Helping...

I finally got my 20 week ultrasound done, at 27 weeks. And there continues to be no male heir in our family (Dan's words, not mine). Personally, I'm thrilled that we're going to have another little girl running around the house. And it will be fun for Alta to have a sister.

Alta has been preparing to be a good helper for when the baby comes.

She likes to dress and undress her baby doll and put her to bed (along with all her other stuffed animals):

She asks me to wrap up her animals in her blanky and she takes them on stroller walks, or does this:

She likes to help clean up - wiping up messes, sweeping the floor, even unpacking from Dan's camping trips:

I think her favorite thing to do is to help me when I'm in the kitchen. She will drag a chair over to the counter and proceed to get into everything I'm trying to cook. She's makes it very clear that she's being helpful by telling me over and over, "helping, helping Mommy!".

Speaking of cooking, I've been doing a lot of it lately. I'm on a kick to try lots of new recipes. I've made some new breads, new dinners, and of course desserts:

The picture is crappy, but let me tell you, these were SO dang good. They are Samoas cookies in bar form. I got the recipe here (and their picture is much better). They take a little work, but seriously, they are good.

And Alta is generally pretty happy to test my cooking, especially when it involves eating cookies: