My First Ever Dance Recital

In early June, I performed in my first ever dance recital!  My little Creative Movement class had been working for months on our "Ballet Kitty" routine, and we were all so excited to get to show off our moves.

Mommy and Daddy were a little worried about how I would do in the performance (especially since my excitement about going to my weekly dance class had seriously been waning in the weeks leading up to the recital)...

but it turns out they were worried for nothing!

I loved dressing in my costume, having my hair done up with hairspray and gel (products Mommy had never used on my hair before), and getting to wear real makeup!  All the post-recital goodies I got from my family were nice, too. 

In fact, I've already set my sights on the 2013 recital where I'll get to do it all over again.

(In case you are wondering, Elliot will not be joining me in the realm of dance.  During the opening number of the recital Mommy whispered to Daddy that she thought it'd be great to have him take hip-hop classes.  She was quickly shot down.)

Elliot's Baby Shower

Last Saturday, two of Mommy and Daddy's friends from church (Trish and Tiff) threw a baby shower for Elliot.  When Trish and Tiff first told Mommy that they wanted to host a baby shower, Mommy couldn't believe it!  Our church doesn't really do showers for the second born, so it was a complete (but welcome) suprise.

On the way to the shower I told Mommy and Daddy, "Guys, I may be a little bit nervous at first."  That's because I'm one of those kids who takes at least a few minutes to warm up to new social settings.  Since Daddy can relate, he carried me into the shower and let me cuddle with him until I got all the nervous out.

Seeing my buddy, Grace, sure did help.  The two of us had a great time playing together.  She even gave me the "Big Sister" sticker I'm wearing on my dress.

Cake helps me warm up, too...and the one Trish and Tiff had made was suuuper cute! 

 Here's the quilt Nana Guth made for Elliot's room.  It's a Richard Scary "Busytown" pattern, and I can't wait to play with him on it! 

This is one of Mommy's favorite pictures from the shower.  These two ladies claim to be the oldest people in the church.  Mommy and Daddy aren't sure if that claim is entirely true, but they do know that they are two of the most supportive people in the church.  They have always been a major source of encouragement to Mommy and Daddy, as well as to countless others.  We sure do love them!

And here's Elliot's shower stash once we got it home.  I had my own little stash, too, as lots of people suprised me with "big sister" presents!

All those gifts got our family pretty much set for Elliot's arrival! 

Aaaand We're Still Waiting

Yup, we're still waiting for Elliot to make his debut.  When Mommy went to her doctor today she found out that she has progressed to a 4, but she's still 75% effaced and Elliot's still at the same station.  The "due date" is 9 days away, though, so Mommy's really trying not to get too anxious.

Daddy had half of the day off yesterday, plus all today and tomorrow...so we've been enjoying a little bit of extra family time.  This evening we went to Build a Bear so I could make a present to give to Elliot at the hospital (an idea Mommy got from Kate and Claire's mommy and Cooper and Hadley's mommy).

Mommy was thrilled when I chose the least expensive bear available...

and I was more than excited to give "Bear Bear" (that's the name I settled on for him) a bath once he was stuffed.



Mommy and Daddy had to do some fancy footwork to steer me away from the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" rockstar outfit that I really wanted to buy for Elliot's bear...but once Mommy showed me a "Baby Boy" onesie Alvin was all but forgotten.

I can't wait to meet my baby brother and give him his very first teddy bear!

More Progress!

As of this afternoon Mommy was dilated to a 3 and 75% effaced!  She also found out that her Group B Strep test was negative...which means that she can hang out out the house as long as she wants once labor starts.

The basic plan that Mommy, Daddy, and Joanna (their doula) have set in place is that they will all hang out at the house until Mommy is super close to the transition phase of labor.  Then they'll make the short trek to the hospital.  Not getting to the hospital too early will give Mommy the best shot at the natural labor she wants.

And here's what Mommy looked like this evening at 38.5 weeks pregnant.

Daddy has asked Elliot to hold off on his appearance until after Sunday.  That's when our church's annual patriotic service is taking place, and it requires a lot of extra work on Daddy's part.

Tomorrow morning will probably be spent packing bags for everyone in our family, though...just in case Elliot's got his own ideas!

Countdown to Elliot

With Elliot's estimated due date being just a little over 2 weeks away, our house is a mini-flurry of baby prepping activity! 

I guess the ball got rolling at the beginning of the month when Mommy and Daddy set me up in my real big girl bed.  This is the bed Auntie slept in while she lived with us, Mommy slept in as a little girl and teenager, and Mimi slept in as a little girl and teenager!  It's been good to all the girls on the Pierce side of the family, and now it's my turn to give it a whirl.

My crib/toddler bed was moved to Elliot's room that day with (suprisingly) few protests from me.  

A week or two later Daddy, Uncle Dan, and Grampa tackled the big job of painting Elliot's room and my room.  Here's a picture of Elliot's room while the painting was still in progress.

Mommy hasn't gotten around to taking a picture of the finished paint product...but that's probably because the paint is about the only thing in E's room that's finished!  Hopefully that will be rectified soon and I'll have some more pictures to share with you.

The walls in my room got a face lift, too.

It is suuuuper bright in there now!  Mommy and Daddy are planning to tone the brightness down a bit with the wall art, curtains, and other "stuff" that we use to decorate.  That's all a big work in progress, though, since they're planning to take their time finding just the right things to place in there.

In addition to working in our rooms, Mommy and Daddy have been getting ready for Mr. E by completing their childbirth classes, hiring a doula, setting up a simple and flexible birthplan, and finishing up their books on natural birth (well, that last one's really been just Mommy).

At Mommy's OB appointment last week she found out that her body has made some progress toward Elliot's arrival.  She was dilated to (almost) a 2, 50% effaced, and Elliot was at Station 2.  All those stats were music to Mommy's ears...especially because she never made it that far with me until lots of drugs were pushed into her system.

Mommy goes to the OB again tomorrow afternoon, and she's hoping to hear some more good news!

I love the zoo!

I hit up the Dallas Zoo again a few weeks ago.  This time I was with Mommy, Daddy, Gramma, and Grampa. 

While we were there, I taught my whole family some very important lessons about outings with 3 year olds:

1. Go without an agenda.

You never know when a preschooler is gonna want to stop and "pet" the lizard statues.

Or spend a looooong time in the "river".

2. Expect to see about 10% of what you would with older kids.

And anticipate that we may be captivated by things that aren't very "zooish"...

 like these koi...

or run-of-the-mill goats.

3. Call it a day well before the little one gets cranky! 

  (I really wasn't cranky in the picture below.  Mommy just thought it was funny that I was trying to spray the zoo's Mister Fan with Gramma's mini mister fan.)

Thankfully, everyone was super chill that day and more than happy to follow the 3 guidelines above. 

I think we all had a great time (although Mommy did get a bit hot with all that extra insulation)!

Auntie's Awesome Wedding Website

Uncle Dan (Auntie's fiance) just finished creating a website for their upcoming nuptials.

Mommy's favorite portion of the site is "Our Story" because she thinks they have a great one!

And here's a random piece of wedding trivia for you.

That's Mommy's dress for the wedding (except the color will be eggplant).  Auntie picked out several different, yet complementary, styles and let her bridesmaids choose which one they wanted.  She and Mommy both thought this dress would probably work well with what (they think) will be Mommy's post-baby body.

We should be looking for my flower girl dress soon.  Auntie did see one that she really liked at the salon where her gown and bridesmaid dresses were purchased.  The $100+ price tag on it, however, made it a no-go!