Counting down

Well, we are over halfway there as we expect the arrival of numero dos, a.k.a Baby Sierra. Lily doesn't like the name and is determined to just call her "Baby". At first she wanted to name the baby Lily "...so we can match!" I am feeling very pregnant. It was so weird, it almost seemed like overnight that my belly popped out and looked pregnant and it feels like it is growing exponentially since. I am having a hard time imagining how huge it is going to be by the end! It's already a strain turning from one side to the other in bed at night. I am doing pretty good over all. I have been lucky not to get much morning sickness, but I have had some days of pretty severe back pain, and just general tiredness that left me not wanting to do very much. I have a pretty long list of things I want to get done or cleaned, and I just have to be careful not to overdue it and attempt too much in one day - or sit at this computer for too long. My fold up desk chair is not the most comfortable, and too much time in it does not help my back. But I feel very lucky to feel as good as I do knowing some friends who've had really rough pregnancies!

Lily is so cute about giving my belly hugs and kisses for the baby. At first she would just be giving me hugs and kisses and then bump into my belly and remember to give the baby some too. Now it is noticeably bigger - you can watch her eyes noticing my belly first, and I get my hugs and kisses afterwards. We've been trying to prepare Lily for the new baby and she's such a sweetheart talking about it. I love to hear her ideas of what she will say to the baby and what the baby will like. Today she leaned over to hug and kiss my belly and said in the cutest voice, "Hi, Baby! I'm your big sister, and I love you very much!" I hope she is as loving to her new little sister once she's outside the belly! I ordered a bunch of kids books about new babies from the library and we started reading them the other day. I sort of hope some of them don't make her more worried than she would have otherwise been! I was thinking I should probably screen them before I start reading as I was already halfway through a book about a jealous big sister bunny, coincidentally named 'Lilly' who kept repeating "Disgusting!" with a capital "D" after her parents raved and lavished attention on their new baby. So far she seems just as excited. I am always amazed at her attention span for books that are very instructional that I would expect her to find boring. The other night Mike read her just one page from a rather long one answering questions about new babies, and the next day she was all excited and determined to read the rest of it. But she could read the whole huge stack of books we check out in one sitting as long as we had the patience for it!

I am so nervous about being a mother of 2, and about how Lily is going to be when the baby is actually here...but I am excited too! I'm so glad she gets to be a sister, and have a sister! I can't wait to see the two of them together, and to meet my other little girl. I hope Lily will know we love her as much as ever and not be jealous of the attention the baby gets... I think those library books are making me more nervous than they are her!