Discovery Center

One of the benefits of living a stones throw away from the tracks (probably the only one) is that you can walk to the trax station, catch the train and ride into downtown for the day. Saturday was Jeremiah's first train ride. He loved it, although I must say, the view leaves much to be desired. I've never seen so much... outdoor art... in such a short period of time.

Anyway, the kids loved the train ride and the discover center. We bought a six month membership and it was a good thing too because the very next day he wanted to go again, and each day since. Some friends of ours also have a membership, so I think we'll make a play date out of it in the future. FUN! Here are some photos (sorry, I didn't edit them at all):

A quick stop at the fountain:

Cleaning Day

It happens, those days when I've neglected my home for so long that I cannot ignore the messes any longer. On these days I don't feel like I can just ignore my children, and reason that cleaning is more important than time together, because it's not. Even I know that. BUT I HAVE TO CLEAN. I'll go crazy if I live another minute longer in my messy house. So, this is my plan of attack, Arm Leah with a baby wipe, and Jeremiah with a spray bottle of water (it sometimes has a little vinegar in it) and a washcloth and give them special cleaning assignments. This is what cleaning days look like at my house:

Admittedly it takes twice as long to get anything actually clean, but a little water never hurt anything, and they love it, it teaches them the value of work, of helping and working together as a family, they still think its fun (we'll see how long this lasts) and it keeps them from whining at me to build things with legos (ok, only one whines about that). Have you employed child labor in your homes? How has it worked out? At what age does helping stop being fun for kids? I can't remember, which means it must be pretty young.

Playing Dress-Up

My shoes, Leah's winter had and 1 mitten (because she couldn't manage to put the other one on without fingers) and her hair brush, of course, to tame that crazy hat hair that every girl hates. It also usually involves someones pants, often times not her own.

Baby Girl Hirschi

Lest any of you be confused about whether or not I am excited about having another girl, I am. I just didn't have time to write anything about how I felt about it at the time. It wasn't that I was dissapointed in the gender of my child.I am loving the idea of having two little girls running around my house, though Jeremiah still has no one to play boy stuff with, I'm ok with that. And he is too.

Here are some pictures of the ultrasound. it might be tricky to tell what you're looking at if you weren't staring at the ultrasound screen for over an hour... yes, this little girl had her arms up over her head for most of the time. They made me take a break twice to try to get her to move. My solution? Cat-Cow yoga pose. It worked great. PS. Aren't 3D ultrasounds strange?

Also, no video, it's too big to email a zipped file, and I don't know how to cut the video to only show parts of it, so, too bad for you. :)

In this one she has her hand on her forehead, and her mouth is open a little.

Just saying hello.
Little feet.This is her with her arms over her face, it was worse that this most of the time.

Her profile.

From the mouth of Jeremiah

"One of my girlfriends was fighting with Talon and so I was fighting one of my girlfriends. Because that was not nice"

Ahhhh, the experiences of preschool.

Don't ask me where he heard the phrase girlfriend.

The Wish List

I have everything I would need for this new baby, but not everything I need for having three kids under the age of four. Here is my wish list:

Double Stroller. something like this maybe:

Swing. believe it or not, I have never owned one. Maybe something like this.

A bouncer, our $3 Ebay buy (well, Moms) has lived a good life, but the paint is coming off on the bars, so I think it's time it retired. Maybe this one?

Bunk Bed, yes, we're moving our 21 month old to a big girl bed. This would be FABULOUS:

And a trundle of course, for #3, if the need arrises, and/or guests and visitors:

And this is the WISH part of it all, cute girly bedding for Leah, maybe this one from PBkids (I know, in my DREAMS. Don't worry, I'll come up with something much cheaper that I like just as much, I just love the colors in this):
And maybe one to match for the baby:

I know what you're thinking, WOW she has high expectations. Well, you see, these are not my expectations. These are just on my wish list. In the end, the bedding will be handmade with love (and trial and error probably), The bunk bed will be from Sears or something like that, and the trundle will most likely be hand crafted by my husband and father in law. I will probably skip both the bouncer AND the swing, because I've survived this long without it, I can do it with another child. And the stroller, though a definate neccesity, will either be purchased 2nd hand whatever I can find in good condition, or a completely different brand and style that aren't as pretty (really, isn't that damask print PRETTY!) but still very functional. Ahhh, dreams. Oh well, surprisingly enough in the end I usually find myself just as happy with reality as I would have with my wish list dreaming. I find that a blessing. But it is still fun to dream.

Another one

We're having another girl. More on my feelings about that later and the latest happenings of the Hirschi family. For now I'm busy babysitting and trying to contemplate what it will be like having three children under the age of 4. Gotta love it.