Getting Excited about Christmas

We are getting ready for Christmas and this year it is exciting! 

I'm not saying that previous Christmases have not been exciting, but it is fun to see the excitement that Joshua is experiencing for the first time. Last year he opened presents and that was okay, but he is excited.

As we have be making our preparations, Joshua has noticed. He has enjoyed decorating the house, checking out the nativity, differentiating between Santa and Jesus, and seeing presents. Because I have 38 students, I came home with several presents. As I was preparing to take my secret santa gift to school Joshua said, "Presents!" One of the items I was taking to school was a candle. Joshua asked to "smell it!" several times, after which he responded, "Ahhh, delicious!" He looked at the presents under the tree and in front of me, and asked, "Presents, me?!?" I assured him that he would get presents, but not until Christmas. With surprised face and eyebrows raised, "favorite part!!" 

Michael and I have hunted down holiday specials on tv to dvr and watch together. it has been fun sharing memories that each of us had from old Christmas movies. A favorite and cherished memory that we will have from sharing The Muppets Christmas Carol will be Joshua demanding that I sit on the floor to watch with him so that he can lift my shirt and love up his sibling. He hugged my belly tight saying, "Love you baby, Love you. Come play." 

Construction in the Living Room

Joshua's imagination has taken off! He received his Duplo blocks last month for his birthday, but did not really seem too interested at the time (much to my disappointment.) It could have been the excitement, or that he just wasn't ready, but he's ready now! 

 I started by helping him build a base, and then he took over. He had such concentration. I did need to remind him or rather explain that part of the fun of blocks is that when they fall or come apart we get to start over.

After he had used as all the blocks and stood back to admire his work, he showed such pride. What surprised me was that when I asked him what he made he told me it was a pirate ship. That's awesome!

Big Brother Training

Last night we went to dinner to celebrate Michael's birthday. We went with several people from school/church. Our vicar and his wife have a 3 month old son.
Near the end of dinner the little one got fussy. Joshua rushed right over. "Baby Sad. Crying."I suggested to Joshua that we cheer him up. "Happy!" I thought maybe some singing would do the trick. Joshua sang "Jingle Bells" in the sweetest of voices. When the baby stopped crying Joshua said, "Happy!" He was so proud of himself that he helped the baby feel better.
It made me so proud watching him so gentle and sweet. It makes me excited to see him as a big brother in a few months!

2 Spoons Happy

Saturday night after supper Joshua and I shared a cup of ice cream. We had one cup and 2 spoons. He waited and watch excitedly as I found the scooper and spooned the ice cream.  It was fun to watch him try to scoop it out of the cup.

Earlier in the day we had fun by:
Playing in his room.
Reading books.
Watching Charlie Brown Christmas.
Singing Christmas songs like "Go, Tell it on the Mountain, and Jingle Bells."

Before we dug into our ice cream we said cheers and clinked spoons, and said "cheers!"


I wanted to be happy, and enjoying the moment rather than thinking about the other things we could have been doing. Our town had a Starlight Parade, lighting of the Christmas Lights, and a 15 foot snow globe with artificial snow. I wanted to go. I will admit in my mind the things that were happening were pretty childish! I wanted to be making fun family memories doing "Christmas-y things." So part of me was pouting about not going. I think the personal expectations that are put on the holidays are too stressful. I set up in my mind all sorts of ideas about how things "should" go.

My son was completely content, more than that, HAPPY to be home sharing ice cream, toys, books, movies and songswith me. That is what I will cling to.

News

On October 14 at 4:00 am I woke up to use the bathroom. I had been having trouble getting through the night without a bathroom interruption. I knew that it would be the day that would change me.

I woke Michael up and told him the news.

The following weeks have been filled with exhaustion, yucky tummy, and headaches. Looking at those thing, I take a step back to realize, there are people who would beg to have those symptoms if they were experiencing what I am experiencing.
So I find joy in them.

We shared the news with our son. Floods of emotions washed over.
We shared the news with our families.

Today, we share news with the world.

Yesterday, we went to the doctor hoping to hear a heartbeat. We were surprisingly mistaken. Not only did we get to hear the heartbeat, but we got to see our baby.

God is good. It is amazing to me that He has given me the opportunity to glimpse into what He did at creation as a person grows inside me. I am so blessed!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

We started putting up our tree on Saturday. I waited for Joshua to wake up from his nap. I got the tree box out of the closet and began the project. Joshua "ooo-ed and aaahhh-ed" when as i stood the tree up. 

I fluffed all the branches. Joshua got impatient and started exploring the Christmas decorations.  

He helped me untangle the lights and was very happy when we plugged them in! "Pretty!" 

Pastor Phil and Mrs. Becky called so we stopped our project after the first ornament. Joshua concentrated to make sure that it would stay on the tree. 

Day 2

We had Charlie Brown Christmas playing in the background as we began decorating on Sunday.

 Joshua uses such concentration when putting the ornaments onto the tree. After he got the ornaments to stay where he put them he would step back and admire his work. 

 The story of the Christmas Pickle is terrific! Every year the person who finds the pickles gets a special gift. My mom gave Michael and I our own Christmas Pickle for our first Christmas. Finding The Pickle at my mom's house has become quite the event, and I was excited to share this with Joshua.  Joshua was so excited when he saw the pickle he pretended to eat it. I have to admit it was adorable!

 Near the end of putting up the tree boredom set in. He started using the ornaments as kick balls. 

 We did take a moment to celebrate our accomplishment with cheesy smiles. (note the open door... it was roughly 77 degrees... the sleeves and pants help it feel Christmas-y)

Laying underneath the tree has become a delight. He lays underneath, "Oh, pretty!" 

We were nervous about putting the tree up with the joys of a 2 year old's listening ears, but I'm so glad that we did. We had a great time!

Counting Machine

I love that my son loves to count. At our last couple trips to the beach we picked up some shells to take home. We gathered up the shells and put them in a cup. Joshua has been taking the cup down and carefully laying the shells out and counting them. Here are some pictures of him caught in the act.

Last week after school we were playing on the playground when Joshua asked to go on the swings. Instead of swinging by himself, he sat in my lap. I asked me to count with him. 1... 2... 3... when we got to 20 I stopped the swing. Joshua begged/demanded Again?!?! So he climbed up. I started 1... 2... 3... "No, No. Spanish!" We were swinging and counting. Uno... Dos... Tres..

I love it!