Christmas goodness

Last night as Maggie was being put to bed, after putting out milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer (which she let out a giggle for), she tiredly and calmly went to bed and asked me if I thought Santa would wake her up with his "Ho ho ho" and also told me to shut her door because she didn't want Santa coming in. I thought maybe she'd wake up in the middle of the night, but nope, she's still sound asleep and so is daddy.

We did an advent calendar filled with a note for each day and each day had some sort of goody - coins for her piggy bank, Christmas stickers, or a piece of candy (gold coin, tootsie roll, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds). I kept it simple and used up things from around the house, no shopping required. She caught on about a week or two in and the last couple weeks she's been asking first thing in the morning to open her calendar. The calendar reminds me how fast our little girl is growing up and my pregnancy is even more of a reminder that these precious days with just our little Maggie are limited. She's the highlight of our lives and I love her girliness, we have a lot of fun together. I'm trying to get my mind ready for a boy and how that is all going to go down, but it's hard to visualize until it happens. I pray that despite the bumps, he will make his way into our family smoothly and that we all fall madly in love with him. I also pray that I do not disappear off the face of this earth, I think that would deeply depress me. I had a kind friend call me up a few days ago just to simply tell me that she would love to provide whatever help I need pre- or post- birth and for the rest of our lives for that matter! It was a refreshing call to recieve. I really appreciate when people go outside themselves and show their love in this way.

As I write this early Christmas morning, I am happy to say that this season was more fun for me in many ways. The gift giving was minimal but well thought out and creative; our daughter is almost 3 this Christmas and totally gets it (we didn't just build up Santa, I also put out a Mexican creche (nativity scene) which we think was given to us from a good friend from Mexico City and taught Maggie about baby Jesus :-); and I got to visit with many friends over the past couple weeks that I either haven't seen in a long time/ spent time with or they are from out of town.

Merry Christmas my family and friends!



Something with the camera screwed up my bump - it actually looks like a little torpedo poking out from my stomach!



Christmas Eve

Funny Happenings during the Holidays

This has been an exhausting but fun-filled time of year for us. Exhausting part isn't really due to the holidays (although the added activities that come with the holidays make things busier) but it's taken the past couple months to get Maggie's new bed dialed in as well as come up with a sleep plan that works for our family. It's been a process getting her to stay in her bed with having to use the bathroom or want in our bed, which we were not being very consistent about. But just this week things are working well and we've got a good little sleeper. Part of the fun of switching her room around for me has been finding deals. When I scored her colorful ladybug bedding for less than $10 from a consignment shop and then found matching ladybug sheets at Target, it made my day. I have to say that the coupons this season have been amazing. Online purchasing is amazing and so are family gift exchanges. It's the first time we've done it and I love that I just have to get one gift for my secret family member, cutting 9 gifts down to 1. It has helped keep things low-key and has put more focus back on enjoying other aspects of the giving season.

Upon finding out that a boy will be making his way into our family, we've started dissembling our last spare bedroom. The plus to this is we know what we need for his arrival, which isn't much, but it also means finiding more storage in our room and making everything fit. Our house seemed so big when we bought it pre-kids!

Maggie has become quite the goof and she can be sneaky too, like when I'm trying to hide her advent calendar with goodies in it and then fall asleep briefly...she sneaks it out, wakes me up playfully, and proceeds to shake it and find all the hidden candy. I'm also the type of person that doesn't really hold much back with the truth of things and with having kids, I think this is a fine way to go, but it can also get you in trouble (a.k.a. embarass you) sometimes. We've had a few of those moments lately after our quiet teaching moments. Things having to do with how babies are born, girl and boy parts, and babies nursing. The momentary shock is worth all the laughter that follows.

Maggie and I sent off her 1st letter to Santa this year and she and I brainstormed on what she wanted to ask for. She is still a little young in this department, but we came up with a good list. Maggie stated more than once that she is thankful for pigs around Thanksgiving which had us cracking up. She is infatuated with pigs, I wonder how long it will last. Her clothes preferences seem to change weekly. Anyways, pig toys made it onto the list and my sister is delivering in that area. We've got some of the other stuff covered and are keeping it simple.