He made it adamantly clear that this was more fun than school. I concur.

September 30th

Cousins-go-Round

Ride 'em Cowboy

Sister-in-Law & Sir Spudly-Grrr

Go Your Own Way

Traversing the Ball Pit in a Dress

Pilot Bennett & his Cousin Co-pilot...

Bumper Cars (the yellow car in the distance is the two-year-old stuck against a wall)

Go Carts

Random Vehicles that go in circles...

View from the Ferris wheel:

Can you see Bennett's reflection in the mirror?

And a glimpse of the paparazzi...

The Three First Born

Cousin Pride

A few days ago, I had the nerve to refer to the new baby cousin as, "Uncle J.'s baby..."

Bennett immediately protested, "It's not J.'s baby! Uncle J. does not have a uterus!"

"My apologies, son. Auntie N.'s baby..."

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Tonight, my camera arrived safely back home (so did Nana!), loaded with beautiful pictures and video of The Nephew! (& of the very proud parents!) Bennett hogged the thing for half an hour, watching the videos of his new baby cousin over and over...then he declared, "I want to go to ******** and see him right now!"

Not up for the ten hour drive tonight, I used the best excuse in the world..."You have school tomorrow!"

I wondered how Bennett would react to the idea of a 2nd cousin...it would appear The Nephew! will be landing into open (cousin) arms!

As of 8:30 this morning...

SIL is at the hospital, water broke on it's own! Nana (my Mama) is en-route with a truck load of baby gear and my camera (personal paparazzi!)

Inner Family Relations...Redefined.

Bennett says to me, "I want to sleep at Nana's house tonight."

I reply, "You can't sleep at Nana's house because Nana is going to ******** to see Uncle J. & Auntie N. because the baby is ready to come out of Auntie N's uterus and that means that you and **** (The Niece!) are going to have a new baby cousin!"

Bennett immediately jumps up, and with great excitement, yells, "I'm going to be a Daddy!"

It would appear that he is over the fact that he will never be a Mommy...
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SIL finds out tomorrow if she will be induced on Thursday or on Friday...

Non Appearance of "The Niece! II" or "The Nephew!"

No August B-day for that one! Still being told...any day now! Officially 4 wks from the due date... Big Brother and Sister-in-Law are more than slightly anxious and sick of waiting!

Let the Waiting Begin!

Word is that the sister-in-law is about ready to pop, six weeks ahead of schedule, but being as she herself was a three months early preemie, carrying her own tike to 7.5 months (and counting) makes her proud! The Niece! II or The Nephew! may be making an appearance sooner than expected and I'm about as freaking excited as an Auntie-to-be can be! They live in the next province over, so visits will be much less than that with The Niece!, still, the fact that Bennett will have another partner in crime, another cousin to grow up with, is just a fantastic little thought that warms my heart!

In my group of five siblings, I was the first and only parent for 3.5 years; my baby sister & BIL jumped on the parenting band wagon, with production of The Niece! in late 2005, and now, roughly 5.5 years into the game, it's awesome to have a second niece or nephew and exciting to share the parenthood thing with more of my peeps!

Also, Cousin Alexandra was induced yesterday, so there should be news of little Arden coming soon as well! This one is roughly a week or two over due, so the wait has been a long one for her Mama!

Did I ever mention how much I don't like surprises? (or at least that I knew what colour I was shopping for...)

The sister-in-law's ultrasound has come and gone. Can you guess who had his/her legs twisted together like a pretzel? So, this means that there will be no gender specific shopping as of yet. Sigh.

My brother is quite certain that it is a girl! Of course, I knew Bennett was a girl! And my sister knew that The Niece! was a boy! So, family history with such predictions is not exactly in his corner on this one...

Said child (& the Mama) are reportedly healthy and all is well!

First Glimpse of THE NIECE! (II) or THE NEPHEW!

ETA: Late September

Call me Crazy! but I would swear that this offspring has the sister-in-law's forehead!

Gender confirmation to come...I think she said her next ultrasound is next week...and she's roughly half way through the pregnancy...so, four or five months along!

Bennett & The Niece! are excited to have BABY COUSIN (II) on the way! Well, as excited as a five-year-old and eighteen-month-old can be...which means they will hopefully appreciate having another cousin a couple of years down the road...

My *official* prediction is that this is THE NEPHEW! Which, with my fantastic ESP abilities, probably means it is a girl...

~A Morning at Nursery School~

Last night, a drunk driver, plowed into the back of my sister's van, causing a four-car-pile-up, involving three parked cars and his own, and totaling them all. Thank god all of the innocent vehicles in the accident were parked and not occupied by human beings, thus the damage was mostly limited to an extensive clean-up and a HUGE inconvenience for the owners of the vehicles. My sister & brother-in-law, however, were up most of the night with the circus that followed and were more than slightly exhausted come today.

So as The Niece! did not miss an important orientation day at her new daycare, I volunteered to take her. She did so well! And I have to say, that hanging out with a dozen one & two-year-olds was an interesting way to spend a morning!

What a big girl! A year ago, she was a bald little peanut, learning how to crawl; today, while still a peanut that weighs next to nothing, she is a big girl, with a full head of beautiful hair, and on her way off to Nursery School!

I hate to tell you, big brother, but the stroller you were slated to inherit from our little sister, for your soon-to-be-offspring, was in the back of her van, which happened to be the drunkard's point of impact, thus smashing the little hot rod to smithereens! So, Happy Stroller Shopping to y'all!

**UPDATE** In the evening, after all was said and done, my sister received a call from her daycare of choice, with the news that they had an opening and it was hers for the taking. So...turns out our little auntie/niece orientation day was at a daycare The Niece! will not be attending after all. Figures.