Happy Birthday Sally!

Today, big sister-to-be Sally turned four years old!

Here she is testing out the new glider in the baby's room.


We have been preparing Sally for the kiddo. We removed her perch from the baby's room window (as featured in this blog post) and after the first two days or so, she seemed to forget it ever existed.

As recommended by the humane society, we bought a doll and sometimes we coo at it and pretend it's a baby, to prepare her not to be the center of attention and also to teach her not to jump up on the baby or heaven forbid, chew on it. Also recommended, we have played a CD of baby sounds, chiefly crying, to try to get her adjusted to the noise. Sally ignores both of these efforts to get her ready for her new sibling. So who knows? Mark and Rosa loaned us the CD and said they aren't sure if it helped Archie, but didn't hurt. So we shall see!

We have also been working hard on Sally's general behavior. We trained her not to bark when someone rings our buzzer. This is huge and we keep asking ourselves why we didn't do this years ago and save ourselves a bunch of aggravation. But the important thing is that we succeeded. She's generally barking less and is being a very good little pooch. We know she is going to be a great big sister!!

Happy Birthday to our dear Sally!!

Getting Ready

We have been steadily plugging away at our to-do list and I am happy to report that we are getting closer to being ready to bring Mini Miller home. We have 5 weeks until our due date.

We have taken a newborn care class, "Bringing Baby Home" class, and an intensive childbirth preparation class. We are also part of a Centering Group for expectant parents that meets once a month where we discuss different topics and concerns. The classes we have left are infant CPR and breastfeeding. Pete is also going to take a dads' class - I suppose what he learns there will have to be kept a secret from the moms? Well, I will let you know if I can get him to spill any info.

The baby's room is also shaping up nicely. All we have left to buy for furniture is the crib, but we aren't going to worry about that until after the baby's born, because we have a co-sleeper / bassinet for the baby to sleep in for the first couple months.

I think we are all set for clothes and supplies as well. We even have a car seat, which means the hospital will actually let us leave with the baby.

We have been very fortunate to have had a couple baby showers thrown by dear friends and for that we are thankful - we would be nowhere near ready if not for our friends' and families' generosity. So thank you all again!! We couldn't do it without you. And more importantly it means so much to us to know that we have such great support and that the baby will be born into a world where he/she is already loved by so many!

Also special thanks to Dan for hanging up some shelves for us - you have saved us from certain disaster.

Sept. 28 View

As of today we are 1 month and 26 days away from our due date. Here's the latest baby picture, from Sunday:

Sept. 28 (32 weeks)

Our goal is to have all of our classes complete by the end of October. Tomorrow night we're taking a "newborn care" class where we'll learn how to change diapers and put onesies on, among other skills.

? Miller

We are working on possible names for the baby. Here is a list of names we will most likely NOT be using.

Note: this list is not in any particular order and is not all-inclusive.

-- Henry
-- Arthur
-- Sienna
-- Wentworth
-- Mitch
-- McCabe
-- Glenn
-- Robin
-- Jeremy
-- Steve
-- Barney
-- Dennis
-- Lite,
-- Bode
-- Jonny Lee
-- Choo Choo

You'll have to wait until the baby's born to find out his/her name!

Growing

We take a picture of my belly every week. Here's a progression of selected shots.

June 15 (17 weeks)

July 13 (21 weeks)

August 4 (24 weeks)

August 19 (26 weeks)

Sept. 7 (29 weeks)

Silly Sally

Sally trying to feel the baby kick

Sally in the middle of her Muppet impersonation

Alternate title: Sally bellies up to the bar

Getting Started

It took us months to clear out the baby's room (formerly known as "the office"). We forgot to take a "before" picture which is a bummer. Anyway we cleared it all out, got rid of a bunch of stuff and put a lot of books in storage. Now we have a close-to-empty room to fill up with baby stuff!

Here are our first purchases. A dresser (Sally's "perch" is not a new purchase):

Toy and book storage:

Don't you need a crib and changing table, you ask? Don't worry, we're working on that.