Update

Our biggest news is that I am pregnant, and child number two (who we just found out is going to be a boy) is due to arrive around August 4, 2009.  We are very excited.  Despite her constant assurances for the past couple months that we would be having a girl, Susanna is very excited about having a little boy and greeted us this morning with a song about the little guy.  It’s lyrics were “baby brother, baby brother, baby brother…”  She has also been “making milk” for him (she does this by pumping a glue-stick in it’s cap for a few minutes).  Sometimes it’s chocolate milk, lucky guy!  And she has even set aside one of her old pink sleepers for baby brother (it’s out because one of her dolls is often wearing it).  I guess we’re all set!

As the milk example illustrates (she’s also got a stock for her soon-to-be-born cousin Milo), Susanna’s time is dominated by pretend play, and the scenarios she acts out continue to get more complicated, extended, and surprising. Gibberish has also recently become very, very funny to her and (on an unrelated note) she loves the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah and is always asking us to play “Forever, Forever, Hallelujah, Hallelujah”).  Here is a photograph of her playing in our tent. Scott put it up for kicks on Saturday; she was delighted.

Scott is always coming up with things like setting up the tent (what a great idea!).  And he and Susanna tell the best stories together before she goes to bed, and I always feel bad when he’s working too late to put her down because my stories are very boring.  He spends a lot of time in the lab, but has also started playing basketball with the Elders’ Quorum very regularly and enjoys that.  Susanna has really gotten into the spirit and talks about basketball a lot.  We finally went to watch one of his games and Susanna yelled “go dad” the entire time (well, the parts of it that she couldn’t go play basketball herself).

I decided a while ago that I would make a quilt for Susanna’s twin bed (this was well before we had the bed) and then, thinking we might someday have a son, that I would make a baby quilt that is more masculine than the pink tulip one we were given for Susanna.  I’m not sure what spurred my sudden interest in quilting, or my completely unfounded belief that I could successfully make a quilt (perhaps it has something to do with my amazing and generous quilting neighbor), but I’m pushing forward.  I’m a little behind where I hoped to be at this point, we’ve had a twin bed for a while now (although Susanna will only “sleep” in it for a minute or less and then ask to be moved to the crib), and I have only just finished cutting the squares.  The lady at the fabric store told me the cutting is the most time consuming part though, so maybe there’s hope.