milestone. 

Today was a special day.  A milestone for all 4 of us. We went to our local public elementary school and began the process of enrolling Alexander in kindergarten by attending the "round-up" - a short presentation of what the school has to offer and a tour. After watching the PTA video highlights of the activities and special events the school does and visiting each kindergarten classroom, Alex said it looked like a lot fun and seemed excited. However, he was also relieved when we told him that we still had lots of days of preschool left. Of course, I was also reminding myself of the same as I was telling him (and feeling in myself a longing for the innocence, purity, and comfort of preschool).  We, as parents, are growing along with our Blueberry and Olive. 

38 4/7

all quiet. seriously nothing to report. apparently olive is quite happy inside her current home. doctor says everything is fine. so, you know, we're just waiting. and waiting.

37 4/7

Had our weekly checkup. We're headed in the right direction, which is to say Olive is since she's moved her head down but not all way. The doctor took a look today and while she's made progress, it looks like we're still a bit away. Or more. Like anyone actually knows. However, we've made it clear that we'd prefer next week over this weekend.

We made the same request of Alexander and we all remember how that turned out.

It's déjà vu all over again

For those of you not in the know, false/practice labor - called Braxton Hicks - is common as you approach the deliver date. Well, Dina got her first taste today. Just a couple of occurrences so far, but from Dina's expressions while they're practice, they clearly feel pretty real. And reminds us we're close!

36 4/7

Had our latest checkup today. All is good with mom and baby. We've done the math and if she follows her brother's schedule we figure we've got about a week and a couple of days. Or not. It's not like we're in charge here.

Tea Party Shower

This past Saturday, Abuelita and Tia Suzi hosted a fabulous tea party to shower Olive (and mommy) with love and support. Mommy had such a wonderful time with family and friends at the Scarlett Room in Pasadena. We ate the most delicious scones and tea sandwiches and drank some flavorful teas. Mommy can't wait to go with Daddy and Alexander. Abuelita surprised everyone with a real tea leaf reader too (she's the one with the fancy big hat)! We had such a wonderful and memorable time. Thank you for the personalized favors with the really good teas and cute teapot cookies. It was all so nicely done and such a special event. Thank you very much Abuelita and Tia Suzi and to all our guests for the presents. 20130320-210912.jpg20130320-210921.jpg20130320-211000.jpg

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Yesterday was our regular checkup. Everything is going extremely well. Olive continues with her advanced calisthenics and aerobics and seems to be growing on schedule. On a even more humorous note, while there, Dina made her "final" appointment on the 17th of April. We joked she should just book a room at the hospital since we'll probably be there on that day.

So mark your calendars.

H&H Baby Shower!

Today we celebrated Olive joining our family with a lil help from our friends at H&H! They were very generous showering us with the food, gifts, and good wishes.

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10 weeks and counting. or there about.

This week was a busy one for Olive. We had a follow up appointment with the ultrasound doctor to make sure everything has developed properly and Olive and mom passed with flying colors. Our little girl weighs a crushing 3lbs 11oz! After that we had our regularly scheduled appointment with the OB. Everything continues normally. And now we're moving to every other week for appointments!

On Sunday, mommy and daddy took a tour of the hospital again to reacquaint ourselves with the place. It was a good visit and helped daddy mentally prepare!

While on the maternity floor we found Alexander's star commemorating his birth.

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and we're back!

Mommy and daddy got to register this afternoon for some necessities (and goodies) for Olive! We're in our 7th month already. The 3 of us can't wait for Olive to join our family. If her movement and kicking is any indication of her excitement, then I think Olive's even more excited than us! Ha ha. Love our family.

6 months and counting...

We had our 24-25 week checkup and everything is great. As with Alexander, this has been a quiet and uneventful pregnancy and we struggle to find things to talk with the doctor about. It's great!

half way-ish.

We're just over half way now - that is 21 weeks or so - and had our appointment yesterday. Olive's heartbeat is strong and fast as it should be, but she made the doctor work for it as she seemingly bounced around the whole time. All is great and quiet. Just like we like!

it's a ...

Here we go again! Today we had our 5 month ultrasound for Olive. We had the same doctor as when we did this with Alexander (née Blueberry) and she was all business again. Seriously, if you're looking for an awesome perinatal diagnostic office, we couldn't recommend this doctor more. She's great. The doctor did the normal prodding and moving of the transducer to get the images we were dying to see and take all the measurements we wanted to know were good. In this case everything about Olive came out perfectly: weight was healthy at 13 ounces (same as her big brother!), head and brain big and smart like we expect, heart pumping strong, spinal cord good, hands, feet and limbs all where they should be and looking good. Olive was photogenic and active giving us great views and showing us her emerging gymnastics mastery.

Then we got this image.

IT’S A GIRL!

Alexander was right! He's been telling us for a few days now that it would be a girl. And like last time the doctor was very confident this was for sure.

Proud parents of a girl to be went and celebrated after with some fancy pastries... not as manly as last time, but every bit as yummy!