Applesauce and More Applesauce

We put out our Christmas decorations this weekend and Ben really enjoyed looking at (touching) everything and especially loved playing with the nativity scene...though Joseph's hands are now broken off so we no longer are allowed to play with the nativity! Anyhow, I was excited to be able to share the true "Christmas" story with Ben and tell him about the birth of Jesus. He liked the story and we talked about it throughout the day. Last night, when I was tucking him in bed we were saying our prayers and talking and he asked me to tell him the story again about baby Jesus. I said that I wanted him to tell it to me (I was curious what his interpretation would be as sharing stories with Benny is a bit like playing a game of telephone, you never know what will get twisted and turned around in his mind). Ben proceeded to tell me about Mary and Jophes (not a typo, he says Jophes) and their barn with horses and that baby is born and the angel goes to see all the guys with the sheep and those one guys (what are they called, mommy? Oh yeah, wise guys) come and bring the baby presents! What did they bring him Benjamin? Ummm....Gold...Applesauce and More Applesauce!!!!

Weekend Fun

We had a great holiday weekend, which included a trip with Uncle Craig to the Children's Museum on Friday. The whole intent of making a trip to the Museum, at least in my mind, was to visit Santa Claus and the Jolly Days exhibit featuring the Yule Slide. Ben, however, had a different agenda; he wasn't interested in the special holiday exhibit, which was just as well as the Museum was packed and we would have had to wait in line forever to visit Santa and go on the slide. Ben had a really great time showing Uncle Craig a few of his favorite exhibits and even convinced Uncle Craig to get into some small caves and play in the life-size dollhouses with him as well! It was quite a site to behold and very amusing--for me at least! We love you Uncle Craig!

Yesterday we put out our Christmas decorations and Ben and Daddy raked leaves. Ben had a great time helping Daddy make huge piles and then jumping into them. It was really fun to watch them play and even more fun, I am sure, for Ben to actually dive in!

And no, I have not yet had the baby! I think the little peanut is just too comfortable inside me...oh well. I am really not miserable yet so I'm not in a huge hurry, but I am pretty uncomfortable and irritable and I think my boys are ready for the babe to be born so I go back to my normal delightful self! (hee hee hee)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I am feeling overwhelmingly blessed this Thanksgiving. I try to make a list in my head of all the things for which I am grateful, and I truly don't know where to begin. God has been so good to me. I had an emotional day yesterday (shocking, 9 months pregnant and emotional?!) and it culminated with sitting in my kitchen and looking around at all of the people I love more than anything else in the world...right there under the same roof. How lucky is that? We had a little gathering to ooh and aah over sweet Miss Cadalyn and it was such a great time. How I love that little lady! Uncle Craig is in town, which is very exciting for everyone, but no one is happier than Ben. Boogie loves his Uncle Craig so much and couldn't wait to see him last night. He kept calling mom and dad to get updates on his arrival time!

Ok, I know I will forget some big things, but here is a short list of the tremendously many things I am thankful for:

• My best friend/partner/Ben and baby's daddy/husband. Dean is the greatest and there is no one else on the planet I would choose to journey through life with. He is so good to our family and is the greatest gift God ever could have given me.
• My sweet big boy Ben. Oh Scooby Doo, Velma loves you! I am in awe of this little man Dean and I created. He is getting so big and is so smart...and often times so rotten too! I know this must be a common mom sentiment, but I really can't imagine my life without him, nor can I put into words how I feel about him. He is everything.
• My growing baby. I am so grateful to be blessed with another child and can't wait to meet him/her. I am rather obsessed with thoughts of this little angel now and imagine what s/he will look like, act like, smell like, sleep like! We are ready sweet baby, come see us soon.
• The rest of my family. Dean and I are so lucky to have our families close by. I can't imagine living far away and not seeing them often. I love each and every member of both family and am grateful for the role they play in our lives. I am especialy thankful for the relationship I have with my parents. I am so lucky to be able to call on them for each and every little drama in my life and still have them "fix" all my troubles. No matter what else is going on in their lives, I know that their kids always come first and I hope that I treat my kids with the same unending and unconditional love that I have always felt from them.
• My friends. I love them all...those I walk with, talk with in the car on the way to work with, have starbucks dates with, lunch with, work with, play date with, and even those I am related to...I love having my siblings as friends now. I love my friends so much and am so lucky to have such a great support network!

I hope you, too, are counting your many blessings this Thanksgiving holiday. God bless you and your family!

Baby Update

I haven't updated on the baby in awhile and thought I would share what is going on with regards to our little one. We are about 37 weeks pregnant so s/he will be here soon. All is well. We did have a scare a couple of weeks ago, during a regular OB appointment the baby's heart rate was very low and when they put me on a monitor it was very eratic...sometimes as low as 90 and sometimes as high as 180! I ended up having to go upstairs to labor and delivery (my OBs office is in the hospital, very convienent!) for a couple of hours. I drank a lot of water and rested on my left side and eventually the baby's heart rate settled back into it's normal 120 range and I was able to go home. This experience caused me much anxiety and I spent the next 2 weeks constantly worrying and drinking massive amounts of water...my nurse speculated that perhaps the baby was under stress because I had gone on a 4 mile walk the morning of the appointment and had not had sufficient amounts of fluids following the walk. Needless to say, I am now practically floating I have so much water inside me! We had another appointment on Wednesday this week and it went much smoother...despite the fact that my OB was running 1.5 hours late...darn those babys being born!!! The baby's heart rate was great, higher than normal in the 135-145 range. In other exciting news I am almost 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. This doesn't mean that the baby's birth is going to be any time in the next couple of days, as I was 2 cm dilated with Ben for 2 weeks before his birth, but at least it means that things are progressing and my body is remembering how labor works. This is comforting, because I think I forget!! I know I have had a baby before, but I am very nervous suddenly (much as I was with Ben around this time in pregnancy) about the logistics of labor...will I know I am in labor...am I going to make it to the hospital in time...will the baby be ok...will I be in too much pain afterwards to enjoy my new baby and Ben...what impact will this have on Ben...how am I going to handle 2 children?! Needless to say, I don't sleep well with all of these thoughts going through my head. So, that is all that is going on in little peanut's world. I am sure s/he is starting to get anxious too as the environment is changing and s/he is getting very cramped and probably uncomfortable as well. At least we're in this together! It won't be long now. I know everyone is anxious to meet this little person and no one more than me, though perhaps Ben is the most excited. He remains so adorable with respect to being a big brother. He is always kissing my belly and talking to the baby. He is so excited that it is getting cold out because "know what that means, mom? That means it is almost time for my baby to come!" We were talking the other day and I was asking him questions about the baby and he said "I think she will have a big white face and lots of stringy hair like me!" Not a very attractive description, but interesting and sweet nonetheless!