let the preparations begin....

I've really been missing my camera. I need to just break down and buy a new one or invade that storage unit of ours for our backup camera, pronto.

Today I took 6+ bags of sweet baby girl clothes (CLOTHES!) and sorted them by size all over our bed. The little piles of cute pink butterfly onesies and purple flower pants and red ladybug dresses were just to die for. It would have been fun to document. Thank goodness for my dear friends who have handed clothes down so generously. I need to get Wesley's boy clothes out of storage and go through them for gender neutral things that I could keep, and then return the favor to my friends who have their new baby boys. We all help each other out!

I am 30 weeks today. GAH! Welcome to the homestretch. I am really starting to get more excited about meeting our sweet baby girl. Next to the computer here is a list of 23 names (NAMES!) that Shane and I both "like" from about 4 different name books. I have one more name book (of 60,000+ names!), and when I go through that we'll really have to buckle down and cross some more off. I have my favorite handful, and I'm really thinking she'll be one of those 4 or 5 names. Shane's favorite is a character from a Quentin Tarantino movie so NO I have vetoed that name. But he still brings it up. Kinda like how he wanted Wesley named Ozzy. Seriously.

This past Friday we took Wesley to a "sibiling preparation" class (WESLEY!) at Northwest Hospital, where I'll deliver. There was an instructor who basically held a little "playgroup" for a group of 5 or 6 kids, with all of us expectant parents sitting in the back, watching. They did some cute things:

• She had these teeeeeny little water balloons with tiny plastic babies floating around inside of them, and each kid got to hold one. It was to teach them that the baby is in mommy's tummy right now and is floating around in water, growing until it's ready to be born. Um adorable. They did use some anatomical words, which I'm sure went right over Wesley's head, but there was one little boy (probably age 4?) who knew what a "uterus" was. Yeah, I've never taught my child that.
• She had little baby dolls and she taught the kids five steps to holding a baby. Step 1: Tell a grown up when you want to hold a baby. Step 2: Make a lap. (Criss cross applesauce!) Step 3: Set up your arms to hold the baby. Step 4: Hold the baby. Don't forget to support its head. You can also sway or sing (they sung the ABCs to the little baby dolls), and be quiet and gentle with the baby. Step 5: Tell a grown up when you're all done. The instructor had little blankets so they could wrap up the babies and stuff; it was so cute to watch Wesley hold this little baby. What a cute big brother. He took it very seriously. Although at one point he grabbed the baby by the neck and was toting it around the room.
  
• She had books about siblings that we could read or look at pictures.
  
• She had a little 3-minute video about a brother and sister who went to visit a new baby with their mom.
  
• When the kids all came in, they could decorate a piece of paper with stickers. Then she let them roll the paper up into a little megaphone so they could "talk to" the baby in mommy's tummy.
  

Overall, it was really fun. I think he got a little antsy after sitting for awhile, and some of the other kids seemed to pay attention more, but he's Wesley and that's OK. He held the baby and really liked the little water balloon, and he answered her questions sometimes. The line we like to use in our house is that Wesley's getting a baby sister for Christmas, and he totally told the whole class that.

I've been chatting with some other girlfriends about "sibling preparation," and I think some of my strategies for the next two months will be:

• Get a few books from the library about babies.
• Buy a baby doll from a second-hand store for Wesley to care for. We'll practice holding it, rocking it, putting it to sleep... we'll see how that goes.
• Have Wesley pick out a "present" for the baby and wrap it up. I'm thinking maybe some pacifiers or something? Or a new toy? Some friends also said that they had the baby "give" a present to the toddler, so the two kids essentially exchange gifts. I'm leaning towards something my friend Abby did; her new baby boy "bought" her toddler a digital camera! Yea, a cute little toddler one that is essentially unbreakable. And the toddler can then take pictures of the baby. Such a cute idea. They're only like $20 online, so I think we'll definitely spring for that.

All in all, we're well on our way. Some girlfriends are giving me a baby shower (what great gals!) and I gave them some ideas for gifts or a group gift (STUFF!). Really the only thing we need is a crib. Yeah, funny. We have the car seat, double stroller, baby swing, breast pump, bottles, etc.

We started furniture shopping yesterday (NURSERY!). We'll chuck Wesley's toddler bed and buy him a real bed set, then give his crib mattress to baby girl. So we need to buy him a real twin bed, wow how he is growing up.

My "theme" for baby girl is ladybugs. RED ladybugs. (So, for the rest of their lives, Wesley is my stinkbug and she is my ladybug, haha.) There are several different bed sets out there and I like different things from each one. I need to buckle down and work on getting what I really need. Like, crib sheets and a mobile. I guess if I get nothing else we'll be OK. But I literally made a list and here are all things I will try to collect from Craigslist and eBay between now and then:

• Sheets
• Dust ruffle
  
• Rug
• Diaper stacker
• Mobile
• Light switch/plug covers (maybe. If Wesley and baby girl share a room I guess I won't need these. He has his Looney Tunes ones still up.)
  
• Throw pillow?
• Photo board? or other wall decorations
• Shelf and picture frames (I may make these myself; I made them for Wesley)
  

I suppose a lot of it depends if we are HERE in our condo or SOMEWHERE ELSE in a gorgeous huge house. If we don't get an offer on our place by Halloween we are staying here and they are sharing a room. Scary but doable. I will now forget that I have brought up real estate because it puts me in a bad mood.

Anything I'm forgetting? Let me know if you have any ideas. There's a baby coming!