Festive Time of Year

I love this festive time of year!! We had a great Thanksgiving last week---first time for Tim and I to host it at our house. The moms were a great help with bringing some sides. Tim did a great job on the turkey and of course I always love setting a pretty table.

Over the remainder of the long weekend, we put up our outdoor Christmas lights, set some decorations around the house, and pulled out ornament boxes from the attic.We got our Christmas tree yesterday, so we plan on decorating it tonight. (fyi, Tim went to about 4 different Christmas tree lots trying to find the perfect tree! He does that every year and I think it's so cute. I usually tag along for the first one or two lots, then let him do the rest as he has an eye for picking out the best one.) It's hard to believe that today (Nov. 30th) is the first day of turtle neck weather!! We are always several weeks behind everyone else when it comes to winter. And even as I'm so excited to have this burst of chill in the air --finally--I know the weather is expected to warm up this weekend, so we'll be back to flip flops and shorts. Maybe in a few more weeks the cold weather will set in for good and all our Christmas decorations won't look so silly. (The other day when it was in the mid-eighties, our light up snowman out front looked pretty ridiculous.)

Church was especially good on Sunday--the first Sunday of advent, and we took communion. Paster Bernie did a nice job leading the congregation in a plea to remember Christ this Christmas season, as it's only just begun and all of us (even when intentionally trying not to) will most likely have moments where we get caught up in all the craziness and hoopla.

In baby news, I'm 29 weeks and Tim and I interviewed the pediatrician that had been recommended to us the other day. We had a good session with her and feel good about our choice. Then yesterday we had attempt #1 at our 4-D sonogram. The placenta happened to be floating right in front of the baby's face, so we couldn't see real well. We caught a few brief glimpses here and there as he moved, but the tech said we ought to come back in a couple weeks and try again to really get the full benefit of the 4-D. So, that's the plan. : ) Meanwhile, Timothy kicks and moves around ALL the time in my belly now. He's been doing that the past two weeks or so and I love feeling him so close to me. It's CRAZY though to see my belly actually move from the movements and the first time Tim saw it/ put his hands on top to feel how strong he was kicking at that moment he said "Woah!! He's trying to break outta there!" I thought it was so funny. Also, Tim keeps saying how the poor baby has to feel squished and cramped in there. When we saw the baby stretching on the sonogram screen yesterday, Tim said "I'd be stretching too, if I was in there."  It's so sweet to me how Tim empathizes with the baby. He's going to be a great dad.

Well, that's all I have for now. More to come again soon!