This Evening's Entertainment Was Provided By Georgia's Bottom

You've really taken a liking to laying down in the bath. Tonight as you carefully eased yourself from sitting to laying on your back, you tooted. You immediately sat up and started giggling. Then you laid back down and tooted again.

Ladylike Eater

Windy Day Wagon Ride

You Would Cry, Too, If You Were Cutting Six Teeth

Napping With Mommy

You NEVER do this anymore, but earlier this week you fell asleep in my bed with me. I had to potty the whole time, but I didn't want to move for fear I would wake you.

Handbags And Eyewear

Learning early the importance of matching your purse and sunglasses to your pajamas.

More

You can't really tell from this picture, but your mouth is crammed so full of donut that it's hanging out of your mouth. Some partially masticated pieces fell on your lap as you were asking for more.

Whaddyado?

We have the best friends in the world. They planned a wonderful baby shower for your little brother/sister, complete with lots of food, playmates for you, and yellow and green cookies shaped like little hands and feet.

We had been at the party for about 30 minutes and you hadn't warmed up to your surrounding yet, which we thought was strange because you always like playing at Aiden and Marshall's house. I noticed you felt hot, so I took your temperature. You had a fever of 101.5. An hour later your fever had risen to 102.1. This is only the second fever you've ever had, so we were a little freaked out. We figured your two new teeth were to blame for your fever.

We really didn't know what to do. We were at a party that was thrown for us, so we felt rude leaving. But you were obviously feeling horrible and there were lots of other kids there for you to infect. We ended up leaving 20 minutes early after realizing that, as your parents, it was our duty to do what was best for you.

We headed home where your dad plopped you in a cool bubble bath and I devoured the chapter on fevers in Baby 411. Turns out it's an old wives tale that teething causes fevers, and that cool baths can help lower a fever. When your fever hadn't abated by the next morning, I took you in to see Dr. Patil. Diagnosis: six new teeth coming in and a virus related to teething.

Now I don't feel so bad about leaving the party early. I actually feel worse that we stayed as long as we did and potentially spread germs to your little friends.

Pumpkin Patch

Your daddy had a late wedding on Saturday, so we decided to take a little family jaunt to the local pumpkin patch.

Hydrating yourself in preparation for some serious pumpkin picking.

Posing in front of the loot.

Hmmm...which one should I pick?

They had a moonwalk at the patch. You were a little leary at first.

Getting a little braver.

Hey, this is actually pretty fun.

You played in the moonwalk with your daddy for about 30 minutes. You were having so much fun I could hear your giggles across the patch.

Of all the pumpkins you had to choose from, you picked out one of the smallest.

You weren't interested in sitting on the hay bale for for a photo opp, but you look so darn cute standing with your pumpkins.

You didn't seem to care that the pumpkins weren't cooked before biting into one.

Becoming Daddy's Little Girl

You've been the apple of your daddy's eye since the moment he laid eyes on you, and you've always enjoyed playing and being around your daddy. But it wasn't until recently that the sun began to rise and set (in your eyes) around daddy. It's like you finally realized how cool your dad is.

Last night your daddy came home from a photo shoot during your bath time. You heard the front door open and began squealing "daddy." I barely got you dried off before you took off down the stairs to run to him. And this morning you wanted nothing but daddy to hold you, and you held on for dear life when he tried to put you down.

You do so many fun things with your daddy. He's really fun to rough house with, he's great with Play Doh and colors, he takes you for walks, he'll stand in front of the pantry pointing out snacks forever until you tell him what you want, he lets you splash him at bath time, he loves to watch the race with you and point out all the good drivers (you really enjoy this), and he would do absolutely anything to make you happy.

With a daddy like this, who wouldn't want to be daddy's little girl?

Nite Nite Beer, More Beer

One of your new favorite things is to put your dolls and bears (or as you say, beers) to bed. It is absolutely adorable to watch you lay them on their bellies, perfectly arrange a blanket on top of them and then pat their backs. Then you pick up the blanket and do it all over again.

You haven't figured out the word "another" yet and I'm not too eager for you to. Instead of saying "another," you say "more," as in "beer, more beer." You like to point out buses and trucks on our drives. Here's a sample conversation:
G: Bus
M: You're right. That's a school bus.
G: (after bus passes) Bye, bye bus.
M: Bye, bye bus.
G: More bus.
M: That's right. There's another school bus.
G: (after bus passes) Bye, bye more bus.
M: Bye, bye more bus.

Guess Who Took This Photo?

We were taking photos of you last week and you started pawing at the camera. So we let you take a few pictures. Here's a cute one you took of your daddy. Exposure and composition aren't bad for a first try. You thought it was really cool that you could see the photo on the back of the camera after you took it. Funny how you'll probably never know pictures with film.

A Little Blurry

A Hearty Laugh

This was the response I received from my doctor today when I casually asked her, "If you're not doing anything this afternoon, how'd you like to deliver my baby?" We've still got four weeks until your scheduled due date, but I'm not holding out any hope for an early delivery. At today's 36-week visit doc says I'm one centimeter dilated, which may seem like progress, but it turns out some women walk around for weeks nearly half dilated without delivering.

I can tell you're sitting much lower in my belly. I can breathe better, but the added pressure on my bladder results in more trips to the potty. I also gained 15 pounds in the past three weeks, so I'm increasingly clumsy as I get used to the sudden added weight. My hips are definitely wider. I can't fit in Georgia's barcalounger anymore. I'm having frequent headaches, leg cramps at night, back pain, hot flashes, mood swings and I'm often exhausted or virtually manic with an uncontrollable need to clean the house. Last week was really tough, but this week seems to be significantly better. I think the cooler weather and Claritin has a lot to do with it.

So if you couldn't tell from the above rant, I'm ready for you to come (and ready to have my body back).

I Think We've Got It!

It has taken us nearly the entire pregnancy to come up with names for the new baby, but I think we're finally in agreement (at least about first names).

If you're a boy...
we're planning to name you Palmer Sifferd. Palmer is one of your daddy's middle names and your grammy's maiden name. Sifferd is for our good friend Scott Sifferd who was killed a week before our wedding.

If you're a girl...
we'd like to name you Gentry. Haven't agreed on a middle name yet, but we've got a few ideas. There's no significance to the name Gentry, we just like it and think it would be great to have two little girls named Georgia and Gentry.

Your daddy is still convinced you're a boy, but I've been leaning toward girl lately. I think it would be wonderful either way. If you're a girl, you'll be sisters. If you're a boy, you'll have a fabulous big sister and we'll have the experience of raising a boy and a girl. I don't think one would be better than the other, just different. And absolutely wonderful!

Walking Down Stairs Like A Big Girl

Books And Backyardigans

Elmo Needed To Kiss The Camera

So Fresh And So Clean