Christmas with the Family

The newest addition to his Hess collection

Adam and Aunt Boo (Amanda) helping Harrison open gifts

Playing with his new Clemson soccer ball

mastering his new bike

On Christmas afternoon, we headed to Charleston to celebrate Christmas with Adam's family. Harrison got to spend time with the whole family and had the time of his life...including getting lots of fun goodies. On Christmas Eve, we got to spend time with Grandpa Gus and Grandma Linda. Lastly, we got to spend time with Puff and Karl last night where Harrison was more than enthralled with Karl's new train set. Family, thanks so much for loving our sweet son so well. It was a joy to get to spend time with each of you over the holidays.

Christmas Morning

Hanging out in new sleeping bag with his buddies

First jump on the new trampoline Giving his bike the inaugural spin

H opening stuff from his stocking

His favorite gift that was in his stocking was his first headlamp.

Harrison pulling out his Santa gifts

Well we had our first Christmas morning at our house since we have been married. And let me tell you, it was worth the wait. We made cookies and left milk out for Santa and since Santa has a particularly large belly this year, the cookies were a big hit. Harrison was emphatic about Santa leaving a cookie for him in the morning (which was the first thing he asked about I woke up bright and early because I was so excited about Harrison getting to experience Christmas morning. Harrison gets three gifts from Santa and one from mom and dad. We do three gifts for multiple reasons, but the genesis of it is because when Jesus was born, he received three gifts and as we try to instill the real meaning of Christmas to Harrison, that is a great jumping off point for all of our discussions. Plus, he gets so many gifts from family, that there really is no need to give him anything else. Santa filled his stocking and then brought him a sleeping bag, a bike, and a toy plane. We gave him a trampoline. He loved all of his gifts (except for the socks and fork and knife set that were in his stocking...but that is understandable).

Two Weeks from Today

Well, apparently, we are going to have a new member of our family in exactly two weeks from today. I visited with my OBGYN yesterday and we scheduled an induction for January 5th. It's a little crazy. I hoped with this one I would go into labor naturally, and I realize that can still happen. However, because of our distance to the hospital, we are a little nervous about delivering on the side of the road. We still might change our minds about the induction. I recognize that I have options. But once you get to this point in your pregnancy, when the option of having your baby "out" instead of "in" is on the table, it is hard to not jump at the opportunity. We actually had the option of Jan 3 or Jan 5 (my doc is on call both days), and it took a lot of effort to select the 5th. Again, the option of him being out seems WAY better now. I doubt we'll change it, but who knows. That will be four days prior to his due date. And with Harrison, I induced six days early, and we are so thankful that we did, because I would have had to have a c-section if I waited another day. Right now, I'm praying that he comes on his own between Jan 2 and Jan 5th...that's pretty specific. I realize that. Still going to pray for that. I'm also praying that if he does decide to do it, that we can all make it to the hospital with him still in my belly. That doesn't seem like too much to ask. What I do know at this point is that I am so excited to meet this guy. I haven't seen him since my 20 week ultrasound (which was really at 18 weeks), and I'm hoping he looks more like a person than the alien he looked like then.

Playing with Our Flip

I've officially given in to incessant television marketing (well, I've actually done that a long time ago, but I've done it again). I've seen a million commercials for a Flip and I told Adam that we needed one, obviously. Well, lucky for me (and him), he has one for his restaurant that I have now taken over and claimed for myself. I love it. I've got many years of tormenting my children (and husband) ahead of me and I cannot wait!

Sick, but oh so cute

Along with the rest of the world, it appears that the boys in my house have come down with something. Harrison's energy level hasn't gone down, but he has something going on (which I sort of wish, for the sake of his super-pregnant mom, he would slow down a bit). And sweet Adam has flu-like symptoms (which I think may just be a bad cold... at least, I'm hoping for that). I hate that Adam feels badly. And I want him to get better soon as we are going to be having a baby in the near future (hopefully not any day, like it feels). But seriously, look how cute they are...even though they are sick.

Christmas Play 2010

Harrison's school had their annual Christmas play yesterday. It was so darn cute and from what I can tell, it is the same every year. Apparently, as the kids grow up through the school, they really look forward to playing certain parts in the play. The 2 1/2 year old class played the roles of the Heavenly Hosts. They had a little role. In fact, I think all they asked them to do was to stand up front and sing. Harrison got the standing part down. And frankly, he got the singing part down, but he decided to not sing one word during the whole performance. That's fine by me. He has been gracing us with his renditions of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing," and "Joy to the World" throughout the week at home. But the performance made me laugh...really hard. So hard, that I cried. The little boys were just hilarious. Oh and the picture of Harrison with the other two boys at the bottom was after the play was long done. They ran up on stage and went nuts. These are the boys that Harrison says he "play fights" with at school all of the time. Knowing that these boys are going to grow up together makes me cherish this picture.

Cooking with H

Harrison and I have been doing lots of cooking recently together. He is a lot of fun to cook with, and it is a really good lesson for patience for me....a lesson that I cannot learn too often. Just the other day, when I took these pictures, here is how a portion of our conversation unfolded.
M: H, take that bowl off of your head. I have to cook with it and I don't want your hair in that bowl.
H: Nope. It is my hat.
M: If you don't take it off of your head, I'm going to have to take a picture of you (which usually results in a NOOOOOOO).
H: Okay, mommy. Cheeese. (See top two pictures)
M: Oh, let me get one more so I can see your whole apron.
H: No mommy. No more pictures. I take bowl off my head. (snap picture #3). Mommy...listen to me. I said no more pictures.
M: Oh, it is cute. You are so cute, Harrison. Do you want to see it?
H: Mommy. No. Why you not listen to me? Me took bowl off my head.
I'm fairly confident this is the first time he has ever asked me a question about listening to him. But I have a hunch of where he gets it from...

The Final Countdown...

Harrison as the life of the Chick-fil-A Christmas Party. And of course, I forgot my camera, so this is taken with my phone.

Well, I'm on the home stretch. As I write this post, I'm straddling the 35/36 week mark. Because I'm most likely to be induced, I would imagine I have exactly four weeks left. If all goes according to Adam's prediction, baby Fisher will make his appearance on December 28th. I'm thinking January 4th. For 90% of this pregnancy I've been hoping to get as close to my due date (Jan 9th) as possible so I can get his birthday as far away from holidays as possible. All of that has changed. I want him out. And I think I want him home too. The jury is still out on that one. I mean I do, but I'm not sure that I'm ready for it. For the past couple of days, I've been battling a sinus infection, and since I can't take any medicine, it has left me relatively miserable and without sleep. I don't think I signed up for the lack of sleep...yet. In addition, being fat has its drawbacks. Most importantly, I can't do half the things that I want to. My belly gets in the way...or my inability to catch my breath plagues all activities. I was telling Adam that I don't remember being this miserable with Harrison, when I figured out, that having Harrison around makes it harder to be large. When I was this pregnant with him, I was only responsible for keeping myself alive. Now, not only do I have to make sure H is alive, but I have to change his sheets frequently (which has bed rails), dress him, play with him, and get him in and out of the car. These seemingly mindless activities, are 100x times harder when you have a lot of extra weight on you.

I'm not complaining. Well, yes I am. But I'm so thankful to be pregnant. I was reminded the other day by my small group leader that I had a miracle baby inside of me. How quickly I forgot! We defied the odds and got pregnant! So, I'm super thankful for this time.

For now, I'm just trying to prepare for all things "new." With the new year, we will have a new baby, a new blog, and just a totally new dynamic to our family. I'm filled with excitement as I think about Harrison becoming a big brother. He is more and more into it everyday. I think having Fisher's nursery "set-up," (which I use loosely), has made Harrison realize that Fisher is coming sooner vs later. Multiple times a day, he lifts up my shirt to look at my belly, rubs his head on my belly, and says, "Love You Baby Fisher." Ah...melts my heart every time. I'm so thankful that Fisher is going to have a brother like Harrison...what a lucky kid.