boy vs. girl "coming home" outfit

We're in the "home stretch!" Today I am 35 weeks and 2 days (but who's counting, right?) I'm actually not eager for this kid to pop out early - well, other than the suspense over what "it" is being ended - there's really no other reason I wish to hurry up this process. After all, once it begins, having 3 little ones at home under the age of 4 begins. That will be a wonderful -and exhausting - situation - why rush it? Well, and I am excited to nurse again - I just love it, and I pray I have an eater like Jack in store ;-)

Speaking of Jack, quick update on my little man I'm so proud of - in less than a week he's made some wonderful gains with potty training! Back in Nov. and December, right before he turned 2, he began making requests to go potty when we changed his diaper. Most of the time, we'd take him and surprisingly he could pee on demand, every time. Not eager to begin potty training, I decided to talk to his doctor at the 2-year checkup and see what they thought. Well, to my disappointment (sort of, really I was just being lazy ;-) Dr. Susan recommended that we begin - Jack seemed to be "ready." So, we slated "Potty Training" to commence in Jan once we returned home from all the Christmas travel.

Funny happening: around Jan. 8th or so, my friend Tiffany inquired how PT was going, and I realized I had totally forgotten that we were going to begin! ;-) And then Daddy was at the AU game in Arizona, and I was not about to begin this on my own, so we finally began last weekend.

Successes:
-he will go every time we take him to the bathroom (about every 30-45 minutes)
-he LOVES picking out his underwear and putting his stickers he earns on his "tickewr char" (sticker chart)
-he wakes up dry from nightime sleep (that was a big surprise!) and naptime.
-he will ask for "privacy" followed by a firm shout, "Go Away! Go Away (swiping hand motion to boot) when he needs to poop.

Remaining challenges:
-he rarely TELLS US when he needs to go. Guess he needs some more time to connect that feeling to what comes after.
-going at school - it's just far too entertaining to play trucks AND remember to tell teacher when you gotta go ;-)

Anyhow, I'm really proud of him, and glad I gave up my reluctance to begin the process. Originally, I thought I'd rather wait until after the baby was born, let that transition happen before beginning another huge change...but, upon more thought, I do think it's better now to begin -get the "grunt work" done before baby arrives, and hopefully (fingers crossed!) we'll have made lots of progress in the next 5 weeks so that when baby does arrive, Jack's nearly got it ;-)

Lord, hear my prayer! ;-)

But back to the point of my post...

I've chosen the "coming home outfits" for baby:

First, if it's a girl:

I have LOVED this dress (it's a creamy velvet texture and ivory color wrap-dress), and kept it in a closet for close to 4 years now. This was given to Lucy before she was born, but she was born so tiny ( 6 lb 2 oz) that by the time she fit into it, we were in June, and a long-sleeve velvety dress was not appropriate for our Huntsville summer weather. ;-) So, I stored it away and hoped it might be used for next baby.

*Oddly enough, Lucy's "going home" outfit was the hospital t-shirt they give you...the day we were being sent home, we did a trial run, getting lucy in the carseat. She screamed so loudly and hated the whole process so much! When it was time to actually go home, she was sleeping - in her hospital t-shirt - and we thought it would be unwise to wake her just to change her clothes and risk a screaming incident again. So, we transferred her, managing thankfully, not to wake her up, and off we went. And it didn't upset me one bit for her not to wear home whatever little dress I had picked out.


Jack did have a coming home outfit, a sweet little white sweater and blue pants that my mom had given him I think.


And for this baby, I found this sweet little Strausburg outfit at Play It Again for $6. I figured it was a small price and risk to get it. This third baby has already gotten the shaft in various ways, I figured it nice to pick out something special just for it (if it's a boy of course ;-) This is the first and only thing I have bought for baby #3. I'm a whole six bucks in... ;-)

So, should we be frightened again by a largely swollen testicles/penis area when our newborn pops out, this is what he'll be wearing home!




Boy or girl? Anyone want to make a prediction? Maybe I should get Jason to make a betting pool...you know...$5 makes a guess, date, and weight, whatever...could be fun!