Enjoying each day, especially with LIly

I love life right now.  I try always to love life, because you only get one shot at it, so it's not worth not enjoying where you are in whatever ways possible.  But I feel like we're at a particularly good place right now - good house that feels like a home, family and friends all around, "baby" sleeping 12 hours a night and in a predictable routine, and the watching (beside my husband and best friend) our daughter discover the world in new ways every day.  Oh yeah, and Baby Bit Francl due in 5 months or so.  Aaaaaand we'll know whether this one is a boy or a girl on November 19.  THAT'S 6 DAYS PEOPLE!!!!!!!  Life is good.  :)

I want to remember some of the sweet moments, so here are a few from this week.

Lily and I bundled up on Monday when it was blustery and super cold for this time of year (like 30) and went outside for about an hour.  Because it was not only cold but was also windy, I dressed her in her snow suit (there was no snow yet).  This is how she responded:

"I'm an astronaut!"

We don't talk about astronauts, I've never pointed out what an astronaut suit looks like, she has 1 book about astronauts that Chase and I read to her sometimes.  I love that she figures stuff like that out!  Cutest little pink astronaut I've ever seen in my life, if I do say so myself!

Who knew astronauts could rake?  Also, I ended up putting the hat away for next year - it's too big and kept slipping over her eyes so she couldn't see.

The leaves were intense, but at least we waited till the tree was naked to rake.  We got 2/3 of the backyard raked into 2 massive piles before we went in for the day on Monday.  This afternoon we went back out and moved the 2 big piles to the back alley, raked up the last 1/3 of the backyard, and started on the front yard.  It was warmer, so we weren't as bundled, but I have to say I love having Lily's "help."  She throws Frazier's Frisbee, rides her bike, tromps through the leaf piles, and generally runs around and has a great time.  Such fun to see!  At one point, she even tried to count the leaves in the pile.  It went like this, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, fourteen, fifteen... all done!"

Wednesday mornings, Lily usually gets a bath.  This morning while she played in the tub, I cleaned the bathroom.  As I was scrubbing the sink, I heard her say,

"The moon is the ugliest star."

I said, "What?" and she said, "The moon is the ugliest star."  She has some bath time books, one of which is an Elmo book where he talks about the moon.  I think that's what begat the comment, but that is not a part of the book.

My little girl is like her parents in that she likes language- words, books, conversation.  I love that about her.  I hope Francl #2 loves words.  Baby Bit will be born into a family that will work to instill that in him or her.

And now that I've spent most of a post bragging on/enjoying remembering Lily's life, I should spend a little time on Baby Bit.  We're 19 weeks and 2 days along in this pregnancy.  As aforementioned, in just 6 days we'll be having our 20 week ultrasound at which we'll find out (yes, we're the type that find out) if we're looking forward to welcoming a brother or a sister.  Lily is quite confident she will be getting a sister.  If you ask her if this baby is a boy or girl, she will tell you, "A girl."  Chase isn't sure the baby is a boy, but he "is feeling confident it's NOT a girl."  So he thinks this is a boy.  I don't know and frankly, (despite predictions) none of us care - baby will be wonderful either way!

What I do know is that baby is growing and moving and kicking.  When I sit still or lay still, Baby Bit makes his or her presence known with sweet little bumps and gentle nudges.  I'm no fool - soon enough those "gentle nudges" will be violent punches and kicks that will interrupt perfectly good thoughts, cause belly gyrations, and keep me from being able to put together coherent sentences.  It all comes with the motherhood territory.

For now, I'll just enjoy each day as it comes, with whatever it may hold...