Preparing For Baby Claire

The three of us are getting very excited to meet the latest addition to our family in, Lord willing, about seven weeks. I am feeling great so far, other than dealing with quite a bit of back pain, and I think I am entering the fatigued stage again that plagued me during my first trimester.
Matthew is very aware of the fact that he has a little sister coming. He likes to 'say hi to Beebee Care' usually at least once a day. I lift up my shirt and he will hug my belly, give it a kiss and say, "Hi, Beebee Care, Masshew yuvs you!"

Already the protective big brother...

He is looking forward to taking Claire to: the park, Fred Meyer, Daddy's work, McDonald's and the library. (All of his favorite places.) His newest thing that he associates to the arrival of his sister is...Greg Oden, one of the stars on the Blazer team. Matthew is a big fan of the Blazers and knows most of the players by name. Greg Oden is one of his favorites, and he likes to dunk on his little basketball hoop just like Greg Oden. A few weeks ago, Dan told Matthew that he wants to take him to 'Blazer FanFest' which is a free event that will kick off the new season in the Fall. Obviously, the Fall is very far away to a little boy, so Dan tried to give him some sort of timeline for when it would come. He told him that it would be 'after Baby Claire comes.' So now Matthew thinks that he is going to get to meet Greg Oden as soon as his sister arrives. Baby Claire and Greg Oden are almost one and the same. Matthew even tells us that he wants to go to the park with Mommy, Daddy, Baby Claire and Greg Oden. Greg is apparently part of our family now! =)

Since Claire's room got painted and wallpapered when my aunt was here last month, Dan and I are slowing trickling in more details to the finished product. Dan's brother graciously came over and put up a chair rail for us, and tonight...! Well, here is what Dan and I put on the wall tonight. We will let you have a sneak peak of the room. Probably no more pictures though until it is all done! Click on the picture if you want to see it larger.