The girl's feelings

I have had a few questions about how the girls feel about bringing a baby into our family and I believe they are excited. I don't think they understand the whole idea completely, but we have been very honest with them from the beginning. Before we started trying we asked them if they would like a brother or sister and they both said they wanted a sister :-) Then a little while after we found out we were expecting Maddie came up to me one day and asked me if I had something in my belly, like she already knew. Out of the two of them Maddie has been way more into things asking me about the baby and asking to look at the baby books and wondering how big it is today and this and that. She also likes to curl up with me and pat my stomach. This gives me a little comfort since she is the one I am most worried about adjusting. Maddie has always been a momma's girl and one of my biggest fears would be that she hate me if we added another child. So far she has shown that she is going to be a great little helper. They go to all of my appointments with me and the other day they both ran over to my side and asked if that was the baby making noise when we heard the heartbeat. I know we will still have a big period of adjustment when the little one arrives, but the goal is to keep their lives as normal as possible throughout the introduction. I am making plans to ensure that they are able to go to all of their activities and school and that their daily routine doesn't get changed to much. My mom is going to come stay with us so that they get to sleep in their own beds and be around the things that are familiar to them while I am at the hospital. I want this experience to be positive and not a big wrecking ball running through their lives. I know some will see my wishes and desires and "rules" to be anal and controlling, but I know how I want things to go and I am going to do my best to ensure that things are done the way I want them, because I want the girls to feel included and not feel like we have forgotten them. We plan on having them come to the hospital as soon as they can after the baby is born and after Tom and I they will be the first to meet their new sibling before anyone else. We are also making plans to take them to a sibling prep class at the hospital where they get to learn about the new baby and some things to expect when it arrives. Overall I think we will be able to make this experience positive for everyone it is just going to take some planning and dedication from us and understanding from others in our lives as to how we want things handled. For now though life goes on as is and we are just going to a few more doctor appointments than usual and things with the girls are good!

How quickly one forgets

A few months back back I wrote about the great baby debate that was going at our house, well the debate has been finished and we are happy to announce that we are expecting Stahl Peanut #3 in mid January. At first I was really nervous about our decision, but as things have progressed I am getting more and more excited. I was nervous we would have twins again, a task I wasn't sure I would be able to handle. We only had a 3-7% chance of having twins, but that percentage was enough to make me incredibly nervous for the first 9.5 weeks until we saw the sweet little picture of the ONE! So far things have been going pretty good. I have been pretty sick and I have been anti-neasuea medication for 6 or 7 weeks now. There was one day I was pretty sick and almost had to go to the hospital, but things are getting better and I am less tired and feeling more human. I have found it pretty amazing how quickly you forget things that now seem clear as day. I remember being sick, but I didn't remember being as sick as I have been. I also didn't remember the aches and pains i am already having, but Tom says he does remember and he just laughs at me when I ask if this or that was like when I was pregnant with the girls. Other than the usual aches and pains and expected things all is going well. I have gotten bigger faster this time, but my doctor said I am measuring where I should be and all is going well. The babies heart rate was 166 today and it was great to hear the little heartbeat again. We will have our ultrasound at the end of August where we may or may not find out the sex of the baby. If we do find out we may or may not make it public, we may choose to wait until the little one arrives to make the gender public. We are handling this pregnancy a little different than our first and we are sharing things later and keeping more things to ourselves. I am not sure if it is because we are enjoying our last pregnancy, because this will be the last or if it is because there are so few things in life you can totally control or what, but I promise to post more as the pregnancy progresses, but whether the sex of the little one is announced I cannot guarantee. So that is the news for now and I reckon there will probably be more blogging from me in the near future since I will actually have something to blog about!

Educational Dilemmas

From a very early age it has been engrained in my that education is one of the most important aspects of life and that you can get a lot out of it and it will help you go far. I don't think this engraining started when I was 3, but here I am making educational decisions for the girls that could affect their futures. I never thought that I would have to worry as much about preschool as I have/do. It is crazy, I spent months and months looking at different programs and schools and finally found one that matched most of our criteria, only to be able to get the girls enrolled one day a week. I was fine with that at first, but as it gets closer to school starting I wonder if they would benefit from an additional day. We have the opportunity to send the girls to a new preschool that is being held at our Children's museum. I have a few hesitations, mostly that it is downtown, which would mean driving the drive every week to get there, but it seems like a wonderful opportunity. It is a Montessori based school, which means it allows for structured free thinking a philosophy that I think is great and one that I wish we could have enrolled in from the get go, but the school out here just isn't affordable for us as this time. This program is and it offers what we want and allows the girls to explore the museum in way that they probably wouldn't be able to with me. My dilemmas you ask? Well, I fear that I will sign them up for an additional day at this school and then I will get a call from the school out here where they will also attend telling me that they have an additional day for them. Then, do I ditch the Museum school, eat the non-refundable deposit, do one day at each school or do three days of school. I know one would think that this shouldn't be a stressful but to me it is. I want the girls to have a great experience early with school so that they don't hate it later in life and I want them to learn as well so to me this is an important decision. Right now I think I am leaning towards signing them up at the Museum and seeing how it goes and crossing the bridge, if I get to it, if there is another day available to them at the school out here. A decisions, decisions, things that you won't find in a parenting book, but that would be helpful!