Dear baby boy,

We are in the home stretch and I am just so excited to see your sweet little face. What color hair will you have? How much will you weigh? Will you look like your siblings? So many questions that I can't wait to get the answers to. I think we finally have everything ready and are just waiting for your arrival which will hopefully be this week! I'm sure you're used to all of the noise from your siblings but I just want to warn you that our house is loud but it's also a lot of fun. You are going to love watching your siblings play and you will get plenty of attention because there will always be someone who wants to hold you, kiss you, and play with you. We all love you so much and are so excited to see you very soon! It would be fun if you come on your due date (June 3rd) but you come when you're ready!

Love always,

Mommy

My sweet girl turned 8 yesterday! Since I'm due in a week, we are still social distancing and didn't have any type of in person gathering for Naomi's birthday. Instead we had a virtual party with some of her friends from the neighborhood, let her pick out breakfast and dinner, opened presents, and per her request ended the night with a 3D movie in our basement. At one point, she said it was the best day ever so I'm glad that Covid didn't steal her fun.

I didn't get any pictures at the beginning of her virtual party but we delivered party bags to all her friends to they would have activities to do together. They decorated/accessorized unicorns with stickers, made bracelets and necklaces together, enjoyed dessert (rice krispie treat, ice cream, and m&ms, and the party ended with Naomi opening presents.

The virtual party was definitely a different experience but when the call was done, Naomi was beaming with joy. Even though this years birthday wasn't as extravagant as last years birthday (see below), she said it was almost as fun, which I'm going to call a success!

Naomi's 7th birthday in Florida

Naomi and I celebrated our birthdays in Florida last year. We went with my good friend, Emily and her daughter, Mackenzie. It was such a special trip and so much fun! Oh, I wish I could back.

Emily and I met in Colorado when we were newly pregnant with Naomi and Mackenzie who are only 10 days apart. We connected instantly and have been friends ever since.

Naomi is such a sweet girl and is always taking care of everyone in the family. When we leave the house, she is the one to pack snack, band aids, or anything else we may need while we're gone. She is such a good big sister to our foster baby and I know she will do so well with her baby brother. Naomi loves playing in our sand box and can't wait to spend the summer catching toads. We all love her so much and had so much fun celebrating her yesterday!

Dear baby boy,

Mommy's body is getting really tired and I'm sure you're getting a little crammed inside. This past week, I got all of your clothes and blankets washed and put your tiny little diapers in a cute basket. My hospital bag is almost packed and daddy did a Target run today to get the last few things mommy will need after you're born. Naomi would like you to wait until after her birthday on Tuesday before you make your big arrival. : )

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a few mild contractions, I was up for about 2 hours wondering if you were going to break the trend and be my first baby to come early but the contractions stopped. I'm still anticipating you'll be close to your due date which is June 3rd but I love that none of us know for sure and every day we get to wait with anticipation. We love you little guy and are SO excited to meet you! See you in about a week and half!

Love always,

Mommy

Dear baby boy,

You must be growing well because mommy's belly is getting huge! We are getting so close to meeting you, I can't believe how fast the time is going by. On Saturday I got to spend the day celebrating you with some of the wonderful ladies in our neighborhood and with some close friends and family. We had a social distancing baby shower outside with the neighbor ladies which was mommy's first time with a group of people in a long time. Because of the pandemic, it was important that we met outside and stayed 6ft apart. Mommy used lots of sanitizer while opening gifts and even though I really wanted to, I didn't hug or touch anyone. The second baby shower mommy had was a virtual shower which was really special since my good friends planned it and since it was virtual, they included close friends and family from all over the US. You are already so loved little guy and a lot of people are excited to meet you! Keep moving around in there (even though I know it's getting squishy), feeling your movement is one of my favorite things. I love you so much!

Love always,

Mommy

Baby shower with the world's best neighbors

My friend Abby took these screen shots at my virtual shower:

Me with all the Amazon boxes/shower gifts

We probably should have told everyone to smile for the picture but that's okay.

We have been following all the stay at home orders over here. Joe is the only one that leaves the house to do the grocery shopping and I've only left a couple of times for appointments. The kids haven't left the neighborhood since quarantine started. It's been fun having lots of family time but everyone is starting to miss their friends and getting out and about. Last night, Maxwell said, "mom, I want to go somewhere outside of our neighborhood. I want to go on an adventure!" : (

In the grand scheme of things, I think we've all handled the craziness pretty well. We have loved having our sweet foster baby with us, she reminds us all to stop and smile. Plus, everyone loves her cuddles. Yes, everyone has been a little more emotional but I think that's to be expected. Some days Maxwell doesn't get out of his pajamas and Naomi forgets to brush her hair but I'm trying not to sweat the small stuff. Some days are awesome and some days are hard. Thursday was a hard day. I'm not going to lie but I just kept thinking that this wasn't how the last months of my pregnancy was supposed to be. I couldn't wrap my head around 3 more weeks of pregnancy while navigating 3 more weeks of distance learning while taking care of a 4 month old. But... I'm thankful I get a fresh start each day because there have been way more good days than bad and I know that we're all in this together. 

Quarantine has been full of...

lots of outside time,

bubbles,

hours and hours in the sandbox,

miles logged on the bikes,

countless walks around the neighborhood,

some organizing,

chess playing,

lots of reading,

and learning.

Here's our classroom (Mia does most of her work independently in her room).

We've all become proficient with Zoom. The kids meet with their whole class and with their teachers each week.

There's also screen time aka mommy's break. ; )