A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We've spent the last week in Peoria, IL with my Mum and Dad, enjoying a very relaxing Christmas break. The whole family has been here, although Vanessa and Sean came the week before Christmas and had to leave the day after. Steve and Rachel and Andre and I are leaving tomorrow evening to fly back to Atlanta.

We've had a lovely time all together, mostly spent tucked away inside as there's been lots of snow and we are all enjoying the rest. On Christmas Eve we went to church together; the early service so Michaela could go to bed at a decent hour. It was a really special service, celebrating Jesus' birth and all the children were in for it. Miss M behaved very well (I think the snacks helped!), although at one point she was playing on the floor and suddenly disappeared under the pew in front of us, with only her little black shoes sticking out. The man sitting in front of us suddenly gave a quiet yelp and lifted his legs right up in the air in surprise, as Michaela crawled out from under his pew! In an attempt to maintain a semblance of quiet, poor Sean crept on his hands and knees around the end of the pew, apologized to the surprised man, and grabbed Miss M, who thought it all great fun. Then of course Mum, Ness and I almost disgraced us all completely by getting the giggles. You know the kind you can't stop no matter how hard you try. I think the only thing that saved us was a particularly poignant rendering of "O Holy Night"!

It started to snow on Christmas Day which was just perfect. Here are some photos:


Dad clearing the driveway in front of their house




All ready to open presents on Christmas morning


Miss M with her Christmas present from her Mummy and Daddy: her first baby doll!


The big prep for Christmas dinner


Enjoying our party hats after pulling our Christmas crackers




Christmas Pudding all alight (we pour brandy on top and light it...yes I know, bizarre English traditions)





The baby bumps! (Nessa at 32 weeks and me at 30 weeks)


My sweet Husbie


Christmas Baby Bump

It was a really special day with lots of family traditions and great fun having a little girl around, who LOVED all her presents. She ran around the whole day showing her "Nana" and "Bapa" (she hasn't quite got "Grampa" down) her baby doll and running her baby jogging stroller into the furniture. Too cute!

The rest of the week has been quiet and relaxing and we're spending New Year's Eve the same way.

We are thanking the Lord for all our blessings this past year, particularly finding out about our coming bundle of joy. I think that's certainly the highlight of 2009! I suspect that the best of 2010 will be his arrival!

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Addendum...

Well, although the photos in the previous post show a lively and entertaining Christmas party, the following one lets you know what I was really doing by the end of the evening! My friend Laura caught me. Hee hee!



Andre is already up in Illinois with my parents, helping them with a few projects around the house, as he has some extra time on his hands. He has the computer with him so I haven't been on much except during my lunch break at work. But I'm having a busy week and am getting ready for Christmas and packing to join them next week.

It has been and continues to be a pretty busy week. Wednesday night was my last Bible Study/Discipleship night of the year. Yesterday I spent time with my friend Ruth, as the pregnant model for her skills assessment mid-wifery exam...CONGRATS for being done, Ruth!! It was really fun having an extra exam in my pregnancy routine and everything seems fine still :). Tonight we have a little cookie decorating party at my house with some girls from church, so I HAVE to have the house clean...a good excuse to get myself going with dusting etc!

Then tomorrow I am overseeing a wedding that is taking place at our church. On Sunday I get to see my dear friend Liesl for a quick visit...hooray! We're meeting up in Dahlonega as she is staying in North GA so it's a good meeting spot for us. Monday is the big leadership party for our church which I'm helping with in the evening and then Tuesday I am leaving to fly up to Illinois! Can't wait!

Church Christmas Party

On Friday was our Young Adult Christmas Party at church, which was such fun! I am on the Young Adult Committee again this year with all these good folks:



A couple in our church offered to host the party in their home, which is beautiful and spacious and ideal for big social events. We had fun putting it all together, good food, lots of fun people and many tacky sweaters (there were prizes for the tackiest Christmas outfit). My friend Bobbi Jo set up a spot by the tree for people to have their photos taken, props and all! So Andre and I had our Christmas photo taken...it was Baby Y's first "framed" photo!!! Ha ha!



For my far away friends, here's the Bump...getting bigger as you can see!



Oops, the photos came out kind of small, sorry about that!

Apology and the hiccups...

Thanks for all the comments and sympathy, friends! I apologize for yesterday's rant. You really don't have to feel sorry for me, it was just a particularly bad hose day :) I really have nothing to complain about, as this part of my pregnancy has been so great and, apart from the hose, pretty comfortable.

On other fronts, our little man did something new last night...he got the hiccups! How cute is that? We were both so surprised and it was so sweet cause it happened when we were lying in bed, so Andre got to experience it too.

Amazing what they do in there, isn't it?

The Saga of the Traveling Pants

Or, should I say traveling "hose".

Black. Tight. Full length. And no, there's nothing sexy about them, despite what this picture may imply:



Yes, these are my new accessory, Maternity Compression Hose.

And I LOOAATHE them.

Ok, so I know I should be grateful that there are such things and that my veins will be tightly compressed for the next three months and that we have access to such fabulous medical technology.

Unfortunately, these are not the lines along which my thoughts travel as I battle my hose each morning.

First, they are almost IMPOSSIBLE to get on! If you've ever tried, you know what I mean. It's like trying to pull on a second skin that won't quite go over your ankles or heels, requires endless tugging and pulling and is about 12 inches too short. And all the while you are painfully aware that if you tug too hard you will put a hole or a run in your very pricey stockings. If you'd like more of a mental picture, imagine that one has to wear big rubber gloves to do this (so as to avoid fingernail pulls). Yea, did I mention it was sexy?

Secondly, by the time I'm finished fighting with my hose to get them on, I'm usually late for work, sweating profusely, and in a foul mood. All I can say is, poor Andre.

(He is VERY sympathetic, by the way)

Then, by the time I've arrived at work, climbed the stairs to my office and situated my by now rather heavy self (yes I have been steadily putting on the pounds!), I begin to notice that things aren't quite where they used to be. In the stocking department that is. I hastily make my way to the ladies room, clutching my rubber gloves, only to discover that yes, gravity has taken it's toll and the hose have already traveled downwards until the crotch is now halfway to my knees, taking my jeans with them. Embarrassing, yes. And impossible to walk in... I'm reduced to waddling.

So I spend the next 10 minutes, rubber gloves in place, "gently easing the hose upwards" (as the instructions put it) until I'm once more reduced to a swearing, oops, I mean sweating, mass of frustration!!

Oh, and did I mention that the building I work in is not centrally heated, is big and old and drafty and just venturing out into the hallway requires one to put on a coat. So you can imagine me in the frigid bathroom, disrobing to attend to my stockings while freezing off any exposed parts!!

At least the struggle with my hose causes me to end up warmer than when I started. There's always a silver lining if you're willing to look hard enough, I guess. I must say, this one's MICROSCOPIC!!

Thanks for reading my rant. Clearly I need to be practicing patience and a grateful heart...so be praying :)