"I DON'T WANT TO GO!"

This is the phrase Layla screamed as we left cousin Karen's house last night. Layla spent the evening with Karen and puppies Maddox and Punk while Dave and I went to the ISU V. KU game. Layla hadn't seen Karen for awhile so I wasn't sure how she would feel about us leaving her there. Apparently it wasn't the leaving US she minded, it was the leaving KAREN at the end of the night that proved to be traumatic. As Dave was trying to get her out the door to go home Layla was holding the door jam so tightly she was white knuckled. We listened to screams of "I DON'T WANT TO GO" for at least 20 minutes in the car until she passed out. Needless to say, cousin Karen is one heck of a babysitter! Layla highly recommends her.

The Big Sister

There is really no better way than this photo to communicate how Layla feels about becoming a big sister. I am sure we will have challenges as she adjusts to the baby actually arriving and coming home to live, but right now, it is pure excitement for this little girl. Layla's favorite thing to talk about is how she will be able to help with the baby. She wants to wipe up spit-up, get diapers, and help with baths. Sounds great to me! She is also very confident that the baby can sleep in her bed and that she will be able to take care of it when it wakes during the night. I wish! We are just under 4 weeks until D-Day. When I was pregnant with Layla, I knew I was going to be overdue. It ended up I was 2 weeks late. But, with this one, I have this feeling I'm going to go early. Which makes me nervous as we haven't even gotten the crib out of storage much less settled on a name. Hmmmmm, I guess it's the second child syndrome my friends have been telling me about.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Introducing Layla Faye's Valentine's Day fashion creation. Those of you who know her well, know that she loves to dress up! Starting at about 15 months she would get into my dresser and drape as many pieces of clothes on as she could. She has since evolved into themed creations. Sometimes it's a "Fancy Basketball Player" and other times it's a "Dancin'Shoes Cheerleader" We hadn't gotten out of our PJ's yet this morning when she came to me with this one. When I asked her what this creation was called she replied, "Banetine's Princess" (Valentine's Princess). Hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!

The Big Date

Layla Faye Handsaker went on her first date......with Daddy. For a girl who had no idea what a date was, she is now very impressed and would like to go on more. Dave took her to an evening tumbling class, out to dinner for french fries and cheeseburgers and gave her a very special present.......a Dora t-shirt. Although she does many things with her daddy, this was the first purposed date. When she came home she was grinning ear to ear, jumped up on the couch with me and filled me in on all the details of what a date was. I video taped this conversation and, hopefully, someday, I will learn how to post that on the blog. The morning after the date she came upstairs, crawled into bed with me and the first thing out of her mouth was, "I want to go on a date with my daddy." Priceless.

A view of the inside.....

Here is baby #2 at 32 weeks. We had another 3D ultrasound today and everything went great. Baby is 5 1/2 pounds and I've officially hit the 20 pound mark of weight gain...yikes! If you read one of my previous postings, you'll remember I felt uncertain about seeing our baby so clearly in 3D prior to giving birth. Well, no worries, we didn't really get great shots today. Since we don't want to know the gender and the umbilical cord was across the babies face, our options were limted. We did get some profile shots of it's face and some very cute shots of its hands and feet. If you're having a hard time making out this ultra sound picture and you know Dave and his brothers, just picture them! I'm afraid my hopes of seeing a baby I labor over looking like me are dashed! I don't see anything but Hilburn/Handsaker in this little face. But, that's all I see in Layla and I think she's pretty cute! This is the baby's facial profile and he/she is facing left. We got to see the baby open and shut its eyes, wave and yawn.

The Debut of the Bump

It's amazing how friends, who don't really live that far away, can go MONTHS without seeing each other. This picture is for my great friend Haverlee who requested the bump be posted on the blog for her to see. For many of you, the most shocking part of this picture maybe my straight hair, not the game ball under my sweater. The hair is just a little experiment I like to do now and then. It's just a blow out, nothing permenant. When it gets wet it returns to it's curly self. Back to the bump....we're down to 6 weeks! Stay tuned, on Wednesday you can see the bump from the inside (I'll post our ultra sound pix). And yes, I know, this baby is very large and very low!