Christmas Presents

This year Christmas was really fun. Of course to me every Christmas is wonderful but this one came with some extra gifts! The girls have been terribly excited all month long, the were literally bouncing with anticipation! Katie wanted a Wall-E toy with all her heart and Abby wanted monkey slippers. After much searching I found monkey slippers at the mall and Wall-E on Ebay. Things were good even though I felt so very icky! The Christmas cantata went well at church, I sang in the choir and was in the play and managed not to get sick or fall down through the entire thing! The Christmas Eve service at church was beautiful and Abby (who decided she wanted to stay with mommy and see the candles) was well behaved although she did almost scorch her eyebrow. she kept blowing out my candle and one time got a little too close, but its okay, she could benefit from a little more respect for fire!

We got the girls home by reminding them we still had to open presents! We raced home and the girls ran to the living room all aglow with the Christmas spirit. Last year Abby wasn't certain what she was supposed to do and even Katie was hesitant but not this year! They ripped into their presents squealing over each one! We saved the Wall-E and the monkey slippers for last and poor Katie didn't know we had set them aside. She looked close to tears when she though the presents were all gone and said in a very sad voice, "But Mommy! There was no Wall-E!". Then of course we made a big deal of pulling out one final gift from under the tree and I think this picture I got of Katie sums up the utter joy of receiving the perfect gift!

Here's Abby trying on her monkey slippers!

Here is Joel with his favorite present. Our camera was making everything very bright but if you look close you can see that it is a very special edition of the Lord of the Rings books altogether in one volume as Tolkein originally intended them to be. After they played with their toys awhile we put out milk and cookies for Santa and an apple for the reindeer and sent them off to bed.

A wonderful Christmas came a little while later when my dear friend Shanna called to tell me some great news, her and my brother-in-law Nathan were offically dating!!! This has been our secret (well, maybe not so secret) desire for a very long time! I bounced and squealed all over the kitchen and then had to sit down before I lost my dinner! Congrats you guys!!!

It was 10:30 before the girls finally drifted off to dream of sugarplums so I was expecting them to sleep in the next morning. We had no such luck, they were up bright and early at 7:30. We managed to get them to stay quiet until it was 8:00 and then we all tumbled downstairs to see if Santa had come. Unfortunately I had to make a detour to the bathroom and Joel had the unhappy job of holding the girls back while I grappled with morning sickness.

When I had finished up we continued on to the living room where the girls cheered that Santa had come and then jumped up and down while Joel took down their stockings. On the top was our traditional orange which Katie so adored that she just sat with it smiling happily and telling us how much she liked it. Abby meanwhile had looked at her orange, given it a sniff, showed it happily to me for the picture,and then dived into the rest of her loot. We encouraged Katie to look at what else was in her stocking and after a minute she put the treasured orange down. There was much squealing as they discovered princess candy canes, ladybugs (Katie), and monkeys (Abby), and many fun assundry items. That cookie was the only Christmas cookie we could find with no milk in it, I was very proud of finding it! So we had a nice relaxing day where the girls played and Joel put together their kitchen from Auntie Shanna. It had something like 70 screws and Joel decided he didn't like Shanna very much anymore :) It went together beautifully though, is very sturdy, and the girls are having lots of fun with it!

I laid down for an afternoon nap (which is such a luxury) and my favorite Christmas gift of all came...the baby kicked! five little fluttery taps! This was the first time I felt the baby kick and it couldn't have come on a more perfect day!

That night we had a birthday cake for Jesus that was supposed to be red but came out kind of hot, dark pink. We lit one candle and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then ate some except for Abby who got strawberry sorbet since the cake had milk in it. When we were talking about the cake at dinner and how we were going to have it for Jesus' birthday Katie got worried and asked where Jesus was. I explained He was in heaven and then Katie asked if how we would get the cake to heaven. I completly misunderstood the question (Katie pronunciation of "cake" does not sound much like the word cake) and went through a brief explanation of how we get to heaven. Katie listened politely and then looked very confused. She then asked if we could take the cake with us which Joel then finally understood. There was much laughing at our mistake and then we explained that Jesus wouldn't come down for His cake and we couldn't take it to heaven but it made him very happy that we were celebrating his birthday with a special cake. This satisfied her and she enjoyed the rest of the night. :)

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One of my favorite parts about Christmas this year was how much the girls loved hearing about the nativity. We have a little cloth manger scene that the girls play with and the baby Jesus was the most beloved piece (he looks like a peanut with eyes). We got a special children's book about the first Christmas which the girls loved to have read to them every night by Daddy. The best moment was when Katie announced that she "loved Baby Jesus soooooooo much!" to which Abby quickly agreed.

With all this thinking about baby Jesus it of course, led to some more deep Katie questions at bedtime. We've had discussions about Jesus before (ie what does heaven look like, what do angels look like, What does Jesus do in Heaven etc...) so a lot of it we had already talked about. The past few weeks Katie has been really trying to connect baby Jesus to grown-up Jesus, to Jesus who rose from the grave and is in heaven. I enjoy answering her questions, though it is sometimes hard to put it in terms she would understand and I don't want to scare her by talking too much about death. On Christmas eve she really seemed to understand how no one but God's son could rise from the dead, she seemed to connect Jesus the man to also being Jesus God. It's such a special privilege to get to explain the wonderful story of Jesus our Redeemer with my daughters! As their mother I get to be there to guide them ever closer to God's love and saving faith which is something I never quite get over the awe of.

Which brings me to why Christmas is so important to celebrate...its the beginning of Jesus' story on earth, the first step in the plan for our redemption. While santa is fun, stockings, and other extra curricular Christmas activities like gingerbread houses... the most important part is to remember we do all these things to make the day stand out, to make it special, so we won't forget the most amazing gift ever give-Jesus! So I will close now with my favorite Christmas song. I love it because it tells the whole story; from Christmas 'til when Jesus calls us home!

Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

Thou didst leave They throne

And Thy kingly crown

When Thou camest to earth for me,
But in Bethlehem's home

Was there found no room

For Thy holy nativity;
O come to my heart Lord Jesus;

There is room in my heart for Thee!

Heaven's arches rang

When the angles sang

Proclaiming Thy royal degree;

But of lowly birth

Didst Thou come to earth

And with greatest humility;

O come to my heart Lord Jesus;
There is room in my heart for Thee

Thou camest, O Lord,

With the living word,

That should set Thy people free;

But with mocking scorn,

And with crown of thorn,

They bore Thee to Calvary!
O come to my heart Lord Jesus;

There is room in my heart for Thee!

When the heaven's shall ring,
And the angels sing

At Thy coming to victory,

Let Thy voice call me home,

Saying yet there is room

There is room by My side for Thee!

And my heart shall rejoice Lord Jesus,

When Thou comest and callest for me.

Heart Beat

Yesterday I had another OBGYN appointment. After my usual quality time with the loo I woke up the girls and rushed around getting ready for my 8:10 am appointment. As we rushed out the door I forgot to grab my morning banana which usually chases away my nausea, this is an important point for later. We actually got to the office on time and I was promptly called back. My blood pressure was good as was my bodily fluid sample but I hadn't gained any wait, I had actually lost 2 pounds. The nurse assured me this was fine since I had such horrendous morning sickness but I was still a bit nervous, I've never lost weight during any of my pregnancies before.

All during this pregnancy I have tried very hard to be optimistic, rely on God and His strength and not think my last pregnancy has anything to do with how this one was going to go. Still, the butterflies would flutter about as I waited for my OB to find the baby's heartbeat. It took him awhile to find it, probably one whole minute which felt like an hour to me as I laid there. And then the breathtaking part, the fast rhythmic beating of a little heart. Tears pricked my eyes as I listened to my baby's heart beating away and my OB beamed at the world in general (My OB rocks!). He said according to old wives tales the baby's heart beat is in the range that means its a boy. We joked happily for a few minutes to the tune of the unique whooshy-whooshy sound of a baby's heart then he wrapped up the appointment.

After my OB left I took a moment to praise God for the health of our baby and all the He has taught me about depending on Him for everything. In a month I'll have my next checkup and in 6 weeks another ultrasound where, God willing, we'll find out if I'm carrying a boy or a girl. Katie is the only one routing for another girl and has gone from the name Sarah Jane for the baby to "flower". We can't decide on a girls name either but have a boy name all picked out.

After we left the doctors office Joel was kind enough to take me to McDonald's to get my favorite breakfast sandwich-a sausage egg Mcmuffin. My husband is infinitely patient with my all day morning sickness and only grumbled a little about being late for work as I threw up in McDonald's parking lot. My tummy had been empty too long and I hadn't had my banana to tame the ickies. Poor Joel! Ten minutes later I was munching on my egg mcmuffin (the wonder of pregnancy, you can get sick and be hungry ten seconds later) and chattering to Joel about the baby and Christmas and whatever else happened to pop into my head.

The rest of the day was rough though. I threw up everything I ate and Joel had to get Draino on his way home from work, and more banana's, after I promised to stop throwing up in the sink. Today I feel a bit better, Joel bought me some vitamin water with lots of vitamin B in it which helps my tummy and of course I have my banana's.

Last night we had a tragedy; Val was missing! It was sad! Katie had to go to bed without him for the first time since she got him when she was 7 months old. She didn't fall asleep until ten o'clock, I felt disgusting, and Joel tried to clean up the living room while keeping his sanity. Today we threw ourselves into the Great Val Hunt of '08. I had this secret fear that I had thrown him out with the trash which had just gotten picked up. Then an hour into our hunt Abby's excited voice came from my bedroom, "I found Val Mommy! I found him!". Oh, beautiful words! Our house has now returned to a more normal state, the girls are playing happily, Joel has no homework tonight, and I've only thrown up once! Yay!

Here's a shout out to my niece/nephew baby Sprinkle who's gender is no longer a mystery! Congrats Art and Erin! Love to the everyone!

The Joy of Nausea

Now that I have announced I am pregnant I get to fill you in on all that's happened in the last three months! I feeeeeeeeel iiiiiiickyyyyyyyy!!! Yep, that about sums it up! My poor dear husband has put up with waking up to his wife vomiting, coming home from a long day of work to his wife vomiting, and being greeted on his birthday by his wife, you guessed it, vomiting! I've always had bad nausea when pregnant but this baby is making me sick with a vengeance! With Katie I had morning and evening sickness, with Abby morning and some evening sickness, with this baby I have all day sickness! Baby Pumpkin is determined no food shall stay in my stomach for more than an hour! They say the worse the nausea the healthier the baby so little Pumpkin must be the healthiest baby in the world!

However my OBGYN and I have foiled my little ones plans! Did you know there is a lovely pill out there that stops nausea? It's wonderful! It was developed for people undergoing chemo but also works for all nausea and is safe for pregnant women. Hallelujah! Down side, they cost a lot of money at $10 a pill. :( Upside, I got some for free! Yay! Last night after taking a magical pill I prepared and ate two helpings of taco salad with Italian dressing, yummmmm!

So as you might have guessed we're all hoping for a boy except Katie who is absolutely convinced the baby is a girl and we are going to name her Sarah Jane. After I had my ultrasound Katie wasn't as sure the baby was a girl. After looking inently at the picture of the baby she said,"I guess the baby might not be a girl mommy.". I guess she was expecting to see the baby dressed in pink or something :). The ultrasound guy was really nice and printed a picture of the baby for both of the girls. They were so excited! When we left the office the girls showed the picture to everyone we met and exclaimed, "Look! this is our baby!"! They were too cute!

Here is a hopeful difference between how I felt when I was pregnant with the girls and how I feel with this baby. With Katie and Abby I preferred sweet food over salty, with this baby the thought of sugar makes me gag! I want salty food, especially if its spicy! If I could eat at Taco Bell everyday I would be a very happy pregnant lady! The couple gals I've talked to who have had boys said they too craved Taco Bell! Here's hopin'!

Another fun thing about this pregnancy is that I already had to switch to maternity clothes. With Katie I like to think I was showing at 5 months but Joel just laughs at me. I showed a little earlier with Abby but with this baby my muscles have already given up. On Sunday I wore a maternity outfit and everyone who saw me gave me that "Oh! You're pregnant! Yay!" smile. The florist at our grocery store (one of the girls favorite people) saw my tummy and asked me when I was due. It's very exciting to be able to follow my tummy around at only 12 weeks!

Along with all the excitement and new discoveries about this pregnancy there is the worry. I think I held my breath for the first 10 weeks until I heard the babies heartbeat. I was very nervous for the ultrasound, though we had heard Pumpkin's heartbeat. The last ultrasound I had was when we found out I had miscarried. There was nothing worse then instead of seeing my babies toes and tummy I saw nothing but black. On the way to Pumpkin's first photo shoot I prayed the entire time! When our baby did pop up on the screen I was so relieved and happy! I am trying to take it day by day and purposely think positively. I know I can trust God, He is always faithful. I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow but He does and that does bring comfort. It's also very comforting to know how many people are praying for me and our little baby. Our Christian friends encouraging words have been very uplifting; our church family is wonderfully supportive!

So Joel and I have a boy's name all picked out but were stumped on a girl's name. I think we've used up all the girl names we mutually liked and now all that is left are the names only one of us care for. Any ideas? Remember, Joel and I prefer traditional names with significant meanings and also we like to name babies after relatives we admire. We are not into the Hollywood names like Helicopter Inspektor, or Peaches, or Apple, or Sunday or any other fruit or days of the week! Have a happy day everyone!