Seven Weeks To Go

How did that happen?? I seriously am looking at the calendar and cannot believe my eyes. It feels pretty surreal to think that another little baby is going to enter our home. I'm getting excited. I'm really anxious to be done being pregnant, but I'm trying to enjoy the baby's constant somersault movement, as this is more than likely my last pregnancy. Still no name for the baby. We have no idea.

I've thought about the best way to recap the last little while. I'm not certain there really is a great idea coming to mind. So . . . here it goes. Recap:

We just returned from Thanksgiving break spent in Dallas. It was so wonderful to see Ryan for more than 20 minutes, and it was nice to visit with family. Although, I was down most of the time we were there due to fabulous back issues, we still had a great time. The boys especially loved all of the time with their dad and their cousins. Matthew and Ryan took in a late afternoon and evening of Six Flags with D'Lonna's family. Matthew tried for the first time and LOVED the roller coasters. We were both excited to hear that.

Before that, we have been spending lots of days at the park, with friends here at home (since many days I am confined to the couch), and we roughed the Houston traffic to get to the free night at the Children's Museum (definitely worth it--the kids had such a great time. I really will post pics some time, but . . . not yet.).

Two computers crashed in one week. First, our PC desktop crashed when we renewed our Norton Antivirus software. I spent like eight hours of my life with those people over the phone that week. Then, we resorted to using our laptop, and that miraculously crashed the five days later. We talked around to a few people and ending up cashing in on a new iMac. It's been wonderful thus far and came with quite a few bells and whistles--but it really should have, given the price we paid. SICK is all I have to say. I do have lots of pics to post, but I'm waiting to put any pics on here until we get our other hard-drive recovered.

Our family seems to enjoy having surgery. Matthew already had surgery on his arm and elbow this year. David will go in for ear surgery in early January for his 2nd set of tubes, clean-up, a 2nd time for adnoid removal, and exploratory surgery. I'll have my 3rd c-section. And the day we left for Dallas, we found out that Ryan may possibly need eye surgery to remove excess calcium deposits, which are effecting his vision. Fun times.

Ryan smoked a turkey today, and I think it's the BEST turkey I've ever had. It was seriously amazing!!!

I'm nesting. Although I can't do much, on the days that I do feel good, I feel the urge to deep clean or reorganize. Tonight, I tackled Davey's toy bins, and Matthew's toys in his closet. And once our baby furnishings arrive from Denver (where they have been stored at my parent's), I will begin organizing things for the baby. I'm anxious for this.

I finally took off my wedding ring. Actually, I did this about three weeks ago. And I only too off my bottom two, but kept my simple band. A friend of mine, who is due a little bit after me, had so much swelling that they had to cut her ring from her finger. YIKES!!! That was enough to scare me into taking my pretty-tight-fitting ring off.

We are into the Christmas season and this warms my heart. I LOVE listening to Christmas music and looking at my Christmas tree. I LOVE putting out my few and simple, but beautiful decorations. I LOVE my new nativity set. I LOVE the smells and all of the tasty treats. I LOVE the love. I LOVE the messages about our Savior. I LOVE that people are for the most part much kinder and giving. I LOVE our drives thru neighborhoods to look at bright Christmas lights. I LOVE that my kids love the houses with as many decorations as possible--the more the merrier. I LOVE doing Christmas crafts each day with the kids. Something about cutting up things and gluing them down is so pleasing to David. Both boys are so excited for the holiday. Each night after our little craft, they cut a chain link off of our countdown chain and recount each link, we do the advent calendar activity from the Friend magazine, we read a Christmas story, and then, we do our regular nightly routine of scriptures, prayers, brushing teeth, etc. This is definitely my favorite time of year.

My birthday is next week and David's the following week. It's strange to think that I'll turn 27 this year and that I'll have a 5 1/2 year old and a 3 year old. I look back over the last several years, and I can see how I've grown in many ways, but I also see how I have so much to do ahead and improve on. But there's hope.

I've been trying to be more patient. Often times, I look at my children and see them down the road. I think about what type of individuals they will be. I think about their self-esteem and self-concept. I think about their treatment of others and their integrity. I think about their success and leadership. Then, I come back to reality and think about how I'm molding those little characters right now. They need my patience--much, much more than I give on most days. They need softness and kindness from me. They need my gentleness and my nurture. They need refuge from the storms of life and mistakes, always knowing they have a place where they are not judged and loved unconditionally. I think about these things on a daily basis. This is probably my biggest struggle. Am I fulfilling this role? Am I loving them and praising them or am I nagging them and focusing on the negative things? I've been trying much harder and I can tell such a difference in our home when I do these things.

Our boys really are sweet. They definitely have their moments, but often times, those moments transpire because of my lack of patience or willingness to let them be little. They have been helping me with laundry since I can't bend over very well. Matthew's been making his bed and helping with dishes. They clean rooms up and they put their dirty clothes in the hamper. Each of them comes up to me at some point in the day telling me that they need me to say "I love you" and they need me to hug them and kiss them. They share their food with me and come right up to me and sit on my lap when I'm eating to have me share with them. They wink at me. They sing to me. Their laughter is contagious. Matthew is especially funny and constantly makes me laugh. David does funny things more often than not. When I am feeling well, we do a lot of dancing. This has become an almost daily thing. And if I can't dance, then I watch.

Matthew is on the verge of reading. He is always asking me what different words start with and sounding words out. He also loves to write words.

David loves to sing and can be heard singing throughout our house. He does this in the bathroom, in the shower, in the family room, in his room, outside, where ever. It makes me so happy.

I'm working for our neighbor. It gives me a little something extra to do. I write articles for his company and turn them in at the end of the week. It gives our family extra money and cushion for when we have all of our wonderful surgeries in January. And I only work when the kids are sleeping, so it's perfect.

Ryan and I were both called to be ward missionaries. We're really excited about our new callings. This ward has a really high conversion rate, due to the extensive team of missionaries they have, along with their great organization. I think we're going to learn a lot.

Ryan has been really patient with my limited abilities. There are many days when I'm sure he would love more attention from me, and I simply can't stay up. And there are many areas he has had to fill in on the house, where I have been down so much. He smiles at my repeated, over and over again, crock pot dinners, and sometimes he'll cook. He takes the kids to give me a break. I so appreciate him.

The last thing is we're painting the kitchen and the nook. I'm really excited about this. However, we're still in the process of deciding what to do. I didn't think it would be this difficult. We'll paint the family room, the entryway, and our room in the spring and then, the rest of the house toward the end of the summer.

And that's about it, off the top of my head--if you made it this far down the post.