Pigtails!

Check out Siena's new 'do! Her hair has been getting a bit unruly in the humidity, and I figured it was finally long enough to try something new. She definitely looks like a little girl now, just in time for her 19-month milestone. So cute!!

Busy Weekend

We had a busy, fun-filled weekend around the house, beginning with Siena's homemade waffles (note the cute Winnie-the-Pooh apron made by Grandma). She's been having a ball helping in the kitchen these days, especially now that she scales chairs with no problem! I'm hoping to get a "kitchen helper" stool soon...

The big excitement of the weekend was assembling Siena's new sand and water table, her "big sister" gift from the new baby. We've been waiting for over a week to set it up due to rain and cold weather, so you can imagine the excitement. As you can see, Siena was a great helper.

The finished product!

Hours and hours of summer fun ahead here... Grandpa would be proud with her early exposure to water flow dynamics.

The final big weekend project: tilling the new garden. Believe it or not, this huge space in our backyard was a koi pond when we moved in 2 years ago. Joe has worked religiously to transform it into a garden, which is finally close to fruition. It's been a huge undertaking, including draining the pond, cutting away and removing the rubber lining, moving tons and tons of dirt through our house to fill the hole, moving tons of huge rocks back and forth to create the border of the garden, adding a topsoil mixture, and finally tilling it all up. We're in the process now of planting flowers, and will post an update soon. THANK YOU, honey!

Sleep Update

I hope I'm not jinxing our good fortune by posting this, but Siena's sleeping habits have FINALLY made a turn in the right direction! At 18 (now 19) months, she is finally starting to sleep through the night on a regular basis. Up until about 2 weeks ago, I'd rock her to sleep (not an easy task with a growing belly and squirmy toddler!), then put her down in her crib. She'd then wake up at some point and we'd bring her into our bed for the rest of the night. We haven't minded co-sleeping at all (we've done it since day one), but with the new baby on the way I was starting to get a bit worried about an increasingly crazy nighttime routine. Since she loves going to sleep snuggled up to Mommy and Daddy, we came up with the idea of putting a twin mattress on the floor of her room where we could easily be with her when she's falling asleep and easily put her back to sleep in the middle of the night without bringing her to our room. She LOVES it, and clearly feels more attached to her "big girl bed" than she ever did to her crib. She's napping better too, and will often sleep for 2-3 hours during the day. Our lives have gotten a lot easier in the sleep department, just in time for the new baby to start the process over again. :) Who knows -- maybe Junebug will be sleeping through the night at 5 weeks!

I want to send a special THANKS to my awesome hubby for taking on Siena's nighttime duties these past few weeks in preparation for the new baby's arrival. You're the best, honey!

Last time in the Baby Bjorn

We've recently washed Joe's Baby Bjorn in preparation for Junebug's arrival, and he thought he'd give Siena one last ride before readjusting the size. It carries kiddos up to 25 pounds, so she still fits just fine. :) Here are pictures of Siena's first and last rides in the Bjorn... She's getting to be such a big girl! Sniff, sniff.

Junebug Update

So we're at 36 weeks now, and life has been exciting lately for little Junebug! She made us a little nervous a couple of weeks ago when I started having regular contractions one night, and was subsequently admitted at the hospital for preterm labor. After some rest, fluids, and medication, the contractions died down and we were thankfully released. Since then I've been on medication to keep the contractions at bay, but now that we've reached 36 weeks the doctor has given the go-ahead to stop the meds and let nature take its course. Although I've had some contractions here and there, at this point Junebug is still happily hanging out in my belly. Who knows -- maybe she'll be a June baby afterall, and not a Mayflower! We have just about everything ready to go around the house, and Siena loves pointing out all of the "new" baby gear, toys, etc. She's obsessed with everything baby right now, and I think she'll love being a big sister. Stay tuned for the big announcement!

Goofing Off

Just a couple of cute recent photos... Siena's silliness seems to reach its peak just before bedtime -- here she is laughing and playing "I see the moon!" with Mommy and Daddy. It's a rare photo these days when Siena is smiling AND looking at the camera, as she's always on the move and often doesn't have time to pose.