Zoo.

A) I love surprises.  No, really.  I LOVE surprises.  :)  Today I received one of the best when husband randomly took a day off.  Yay!  :)  Best.  Day.  Ever.  :)

B) We went to the zoo last week with Yia Yia.  Sooooooooo fun.  :)  While I think every school in town was there on a field trip, we still had a fantastical time!  :)

So...does anyone notice a similarity between my Momma and me?  yeah...We just look a bit alike.  :)

 

Good times in the Safari part of the zoo.  Except the warthog.  He was gross.  Even Sesame thought he was ugly.  Poor guy.

 We made a quick trip to look at the butterflies...but there were no butterflies, only orchids.

This is Sesame's new thing - compliments of mimicking Momma.  She puts her hands up like this and says either, "I'll be right back" or "Wait, stop right there."  :)  I love my little meme.

On the way home we stopped by Nonnie and Pawpaw's (my grandparents).  Sesame and Pawpaw watched a firetruck and fed the squirrels.

Nice, relaxing day.  :)

My Best George.

 My bestest buddy George is pregnant and expecting her first baby in August.  I threw a small baby shower for her last week.  It ended up being too much fun!  :)

Her sister practicing her Auntie duty of book reading.  Note: She is practicing her story telling abilities on a stuffed lamb, which, for whatever reason, makes me giggle.  :)

Mmmm...Yogurt Parfait Bar...Mmmm

It's the three of us!  Yay!

It's the three of us in Superstar mode.  :)  YAY!

Our next fun task was freezer paper stenciling onesies for Carlos (George's unborn baby's in-utero name) and maybe one or two for Squirt.  Sesame woke up from her nap and painted a onesie for Squirt...She also might have painted her mouth when I was taking photos.

This stripey onesie was Sesame's creation.  Not too bad for a 2-year-old!  :)  Good times had by all!

Preparation

I have never been good at preparing.  Perhaps this is one of the numerous reasons I married a card carrying member of the Eagle Scouts.  :)  Planning, at least for me, is generally done internally.  I create check lists, visualize scenarios and then promptly file them away for when I need them.  Did I mention I am queen of procrastination too?  :)

Last night husband and I made a run to the labor and delivery floor.  Everything is totally fine, we were just being cautious.  I am convinced the purpose of the trip was to reveal our total and complete lack of preparation for Baby Squirt.  Up until now we have casually talked about "Oh, we should do this" or  "Maybe we should pack a bag now."  Last night, en route to the hospital, we realized the infant car seat resided in a trash bag next to the Christmas decor in our attic.  At our home.  Still in storage from a year ago.  Awesome.

We also realized we haven't taken the time to prepare our home to grow.  I know that sounds odd.  My first reaction to my own thought is, "Well it's a little late now!" but honestly, adding to a family takes some preparation.  We've been talking to Sesame about Squirt, but haven't done as much discussing amongst the two of us.

I thought of the gospels.  John the Baptist's sole job being to prepare a way for Christ.  "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God..." (Luke 1:76-78) and "You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ " (John 3:28)  How cool.  How awesome that my Lord and Savior would see preparation so important to the human experience that he would send a single person, filled with the Holy Spirit, to clear the way for Christ to reveal Himself.


Now, I'm not saying that this is on the same level as our preparation for Squirt.  Goodness gracious no.  I'm just recognizing how important preparation is to humanity.  This isn't the only place we see God specifically taking time and making effort to prepare His people for an event.  We see it in Matthew 26:17-30 with the preparation for the Passover, which, come to find, is really a time of Christ preparing his disciples for His physical departure from them.  We see it in the Old Testament numerous times in preparation for battle (Joshua), to re-build the temple (Ezra), to prepare for a nation to be born and show the light of Christ (Genesis) and a call to followers to Prepare for the Lord by removing obstacles from their paths. (Isaiah)  


The Lord knows our nature.  He created it.  Established it.  He even ordains the anointed human soul when unblemished by sin.  There is a need, a desire, to be prepared in all of us; even if we don't always feel that small to-do list in the back of our minds.  When that need is unmet, worry and anxiety set in and preside which is something we are not called to act upon (Philippians 4:6).  The kinds of preparation we see in the Bible are eternal.  They all work/worked together to prepare for the final coming of the King.


Now, like I said, I know our preparation for Squirt is not on a level playing field with Christ's return.  I mean, hello!  But, for whatever reason, the Lord has layed these two ideas on my heart in tandem.  Squirt will be arriving (hopefully not for 4-5 more weeks) and will be tiny, new and helpless.  As the Momma and Daddy it's our job to care for this completely dependent life.  It's our job to mold this tiny personality.  The first step in this process is to be models for Christ.  How can we present Christ to our infant if we are worried?  If we are anxious?  If we are unprepared?  I'm not saying we need to go all Mom-zilla with five thousand plans,etc. but having the car seat ready and bag packed, might be a good idea.  :)  Christ didn't just show up in the world, He let people know what was coming and even how to prepare for Him.


Maybe it's time we made a list to be a bit more prepared.

Da Dress.

I do love sewing.  Please don't confuse this with being a good seamstress, because that phrase anything but describes me.  I cannot, for the life of me, cut fabric in a straight line.  I even have one of those awesome self-healing sewing mats and rotary cutters.  My cuts STILL come out wonky.  Not to mention I can't sew in a straight line.  Nonetheless, I love to sew.  :)  I have been working on this cute dress from Sew Sweet Patterns.  I heart this pattern, but, really, it's practice for the pattern that I REALLY LOVE.  :)

 

 Anywho, it's turned out very nicely.  :)  It's taken me twice as long as it should have.  But look at this close up:

That's a placket.  I sewed it there.  All by me lonesome.  A placket I say!  What?  You don't know what a placket is??  I didn't either...but Sew Sweet's awesome patterns had the foresight to have a glossary at the back of the PDF pattern.  Very handy.  :)  The only thing left are the button holes.

Grrr.  The button holes.  They have been a royal pain for two days!!!  I have done a few "practice runs" on scrap fabric flawlessly.  I mean, honestly, the machine does all the work!  But every stinkin' time I try to add them to the actual dress, I get this:

As you can see, the left one almost worked.  And then the thread broke.  Or at least appeared to.  Any ideas or suggestions????  I'm desperate!

On another note, this little girl:

LOVES to play outside.  :)  I couldn't be happier that she requests to play outside on her swing set and in the sand box immediately following every nap.  :)  I heart her.  And, yes, I succumb to her requests even though the temperature today has reached 90 and I'm 5 weeks away from birthing a child.  Hello swollen limbs, you are so worth those smiles.  :)

Too. Cute.

We've spent as much time as possible outside lately.  What with our new swing set and all.  :)  This face and expression is frequently seen on Sesame:

It's her "Homer-just-came-outside-and-I-love-him-and-he's-my-dog-and-I-want-to-pull-his-tail-and-take-him-for-a-walk" face.   Love.

Also note the prairie grass.  Yes, that is my backyard.  Yes, those are dandelions.  No, we don't care that we have a field of them.  And, yes, husband did mow the lawn yesterday.  (Big pat on the back to him - it took 3.5 hours with our push mower!)

I must say.  Watching him push mow the lawn while Sesame played outside on the deck/her new swing set from my kitchen window = one of the top ten moments of life.  :)