We have decided to abandon the second go-round of pumpin carving. Instead, I bought this $5.99 light up sparkle pumpin at Target and it’s what will greet trick or treaters on Halloween. We’ve placed it inside the window so as to avoid any future squirrel maulings. Haha, suckers!!

Yesterday after naps we bundled up and headed out to our local neighborhood square. Charlie loves going there and I admit, we don’t do it enough. There are usually quite a few strollers parked there, and many a toddler can be found running through, often eating some type of yummy baked goodie from the local cafe.

Charlie picked out a black cat sugar cookie (which explains her black lips post-cookie) and I treated myself to half of a pumpkin cupcake (yes, I did share the rest with Vann) and a cup of tea and sat in the square as she ran and threw leaves up in the air.

We met a lovely stay-at-home mom and her 21 month old, and she and Charlie giggled and had a big time. I will miss my neighborhood whenever we finally move. It is worth all the missing linen closets in the world.

What a blessing to have such a nap-happy little girl! 9 times out of 10, Charlie sleeps 2 1/2 to 3 hours every afternoon…and sometimes even a bit more. She’s always been a great sleeper. I don’t know what I would do without this precious ME time.

I am so excited because my sweet friend Emily has a crib (mattress included) and changing table that she is GIVING us. Her little girl just graduated to a big girl bed and she wants it out of her apartment. How is it that we have such generous people in our lives?? I called Vann and told him about her offer and he didn’t hesitate: “We’ll make it work.” Tim Gunn would be so proud!! Now comes the task of figuring out where we will put these new pieces of furniture. Charlie has not attempted (knock on wood) to climb out of her crib, and considering she’s just a petite 25 pounds, we will most likely have use of it for awhile longer. I wouldn’t want to uproot her at this point anyway, she’s going to have enough adjusting to do!

I think we’ll put the crib in the office and the pack n’ play in our bedroom (which is teeny, by the way) so that we have some different options for napping/nighttime. Baby B won’t be taking 3 solid naps for a bit, so we have some wiggle room. The office is a pretty popular room for me and the cats, so I’d hate to have it closed off three times a day! I’m hoping this baby is flexible and will be a great sleeper just like her big sister.

Speaking of generosity, my mom’s group is coordinating meals for us for after our sweet girl’s arrival. Auntie Em did this for us the first time, and I just don’t have the words for what an ENORMOUS blessing it is. After the family has left and life settles down a bit, it is just so wonderful to have your community coming by to drop off a meal and stay for a chat or to hold the baby. It is an unbelievable, overwhelming blessing, and I will cherish each visit.

It’s hard to believe that 3 weeks from Monday we’ll be meeting our girl. I’m still on the look-out for the perfect gift for Charlie from her “baby sister”. I’ve heard of these funky, handmade dolls from a company called Bamboletta (one of my favorites, named Maya, is pictured below) that I’m currently lusting over…so we’ll see if I can settle on something soon. Today Charlie and I got started on Christmas shopping (as I need to be pretty much done by Thanksgiving) and there is so much to be done!!!!!

After the Polar Play Zone, we sat in front of the dolphin viewing for awhile. It was magical! Every time one would glide through the water in front of Charlie, her eyes would get so wide and she would just chatter away at them. She also got to dig in “tidepools” for different shallow water animals.

Our second to last stop was the gift shop, where we were met with this GINORMOUS plush penguin. It can be yours, too, for exactly $399.99! After a few purchases for her stocking, we shared a quick lunch and of course, an iced pumpkin sugar cookie (her favorite!). All in all, a really fun mommy/daughter date and I’m so happy that I was able to take her!!

This morning my pregnancy insomnia had me up and moving at 5 am. Anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely NOT a morning person, however, for some reason today I had a burst of energy and decided it was the perfect day to take Charlie to the Shedd Aquarium, finally. Turns out it was a “free” day, although only for general admission. The Polar Play Zone, which was our whole reason for going, was extra, but a small price to pay to see my little girl’s eyes fill with pure wonder. It was pretty awesome.

We got there promptly at 9 am, when the doors opened. There were maybe 10 people there…so we went downstairs to the PPZ first, before it got crowded. It is the coolest exhibit. Across from the underwater viewings of the penguins and dolphins, there is a play area made to look like a penguin habitat. Kids can literally dress up in a penguin costume and slide down an “icy” slide, build nests, and crawl through tunnels. Behind all of it, there was an animated background depicting penguins doing those same things. I had a hard time getting Charlie to put the costume on…she was a bit timid about getting out of her stroller at first, but finally let me walk her up the “rock” stairs and catch her as she came down the slide. She was completely enraptured by the “kengas” that she saw. The last time we came to the Shedd was with Ms. Jen this time last year (I don’t even think she was walking yet!)…so it was definitely a change and so fun to see Charlie really “experience” it.

I’ve been having this conversation a lot recently:

Interested Person: So, are you getting excited about decorating the new baby’s room?

Me: Um…Yeah, I guess so!

IP: Oh, well, does it have a theme?

Me: Yeah, “Office”.

Ok, so this is an entirely fair question to ask…and at one point I think I did have a “vision” of sorts…but let’s be honest…this baby is going to be sleeping wherever we can find a spare spot for her. This corner in our office was the one I had “cleared out” for the pack n’ play…and it still will be, but for now it’s stacked with Charlie’s winter clothes and piles of baby towels and burp cloths that I have no place for. Literally.
Maybe I’ll just ask Santa for one linen closet. That’s all I need, I swear.

We originally had plans to join our good friends the Peterson’s at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s “Spooky Zoo Spectacular” this morning, but JUST as we were walking out to the car, it started to rain. Really rain. Enough rain that it would have made our zoo outing pretty miserable. So sad.

When we started taking Charlie’s boots off, her eyes welled up with tears and she got so upset we thought we’d better come up with a back-up plan, and fast. We ended up tooling around at Michael’s and Bed, Bath, and Beyond (I know, exciting, right?) so that Mommy could check off some of her to-do’s. For some reason Charlie insisted on wearing her hat and sunglasses indoors all morning. You would have thought she was being followed by the paparazzi…