We were super busy over break. I am in full on nesting mode. After YEARS of bitterly complaining about the CARPET in the majority of our master bathroom and the linoleum in the spare upstairs bathroom, I finally just started calling people and getting quotes. Chris was less than convinced that we "needed" new tile, but I was insistent. I won. As a bonus, when we were at Lowes picking everything out, I scored a new refrigerator. The ice dispenser on our old one stopped working when the power went out for a few days last year. I can't begin to explain how hard it was to be pregnant and not have crushed ice at my fingertips. Now I do and I praise God every time I fill up my glass of water.
When they came to install the tile, we ended up discovering that we had a little bit of a slow leak around the toilets that needed some attention before the tile could be installed. Unfortunately that meant NO UPSTAIRS toilets for over a week. It was awful.
We also had our painter out to paint the nursery, upstairs bath, and touch up a few areas downstairs. He was here for 2 days. The last day of break I felt really sick. I felt bad for the girls, as we spent most of the vacation working around the contractors/workers that were in and out all week and because of that, were unable to really leave the house too much. Chris tried to make it up to the girls by taking them to Justice and letting them pick out a few things, but apparently, even though they rave about how Justice is their favorite store, they BOTH had a hard time picking anything out. I think deep down they know it's just a racket.
Leah and Juliet (with Chris's guidance and support) painted pictures for the baby's nursery. We've said that his bedroom theme is "nature"/the great outdoors, but really, it's just things that I like. I picked out art for him that reflects "his story" instead of random woodland animals like I did for Leah and Juliet. He has a map of Maui because that is his "homeland" as we like to say, a watercolor of the "Corn Cob" buildings in Chicago because we were there so much this summer (and they are my favorite), a painting of Blackbirds because Juliet has been singing that song to him since he was only a 6 week embryo, a hanging of the moon phases in stained glass because I love specialty glass and when we saw the eclipse Juliet spent hours there playing with a 10 month old baby--the baby's parents kept raving about what a good big sister Juliet would make and I spent the entire conversation trying not to cry, and a map of the world because Chris loves maps and we all love to travel.
Miss Leah Bean is unsure about having a Baby Brother. With Juliet, she didn't really "get it" leading up to her birth. Once Juliet was born, she spent the first 6 weeks actively avoiding her except for rare occasions when she thought she was making us happy by holding her/playing with her. She then spent the next few months treating her with cool indifference. By the time Juliet was about 6-9 months old, they were well on their way to being best friends. Now, Leah does "get it". She worries about how the baby is going to change her life. She is sad because I won't be at her school during my maternity leave. She's annoyed she is going to have to take the bus more. Most nights I go in and cuddle with her, and she mists up because she knows everything is going to drastically change in the next few weeks, and isn't sure how exactly her life is going to look. She asks a lot of questions and wants to work though various scenarios. She reminds me SO MUCH of myself when I was a kid. Change is hard. I reassure her that we would never let her feel so very unhappy without trying to find ways to make her feel better. I remind her that her new brother is going to be part of the family, and that he will only be a baby for a little while. Soon enough (Juliet's favorite saying), he will be able to play with her and will make her laugh. When he gets older, he will be one of her best friends/"people" just like Juliet. She's still unsure. TV doesn't help. Why do so many characters have annoying little brothers? SO MANY teachers at our school have told me that when they ask Leah if she's excited for her new brother she replies with something along the lines of, "He's going to be a part of our family. My mom says it will be okay."
Miss Jelly Boo, on the other hand, is ecstatic to have a new Baby Brother. She's been waiting for this for years. Yesterday we were putting his room back together after the carpet cleaners had been out. She looked at me and said, "Sometimes, I just walk in here and sit and imagine what he will be like." Any time I go into the nursery, Juliet is right behind me. She wants to help me sort diapers, arrange art, practice reading the board books, and just do ANYTHING she can to "help". She lobbied hard to be the first kid to hold him (wish granted) and is insistent that he sleep in her room as often as possible. When we found out he was a boy, Leah was a little disappointed. Juliet loudly announced, "I don't care! I don't care! As long as he comes, I don't care!" Since Juliet was 11 months old, toddling off upstairs in the dark to find her "baby", we've known that she would make an excellent big sister. Her day is SO CLOSE to arriving and she couldn't be more excited. I can only hope it lives up to her expectations.
