getting ready

so, baby #3 is due to arrive 2/1/17. Her original due date was 1/31, which was moved back to 1/28 after here 20 week ultrasound, but now surgery is scheduled for 9:30 am on 2/1. i'm excited.

this weekend was filled with efforts for getting ready for her arrival. washing clothes and other items, reorganizing the girls' room to make room for the crib, cleaning our room to make room for the bassinet, throwing out junk from the attic.

while folding the little newborn-sized onesies, once again it strikes me just how tiny this little newcomer will be. sure, we've done this twice before (as adam was quick to remind me), but it's so tiny!!! at least i'm not breaking down in tears as i realize this, as i did when i prepared for nissa's arrival. gimme a little credit.

i'm so proud of us all working together to get ready. the girls are so good with helping with laundry, i'm really impressed - and they work together with minimal bickering. adam was amazingly thorough when cleaning our room, it looks quite respectable in there right now. i loved how excited the girls were to witness what i worked on in their room, despite my constant requests to get out of the way. we switched the ladder on their bunk bed and rearranged the shelves in their closet to move their clothes off the shelves and out of the dresser. just have to cut another shelf and find some brackets to complete the project! well, that and rearrange some furniture, toss the shelves, and bring down the crib.

while i was working in the closet, ani commented to nissa, "mommy's tummy is big!" it's always interesting when ani decides to notice something. she is often in her own world and is quite the opposite of the hyper-vigilant observer that nissa is. but yes, it is big. and i love it. i won't be sad to see it go, but it's kinda fun while it's here.

deciding on a name for girl #3 was a challenge, since we were all rooting for a boy (and that name has been ready for the last 9 years!). but, on the way home from thanksgiving, we stumbled upon the combination that we believe works best: Zabelle Valeria. zabelle after great grandma margaret (her Armenian name), annette's mother and Valeria after great grandma valeria, armin's mother. it can be a bit of a mouthful, and almost impossible to decipher when ani rattles it off (as she is fond to do for anyone who will listen), but a beautiful name for a beautiful little addition to our family.