We bought a minivan!!!

The new minivan is definitely our big news from the week. We've been saving up for this for what seems like forever and Andy has spent countless hours scouring the internet for information/reviews on various types of minivans. For a while, we were between the Chrysler Town & Country and the Honda Odyssey. 100% of the people we talked to recommended the Honda to us (even some Chrysler owners). We looked at this particular minivan last weekend (a 2001 with 35,000 miles) but had to walk away from it because we just couldn't get it down to the price we wanted - they wouldn't budge on the last $500. We looked around some more, but all of the cars that were in our price range had an average of 80-95,000 miles on them. After some discussion, we realized that saving over 50,000 miles was worth spending an extra $500. By Wednesday, this van was officially ours. It had one owner before us - an older gentlemen who clearly didn't drive around too much since it took him almost 8 years to put 35,000 miles on it. We feel like the car is brand new! Andy and I love driving it and being in it seems to put Bella to sleep - a trait that will be very welcomed when we travel back to Wisconsin. We are very happy with this purchase! Getting Bella into our two-door car was becoming a challenge for me with my ever-increasing belly, so it was definitely time! Earlier in the week, Bella and I had an extended playtime outside. While we were out in the yard, Andy popped in the house to grab something and ended up locking the door behind him and taking off to run some errands. I didn't take my keys out with me, so we ended up getting locked out. It wasn't a major deal since the weather was gorgeous. What child doesn't enjoy playing in a little dirt.
She became pretty mesmerized by a flock of birds that had landed on the grass.
After running out of things to do, I decided to have her practice her flower girl duties (for my sister's wedding next month). We filled up her watering can with leaves and off she went. She did pretty well! I'm hoping it goes as great at the actual wedding. I think I'm sensing some possible bribery, just in case. On a side note, whenever I ask Bella what she's going to do in Auntie Jodi's wedding, she will say, "Throw flowers and be a princess." I think she's excited! In case you hadn't noticed, I added a poll to the right sidebar. Do you think this baby is a boy or a girl? Vote! We're not finding out until the birth, but here are some clues:

• When people look at the way I'm carrying - straight out in front - they say I look like I'm carrying a boy. Of course, I seem to be carrying the same way that I did with Bella.
• At our last dr. appt. this baby's heartrate was 160 bpm. The highest that Bella ever got was the 150s, and that was at the very beginning of my pregnancy. She tended to camp out in the 130-140s.
• Bella seems pretty convinced that this baby is a girl.
• This pregnancy feels pretty similar to Bella's, though this baby sometimes feels a bit more active.

That's all I have for clues. . . if I can think of any more, I'll let you know. Now go vote!