Clothes for our Son!

Nadia is definitely able to express her wishes more clearly these days. Thankfully she now makes use of nodding her head "yes" in addition to "no." I can ask her yes/no questions and she responds almost all the time. It's very nice to have more of an idea what she wants! Yesterday she made it quite clear she only wanted to play the piano if her big teddy was sitting beside her on the bench. Of course I still don't always know what she wants, but I know in time she'll be able to communicate more and more. Yesterday one of the words she repeated back upon request was "kiss." She pronounced it exactly right. Ahh what a sweet word to hear her say. :-)

This morning the choir director at the church I've been going to lately called to see if I was singing in the choir this fall. I was caught off guard, and since I hadn't made up my mind, I said "yes." Turns out the choir is having their kickoff picnic and first rehearsal this evening. I said I'd be there. I hadn't made up my mind whether to stay at that church or go elsewhere. I wanted to hear the choir at the church I visited this last Sunday. I was planning on taking the spring semester off in terms of being in the choir like I did with Nadia. I resumed singing in a choir when she was 6 months old. So one possibility is that I'll stay at this church through December and then can visit others and make up my mind next spring/summer. I did really enjoy this choir, and Nadia does like this nursery.

Nadia has been sleeping in until 6:50am on a more regular basis lately. YAHOO! I was amazed that she slept almost 12 hours on Monday night and then on Tuesday her naps totalled 3 1/2 hours. Usually her total hours of sleep comes to 14 hours not 15 1/2! She slept almost 12 hours again last night, but her morning nap was only 1 hour this morning. I was really tired yesterday morning so it was excellent timing that she picked that day to have a long nap as I slept almost as long as she did. I didn't take a nap today since I got 9 1/2 hours of sleep last night. She's taking her afternoon nap right now, and when she wakes up we are going to the mall to shop the clearance racks for her brother! Hopefully I will be somewhat accurate in guessing what size he'll wear next summer, and hopefully there will still be a few cute items left on the clearance racks. Everything should be really cheap since it's almost September. Although I've always preferred shopping for baby girl clothing, knowing it's for my son makes shopping for baby boy clothing really exciting also. :-)

I've had fun working on the baby registries (aka "Christmas lists"). Most of the items are for our son, but some are also for Nadia. I haven't put clothes on either list, but obviously we need clothes for him as very little of what Nadia wore was gender neutral. Although I'm wanting to get a second crib (the one I thought we were going to get was missing pieces so I'm still searching), I am not planning on getting a 2nd highchair or pack 'n play. My sister is giving us a double stroller she doesn't want any more. I put a few toys on the registry that are more boy oriented, but most of the toys Nadia played with from birth to 12 months are gender neutral. For Nadia for Christmas I put a dollhouse (one meant for very young children), little table & chairs for her bedroom, a toychest for her bedroom, and a play kitchen. If you have any suggestions of things a girl ages 18-24 months would really enjoy, please let me know! She's blessed to have her birthday and Christmas 6 months apart. Unfortunately our son will have his birthday less than a month after Christmas. I'll do my best to still make it a very big deal for him each year! If there's anything you think I might be forgetting that one needs for a second baby or for one's first son, please let me know. I have to admit that prior to having kids it was really hard to come up with many items for our Christmas wish list. Since 2007 (when I was pregnant with Nadia), it has been a lot more fun, and it's been much easier to come up with lots of ideas. We don't mind at all that most of the Christmas gifts labeled for Paul or I are actually for our children. :-)