Christmas, single digits, relaxing

It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone!  The month of December has flown by, but we took the opportunity to enjoy every minute of it!A normal Christmas for us is traveling to Chicago to have our Chicago Christmas which is usually a week or two before Christmas with our family there. We also rotate spending Christmas afternoon with either my family or my in laws and then whose ever off year it is we spend Christmas Eve with or the weekend before or after...whatever is easiest.  Because I'm nine months pregnant and due any day now we opted not to travel to Chicago or anywhere that was more than 20 minutes away.  I am so nervous about my water breaking on it's own (even though it probably won't) and being far from the hospital.  The great thing is that my family from Chicago came up the Saturday before Christmas to celebrate and my sister hosted. It was fantastic and so nice not to have to cook or clean. :) We had a wonderful time catching up and laughing a lot.  Sunday we celebrated Christmas with Chad's family which went well...we went over there around ten and the boys and I went in pjs which I loved. Christmas Eve we planned on going to church but I was pretty uncomfortable so we decided to stay home. I was bummed because we are usually at a family's members home on Christmas Eve and aren't able to go to Christmas Eve service but I'm glad we stayed home and just relaxed as a family. We enjoyed a quiet night in our media room watching Charlie Brown Christmas and Noah wrote a letter to Santa which was precious.

The boys' tree in their room

I love having the Christmas tree up!

He read it to me three times just to make sure it "sounded ok"... The boys wanted to put milk and captain crunch under the Christmas tree in their room for Santa and I was not about to object. :) They went to bed reluctantly and snuck out moments after we closed the door just to do one last bathroom stop. Chad and I couldn't help laughing because we remember how excited we were when we were little.....not that allot has changed for me as I still have a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve because I just love Christmas morning/day!  After we finished the stockings and set out all of the Santa gifts we crashed. Ky came running in at 1am to let me know that the cereal and milk were gone and that Santa had left two skylanders for them under the tree in their room. He then went back to bed and both boys came flying in a 4am. Noah informed me that he peaked out in the family room and that Santa had neatly organized our stockings and they were stuffed. I told them they had to go back to bed...which didn't last long because at 5am Noah came in asking for a timer because it was so hard to wait. I gave him my cell and told him he could come back at 5:30 and we would get up.  Chad and I were both awake at this point and we listened to them each read a book in their beds while they were waiting. And sure enough at 5:30 they came running in and were ready to go. We enjoyed opening gifts and helping them get things organized. By 6:31(yes i checked my clock) I was back in bed and fell asleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up we made our traditional cinnamon rolls and stayed home until 1:30. We then packed up and headed over to my moms and celebrated Christmas with my family which is always entertaining.  All in all this Christmas was relaxing and full of laughs and love. Our last Christmas as a family of four!

Speaking of as I looked at my counter today I realized we have approached the single digits until Harper is here. It's hard to believe I only have four days left of work, my dad and his wife fly in on Friday and my best friend Carm flys in on Sunday.  As I looked at my work planner this week I realized I needed to block my calendar off for the next few months and that I really only have four working days left!!! I'm so excited and blessed to have made it this far in my pregnancy and know God's hand has been over this whole experience. I have to be honest and share that this past week was a rather rough one for me because my heart was very anxious again and I feel rather emotional just waiting for her to come. I think it's because memories are flooding back and I just want her here and to know she is healthy and ok.  It was "perfect timing" because Thursday night I decided to pick up the book Unglued that I've been reading (by Lysa Terkerust) and just happened to start where I left of and the whole section talked about being anxious and joyful and I knew that God was speaking to my heart once again.

Friday we all went and had our annual eye exams. It was the first time we've taken the boys and they were so cute talking about their impending appts. Ky found these play glasses and wore them around the house all day. Totally cracked us up especially the look on Noah's face behind him. :) I just love my little men and can't believe they will both be big brothers sooner than later!! After our eye exams we took the boys over to my mom's to spend the night and went on our last pre Harper date. We had a wonderful time eating at our favorite Chinese restaurant and truly enjoyed our night out together. Before dinner we did one last run to Home Depot and Sam's Club and decided to save Target and Toy's R US for another day.  After dinner we picked up Bourne Legacy and headed home to watch it.  It was a great way to end a wonderful week.

Today has been full of relaxing! I woke up early and was determined to complete my last menu before Harper comes and headed out to the grocery store to do my big two week run.  And I'm happy to say it was a success..my water did NOT break in aisle five (one of my fears) and I made it home just in time for Chad to unload his truck while I organized the pantry and started to put things away. After breakfast Chad went and picked up the boys and took them sledding with his sister. I'm really glad they were able to get some energy out and spend time outside! I invited one of my students who I used to teach in youth group over for coffee....yep I taught her when she was in 6th grade and she is now a sophomore in high school!! I feel a little old....but love that I can still be involved in her life and catch up with her while she is home. After she left I took a nap and spent a better part of the afternoon cuddled up on the couch with my favorite sweatshirt blanket reading the rest of Unglued and enjoying being still. I'm praying that over the next week I am able to finish my to do list both for home and work but also balance quiet time and soak up these last few days of being pregnant with Harper before she is here. I am overwhelmed and thankful that God is blessing us with her and can't wait to hold her in my arms.