Preparations

Other than packing a few more things into my hospital bag and Laila's overnight bag, buying one more set of bottle nipples (the store was short one set), and framing a beautiful picture made by Jana, one of Chris's mom's best friends, I think we are ready for baby boy.  His room is put together; clothes and blankets are washed; baby items are sterilized; and the swing, bouncy seat, and car seat are washed and ready to go.  If I am forgetting something, someone should let me know.  :)  Now that I am writing this, I need to wrap the present baby boy is giving Laila in the hospital. 

Here are a few pictures of baby boy's room.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  I went with a water, nautical theme.  It is kind of funny as one website states that the name we picked out means King of the Sea or something like that.  I hope that means it is all meant to be.  My wonderful dad and husband did an awesome job on the striping.  I always have to pick something challenging. 

Everyone is excited and anxious for baby boy to arrive, and Laila and Lucia are the most excited.  Well Laila anyway; I am not sure how happy Lucia will be that we are adding another one to the family that will ride her, poke her, stand on her, etc.  She is a trooper though and will be excited for all the soft baby toys and blankets to swipe and lay on.

On a side note, here are my girls panting after a walk to the park. 

Cousins and Princesses

One of Laila's most favorite little girls is her cousin, Lilly.  Many times when we are going somewhere, Laila asks if Lilly and Uncle Jesse will be there.  Laila thinks the world of Lilly and has been blessed to play with Lilly every Wednesday night for a few hours at their Nana's (Chris's mom) house.  You can definitely see Laila's happiness in being with Lilly in this picture.

Chris's parents, a.k.a. Ron and Dianne or Papa and Nana, bought tickets for Laila, Lilly, and all of us to see the Disney Princess show with Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle in Rockford.  Laila was quite excited as her favorite princess, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, was going to be there. 

Of course Laila had to look like a princess for the princess show.  I never realized how much fun I would have in being a mom to a daughter.  This outfit, especially the boots, is one of a million reasons I am so happy to have a little girl. 

Laila's wonderful daddy warbucks even came along for the princess show.  I might add that he spent the Friday night of his birthday weekend at a princess show.  What a great dad.

As for the princess show, Laila is definitely my daughter.  Her and I do not like loud noises or surprise booms anywhere, i.e. shows, fireworks, etc.  We had a great seats for the show being only a few rows back from the stage.  However, it was super loud where we were sitting, and Laila had her ears covered most of the time.  Then the evil queen from Snow White came out and actually made Laila cry out.  I admit I found the evil queen pretty scary myself.  Laila made it through Snow White and most of Cinderella, but after Cinderella's fairy godmother made a big boom with her wand, she had had enough .  So we headed out of the show to walk around, and Laila said, "I am done with this movie and ready to go home." 

As the last part of the princess show was going on, Laila and I had a lovely time walking around and then sitting down at a table to share some popcorn.  We definitely had some Kairos time together over popcorn.  It was so nice to be able to give Laila my 100% undivided attention without having laundry, supper, picking up, getting ready for school, etc. pulling at me.  Laila and I had the most fun time talking about anything and everything.  This time together made me realize that I need to work on giving Laila more of my undivided attention at home and let the laundry, cleaning, etc. go undone sometimes.  I think I get more out of my time with Laila than she does.  

Laila informed me that the evil queen deserved to be spanked.  I confirmed that Laila feels all evil, scary people should be spanked.

She also showed me her scary face when the Snow White evil queen came onto the stage.

To finish the evening, the apple does fall far from the tree, and Laila felt the need to clean our table before we left.  She is quite the cleaning helper.