Welcome to Dragonbard.com

Only this:

Happy Spring! It’s funny to me how much better the weather was when it was “winter”, but we’re enjoying the rain showers anyway.

Saturday was actually a really nice day so we had our first “picnic” in the backyard and the kids spent most of the day playing outside. Chris did a bunch of yard work while I worked on packing for the imminent Banjo arrival (and resting, but don’t tell them that!). Sunday was rainy, but the girls still wanted to have some outside time so they talked Chris into blowing bubbles for them to chase. Apparently, it was a lot of fun being out in the “bubbly rain”!

Mostly, though, our week was busy! My ultrasound and non-stress test went well and everything is looking good for Banjo making it to the scheduled arrival time. The dentist was a little afraid of me and my giant pregnant belly, though, so they didn’t do any xrays and kept the exam pretty brief.

CareBear had her 4 year old check up and got a clean bill of health. She was very cooperative, too, which was a big bonus since it allowed me to ask the doctor some questions and actually listen to the answers! She’s also decided to become a “kids doctor” when she grows up now.

Chris spent a lot of time this weekend cleaning the house and finding things that I needed. I think we’re almost ready to add a new kid to the house, which is good since it’s happening this week whether we’re ready or not! The kids are excited both about finally getting to meet the new baby and about going to their respective sleep overs (though LiliBee has started to tell me that she’s going with me instead). With any luck, things will go smoothly!

So there may or may not be an actual email next week, but there will be an announcement made sometime toward the end of the week! Wish us luck!

We’re having another lovely day here in the northwest, after our very brief “cold snap” last week. I’m tempted to put away all of the winter things but that seems like tempting fate. More likely, it’s a symptom of “nesting”.

We had a fun and busy week around here! After the excitement of birthday weekend, I was really hoping for a relaxing week… and some parts were, but mostly we’re trying to get things done before I’m out of commission for a few weeks.

I had my last “work” day at the preschool until May or so. It was a very exciting day there, too, as Teacher Nancy brought in a real bear skin for the kids to check out. A few were a little apprehensive at first but most of them dove right in to check out the bear’s teeth and claws and roll around on it’s “comfy, cozy fur” (according to CareBear).

Our weekend was productive with errands and cleaning (all gearing up for the new arrival) along with some fun playing. Chris built the kids a couple of tents in the living room that kept them entertained for a long time. Later, we played with CareBear’s new toys and learned all about going to the zoo. I even got to take a bath (it feels so nice not to be holding myself upright sometimes) and a nap!

Sunday night, I took Chris out for his “birthday”… it’s actually next month, but I won’t be in any shape to do much for him so soon after Banjo’s arrival so we decided to do it early! We went to the new-ish Indian place in town since they have belly dancing there every Sunday evening. The dancing was a lot of fun to watch and the food was wonderful… I’d never had Indian food before so it was hard to decide what to try!

This week will be a busy one… I have a dentist appointment, an ultrasound appointment and my regular OB appointment! CareBear has school, her swimming lesson and her 4 year old check up with the doctor (poor kid, I think there are several vaccinations involved). Chris is putting in some extra time at work to get ready for being off when Banjo arrives. And I still have to pack everyone’s bags for the various places they’ll be staying while I’m in the hospital! There may or may not be some fund-raising and field trip fun in there, too. I’m exhausted just thinking about it… but, then again, I’ve been exhausted for months!

By the way, Chris will be sending out a text/email next week when they take Banjo out of me… if you want to be on the recipient list for that, let me know what email or cell phone number you would like us to use.

Waiting patiently for cake…

And waiting…

And waiting…

Waiting patiently for presents…

Present time!

Fun presents!

Good presents!

Love for presents!

The little, human shredders.

LiliBee watches.

Party aftermath.

Well, we did… we managed to pull off a 4 year old’s birthday party successfully! There were around 12 kids there and I don’t think there were any serious altercations or crying fits!

CareBear loved her party. We had it at the local Round Table Pizza so the kids were able to climb around in the play structure while we were waiting for important things like pizza and cake. CareBear got to blow out her candles twice (she didn’t wait for us to sing to her the first time!) and received lots of fun presents from her friends and family (there’s a lot of pink in our house right now). She mostly loved being the center of attention, of course. She’s very impressed with being 4 years old, too. She has decided that she can only wear clothes that she got after she turned 4 since apparently the clothes she wore when she was 3 are too small. Considering she was 3 just a few days ago, I’m hoping to compromise with her on that one!

LiliBee seemed to have fun at the party, too, since there were several relatives available to pack her around and run after her. She’s always happy to watch the bigger kids play and follow them around. She’s been a little worried about not being able to play with any of CareBear’s new toys, but CareBear is relaxing that rule now that it’s been a few days.

Our party plans were threatened by a Friday tummy ache, but luckily that was mostly gone by Saturday morning. We did make a trip to our pediatrician to make sure CareBear didn’t have anything serious (like appendicitis), but we’re still not entirely sure what caused it. Still, no one else has come down with anything yet so I’m happy about that!

The rest of our week was pretty normal… the usual doctor appointment for me, “working” at preschool, feeding the ducks at the farm. I’d like to take a few days off to recover (I just don’t have much stamina these days!) but we’re pretty much repeating last week’s schedule of preschool commitments and doctor appointments! I’m lucky that Chris has been picking up some of the laundry and cooking duties or we’d be in sorry shape around here!

Happy Birthday to my big girl!

Welcome to March… seems like it shouldn’t be here yet! We continue to have unseasonably warm and sunny weather, which made for some fun outings this week.

We took our regular trip out to the farm where CareBear and LiliBee spent some time “feeding” the ducks… which meant that CareBear ate the stale bread while LiliBee chased the ducks around throwing bread at their little heads as hard as she could. It was quite a sight!

We also took our first trip to the park for the year. The girls had a great time climbing and sliding and swinging and chasing. LiliBee looks too little to be on the “big kids” structure, but you can’t tell her that. She has no fear of the climbing or the sliding and she’s actually really good at it. She believes that she can do anything that CareBear does, of course. They also spend a good amount of time running randomly through the field jumping on mole hills. A very good way to work off some excess energy!

Chris took the girls to the mall to waste some time while I had a doctor’s appointment and they were lucky enough to meet some actual daffodil princesses! I hear that it was very exciting. It’s too bad that most of the daffodil festival stuff is happening so close to Banjo’s arrival, I think CareBear would have a lot of fun with the parade this year.

And, of course, we spent a lot of time talking about CareBear’s birthday. She’s very excited to turn four and tells everyone she meets that her birthday is this week. It’s funny to watch her introduce herself to strangers and start telling them how old she is now, how old she will be in a few days and how old her sister is… they usually don’t know what to make of her.

My weekly OB visits continue to go well and we’re on track for Banjo to make an appearance in about 3 weeks. Banjo is an active kid who insists on stretching out, a lot (and my abdomen is about stretched to the limit!)… it will be fun to finally meet baby#3 and see what it’s like on the outside!

Big plans for this week… a 4 year old!