Going Home

Brielle wore home a dress that was Mommy's when she was a baby.

Brielle was greeted with welcome home signs from Kendall.  Also, Kendall and JuJu baked chocolate cupcakes to celebrate the occasion.  Kendall was so glad to have Mommy out of the hospital and Brielle finally in her lap.  She's one proud big sis!

Sweet Big Sis

Practice

One of my BFF's little boy spent the day with us yesterday.  She needed a sitter for the day, I needed a taste of having two, and Kendall needed a little practice run being the big sister.  And I must say, Grayson is an easy baby.  I'm praying for one of those. 

Kendall took to him as natural as if she had been doing this all three years of her life.  This little mama in the making wasted no time.
She held him while he took his morning cat nap...

And read to Grayson, assisting him in touching the book...

And fed him his food (on her terms).  He kept whining in between bites over the wait, and she kept licking baby food off her fingers and wiping his mouth with a big ole burp cloth between every bite...

And gave him his bottle...

This brave soon-to-be mama of two even ventured out to the grocery with them both.  Gotta learn sooner or later! 

We had a great day with a few moments of chaos.  (The dog created her share of drama.)  I learned what a balancing act two can be at times, and Kendall realized that sometimes she'll just have to take a number and wait a sec. But overall it was a fabulous day.  I just love this little guy.

Dat's a ....

GIRL!!

At least now we can call her She Dat until she gets a name.

And we were SHOCKED!!  I would have bet the house that Kendall was a girl.  But this time I kept flip-flopping on my "feeling".  I stuck by girl this last week but Gabe said he didn't trust me (fingers crossed I was right).  I didn't blame him.  I guess I really thought a boy since eeeeveree-body told me so.  So to Everybody, WRONG!!  We are thrilled beyond thrilled to have another sweet girl join the family.  Welcome to the sorority house, Daddy.

We wanted to tell Kendall about she baby sister in a special way.  Immediately following our appointment I swung through Wal-Mart and bought a pink baby's first doll.  I wrapped it up, and when Gabe got home that night we let her open it.  She was thrilled!  She's saving the doll to give to her baby sister when she is born.

And I had another cool idea for telling the family.  But since my mom shot it down in about 0.2 seconds (it involved her waiting five days till she got here to cut the reveal cake.  Does she not remember I kept the pregnancy a secret for six weeks??  What's a measly five days?), I decided to use my cute idea at work.

I baked a cake and used food coloring to dye the mix pink.  I slathered enough white icing to cover to pinkness then drowned it in pink and blue sprinkles.

Mrs. Rita, the boss lady and fellow Louisiana girl, got the honors of cutting the first piece for all the other teachers and co-workers who were anxiously, and some not so patiently, waiting.  I must interject that due to the big announcement, all the teachers were not only present, not only on time, but early setting up their rooms.  Hmmm....maybe I should keep the babies coming??? not.

Disclaimer:  I never have nor claim to be a cake decorating connoisseur.

Everyone was thrilled and elated.  Kendall didn't know what to make of all the hollering and cackling a bunch of excited women can make.  But she quickly realized how fun it was to tell her news that Mommy had reminded her to keep a secret until the big reveal. As each of her classmates arrived she greeted them with the news she was having a baby sister.  So sweet!

Now for a name...

Big Sis Preparations

Kendall is a textbook first born.  And she can thank her mother for the following traits she's acquired:  OCD (We share the same motto, a place for everything and everything in its place.  Which makes keeping her room organized a snap.), premature planning and obsessing over details.

Couple this with the fact that she knows there's a baby coming and her little wheels have just been a turning.  It's amazing the things she's obsessing over thinking of.

One of her first questions was where will the baby sit in the car.  Good thinking for a three-year-old.  We discussed that we'd have to buy a second car seat.  I think her mind was eased a little that she wouldn't have to give up hers.

The other night I was putting her to bed and out of the blue she asked with a panic stricken look, "Mom!...Where's the baby gonna sit???"

"Sit where, Baby?"  (I thought we had established the whole car seat thing.)

"At dinner!  We don't have a high chair!"

Funny.  Mommy's been there done that stressing over this detail.  Not over the high chair (it's at the in-laws) but where in the heck am I gonna put it??  Which leads to where the heck and I going to put ANYTHING???"  This house just gets smaller and smaller every day.  And how am I gonna fit all this baby stuff in the house again now that I have toddler stuff, too, which I didn't have last time??  Seriously, there's no room for the high chair because now Kendall's easel and toddler table and chairs occupy that space.  And her kitchen is where her exersaucer and swing used to be.  And so on...

Which led to my next OCD thought. I did it all wrong when Kendall was a baby.  I busted my rear every afternoon to have the house tidy and walking lanes available for when the hubs came home so he wouldn't, you know, trip over all the stuff.  I was determined to prove we could fit in this small house.  But I now realize I was going about it all wrong!  How will he ever see the necessity to build larger if we're just fine here??  So watch out.  A new plan of attack is in the works!

But back to the Big Sis.

She really has no opinion on whether it's a boy or a girl.  She now gives the same answer we gave her, "We'll just have to wait and see!"

But she has prepared a boy name.  The night of the big Sit Down On the Couch We Have A Big Announcement talk (which went very well by the way) we asked her what we should name the baby.  She was saying a boy then.  And she said, "Mike!"

"Mike??" Daddy asked.  We were perplexed.  She did get a stuffed Mike the Tiger from a friend.  That's all I can come up with.

"Yes, Daddy, Mike Boudreaux!!!"  We REALLY have no clue where THAT came from, but it was hilarious.  At least she's aware of her south Louisiana heritage.

I wonder what else she's thinking that has not been verbalized yet.  Like her mom, I know it's in there.  And like her mom, I know it'll come out soon!