Cute Daddy Moments & Other Poppy Tidbits

I feel like I don't know if I'm more excited to be a mom or more excited to watch Benny be a dad.. he's so darn cute!!

A couple weeks ago, he said he read to Poppy after I fell asleep (adorable!) and the other night he read our book to Poppy again. He reads Poppy "Oh Baby, the Places You Will Go" and while he was reading to my tummy, Poppy was kicking away. I think Poppy loves daddy's voice! Now he walks around saying, "Oh, baby, the places you will go. The world's you will visit, the friends you will know."

 Every night we pray for Poppy and then we sing "You are My sunshine" although daddy is still struggling to get the words right - but Poppy doesn't care. And of course following that, Benny always breaks into the Iowa State fight song (have to start them young..) ;) We've started wondering a lot about things like -- what will we sing Poppy at night, who will read books to Poppy, what will our holiday traditions be and all that fun stuff. Benny already took dibs on holding Poppy during church and I assigned him the roles of fingernail trimmer and booger remover. Lucky, lucky man...

He probably talks to my doctor more than I does - tells him how his joints hurt, too, and he's exhausted. I told the doctor I thought he should take the GD screening with me so he can really feel involved .. ;)

In other Poppy news, we're planning to "head to the city" this weekend to scope out a million consignment shops in search of some affordable spring/summer maternity clothes! I'm dying to wear capris... I didn't even drag out my tub of summer clothes knowing not a single thing would fit. We're also going to register for some baby stuff. I'm starting to realize baby will be here before we know it and the next couple months are busy, busy, busy so we better get going. My friend, Jenessa, is coming over Friday to help me pick out a color to paint the nursery and as soon as she has that done I get get some of the other stuff done.

I've been very emotional lately - it might be because I never sleep between the hours of 3 to 5am (Poppy likes to play..) and work is beyond stressful this week, but I think it's just more realizing that we'll be bringing a beautiful little person into this world soon. Whenever I see my tummy move from a little kick, a tear falls .. that's a lot of tears in one day! Benny can't make it to our next appointment and I'm really sad about that, but I know it's okay for him to miss one .. I just really love sharing that with him. We always look at each other and smile when we hear little Poppy's heart so I suppose I'll have to smile at an empty chair. We bought grandpa John and grandma Donna books to fill out for Poppy (and any future children) to read. Grandpa John has been working away on his this week since he can't work (Praying for good news at the doctor today so he doesn't go crazy sitting at home) and he read us what he had done last night. I laughed, cried, and just felt so blessed to have such a wonderful dad and example in my life. Poppy will cherish that book forever!! He even "wrote it like he was reading it with Poppy - in child language" he told us!

Poppy's heart was beating at 150 yesterday and so far mama and baby are healthy! The doctor said, "I see you're still pregnant. That was kind of our goal for you from the beginning. Now if you can just stay that way until at least 36 weeks, that would be wonderful." I'll do my best, doc.