GETTIN' READY FOR BABY

Besides the fact that it looks like Babies R' Us threw up all over our house we have been making preparations for Judah since the two lines appeared on the stick in the Walgreens restroom; preparing our hearts that is.

These are some things I have done with the kids:

1) SIBLING CLASSES - Isabella and Annais both attended a sibling class at the hospital, which were wonderful and I highly recommend. It was also a day for them to be alone with mommy or daddy and have lunch at a tea room because we all love a good tea time.

2) PRAY FOR THE BABY TOGETHER - This is something the kids started at the beginning of the pregnancy, which has just been so precious to hear and watch.

3) READ CHILDREN'S BOOKS ABOUT PREGNANCY, EXPECTING BABY OR BIG BROTHER/SISTER BOOKS - I scanned content before reading to the kids, not all of these books ended with a positive message. I do not mind some negative behavior as long as there is a positive conclusion.

4) PROJECTS - Isabella and Annais made lapbooks* as the big brother/sister which included the following:

• Babies in the bible and the meaning of their names


• Drawings of what they think Judah will look like


• Their footprint next to a baby's footprint


• Letters to Judah (picture below)


• A chart to record their birth statistics and Judah's for comparison


• A drawing of our family now and after Judah is born


• Certificates from their sibling classes

This is the cover to Isabella's lapbook and her letter to Judah, she is telling him how her rest time was "their" playtime. She would lay on my belly and he would kick her in the head, she loved it.



This is Annais' cover for his lapbook and his letter (written by his teacher) to Judah.



A lot of the stuff in these lapbooks came from lapbooklessons.com you have to sign-up to view the materials and these can be found under prince/princess missions.

*What is a lapbook you ask?

From BellaOnline:

A lapbook is a hands-on tool that you can use with your children in place of worksheets or other monotonous learning tools. It can be used for ages preschool through high school and can be used with any subject matter!

This is a lapbook Isabella and I made which includes detailed pictures of the baby month-by-month that we cut out of the magazine they gave me at the doctor's office. We tracked baby's progress month-by-month, Isabella would write three things that were growing, changing or developing in Judah during that month and we would watch a video here - I would screen before watching with children, there are some parts I would fast forward. It was amazing footage and facts, I often found myself tearing up at the sheer beauty and miracle of it all. Isabella was just excited that she has fallopian tubes!





5 - SHOPPING - Took the kids shopping and they all picked out a gift for Judah.

6 - T-SHIRTS - As a gift from Judah they each got a big brother/sister shirt to wear to the hospital. I found the cutest shirts for only $12.99/each and they arrived in two days at cookiebabyinc.com.

What are some things your family does to get ready for baby? We'd love your thoughts and suggestions too!