Christmas!

Christmas Eve, Avery fell asleep on the couch which was really strange because she was so excited and all our company was finally here.

She had a fever. So cruel.

But a little ibuprofen and a nap later, she was back to normal.

 

In fact, she got on her ballerina costume and performed a dance for us to a Nutcracker song.

I can't believe how brave she is. At the end of it, she took a deep bow and held it for close to a minute while we applauded.

This year's Christmas jammies are so cute.

 

Also included in the jammies present were the dollar store squishy balls, you know the ones?

Those things are always a hit in our house for some reason. These four played catch on the table with them for a while.

Then these two threw them up in the air for a while.

After the kids went to bed, Santa came.

In the morning, I made Avery do a quick breathing treatment. She was so excited to go down but she had to wait. I love Christmas morning anticipation.

 

We had so much fun all morning.

The kids were awesome with each gift. They were so excited and stop and played with every new thing they opened. It took us at least two hours to get everything opened because they just wanted to play with everything.

 

She squealed with delight when she opened this Sleeping Beauty dress...jumped up and down...

One of my favorite things is that Avery made a homemade gift for everyone.

 

It started early in the month, she brought Jimi a piece of paper and said she wanted to give Joe a paper airplane for Christmas. So he made it, and she wrote on it, then we put it in a box and wrapped it up.

 

Then she painted some pictures for Grandma Larsen and Grandma Cook, made hair clips for Susan, a hand print thingy for Grandpa, and a list for Jimi (yes, a list...it says things like: go to the store and get a dog, fly an airplane, baptise me when I'm 8...she likes lists.)

 

It was fun to watch everyone open them. Especially Joe and his paper airplane. Cracked me up.

Then everyone made me breakfast.

 

...and we played and played all day.

...and the snow started to fall!

...all the new Christmas pictures from my family on the fridge.

 

...and new place mats from Nettie. I love them.

 

 

I love Christmas day.

Some Thoughts

At 38 weeks.

 

Physically.

I've been told by two doctors that this boy feels like a big guy. Dr. Mallory says he feels like high eights, maybe nine pounds. "You're growing a healthy baby in there."

It all feels like baby, not water taking up all that room. And trust me, from the inside, he is taking up all nooks and crannies. I feel so....FULL. Packed tight. There is so much pressure on my bladder and that system. I am waddling. I am a waddling pregnant lady.

 

Emotionally.

One minute I am just so ready to have this baby. Let's go right this second and get him out. I don't even care how scary surgery wide awake is.

The next minute I get a surge of butterflies and am so nervous imagining that dreaded blue curtain over me, laying there with Jimi at my head. Trying to ignore the tugging and pulling.

I'm so nervous I am going to go into labor before January third. I really don't want to him to come before the darn third.

 

Spiritually.

So, this may sound odd, but I often think of Piper in the afterlife. I wonder about pets and eternity. Will we get to play with her again?

Today at the Olive Garden, we were talking and I wondered out loud if this baby will get to see Piper before he comes down to Earth. I believe that he will get to meet some of his grandparents on the other side, but what about the Piper dog?

Then we got to talking about some dreams/experiences people have had with new babies and deceased family members.

I got this great vision (not a prophetic one, mind you) of my baby being escorted to the threshold - whatever that entails - of joining earth life by my/Jimi's grandparents. The term "escorted" resounds comfortably in my mind. Here I am, nervous about this new baby coming to our family, but I'm sure it's a scary thing for my baby boy's soul as he's getting ready to join us. It's comforting to think about him surrounded by people who love him.

 

Maybe a little bit deep for the blog, but who reads blogs anymore anyway? Only people who really care about and love me anyway, so I don't care.  And that's what I've been thinking about at T minus 6 days til this baby is born.

And Now For Some Phone Pictures

little boy laying on my lap

We were taking a little day nap while the Kelvs where here.

Sammy kept waking us up because she was hungry.

We thought if we ignored her long enough, the problem would go away.

But of course it didn't.

 

So Jamie got her some graham crackers, and we were still kept awake with

crinkle crinkle

and

crunch crunch.

 

playing in Reese's bed

 

sharing with his trucks

 

 

One of my favorite winter features is when this happens.

Sometimes at night everything gets all frosty, and then when the sun comes out, everything gets all steamy.

 

It's mesmerizing watching the steam rise off all the fences and rooftops.

 

 

Sometimes we pretend we have a dog.

It's name is always Piper.

Evan insists on taking toys to bed with him.

 

 

This blurry picture is a sampling of Avery's photography. One day she went around taking pictures of everything that will be here for Christmas.

There were like a thousand pictures on my phone of every single present, decoration, Christmas book, me, Jimi...

she's so excited.

This probably deserves a post of its own, but what the heck. I will give the short version.

 

The other night Evan woke up with croup and couldn't get a good breath of air. It was really scary watching him try to get a breath. I can usually control croup with a steamy bath or something, but he struggled for a long time.

We weren't sure if it would get better or worse, so we decided to just go to the ER (along with the pediatrician's night nurse's recommendation).

 

We were there from about 1am - 6am. It wasn't fun, but at least Evan is ok.

 

 

Avery Lately

If you felt a kiss from Avery, it's because she was blowing kisses last night and directing them where to go.

She would blow a kiss, then say "Go to Sammy. And hurry!"

"Go to daddy. And hurry!"

"Go to my friend named Molly. Go now!"

 

She also told me my belly looks like a planet, which is a very accurate comparison. I've got my own moon orbiting and everything.

She has some imaginary ear plugs that are conveniently used.

Sometimes I will ask her to do something, and she ignores me. After a while she will say, "I can't hear you, my ear plugs are in."

 

Last night we were driving home from the ward party and Evan was bugging her while she was "trying to go to sleep" and she yelled at him to be quiet.

I told her to put her ear plugs in and she whined, "but I left them at home!"

 

 

Lately she's been telling me about dreams she has.

One night, "Mommy, I dreamed about Sammy!"

Another night, "I had a dream I was on the beach with my friends, and we made a sandcastle, and the water ruined it, so we went further up where the water couldn't get it."

Last night, "I dreamed about Piper. She was a puppy and she walked like this (she stands up and walks on two legs), and she was wearing a dress!"

 

The past two nights I have been lingering in the kids' rooms longer, watching them sleep. They are so sweet and my heart squeezes extra.

 

Ornaments

The kids' ornaments this year...

At 35 Weeks

 

At the risk of being a whiner, I am going to record some of my thoughts here at 35 weeks pregnant.

We went to "A Walk Through Bethlehem" tonight, which is what it sounds like...You walk through all these vendors and there are animals and you can "buy" stuff that maybe they had in Bethlehem back then with the coins they give you, and all that.

 

By the time the hour was over, my back was a big twist of nerves and my belly was so heavy and tired and raw feeling.

And I still feel a bit nauseous. Nothing too terrible, but more than is preferred by any human being.

 

At one point in the walk through Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph come through with their donkey and she is great with child of course.

I've always appreciated and admired Mary, but this year, I can honestly empathize with her to some extent. Surely she had a bubble of heavenly hosts surrounding her while she journeyed. It's all just so heavy and achy.

 

I am so thankful for my warm house and soft leather couch and heating pad on my back. These things probably didn't exist in 0 BC.

 

My doctor thinks this baby is going to be more like Avery's size (she was 8 8). Everything's just so "solid in there". She's guessing the upper 7 pound range. I agree. This guy just feels so filled out. There's NO ROOM left!

 

One thing I am obsessing about right now is what I can do to avoid bending over.

When something falls to the ground, I stare at it and really wiegh the importance of picking it back up. Will it hurt anyone if I just leave it there? Who can I get to pick it up for me...

 

I made Avery a little chore chart thingy and both kids have really championed around picking up their stuff.

 

On the other hand, I really want to live in the moment - embrace this "season" in my life. Enjoy the movements of having a baby grow inside me. It's something I actively have to remember. This won't last much longer. It's a very small and special time in my life.

 

Of course I am getting nervous for surgery day. All that stuff is not my favorite. And something so strange lately is how obsessed Evan is with that darn Alicia Keys song that I was singing when he was born. He asks for it all the time and bops his head and sings along with ol' Alicia. It's trippy because - how does he know his connection to that song?

I know when it's time to extract this baby boy I am going to need some kind of similar distraction. Hopefully they have the radio on in this operating room too. Or something.

Santa's Village

There is this place in Ferndale with preserved old cabins, and at Christmas time, they open the gates and let us future-ites explore.

It's a lot like Santa's village, and Santa Claus himself is there.

 

Last year when we went, Evan cried and whined the whole time.

This time he totally enjoyed himself. He's really turning into a delightful little boy, bless him.

This horse was so friendly. He was like a dog, begging to be pet.

He actually "kissed" Evan on the cheek. Evan didn't really know what to make of it. He just kind of wiped at his cheek and looked at me.

We wrote letters to Santa...

Avery signed her name all entirely by herself.

Grandpa Larsen has this exact chair in his house.

It's an antique and his favorite place to sit.

 

Jimi found a girlfriend.

 

Avery was so extremely excited to meet Santa. She talked about it for days before. He was going to be soft and red.

She told me what she was going to say to him, and made sure that I told him that I want a soccer ball.

So this is us standing in line for our turn to talk to him. She was so enchanted.

Then they sat on his lap, and she wasn't shy at all.

She told him her name and Evan's name.

She told him that she wants Sleeping Beauty the movie and a blue teddy bear.

She told him that Evan wants a new Jesse doll.

Evan mostly just smiled at him.

**edit: Jimi took a video of this whole thing, and turns out Evan did more than smile...he drove one of his cars down santa's suit. haha! I love that kid.