Thursday, March 15, 2012

Tiaras, tutus....and tears

There is no question about the amount of estrogen in our house. I feel like we are the definition of "pinkalious"- pink dresses, pink hair bows, pink babies, pink Barbies...more pink possessions that one could sanely count! Nothing is worth doing in our house unless you are wearing your princess dress, that is unless you are wearing your ballerina outfit ;-)


Last night, however, we were reminded of another beautiful aspect of little girls...their tender little hearts! It came on life a freight train out of nowhere. Neal and I were playing cards on the couch, Ella and Aubrey were playing their abridged version of cards on the floor while watching "Pooh's Grand Adventure- The search for Christopher Robin." (For all of you out there who aren't familiar with this heartwarming tale, Christopher Robin has to grow up and go to school. He tries to tell Pooh about it, but Pooh doesn't understand. Owl misreads the letter from Christopher Robin saying he went to 'school' but Owl says he went to 'skull.' Everyone sets out to rescue Christopher Robin from this dreadful place.) We've seen this movie dozens of times. However, tonight as Pooh is pondering what could have happened to his best friend, Ella's little eyes fill with tears. "This makes me so sad. Pooh has lost his best friend..." I tried to reassure her that, remember in the end, Pooh finds Christopher Robin and is happy. And look, Pooh isn't even sad right now! No dice... the lip still quivers. Then Aubrey looked at Ella, her lip starts quivering as well and the flood of tears down her cheeks begin! "I'm sad too Ella..." Aubrey whimpers. Ella consoles Aubrey, they hug and fortunately the movie moves onto a happier song so that the tears can stop!

Neal and I were trying to be very nurturing and comforting all the while trying to hide a few snickers =) The girls have such a tender heart at times and it comes out when we least expect it, mostly during Disney movies. I'm pretty sure there isn't a Disney movie we own that tears haven't been shed over at least once!

I'm sure that we will have many more unexpected tears over the years, especially as we imagine how this sympathy crying is going to grow once baby girl #3 enters the scene. Its a life we can hardly comprehend but at the same time are so very excited for!

Today I realized that I should probably take at least 1 belly pic of this little one. I have never been one to chronicle my pregnancies and then I look back at other people's pictures thinking "what a cute idea, I should have done that!" So I admit, a friend had done this effect with one of her pregnancy pictures last year and I loved the look...so I decided to replicate it! Ella and Aubrey wanted pictures of their 'bellies' as well =)
Aubrey
Ella


Baby girl at 32 weeks
Oh if we could only decide on a name....
? Kiah Louise ?
? Kaia Rose ?
? Ainsley Rae ?
?????



Thursday, March 8, 2012

--->>> Making progress

After the last blog, I had only a few items on the "to-do" list and it seemed like a fairly easy undertaking. I had already consulted with a friend on colors for Ella and Aubrey's rooms, it was just a matter of getting started. So on a Friday afternoon, after lunch and not much other planning besides color choice...I went upstairs and started taping everything off. Things quickly went from that point on. It was off to the paint store, a quick call to Jeanie for some painting assistance, setting up a temporary bed for Ella in the nursery. 2 days and 3 coats of paint later room #1 was complete!

Its hard to tell in the picture, but the color is actually a deep pink shade. (Today we are being graced by this glorious shiny orb that makes you feel all warm inside, but makes taking pictures of bedrooms a little more challenging ;-)) Also, please excuse the lack of staging in the pictures. This is the real reality of a bedroom of a 5-year old who loves to play dress-up! Under that pile of frilly dresses in the corner is a dressup chest that is far too small for all the dresses.

Ella loved her new room, all painted. We rearranged her furniture, finally unpacked most of her books and wall decorations and made it look like her room =)

Aubrey was not going to be left out of the new room experience. She wanted mommy to paint it NOW!! Unfortunately for her, mommy had to do that whole working thing so she had to wait a few days. Also, Aubrey became adamant that her room be yellow. Now I had 2 tasks, find bedding with a shade of yellow that wouldn't overpower the room, and paint room #2. Fortunately the stars aligned, the bedding was found quickly and Aubrey's room was started a few days after Ella's was finished. Unfortunate side of this situation, Ella's room has high ceilings....Aubrey's LOWEST ceiling is Ella's highest!! 1 gallon of paint covered 1 coat of paint in Aubrey's room. 3 gallons later her room was done! Again, we rearranged furniture hung a few things on the walls and made it look a little more personalized.

We still need to get some curtains for both of the girls rooms, but at least they are painted and both girls are very happy with their "new" rooms!

As for the last item on the "to-do" list---a name for the baby....  We still aren't getting very close to decision. There are names we toss around, but none of them seem "right" or we have too many reasons why we are hesitant. The clock is quickly ticking, less than 9 weeks and our 3rd little girl will be here (hopefully with a name!)