Big Sister Class

The hospital where baby Ahren will be born offers a free class for siblings to learn about the new baby coming to their house. Sienna and two of her friends (one from swimming lessons and one from school all attended the class last Sunday afternoon). The instructor read a book dealing with big brothers and sisters (all children received a copy), they got to hold baby dolls, change a diaper on the doll, wrap the baby a present, color the baby a picture and even tour the maternity suites! Sienna thought it was pretty cool!

Here she is coloring Ahren a picture:



Wrapping baby Ahren's present - a bib that says "I have a great big sister"






Learning how to support the head:



Holding the baby:



She doesn't realize this, but this is how mommy and daddy will look in the middle of the night when Ahren is hungry:



*I didn't get any pictures of her diapering the baby, but she did really well all on her own - although she was quite irritated they didn't have wipes because everyone knows you have to wipe before the new diaper goes on!

*When they demonstrated how a mirror (which WON'T be used) and a big light drop out of the ceiling above the bed in the maternity suites, Sienna immediately exclaimed, "Oh, a FLASHLIGHT!" The instructor thought it was hilarious!!

Confusions

With a new baby getting ready to come to our house (4 weeks to go) we have been talking a lot about babies and adoption. Sienna seems pretty confused.

Sienna knows she is from Vietnam and that we went to get her when she was (in her words) "a little, tiny baby." She has looked at so many of the pictures and knows that we wanted a little girl and knew she was in Vietnam and we received a picture of her and had to wait. We then went to get her and took her to our hotel and walked all around Vietnam (the whole Hanoi concept is a little lost right now) with her and then brought her home on a big airplane.

She has thanked us several times for getting her in Vietnam (while about melting into the floor we told her SHE has made the biggest difference in our lives). She also told me she was going to 'save' me the other day. When I asked her what she was going to save me from, she told me Vietnam. We then had a LONG talk about how she was well cared for in Vietnam, she was just waiting for a mommy & daddy. We also told her Vietnam was a wonderful place and we were all going to go there for a visit when she and Ahren are older. I don't think she understood, but I will continue to try!

This whole baby in mommy's belly is weird for her - although she is handling it very well. She knows that we are getting things ready for this child to come out, but it is still a pretty abstract concept for her. We'll see!

Shower

My friend threw me a small baby shower for baby Ahren last Sunday. Sienna stole all the attention (as usual). Grandma Donna and Grannie Susie brought presents for Sienna so she wouldn't feel left out.

She liked to read the cards with her name on them:



Playing with the wrapping paper:



She was CONVINCED this was a 'garbage' (it was really just a box that had presents in it for her). The funny thing was is that she was really excited for it to be a garbage:



Grannie gave her lightning bug shoes that have light-up tails:

Smiles!

Every once in a while Sienna remembers that our fridge has a chalkboard finish. She asked to color with orange and then drew the cutest little smiley face (in my humble opinion).



*Notice the two eyes, nose, mouth AND chin! She also wrote its name to the right.

Gymnastics Recital

Sienna had a gymnastics recital the day before Mother's Day. I thought she might be a little overwhelmed with all of the people there or only want to sit with us (Seth, Seth's parents and my mom were all there). Well, I was CERTAINLY mistaken!! She was the biggest ham! She received a ribbon for each rotation (3) and a medal after it was over.

Ready to go:



On the uneven bars:



On the beam:








Saluting:



Floor exercises:



After she got her medal she saluted to both sides of the audience:

School night at the zoo

For the past several years Sienna's school has had an after-hours night at the zoo. There's a picnic and then you can walk around to see the animals or play on the climbers (always a favorite). My mom got to go this year (she was out of the hospital and back to feeling able to do a little more)!

Looking at the bald eagle with grandma:



It was pretty cool:



With one of her best friends checking out one of the bigger animals:

What a big kid: Happy Birthday!!!

My little girl isn't little any more!!! She's such a big kid at THREE YEARS OLD!!!!!!

She insisted on a Kai-Lan cake:



Getting ready to blow out candles:



Is everyone here for me?!?!:



She insisted on eating the piece of cake with Ho-Ho on it (in the middle) - it got a little messy:



The first present:



It was a ROBOT!! She was later surprised by the robot; she did not think that anything would happen when she pushed one of the buttons since it came with a pack of batteries. She ran across the room and told me, "Mama, it CAME with batteries!":



Ripping the wrapping paper:



WOW, a new dress AND a bow:



A laptop:



Checking out one of her books from mom & dad - a book based on this blog:

Hanging out in the yard

The weather has been wonderful lately (when it hasn't been raining) and Sienna has gotten to play outside 'in her playground' (the backyard). She even loves all the dandelions that have popped up (at least someone does) and picks them as special presents for us and Rocco. She had a blast the other day!!

Too cool:



Refueling:



She's obviously never heard of static electricity causing fires at gas stations:



Picking 'flowers':






Mad that she only got the head of the dandelion:



Done:

New Dress

I made Sienna a dress from some fabric that she picked out. It was VERY simple as she chose a fabric that I could just make one seam in. We did have to go with the matching ribbon for straps. Here she is posing and having fun:

Do you HAVE to take my picture??



Posing on the slide:



Looking at herself on daddy's phone:



Showing off:



What?!?!:



I LOVE this one:

No posts

Sorry for not posting anything lately, things have been kinda crazy around here. I hurt my back again and my mother was in and out of the hospital several times. All is well now and we even have the Wi-Fi hooked up so I can get on the computer after Sienna's bedtime!

Here are some pics from cousin Sophia's birthday party at The Pizza Machine - a local restaurant that was owned by one of the owners of the St. Louis City Museum: