SANTA

Everyone needs a picture like this, right?

needless to say Hayden was not a fan of Santa
but he was fine looking at him from a distance after he got that candy cane!

what a big boy!

This cute boy is now officially 18 months old! WHERE DID THE TIME GO?! He went to Nursery at church for the first time last Sunday and loved it! I checked on him after one hour and he was playing nicely and then when I came and got him an hour later he was still playing with the same toy! He was excited to see me when I came to get him but he didnt' really have a problem with me leaving him there. I'm sure it was all the excitement of the new toys, and our good friend Melissa is the nursery leader so that helped things too. He is wearing his cute Christmas outfit in this picture! I LOVE this little man!

2/3 down...1/3 to go!

I'm now in the third trimester of this pregnancy. Which is both great, crazy, scary, unbelievable, overwhelming and fabulous all at the same time! I was telling Josh that I can't believe it's the first part of December. Then it will be the first part of January and then the first of February and then we could have another baby! WOAH! Not that I thought this day wouldn't come, but for it to be so close around the corner makes me a little nervous. Nervous because I'm not sure how the whole two kids thing is going to work. How will Hayden react. How will we manage a newborn and a little guy under the age of 2 all at the same time. Will they both feel loved and get the attention they need? Even though people tell me love multiplies it does not divide when you have more kids, I can't imagine loving another the way I love and adore our little Hayden bug. There is also a lot that I still need and want to do before she comes. All of this being said we are really excited to meet her. To see if we make girls as cute as boys. To find out what her little personality will be like. To find out her name...we're still undecided. My mother in-law tells me that I shouldn't plan on having another baby that's as good as Hayden. So if we get anything less then a mellow, good eater, good sleeper, happy baby I'll know she cursed us! It's crazy and unbelievable that there are only 3 months left. I feel like this first part has flown by. I've been sick and I'm getting fatter and fatter everyday but it feels like with Hayden I was reading all things pregnancy and constantly worrying about everything I was eating and doing and how it was all affecting him. This time I think about her and I worry if I'm not eating as well as I should or if I'm throwing up a lot that she is not getting the nutrients that she needs, but for the most part I'm more worried about the end. Will she come early, or was that just a fluke? Will she be born perfect or will there be problems? Will they whisk her away to the NICU and make me worry about her 24/7? OR will things be like they are for almost everyone I know and go according to textbook?

In the beginning I was sick. Tired, throwing up almost everyday sometimes multiple times a day, or nauseous. Which was not fun, but I didn't gain a pound until I stopped throwing up at about 20 weeks. So there's no great loss, but there's some small gain! There didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to my puking. It didn't seem to matter what I ate or when the only things that I could connect to it were if I went too long without eating or if I missed a giving myself a shot. {I give myself shots of Heparin 2x/per day to make my blood thinner due to a blood disorder I have called Protein S deficiency}

She sits way lower than Hayden did and I seemed to pop out a lot sooner this time than before. This could be a second kid thing or a boy vs. girl thing, who knows. By the end of the night I feel like I need to sit down or lay down, and some of the clothes that I wore until I was 7 months with Hayden have long ago been pushed to the other end of my closet.

Even though I complain about being uncomfortable and getting fatter I'm so grateful that things have gone smoothly up to this point. I'm grateful that we have the opportunity to be parents to another little one. It truly is a miracle, there are so many things that can go wrong and everything has to happen at just the right time for them to develop correctly. We are so excited to meet our little girl! I hope everything goes as well during this last 1/3 as it has so far!

It happened!

Today it snowed for the first time this winter. I heard it is the first time in 60 years that it has been so late in the season before any snow. I'm grateful though because once it comes it seems like it never leaves! We decided to go play in it! Hayden loved every minuet of it, and didn't want to come back in the house!

This is probably one of those you had to be there moments but I took a picture and laughed all the way down the street so I have to document it! We were walking past a house in our neighborhood and they had a huge Santa and baby Jesus in the manger sitting on their front porch blocking their front door. Josh saw it first and said "don't worry no one can get in your front door you have Santa AND Jesus blocking it!!" I laughed SO hard!!

Thanksgiving

This year we had a pretty laid back Thanksgiving. Even though we received a few offers for dinner we chose to do our own thing. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do the turkey. {I had a pretty HORRIBLE experience a few years ago} I was so proud of myself when everything turned out well! Hayden loved the whole meal but he's totally our son because I'm pretty sure his favorite part was the pumpkin pie and cool whip! It was so nice having Josh home from school for a few days. We are blessed with so many great things in our lives. I love that we have this time of year to reflect on all that we've been given.

The next morning I left my boys sleeping and was one of those crazies that hit the black Friday sales. I didn't really NEED anything I just had a couple wants and some "that's a good deal" things that I would pick up if I were given the opportunity. I only wanted to go to Walmart and Target. I started at Walmart. I got in line at 5:05am, thinking that I would miss all the crazy crazies that wanted the tv's and other electronics. At 6:25 I entered the store! I kept thinking that they would let us all in, but apparently after someone at a Walmart was trampled and killed last black friday they decided to have us all stand in line and let 20 people in, 20 people out. I didn't hear this until I was half way to the door, and by then I had made it so far I wasn't about to get out of line. Inside the store was pretty calm and I even walked right up to the register. I got some good deals, but I skipped Target and headed home after that experience. It was a bit much even for this seasoned black Friday shopper!