The Years End...

This has probably been the quickest year of my entire life. Where did it go? I feel like it just began and here it is coming to an end. The days fly by with record speed and I often find myself at a loss trying to keep record of what has been going on with the family. I constantly promise myself to sit down and write about our doings and experiences, but it always seems to get pushed to the side. It has been a wonderfully memorable year, one that I am sad to see come to an end so soon. The children are no longer babies and that I am afraid is the biggest change of all...

Jackson turned THREE years old last weekend. We celebrated with a family outing to Zoo Atlanta, where we practically had a private viewing of each exhibit. J enjoyed the reptile house the most, especially fascinated with the live snake feeding. We spent around an hour checking out all of the frogs, turtles and snakes. It was quite chilly, but we enjoyed the quiet observation time together. We had lunch at the Varsity in downtown, our first experience there. Tristyn of course loved the burgers, I on the other hand had indigestion ;) The day was wonderful, we could not have asked for a better time. Saturday we celebrated by having a few family members over for hot dogs and cake. Jackson was not too fond of being "celebrated" and did not necessarily enjoy the extra attention. He did however enjoy opening gifts! He received a remote control race car, Wii Cars game & approximately 500 matchbox cars....I am still tripping over them on a daily basis! Although this year we kept things low key, the celebration of Moose's birth was one of great joy. I think it was almost better not making a big production of it all and just enjoying the quality quiet time with one another. Mooseky Man is growing up and Momma is not liking it one bit!

Tristyn has enjoyed the first half of pre-k. She is attending a private pre-k program four half days a week and it is just enough for her liking. Some mornings she has a difficult time waking and wants to stay in bed, but that normally is not different from any other day...she is our little sleepy head. This year I have become involved in her classroom and volunteering for activities where parent involvement is needed. It has been really nice getting to go into the classroom and interact with Tristyn and her classmates. We have done several special holiday projects already this year. This past week she had her annual Christmas Program and was the star wreath. She did a wonderful job of singing an array of Christmas songs during the 15 minute special. She was very animated and definitely had me, Mimi and Yamaw laughing! Jackson was not fond of her performance and even cried during it because he wanted the kids to be quiet! Afterwards we went back to her classroom and had refreshments with fellow parents and classmates. This upcoming week is the last week before Christmas break and there are many fun events planned; book exchange, Christmas centers and the children's holiday party. It is hard to believe our baby girl will be an entire five years old just next month!

Everything is going well with the pregnancy thus far. I have finally felt alive again after weeks of feeling like I lived on another planet. It was dreadful how bad I constantly felt and I am so extremely thankful to have enough energy to anything besides slept and vomit. Speaking of, I have been able to eat during the past week and a half, it's wonderful! Although my appetite is still small and aversions still strong, I am no longer starving...again, so thankful. While I am updating, let me run through the happenings of #3...

Sunday, October 18th I awoke and took a test (we had been trying for several months, so testing was a must!) to find what I believed to be my eyes playing tricks on me. In certain lighting an extremely pale pinkish line was visible, but in others it magically disappeared. Left to sit and wonder, I took several more dollar store tests, none giving any more of answer than the first. Monday morning Tristyn stayed home sick from school and I headed out bright and early to round up a few new tests...still, faint faint lines, but somewhat more visible than the day before. Mind you I am at this point two days late, so I was a little skeptical but yet still hopeful. Luckily I stocked up and again took two more on Tuesday morning which gave a definite answer of PREGNANT! We were thrilled, elated, ecstatic, on cloud nine...a big family, what we have always dreamed of. We decided to keep the news to ourselves for a while, knowing that most would probably not share as much in our grand excitement. It was wonderful to have our little secret for several days, to let it sink in and marinate before telling the rest of the world. We decided to tell both of our mothers the following week, both were happy and left wondering how they could possibly love any more grandchildren. We waited another few weeks to tell several close friends and family members and then waited until our 8 week ultrasound to announce it to the world. Everyone seems excited, but it is definitely not a grandeur affair like it is with the first child, for that I am saddened, but it is fine...the only ones that truly need to be overly excited are Josh and I, and we are. Tristyn and Jackson are consumed with thoughts of baby. Everything revolves around what the baby is doing, what the baby will like, what we will name the baby, if the baby will like this toy or that toy...it is pure joy hearing the dream of what is to come. The kisses and hugs from the future big bro are sis are just the greatest, they love this unknown sibling of theirs already. We had another ultrasound this past Monday for the NT test, but the baby measured a tad bit too small, so we go back on Monday to complete the test. We are very excited about getting to see baby again. Even last week at 11 weeks the profile was very clear, cute little button nose and all =)

I will try to update more later, for now my eyes are too heavy to type anymore.