Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 Addisen started off the Christmas season with her Winter Gala at Kindercare.  She was the cutest reindeer I've ever seen!  Grandma and Bobo were able to come and watch her sing Jingle Bells.  We were all shocked that she stayed at the front of the room and completed the song instead of running to one of us (much different than her brother at that age!).



Brody was so excited to see his friend Simon when we were there.  They just laughed and played on the phone the whole time.  It is great to see the friendship they have is still going strong even though Brody is at a different school now.  Brody will have a few days to catch up with his old buddies this week since I have to go back to work tomorrow and school doesn't start again until Monday for him.

My little reindeer and elf (doesn't Brody look so old!)!

The day after Addisen's Winter Gala we were at Brody's school for his Christmas party.  It is a lot of fun to see him interact with his teacher and other friends.

Christmas Eve was quiet in our house.  We continued with our tradition of each of us having our "favorite" for dinner.  Jim had chicken wings and the kids and I had macaroni and cheese (not really my favorite - but the easiest for me to worry about!).

Christmas morning was a lot of fun in our house.  Brody tore into all of his presents as fast as he could and Addisen cherished each one.  I think it was 5pm before Addisen had opened all of her presents.

 

The kids were being silly while we waited for Grandma, Bobo and Uncle Neal to show up on Christmas morning.

They definitely were not short on presents - they were so spoiled this year! 

Jim and I have both been lucky enough to be off of work for the last week.  We have had a lot of fun with the kids during the week.  They definitely have a lot of energy - and I am lacking it these days!  Luckily they have been entertained by all the new toys they received.

On Friday Jim thought it would be fun to take Brody bowling.  Addisen and I went along, but we mostly just watched and ate snacks :)

Brody had a lot of fun bowling.  By the second game he was running up there and just throwing it!

The weekend before Christmas my mom came to help me make some Christmas Cookies.  Addisen had a lot of fun decorating and tasting them!  Brody loved eating all the green frosting from his cookies!

 

We got a few inches of snow earlier in the week so it seemed like a good opportunity for Brody to  burn off some energy!  He helped Jim shovel the driveway for 50 cents!  We will be in trouble when he starts to understand how expensive toys are!

 

Our New Year's Eve was pretty quiet around the house.  The biggest excitement happened in the morning when I talked Jim into bringing the bounce house in and setting it up in the living room.  The kids had so much fun running through and were amazed that we had it in the house!

At night we just got some pizza and had a picnic in the basement.  I guess we are officially getting old - while friends were out at bars, we were sitting on the couch watching Horton Hears a Who and in bed before the ball dropped! 

  

 Brody got a Lego Batman game for his Nintendo DS for Christmas from Santa - it has become and addiction for both him and Jim!  They have spent hours sitting in the sun room just playing that game!  

Baby Raguckas Update:  Here's a picture of me and Brody from last night - I'm at 35 weeks.  I think my face is finally starting to get fuller - I was hoping to avoid that this time!

 

I had my 34 week appointment last Friday.  Since Addisen came at 36 weeks it was time to check to see how things were progressing.  I was dilated to 1cm, so things seem to have started to move.  Because of this I received the news that I couldn't lift anything heavier than 25 lbs...that meant no more picking up Addisen!  It has been a hard adjustment for me, I really like to be independent and each day it keeps sinking in more and more the things that this means I can't do.  I can't take the kids to the store by myself, I am at the mercy of my 2 year old...no way to make her move if she doesn't want to...unable to take her into daycare and pick her up (I'm still trying to see if she can climb in the car and get up in her carseat herself).  I know it is only for about 4 weeks - but I like to be in control!  The other thing that came up in the appointment is that the doctor was unable to tell the position of the baby and I am still measuring about 2 weeks smaller than I should be.  I will be going on Thursday for an ultrasound that will hopefully show the baby is head down (if not, then a c-section is likely) and that our little baby is growing strong in there!  I feel it moving so much and the heart rate was strong at 143, so I am confident that it is healthy - just making it's mommy worry!

 

My resolution for our family this year is to be thankful.  The day after Christmas one of my friends lost her dad unexpectedly, while I sat at the funeral on Saturday feeling sorry for myself and my weight restrictions, I listened to the service and realized that I should be thankful that the baby hasn't come yet and that we have 2 healthy kids and that I have a great husband that has helped me a lot in the last week.  I have been worrying so much about this baby and the change that will occur with our family and praying that I made the right decision (because I really had to twist Jim's arm into agreeing to another baby).  I have been so scared of the unknown that I have forgotten to sit here and just take in everything we have...and be thankful.  So this is the year - we are going to be so blessed with our third child and I know the days will be filled with laughter, tears, some shouting, but in the end everyday will be full of love (no matter what it looks like that day!).  So I hope each of you will find that in 2013 too!  I will hopefully reflect back on this a few times throughout the year - to remind myself - be thankful!