Feels like spring

The snow mountains are finally shrinking and we discovered a little surprise on Sunday -- our first crocuses!
Here's Molly showing them to Baby Doll this morning.

And as if that weren't enough spring, we went to The Butterfly Place in Westford this morning with a little group of neighborhood kids, where it was 80+ degrees and humid and full of fluttering butterflies. Molly had a good time, but again got bored and wanted to go home long before the other kids. At one point a butterfly landed on my shoulder and it freaked her out. For the rest of the morning she was paranoid about butterflies landing on her -- she would ask if one was on her nose and I'd tell her no, it was just a wisp of hair. She had a great time jumping around with the kids, though, and playing on benches and stuff. Definitely worth it.

I've planned us a really busy week because I'm trying to be mostly ready for the baby by this weekend, then we can just relax until the big day. So I'm packing in every play date and field trip I've had in mind all winter, plus some appointment (hair cut, midwives, etc.)

On top of that, we've just decided to look into hiring a doula to come with us to the hospital when we have a baby. That way we'll have some coverage if any of our child-care plans for Molly fall through and we have to bring Molly to the hospital, plus it will just be nice to have somebody around to give me massages and bring us sandwiches. :)
I guess the normal way to do this is to start searching somewhere near the middle of pregnancy, not three weeks before the due date. Clearly that's to avoid the scrambling around that I've been doing for the past few days to find somebody who's not booked yet and who's a good match for us. Fortunately, after a bunch of e-mailing this weekend, I found a woman who seems like a good fit. We met her last night and we'll probably hire her. It's got me even more excited about the birth!
OK, off to cross off more things from my mile-long pre-baby "to do" list.

'Hear this'

There's too much funny stuff Molly says during a day to keep track of, but the last five minutes have been classic so I ran for a pen.

She's into telling "jokes" lately. This is how Molly tells a joke:
"Hey Mommy, hear this joke. Hear this really, really funny joke. It's ... a tomato talking!"
Other classics:
"It's a grown-up inside a grown-up's belly"
"It's a baby inside a baby's belly"
"It's a sock inside a sock"
She just added:
"A napkin inside a napkin"
"A pillow in a present"

She's also working on her knock-knock repertoire. Here's one she offers for the blog:
"Knock knock"
Who's there?
"Chocolate chip banana"
Chocolate chip banana who?
"Chocolate chip banana police officer"

We've also recently gotten some further explanation of her often-stated position that "boys are bad, girls are good." No amount of arguing can change her mind (Is Teddy bad? Yes. Is Daddy bad? Yes. etc, etc)
So yesterday she asks me, "Do you want to know why boys are bad and girls are good?" Um, yes!!!
"It's because 'guh' is for girl and 'guh' is for good, and 'buh' is for boy and 'buh' is for bad."
Ah hah!!!

Just now Jim told Molly she looked fabulous (she was wearing a silk scarf around her neck). She said no, fabulous is bad. So he says, no, fabulous is fantastic because fabulous starts with "ffff" and fantastic starts with "fff."
Molly's come-back? "No, it's NOT good because not starts with 'nuh.'"
Dizzying.

Last thing -- I don't think I've written yet about Molly's funny habit of talking about "when Baby Doll was in my tummy."
Some little girls we know pretend they're pregnant when their mom's pregnant. I think it's funny that instead Molly likes to pretend she was pregnant before and then offers me reassurance and advice based on her experience. She tells me that when Baby Doll was in her belly, Baby Doll kicked a lot, too. Or that Baby Doll used to get hiccups, too. Silly girl.

City trip

Today we're at 37 weeks pregnant, meaning the baby is full term. Hooray!!! Only three more weeks to the due date.

After several weeks of hiding out at home nesting, we decide to bust out today and do something wild. On somewhat of a whim (our 4-year-old neighbor's whim, to be exact) we went to the aquarium today. (I think I just realized that it's going to be hard to take Molly fun places, at least for a little while, after the baby's here, so we better do it now!)

So here are the silly kids in the aquarium bathroom and lobby when we first got there (it's hard to get good pictures inside because it's so dim).

Once inside, Molly wanted to rush right to the top to get to the touch pools with the starfish.



She stayed there, oh, about 12 seconds -- only long enough to find a starfish and give it a poke -- then she wanted to head straight back downstairs to the tiny play area. Then she wanted to go home. I think Teddy was a little annoyed that she didn't stay with him and look at all the fish -- story of their friendship, right? They drive each other nuts. (The whole ride home Molly was singing silly songs and Teddy was telling her to stop singing and she just said "Teddy wants me to stop singing" and kept on singing).

Anyway, leaving the aquarium early gave us plenty of time for lunch in the North End -- yum!!

Here are the kids heading to Mike's Pastries after we stuffed ourselves with pasta. Not bad for a last-minute adventure.

For Lucy

Big sister class

Molly just took her much-anticipated "big sister class" at the hospital. It was an hour-long class right in the middle of her nap time, so we weren't sure how it would work out.

It turned out fine. She was the only kid in the class. A nurse had her draw a picture of herself with her new baby sister, then hang it in the lobby of the maternity ward. She also showed a video, gave Molly a tour of the birth center, explained the stuff they do with a newborn baby at the hospital and showed her the gear, and loaded her up with free stuff -- her own little pack of Pampers, wipes, a bottle, a baby hat, coloring book, etc. We even got to see a day-old baby in the nursery.

Being tired, Molly sort of absorbed it all quietly and didn't say much. She didn't want to try swaddling or diapering the nurse's doll. Immediately when we got home, though, she got out the diapering supplies, stripped off Baby Doll's clothes and carried her directly to the changing pad. She's pretty excited about being a big sister.

Molly Zen

"Maybe the clouds are starting to melt into blue sky for the night time"

"Why can't I see my own eyes?"

Pregnancy emotions

Note to self ... don't read "The Giving Tree" to your daughter when pregnancy hormones are pumping through your veins. Poor Molly wanted to know why Mommy was crying and blowing her nose over a story that's about a boy and a tree (and how children grow up, sniff sniff), and her sweetness made it even harder for me to get a grip. Oh, I'm going to start crying again now! Ack!

So anyway (deep breath) we had another super smooth midwife appointment this morning. Then we dropped off a bunch of stuff at Salvation Army and -- my favorite new find -- recycled a bunch of old electronics at Best Buy. I love their program. They take almost anything! We've made two trips already and will be back with more. They even take monitors and CRTs and give you a $10 gift card to reimburse you for the disposal fee -- burned through two of those already. And they're so friendly about all of it. I feel like kind of a weirdo walking in with dirty old junk and walking out without buying anything, but they don't seem to mind. :)

It feels so good to be cleaning out the house, especially the basement. I sorted a bunch of clothes for Molly last night and discovered a few of the neighbors' old dance leotards that have kept her occupied all day. Ah, simple pleasures.