Year 3(ish), Day 5

Guys, I can't keep using some stupid counter on my computer to figure out what day it is. I'm doing this year by year. Executive decision executed with perfection.

That being said, guess what?! CHRISTMAS HAPPENED!!! Bet you didn't see this post coming. OH WAIT. YOU DIDN'T. Because I'm not even going to post about Christmas. Mainly because you better believe that I didn't take a single picture of my son's first Christmas. (this is the part where you all praise me for being such an awesome family historian) I would like to point out the less-obvious-but-only-because-you-didn't-think-of-it-first point that David was also NOT taking pictures. AND PDD didn't actually care all that much. I have determined that if I put a picture up of PDD in his Christmas pjs, you will promptly forget that pictures of the actual Christmas celebrations are missing.

I mean, seriously. Could this guy be any cuter? I think not. If in doubt, check out the belly.

Some important parts of Christmas included: snow on Christmas day, crazy Christmas Eve complete with Ninja nativity (something I never, ever, ever, want to forget. Brooks, age 4, swapping his shepherd gear for 'ninja' gear and then karate chopping Liz in the back during the reading of Luke 2), Eric and Rebecca getting engaged, and... that about covers it.

What you REALLY want to hear about is PDD's birthday celebration...which also didn't happen. Actually, I recant that statement. It kind of happened. When happened means that several days after his birthday we let him eat an ice cream cone in honor of his birthday. I would tell you that PDD didn't really care, but that would be a lie. He LOVED the ice cream cone. He cried when it was over.

In my defense, I did have minor plans for his first birthday. Imagine something awesome. Now decrease that awesomeness by about 75% 90% and you should have a general idea of our birthday plans. Those were completely blown by a fever averaging 102 and misery. Poor guy had to go to urgent care ON HIS FIRST BIRTHDAY. Since he won't remember that day, I still think my 23rd birthday (the one when I peed my pants) is worse. Not that I'm competing with my 1-year-old son.... I do have pictures of PDD on his birthday in the urgent care. Maybe not our finest hour, but certainly a sadness worth documenting.

Although the sickness was awful (cold, flu, and ear infections in both ears PLUS the strong possibility that he is getting more teeth. UGH), I must admit there was a part of me that loved having PDD sleeping in our bed and cuddling with me 24/7. He is so busy and it is really difficult to find moments like that anymore. Now that he is almost back to normal, we can't keep him from doing everything himself and running away whenever the opportunity presents itself. At least the kisses (which I was beginning to worry were in extremely short supply) have returned.

The sickness basically ruined PDDs birthday and New Year's Eve, and working ruined our anniversary, so our holidays finished with a strong stink bomb instead of a solid bang, but whatevs. You get what you pay for.  I'm still determining life currency and how that all works, so if you have any insight, just let me know.  Something tells me I could be paying for more.... KIDDING! kind of.

I'm focusing on the fact that we survived the last year.  P-Dizzle reached his first birthday and I am going to take a little bit of credit for that since he is still on the helpless end of the spectrum. Also, this has been the hardest year of my life, so helping a little one survive that year is certainly going on my list of accomplishments.  I AM LIVING LARGE, GUYS! I don't have a photograph-worthy nursery (really, I don't think PDDs room even qualifies as a nursery), we haven't had any formal (or non-formal) family pictures taken, I didn't send out baby announcements or holiday cards, we skipped our son's first birthday and left his first Christmas undocumented, BUT THERE IS STILL REASON TO CELEBRATE! And if you disagree, then this is a party you obviously can't understand and no one is forcing you to be here.




PS--in the middle of this post, I had to reboot my internet (because our internet service is the absolute worst) so, naturally, I got a bowl of ice cream. This got me thinking that I should share with all of you this fabulous diet I am on to maintain weight--it involves eating a strictly healthy diet during the day and then at least one bowl of ice cream at 2 in the morning. Seriously AMAZING. I haven't shed a pound in weeks.

PPS- I really loved getting all of my friends' holiday cards, so I may do some "post-new-year's cards" just because. This is a very strong maybe.

Day 116: Larger than Life

Remember back in the day when Backstreet Boys came out with that awesome song "Larger than Life"? Because I do. It changed the face of boy bands forever. Let's review some of the lyrics:

I may run and hide when you're screaming my name, alright

but let me tell you now there are prices to fame, alright

all of your time spent in flashes of light

All you people, can't you see, can't you see

How your love's affecting our reality

Every time we're down, you can make it right

and that makes you larger than life.

That was absolutely NOT related to my thoughts whatsoever. Except for the Larger than Life part. I feel larger than life. I cannot even tell you how strange my body feels. I feel like I am going to explode or something. Also, I can't fit into any of my clothes except for leggings and about 3 tops. (Maternity, not other clothes, obviously.) AND this baby isn't coming any time soon as far as I can tell. I have a countdown on my computer that calculates how long it will be until baby comes (assuming he comes on his due date) and it was slightly refreshing to see that there are only 19 days left. NINETEEN DAYS! Those might be the longest 19 days of my life, but being under 20 is really a big deal.

Since we last spoke, I've been running around like crazy. Even though we are new here, or maybe BECAUSE we are new here,  I've been asked to do any number of things, and I decided it was a good idea to say yes to all of them. Since I said yes to the majority of them quite a while ago, it was before I realized that I might not feel up to doing so much when I am so pregnant. 

So, right after Thanksgiving I spent a week and a half living at our church building. Each year they do what is called a creche exhibit, and I helped with the Children's Room.  (Creche = Nativity) It really turned out so wonderfully and we had so much help putting it all together, I could never thank everyone enough! My two main projects were a huge map of the world from which children could pull cards out of pockets and learn about the Christmas traditions in those countries, and a holy family made of chicken wire then covered in burlap. 

(pre-burlap family)

 

The entire room was pretty magical. There was a great display of nativities that the children in one of the primaries had made with their picture and a little bio by each one.

There was an I Spy game with stuffed animals that had been hidden in the awesome paper trees around the room:

And there was a dress-up area with a mirror wall.  All the kids loved it. Even the older ones.

the fact that the family is framed so perfectly in that mirror may almost have been an accident...

The other really neat thing that was done was a wall/trees where kids could hang up cards on which they had written their "gifts to Jesus".  It was based on the idea that we can give Christ something in return through our service, our love, etc.  It looked SPECTACULAR with so many cards on it! And I brought most of the cards home to decorate our own barren Christmas tree. 

I  had a lot of fun reading through what some of the children wrote down as their gifts. There was a lot of "I will give Jesus my love" and a lot of really colorful drawings. But a few choice cards really struck my fancy.

 I loved this book.  It was 4 pages long and about Cats. In Space.

I was really grateful for the clarification written by the mothers on a few cards

 The last clarification leads perfectly into my favorite nativities offered by the artists of the group

The next two are the same card, front and back, by the poet:

A few gifts were a little more practical:

A few maybe a little ambitious....

Although I think this kid had the right idea:

 And then there were a few that were completely unrelated:

But my VERY VERY FAVORITE OF ALL was this one:

 Because who DOESN'T want that?

The point is, the exhibit was successful! And then after 5 days and 12,000+ visitors, we tore it all down in a matter of hours. Now it is on to the next! I'm working on things for the Christmas party we are having this Saturday.  One of the things I'm in charge of is a service activity we are doing.  We are making little signs/decorations that people in nursing homes can put up in their rooms and have of their own for the holidays. Naturally, that means I got completely distracted while trying to make examples for the tables where people will be working on the signs.  The idea was that they can just use markers, glue, and strips of paper to make things.  I thought it would be a great idea to try and draw a few things as well so people don't have to deal with the glue and paper strips if they don't want to... and this amazing Christmas card happened:

I don't think it will be on display as an example of something to make for the nursing home... but when all is said and done, it will be going in my bag of tricks to perfect for the day I start selling cards on Etsy or somewhere.

Well, that was the perfect card to ring in the Christmas spirit! And now I'm going to go look at more baby names... bane of my current existence: thinking of baby names and being pregnant. I wish this guy would just get here so I can enjoy myself more. (kidding...kind of)