White Puppy

One day back in January 2008 (quite possibly the 25^th, judging from one of the pictures), Andrew and I were strolling through Pottery Barn Kids.  I don’t even remember why we were there (probably looking for or buying an ‘anywhere chair’.  I think I have been to that store a total of 2 times.  While pushing Andrew around the store in the stroller, we spotted a cute stuffed puppy.  Andrew liked it.  Did we really need this puppy?  No.  Was it overpriced?  Probably.  Was it cute?  Absolutely.  Did Andrew catch me in a weak moment?  Of course.  I don’t think I had personally bought any stuffed animals for Andrew to date, so why not? 

That was the day White Puppy entered our family.  Some spontaneous ‘must have’ purchases have proven to be anything but; however, White Puppy has definitely been a worthy purchase.  He started off as more of a lovie that Andrew took up to his crib, and later his bed, for naps and bedtime.  But he now plays a much more important role in our family.  He often eats dinner with us, or is at least nearby when we are eating.  He still sleeps with Andrew at night.  If he isn’t in Andrew’s bed, he is on a “mattress” on his floor.  He rides in the car every preschool morning and for most errands.  He has even had several back adjustments at the chiropractor.  He has traveled with us to northern Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky - he goes where Andrew goes.  He has had many adventures at the park, baseball games, the State Fair, the doctor, you name it.  He often barks when Dylan (our real dog) barks.  The list goes on…

Andrew often carries White Puppy around by holding the back of his neck so he can see where he is going.  How thoughtful!  I quickly learned that White Puppy is thankfully machine washable because after many trips outside and Andrew holding him with dirty hands, his poor neck was filthy.  He comes out brand new everytime! 

I am so glad that Andrew has that one special ‘friend’ that comforts him.  I hope he continues to play an essential role in our family for a long time.  I had no idea at the time how much White Puppy would come to mean to Andrew, and I am so glad that I decided to make the spontaneous purchase that one day in January 3 years ago.

My one concern is this.  What do you do when the little brother adopts White Puppy while Andrew is at preschool?  I think Austin knows how much White Puppy means to Andrew, because he doesn't get too upset when Andrew wants him back, but I’m hoping this doesn't become an issue one day.  

34 weeks!

Here are some pics of my baby belly.  My due date is 6 short (or long, depends on how I'm feeling on any given day) weeks away.  I'm nervous and scared, but *so* ready at the same time.  Although, I haven't even thought about buying itty bitty diapers yet.

 

  Andrew took the 34 week photo of me with my phone.  He was very excited when I asked him if he could take a picture of me, and he took it very seriously.  It was cute.

Big Room Switcharoo

- At the beginning of November we found out that baby #3 is a girl.

- We moved guest bed to the basement and miscellaneous furniture from the guest room to Loren and Heather's room (not that we had space for it, but it works).

- Andrew moved to what used to be the guest room.

- I painted Andrew's old room/soon to be Austin's new room a sort of medium blue.  I have now painted that room a total of 3 times!!  It started off bright yellow when we moved here, then I painted it a dark green when we used it as an office, then I painted it beige (the same as the majority of the house) before Andrew moved in there and now blue.  I will never paint that room again.

- On December 5th, Austin moved to his new room (Andrew's old room) and I transformed the crib to a toddler bed.

 - After a good week, Austin went through a bad spell in the toddler bed which was exacerbated by teething and sickness, so I transformed the toddler bed back to a crib and started over.  All was peaceful again.

 - In the meantime (at the beginning of January), I painted the baby's room (Austin's old room and also where Andrew started out) a very pretty, girlie, medium pink.  Bye, bye pastel blue...

- Hardwood flooring went on sale at Menards in mid January, so we took advantage of it and decided to redo Austin's (new) room.  This was something we sort of planned to do, but were waiting for it to go on sale.    It did and we went for it.  Luckily Loren had a 3 day weekend to work on it!

- We moved Austin, crib and all, to the baby's room for the weekend.  He didn't mind at all.

- Austin's new floor was completed and we moved him back, but without the crib.  He got a new big boy bed!

I think the rooms may still need a little work - more wall decorations and possibly a rug in Austin's room, maybe a new wall color for Andrew's room, but I haven't decided yet.  Andrew suggested pink or purple for his room.  The verdict is still out on that one.

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*Stay tuned for pictures of the baby's room!*