Here we go!

I just finally got JJ down for the night. Yes it's 11:30, and yes he's only 2, but tonight was a special night. This was the last night that our family will consist of 3 people. The next time I walk through the door of my house, I will be the mother of 2 children. It's a very surreal feeling knowing that in about 12 hours everything is going to change. It's an amazing thing, and I can't express my gratitude to be able to bring another little person into this world.

I know JJ will be a fantastic brother. He is extremely excited - at least he thinks he is - to meet his baby sister. We've been talking a lot about the baby and it's possible he actually understands some of what's about to happen. But even I can't comprehend the level of change that the Kleinstein family is about to undertake.

Paul and I just finished setting everything up in the baby's room. Her furniture is scheduled to arrive in the next couple weeks, so we've got the temporary stuff in place and it looks pretty good for what it is.

The bag is packed, the carseat is installed, and we are ready to roll first thing in the morning. Stay tuned for an update sometime tomorrow. Hopefully the whole process goes smoothly and we'll be holding our little girl by lunch time. A girl can hope, right?

25 Down, 15 to Go

At 25 weeks of my pregnancy, I am feeling all kinds of things - both physically and emotionally.  Physically, I am tired, occasionally nauseous and I seem to have heartburn 24 hours a day.  That being said, its such a privileged and blessing to be pregnant with this little peanut.  For someone who has wanted to be a mom as long as I can remember, and not being sure that would ever happen, I cannot put into words the feeling I have preparing for motherhood for a second time. At our 18 week ultrasound, we found out the baby is a girl!  Both Paul and I were shocked, and thrilled for this news.  Perhaps the person who was most shocked of all was my nephew Aaron.  At 5 and a half, his initial response to finding out I was pregnant was "again? why?"  Then he proclaimed that I should have 99 more babies, and they should all be boys.
He doesn't seem to heartbroken about the fact that we're having a girl.  He's not all that interested in the baby at all. I think this is because JJ is finally at an age where they can play together.  While JJ is still much smaller than Aaron (and likely always will be) he is old enough to understand most things, and can play and rough house enough to make it fun.


In other news, JJ is officially off the bottle.  This change has revealed a child with a voracious appetite.  He suddenly eat all kinds of things, and it hungry all the time!  In a matter of days, he's become the pickiest eater to what seems like a boy with a teenagers appetite.  He still didn't make the charts at his 2 year checkup, but he is perfect in every way, despite being less that 3% of every other child :)


Things at the JCC are going great.  JJ loves his teachers and has good buddies in class.  He is there 3 mornings a week, and really enjoys himself.  He rarely cries when I drop him off, and often doesn't want to leave when its time to come home.  His vocabulary is blossoming every day, and his words are beginning to form into small sentences.


It's a really fun time for us and we all feel super blessed to be able to share it with our friends and family.


I will make my attempt to update more often, but life seems to be moving at such a break-neck speed, that it doesn't seem too likely.  Nonetheless, I'll do my best to keep everyone

Some photos from the last few months

Kleinstein Update

Things have been pretty much status quo for the Kleinsteins.  Paul's business has really taken off, JJ has adjusted to preschool really well and happily attends 3 mornings a week.  Work has been busy, but with summer around the corner, things should slow down.   Our little corgi, Ellie, has been struggling lately with her back legs not cooperating.  Her doggie wheelchair should be arriving today, which should help things tremendously.  All in all, things are going well for the Kleinsteins... so good that we decided to add one to the family equation.  Come October, we'll been the a party of 4.

We are really excited about our upcoming addition.  As expected, I'm nervous and anxious, but so far everything looks good.  We have an ultrasound scheduled for the 18th to make sure everything looks good and to, hopefully, find out the sex of the baby.

I would promise to blog more often, but clearly that's just not going to happen.  So I vow to write when big, important things happen.

Snow Day(s)!

I keep meaning to update my blog, but life happens, and then I get side tracked. Well, in case you haven't heard, Seattle got hit with a pretty good amount of snow the last few days. I figured I'd take this opportunity to shared some fun pictures of the last couple days.

The snow started on Saturday night, and hasn't really let up since. I've been home with the Jman since Friday afternoon. We canceled Sunday school, and then Tuesday, and then TBT closed today, and tomorrow. So we've had lots of time to hang out, play in the snow and catch up on Yo Gabba Gabba and Curious George. We did make it to the store last night before the big "storm" hit, so we we able to get some basics - milk, pasta, bread, etc.

JJ loves to be out in the snow. He loves watching Ellie run around in it. He loves to run in it. The crunching sound it makes under his boots makes him giggle. He loves the way the trees look. He does NOT love to fall in the snow. Though he made a speedy recovery, he was pretty unhappy when he took a face plant trying to chase Ellie. After that, he pretty much enjoyed watching her from a distance.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love that there are no presents or religious aspects to it. Its just families and friends getting together to eat and appreciate what they have. This year I am thankful for many things - but first and foremost I am thankful for my family. I'm going to leave it there, without getting into the mushy stuff.

We had a fun dinner at Grammy's last night. JJ refused to sit and eat, but nonetheless, we had a nice time. I'm proud to say, that JJ outweighed the Turkey by 2 pounds this year!

Look Who's Talking!

It seems like all of a sudden, JJ has all kinds of words. This morning I asked him to put something back and he looked at me and said "back." Then I was eating oatmeal and he wanted a bite. I told him it was too hot and he said "hot" and then started blowing on it to cool it down. A few minutes later, I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "book." So we read some books. He grabbed a hat and said "hat" then found his sneaker and said "shoe."

He knows the sounds elephants, ducks and recently cows make. He knows the word dog, cat and duck. He says mama and occasionally says Pa, but it may not be in context to Paul.

We're seem to really be on a roll with the words. If we can only get him to say "up" instead of "down" we'd be in a really great place. I still find myself looking at him with astonishment. I can't believe this perfect little person is my child. He is an amazing boy with all kinds of personality. He cracks me up and keeps me on my toes. He really makes parenthood a fun and meaningful experience.

Update

Recently, we became members of the greatest place on earth. No, not Disneyland. However, there have been times where it made me darn close to as happy. It's the KidsQuest Museum in Factoria Mall! JJ runs around like a crazy man and I barely EVER have to say no to him about anything! Their "Backyard" area is designed just for people his age, and its totally fantastic! Here are the highlights from a recent trip.

Last weekend, we went to Ainsley's 4th birthday party. JJ had a great time playing with toys, eating snacks and ... RIDING A PONY! He actually took two trips around the house on Biscuit, who was quite sweet and gentle with him.

JJ loves his bath time. He went through a stage of being terrified of them (which coincided with our trip to NJ this Summer) where he'd scream from the minute I put him in until the minute he was out. It passed pretty quickly, and now the boy loves being in the tub. It's not even like he spends tons of time with his toys - of which there are plenty. He'll flip through his bath books, and play with the stacking cups, but mostly he entertains himself. Last night in the tub, he decided that the bubbles looked interesting. He's taken an interest in them before - playing with them, clapping his hands while holding them, etc. Last night, he decided to taste them. We use natural bubble bath, so I wasn't too worried, and wouldn't you know it, the little bugger liked it! He looked up at me with the his bubble beard quite proud of himself.

We also started mommy and me classes at TBT last Monday. Its a lot of fun, and JJ gets to play in the playhouse at TBT which has quickly become one of his favorite pass times.

Finally, Mr. JJ has graduated from his Graco Snugride infant seat to a big boy convertible seat! He's still rear facing, but he's quite comfy in his chair, as you can see.