Getting Ready for Baby!

Our house is buzzing we're so excited to meet Baby number three! Today I'm 37 1/2 weeks pregnant; even though my due date isn't technically until June 13, Madeline and Charlie were both born at 38 1/2 weeks, so we're literally counting down the days...

Madeline and Charlie both tickle my belly, then quickly put their ears right up to my skin to see if they can hear the baby laughing. Charlie was confused for awhile and thought he had a baby in his belly too, but now, he's graduated to saying, "I a big boy. I not a baby anymore." He also calls refers to his new sibling as "my baby," which melts my heart. When Madeline draws family portraits, the mommy has a great big tummy, and this morning, we all took it a step further, drawing pictures on our bellies.

On Wednesday, after my check up (and the kids' weekly visit to Krispy Kreme with Rob), I took Madeline and Charlie to Centennial Hospital where they'll visit when the baby's born. We chatted with some sweet Vanderbilt student nurses, rode the elevator and peered through the window at the sleeping babies in the 6th floor OB nursery; Charlie kept begging me to lift him up to the window. On our way out, we stopped in the gift shop for a 20 cent lollipop.

Each of them also went on a special date to pick out a small gift for the baby when it comes home. Charlie puts the soft blue elephant rattle he chose up to my stomach and tries to insert it in my belly button like a credit card or a coin slot. Madeline was inspired by wrapping the toy and pacifiers she picked out, and now goes through a roll of Scotch tape a week, wrapping random things around the house as "gifts" for the baby -- half-used tablets of paper, dog toys, baby paraphernalia that's been dug out of bins and is ready to be washed.

And yes, I've been washing everything in sight. Hard. Core. Nesting. The strollers are scrubbed, the fridge disinfected, the crib bleached, the baby clothes washed...and that's just four items on a three-page-list I've been chipping away at for weeks. The bouncy chairs, swing and bassinet have been washed in Dreft and are ready to rock and jiggle this little baby to sleep (hopefully...).

If the baby came tonight, we'd be ready. But I'm grateful for each extra day that I have to prepare (and would prefer that it wait until Rob's home from Chicago where he's standing up in a very special wedding). We just can't wait to meet this little person and know his or her personality. Even though I feel the baby's every movement now, it's still hard to imagine that he or she is really in there until I hear its cry, look in its eyes and hold it in my arms. It's like waiting for Christmas morning when you're a kid. Only a million times better.