Family outings before 3 becomes 4

We've spent the last couple of weekends doing things that we know we won't be able to do with a new baby in the house. We've taken Joshua to see movies, gone to the park, out to dinner at his favorite places, etc... Eric and I have also been spending a lot of time trying to prepare him for a new baby in the house but you never really know how much a 3 year old comprehends. It has helped that my sister-in-law had a baby 6 weeks ago so he has seen a newborn up close and seen some of the changes his cousins have had to adapt to. He still seems excited about a baby sister, so hopefully it won't be too traumatic a transition. He loves to hug and kiss the baby bump and constantly tells Lily he loves her through my stomach.

Last week we took our annual trek down to the Fort Worth Botanical gardens and into the Japanese garden in particular. The fall colors are gorgeous in that particular garden and wonderful photo opportunities abound. There are also a ton of Koi to feed, much to my son's delight. We actually took family portraits there last year at this time and decided to make it an annual event, professional photographer or not.





Thanksgiving was a low key affair this year. My parents are in town for the duration. My dad will travel back and forth to Midland but my Mom is here until at least Christmas to help me out with Lily and Joshua. I am so glad they are close enough and have flexible enough schedules to do this....it will be so much easier to have her here!! We spent a wonderful day over at my in-laws house for Thanksgiving day and have spent the rest of the weekend putting up Christmas decorations and relaxing. The house is now suitably festive for the holiday season and I won' t have to worry about dragging out the tree and ornaments while recovering from a c-section and being horribly sleep deprived. Our special treat for this weekend was to go see the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texan resort. If you have never been....GO! It it pricey at roughly $20 a head but so neat to see that it is totally worth it. This year's theme was The Grinch and it was spectacular. Joshua loved it and even went down the ice slide. I think I could have stayed in the cool 9 degree temp until my c-section on Wednesday. I was finally comfortable!!








I had a check right before the holiday last week and everything was still status quo. I go in for all my pre-op stuff on Tuesday. I have noticed today that she has visibly dropped since yesterday. I can actually take a full, deep breath again! Although I am starting to get nervous about the impending surgery and the transition of a family of 3 to a family of 4, I am more than ready to be done with being pregnant and meet my little girl!