21 Weeks, and more baby goodies!

21 Weeks today!!!  I realised that I haven't gotten a picture in this blouse.  It's one of the first maternity pieces I bought for this pregnancy, and I love it!  Don't think I'll be able to wear it too much longer though.  Zachariah is just getting too big!  ;)

Tatiana was a terrible sleeper.  Seriously.  She didn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a stretch for literally months.  The first time she slept for five hours straight we thought she had died.  I'm not kidding.  I think she was about 8 months old at the time.  When we started thinking about another baby, I began researching alternative sleeping methods for coliky babies, and discovered the Happy Hangup.  Baby hammocks have been used for centuries throughout the world to help soothe colicky babies, and babies with reflux (which was Tatiana's problem).  The way a hammock cradles a baby is reminiscent of the womb and the gentle rocking helps baby to fall asleep.  The elevation of baby's head also helps with any digestion issues.  The widespread recall of all drop-side cribs further cemented this purchase for us.  I was barely able to get my little ones in and out of the drop side crib without climbing on a ladder as it was, and often bruised myself trying.  How in the world could I possibly hope to get a baby out of a fixed side crib?
So, here is my beautiful Happy Hangup, imported from Australia.  I'm getting more excited by the moment for my little Zachariah to be here so I can put him in it!  :)

Dallas Museum of Nature and Science

On Tuesday, the girls and I met my bestest-best friend and her kiddos at Fair Park to go to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science.  We actually got there before Jamie, so went down to the little lake behind the museum to do some turtle watching.

The main exhibit right now is all about water.  I have to admit though, that we didn't spend much time there due to the number of kiddos on field trip.

Celestia and Tatiana were great helpers with Jamie's kiddos!

Instead of battling the crowds, we headed downstairs so the younger kids could play.

You're never too old to play dress up!

Alas, my camera was not fully charged, and died after just a little while, so I don't have very many pictures.  Regardless, we had a great time getting together with friends.  We should definitely do that more often!!!

20 weeks

Halfway there!!!

First baby gifts

Thursday, we got our very first baby gifts!  My mother crochets, and as soon as she found out we were expecting, she got to work on a gift for the baby.  She didn't even know that we were going with an animal theme, but lookie what she made...

I love turtles!!!  :)
She also bought Zachariah a cute little outfit with a turtle on it, once she found out we're having a boy!

Love it!!!

But wait, there's more!  This afternoon, while the girls were out playing they told a lady they've befriended in the neighbourhood that I'm having a boy.  Turns out that she just had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, and had a box full of baby boy clothes that didn't sell, AND some maternity clothes that she brought over to give me!  Woohoo!  It's like Christmas in May!  :)

Madame Butterfly

Yesterday saw several firsts for our family...  First baby gifts (which I will post about later), first formal dress for Celestia, and also her first opera!  We arrived at the opera house a bit early, so had plenty of time to look around and take pictures of my beautiful big girl in her beautiful new dress.

She was excited to be really dressed up for the first time, and posed away.  Then, it was off to the concession stand to buy our snacks for intermission.  We made it to our aisle just in time for a lady a few seats over to ask Celestia to take her picture, and for her to get one of us!

Enjoying our snacks at intermission.

 Madame Butterfly is an amazing opera, and this performance was no exception.  Celestia really enjoyed going to see her very first opera.  I always love doing things with just one of my girls.  It's so fun to see what sweet individuals they are!

Nature baby

Even before we knew we were having a boy, we had planned on a nature theme for our accessories.  I actually even bought some green baskets for storing things a couple of weeks ago, because I was lucky enough to run across them on clearance.  Last weekend, I went to various fabric and craft stores looking for rainforest inspired fabric to make a diaper bag, and just wasn't happy with what I was finding.  I had hoped for something with parrots, monkeys, lizards, and frogs.  No luck.  All these things, I found individually, but none together.  Interestingly enough, the cutest fabric I found was at Wal-Mart of all places.  It's not exactly rainforest inspired, but it does have lizards and frogs!  :)

You may also notice that there's matching yarn, which Celestia is going to make a baby blanket with.  Nana taught her how to crochet, and she's a champ at it!

What's in a name?

After finding out what we were having yesterday, we stopped at the grocery store to buy a treat for the girls.  We felt sure that most bakeries would keep on hand something pink and something blue, and that was how we had planned on telling them.  Turns out that the only distinctly boy cake to be had was Thomas the Tank Engine, so that's what we got!  We had an evening of celebration including sparkling grape juice with dinner, a game of Clue afterward and blue cake for dessert!

 

Names for both a boy and a girl have been picked for a while now.  We actually had the most trouble with boy names, just because our household is so girly.  After many suggestions (some of the more interesting ones coming from my co-workers, thanks, but Megatron just didn't make the cut) We settled on Zachariah David. And yes, we plan on calling him Zachariah.  Not Zach.  Not Zachary.  Zachariah.  Realistically, I know that at some point, his friends will probably call him a shorter version thereof, and if that's what he prefers, then we'll get used to it.  For now, however, we'll be going with the full deal.  Time to get cracking on a personalised diaper bag!  :)