morning. Playing so much, napping, and silky, wispy hair are not always conducive to her hair staying put. The other day topped it all. Connie french braided her hair! I couldn't believe it! It looked so cute. Most amazing to me was that Clara sat still long enough for Connie to do it. She will barely stay still long enough for me to put in two lopsided pigtails!

We made the trek up to South Bend last weekend. Aaron's grandpa was celebrating his 80th birthday with a family party. It was nice to see the fam and Clara hasn't stopped talking about playing with her cousin Madison and "baby", also known as Taylor.

The Barrett Family

Aaron, Clara, Kim, Sharon, Laura, Taylor, Jason, Lindsay, Madison, & David

That pretty much wraps up the past few weeks. We are four weeks to Baby's due date. We are still working on getting everything ready for his or her arrival. We are now to weekly doctor's visits. So far everything is on track. Baby is measuring right at 36 weeks with a good strong heart rate. He/she is beating me up from the inside out; I am so achy and sore most evenings. My sister will tell you I am "way cranky", but in my defense she only talks to me in the evening when I'm exhausted and completely beat!

I will try to keep up with things the next few weeks before Baby arrives. I can't believe we are getting so close!

Thank Heaven's for Papas!

Papas are such a special and wonderful thing! Especially when they take time from their busy lives to come to Kentucky and babysit Clara while Mrs. Connie is on vacation for the week so that mommy doesn't have to take time off work. And it's been nice having the extra hands since Aaron is super busy this next 2 1/2 weeks. He's attending WLC, which is the Warrior Leadership Course at Ft. Knox. All Sergeants have to complete this course before they can be promoted to Staff Sergeant. It's pretty much 18 days of training exercises, classes, drills, and bunch of other things I'm sure, that keep him on post about 15-24 hours a day. So needless to say, he's not going to be around much until after graduation day on April 13th.

My dad came down Sunday afternoon after a lengthy countdown the days leading up to it. Clara was so excited and couldn't wait for him to get here. A simple explanation of how many "night nights" until he came seemed to help put it in perspective.

Clara is simply in love with her Papa and I a get the impression it's a mutual thing! My dad is so good with her. Patient, helpful, and over-attentive as a Papa should be. He's even got the whole potty training thing down! Clara has kept up her 2-3+ times a day potty successes with Papa's diligence. I know she's wearing him out with all her playing, but he's being a good sport and sleeping great at night!

"Peek-a-boo Mommy!"

Papa and Clara have had quite a nice time and kept the days busy with walks and trips. Today was fun-filled with a trip to the "orange store" as Clara calls it. The rest of us call it Home Depot! Papa had to get some extra chain so we could put up the swing we bought to hang on a tree in the yard. Of course, Clara's favorite part of going to the orange store is seeing the ducks. She gives them a lot of props considering they are 3 plastic ducks in the yard pond display in the garden center! She saw them last weekend when she came with Aaron and I to pick up a fire pit for the yard and hadn't stopped talking about them all week.

A little stroll with the wagon

After the excitement of the fake ducks Clara and Papa were off to the mall, aka the "brown store" because of it's brown bricks, to play in the kids area and have a little visit with the Easter Bunny. After nap time and when I was home, the three of us took a trip to a park we'd never been to before. The "play park" as Clara calls them was very nice. The weather today has been perfectly gorgeous and we had a nice time. I snapped so good pics of Clara and Papa playing. As usual, here a few cute ones with more in the slideshow at the bottom of the blog.

All smiles on the swing

Love that genuine smile coming down the slide

Teaching Clara how to climbPosing with Papa at the play park

I'm not sure what this pair has in store for Wednesday and Thursday, but they'll be flying solo since those are my two long days at work on post. It's supposed to be in the mid to high 70's both days with a chance at 80 on Thursday; I'm sure they'll have some adventures at the park or long walks. Whatever it is, I know they'll have fun and I'll hear all about it when I get home.

On Thursday night, Papa, Clara and I are heading to Detroit. Aaron is busy with WLC and can't get time off for Easter. Then the three of us will head back to Kentucky on Tuesday and Papa will head back to Detroit to recuperate on Wednesday. It'll be a busy several days, but that's what family is for!

Happy Easter!

Slideshow

Hey, so I scanned in some of the pictures that were taken at our recent "photo shoot" and put them in a slideshow. There are some really cute ones. It sucks that I'm so cheap and settle for having to pick only one to buy prints of (the one I posted last time of Clara in the chair). I have to say, I'm quite fond of the daddy/daughter picture. Enjoy!

Two year old pictures

We finally got new family pictures and Clara's two-year pictures. The family picture is at the top of our blog; you'll have to go there to check it out. But, here is the one of Clara. Such a darling!