Getting Ready

Ella in her new dress for picture day at school.

We've made some great leaps forward in the realm of baby preparedness this last week.  Gabriella and I put together the crib in the spare bedroom.  She was super helpful, putting in all the bolts and even tightening them most of the way, and then helping clean it up.  It's a super nice crib that was given to us for free from a mom at Shelley's work.  We also got a king size bed for the two of us, and a glider for the baby.    

Yesterday, there was a baby shower at Shooting Stars for the 3 of them there that are pregnant, and the one who just gave birth.  We got a major haul of stuff, some of it stuff that people weren't going to use anymore and some that is brand new.  One cool thing is a nice big swing, like one we had in Chicago that my cousin Karin lent us.  It was super useful, and we're very glad to have it.  

   

Today was way fun because I fixed up a bike in the garage and went for a ride on it with Ella.  She was on her bigwheel.  We went for about 40 minutes, which in normal people time would only have taken about 20 minutes.  However, my daughter is a genius at not paying attention to important things.  Dogs walking by, kids 50 yards away; she can focus on them like a laser.  A big yellow pole right in front of her... crash!  And that not all, she also  steered right into a wall.  And when ever I got behind her, she would always turn around to look at me, which caused her to swerve around a lot.  But she rode the whole way, and was really good about it.  Afterward we went to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital for a big siblings tour of the maternity wing.  There was an incredibly goofy video about being a big sibling and then they got to practice changing a baby doll, and then we went to the nursery and saw a real live little baby, which all the little kids loved, and then we saw a birthing room.  Ella and Cody were both really excited the whole time.