8 Months

Alright, so I've been eight weeks for two weeks...but it took a week to remember to take the pic, and another week to upload it. Synopsis of eight months?  I feel BIG.  Carter is very active and it's been increasingly harder to find a comfortable position (translation:  baby feels like he's grinding on my bladder all the time!!).  I am now craving fruit, specifically Fuji apples pretty much every night.  Strawberries and pineapple have been very yummy, too.  The cravings are so funny...with Reid, I had to have sour stuff (the entire second trimester, if I remember correctly) and scarfed all the pickles and grapefruit I could.  This time, it's varied and a lot of it has been a textural thing.  Dark chocolate cherry granola bars have been a fave throughout. 

 I've cut down aerobics to once a week now, thanks to my gym changing basically the only three classes I could attend.  PiYo (pilates/yoga) is not meant for a big bellied pregnant girl, but I did try out one class.  No thanks.  And I'm not attempting to try Insanity (lots of jumping!) for at least a few more months.  So the only one I can do now is my regular, Saturday morning Zumba class.  I guess it's forced me to slow down a bit, which might be good at this point. 

I'm ready, yet not ready for Carter's arrival.  My team leader at school just went out on maternity leave this week (baby Jack is only about an hour old at this point!), so my team will be down to two regulars and two subs once I'm gone.  So I'm basically planning and running copies for everything for Science/Social Studies until May.  Eek!  My class is throwing me a baby shower next week, so I'm looking forward to that :)  The kids have been funny and asking me random questions.  Carter was moving so much (and hurting!) earlier this week that I had to stop the book I was reading a few times.  I finally explained that he was moving/kicking a lot, so the kids pretty much watched my belly, entranced, for the rest of the lesson.  On the home front, I need to dig out the crates of itty bitty baby stuff and nursing stuff.  Another eek! 

Seems as though everyone is getting sick around us (stomach bugs, flu, strep, allergies, you name it!), so we are praying that our little family stays well!!

Cousin Time

Aunt Lala, Ben, and Alex made the trek up to McKinney to see us just before New Year's.  It was so much fun to catch up and see them.  As soon as all the bags were inside, the first question was, "Can we open presents??"

Reid had memorized who a couple of the presents were going to (he even tried to "help Alex open" one of his...but that was before Alex had arrived!) and began to pass them out, but quickly got sidetracked when Ben gave him one for himself.

Ben was politely watching and I realized Reid had slipped up on the job!  We remedied that right quick ;)

 

I think everyone was quite happy with their new goodies and they began to play.  Surprisingly, Reid even took a nap, despite being thrilled with our new visitors.  

While Reid napped and Jason caught up on some work before returning after the holidays, Laura and I took Ben and Alex to Toys 'R Us to spend their new gift cards.  It was really fun to see what they picked out.  Alex went with Laura and picked two Mario Bros. dvds, and I took Ben to look at the cars.  He chose ever so carefully and selected one special car.  Then, they agreed to combine the rest of their cards to get this neat car parking garage with slides.  Alex and Reid enjoyed racing Goldfish down the slides later at snack time.

Each time the boys are here, we suggest going to play at a park, which they like, but all three of the boys would rather hike.  So even though it was a mere 25 or 30 degrees outside, everyone wanted to hike!  It actually felt pretty nice because there wasn't much of a breeze (odd for Dallas) and the sun made it feel warmer than it actually was.

Back at home, the boys all had fun doing boy things... Cars, tickle fights, playing with the play kitchen, etc.

And what fun would a cousin visit be without the obligatory bath picture??  I'm pretty sure this might be the last one because they've all grown too long-legged to really fit into the tub together comfortably.  Guess baby Carter will miss out on these photo ops!

We loved seeing Laura and the boys and Reid loved playing with his cousins.  It was a fun, normal visit...and I'm already looking forward to Laura's next visit, but I have a feeling it'll be a little less 'normal' since it will be for baby Carter's arrival.  There's nothing like sister time for me, and cousin time for Reid!

Finally Christmas!

Reid has been soooo excited about Christmas this year.  It's been way more fun since he actually "gets" it!  We've been looking at our Peanuts countdown clock every day, eating a chocolate from his advent calendar after dinner each day, and talking nonstop about Santa bringing him Snot Rod.  Then we looked forward to Grammy and Grumpy coming to visit us...and the big day was nearly here.  I was actually a little nervous...did we put away Buddy, the elf, who we'd told Reid would fly back to Santa until next year?  Check.  Did we put out cookies for Santa?  Check.  Reid picked some special ones, including a huge sugar cookie.  Did we set up the train that Santa brings?  Check.  Did we remember the stocking?  Check.  I still had trouble sleeping, wondering if I'd done everything I should.  This Santa stuff is a big deal!  But how much fun is it to see how excited your own child gets?!  It's kind of like being a kid all over again :)

The next morning,  we adults had everything all ready.  Grumpy remembered to put Santa's cookie plate back down near the fireplace (I had been worried Dixie might help herself and leave us her own Christmas morning surprises, so we'd wrapped it up overnight).

 

Laughingly, someone didn't even wake up until close to eight, which is about an hour past when he's normally awake.  I was trying to decide if I should wake him or make breakfast when he awoke.  After a quick bathroom break, it was present time!  He still wanted help opening his presents, unlike most kids who love to rip the paper off immediately.  Oh, happy day!  First he opened the Santa gifts.  There was a remote controlled crane set... (a few of the pics are dark--I can take pictures during videoing, but I guess it doesn't flash)

A stocking full of goodies like candy, his own flashlight (so he'll quit stealing Daddy's), a top, a Cars Nerf gun, a flashing Mickey Mouse snow spinner, etc...

...an M&M machine...

 AND...could it be?!  Yes...it's Snot Rod!!

Oh, happy day!  The gang's all together, now.  Is this a happy face, or what??  And this kiddo cracks us up.  Later that same day, he said, "Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is over, now Christmas is over.  Next Christmas, I ask Santa for Flo!"  Flo is another Cars car, which he realized he didn't have as we were watching his new Planes movie.

"I want to open MORE presents!" And so he enjoyed opening gifts from everyone else, too.

 At first, he enjoyed passing out presents (or in this case, with a breakable one for Grammy, he assisted).  But then he just wanted to open all the ones that were his, as any kid on Christmas morning would.

I even let him open Baby Carter's present...the rubber duckies he'd picked out all by himself, and a cute little baby wash cloth.

Then it was on to the guys putting together the complicated crane set (why are kids' toys so darn complicated??) and the girls making monkey bread.

 Later that day, we all enjoyed watching Planes.  Reid helped himself to some of Grumpy's pork skins.  We still crack up because this is one of those things we thought he'd hate to eat, but he loves them!

After all that excitement, we needed to let this silly boy run off some energy.  When promised a trip to the park once he got dressed, he promptly stripped and proceeded to run around the house like a maniac.

 

 A picture just didn't do it justice, so I had to take video, too...

 It was wonderful to be able to stay here in Dallas and not travel (thanks, Mom and Dad!) because I would've been extremely uncomfortable in the car and the packing with presents and all would've been torture.  We had a fun, quiet, family Christmas and enjoyed each moment, thankful for the True meaning of CHRISTmas.  

Christmas Party & Christmas Program

Jason's company its annual Christmas party for the employees' kids and grandkids.  They do a really nice job of keeping it laid back and low key, but fun and full of activities and yummy food.  Reid got to see Santa, sit on his lap, and get a present from Santa right then (an all-knowing employee has shopped for the kiddo's goodies beforehand).

All Reid has wanted from Santa is Snot Rod, the orange part of the four "Fast and Furious" type characters from Cars...the only one Reid didn't have.  He's been announcing to anyone who will listen, "Santa's going to bring me Snot Rod!!" much to my chagrin.  I always apologize and have to explain that it's a Disney character.  (Really...couldn't they have picked a nicer name?  But I have to admit--it is funny...)  Daddy finally tracked Snot Rod down on Amazon for a reasonable price, so we saved that for Christmas Day.  But here you can hear him asking Santa himself!

 

Family portrait with Santa

  He has been a little obsessed with the Disney movie Planes ever since we saw it this summer, too.   Think he was excited much??  He was literally jumping up and down and demanding that we please open it.  (or maybe that was the donuts talking)  Reid carried these four planes around for a few minutes, then asked politely if we could go home.  He didn't want any more food, a balloon animal, a caricature, or any of the other fun activities...and Jason realized it was because all he wanted to do was go home and put the two Dusty Crophopper planes together...his "Planes family."

We didn't really give him a choice on the caricature--they were so cute!  While we waited in line, Batman swooped over to remind him how good vegetables are and remind him how listening to your parents is good.  We were surprised Reid didn't freak out since he's not a huge fan of dressed up people.  He even allowed us to take a pic.

Before we left, Randy and his daughter, Madison, came.  Reid was quite enthralled with Madison and was telling her all about Ripslinger (or "Risleeler," as he pronounces it) and his other planes.  Madison is so sweet and got right down on his level to play with him.

Sunshine Kids (Reid's wonderful preschool) had their Christmas party that Tuesday (right in the middle of when I teach math) and the Christmas program on Thursday (yay--the first thing I've been able to attend all year long!).  A wonderful, sweet parent from my own class at school has a daughter in the Monkey class, too, and she has been so thoughtful to take pics of Reid for all the events I'm not able to attend.  He is actually able to tell me tidbits here and there about his day such as, "I was the calendar helper today!"  Sure beats the typical beginning of the year, "What did you do at school today?"  Reid: "I dunno."

On Thursday, I raced over to the church right after I dropped my class off at PE to meet Jason, who'd had a walk thru nearby and was able to come.  Here's our "little angel".  We were shocked that he actually wore the wings!  Not sure if it was the hormones, knowing he's growing up, or just that he was so darn cute (as were all the other kids), but I was nearly moved to tears a few times.

Each class went to the center of the stage to sing a cute little song.  I was amazed that they all did so well (and I know they practiced a ton, but still...these kids are all under 6!) and I just barely got to see Reid's class before hopping back in the car to race back to school.  I was one happy mommy!

And yes, kids will be kids.  He had a couple of random, hilarious faces thrown in there.  Just thankful it wasn't nose picking!  It did break my heart that he saw me when I had to leave early...I could read his lips, "Mommy!" (as in "where are you going??")  but he did stay put and Jason said he did well for the rest of the program.

In the midst of all the happy holiday activities, my little former student J.J. (whom I taught two years ago) was struggling to hang on to life.  He'd battled stage 4 liver cancer since last January, when they discovered the first mass when he didn't seem to be recovering from the flu.  He had numerous rounds of chemo, hospital visits, was in and out of school, etc. but then had come back to school this year to join his second grade class.  We were all very prayerfully hopeful, but he took a turn for the worse.  His first grade teacher and I were able to join the principal and assistant principal when they arranged for the Texas Rangers mascot to come see him on Friday the 13th.  He surprised us by walking to the door (I think he thought we were the mascot :) but quickly faded and was so weak he couldn't talk again by the end of our short visit.  It was wonderful to see him and his sweet family (I also had the privilege of teaching his sweet older brother several years ago and just love their family)...and just in time.  On Friday, 12/20/13 at 3 pm, this precious boy slipped away from Earth to be with his Heavenly Father.  His funeral the following Monday, in the same sanctuary where Reid's Christmas program was the week before.  This amazing little guy had a spark for life and anyone who's known him has been blessed.  To see a picture or read the amazing account of his final moments, you can visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jjbryant .  Please pray for their family, and for all the kiddos who are trying to understand why this happened.  We don't understand everything God does, but we don't have to.  God is God, and we are not!  In my own little mind, I'd like to think my own grandparents and Samson were there to greet him.  (J.J. was a cat lover and they had to get rid of their little kitty when the chemo started)  I feel honored to have known this sweet, amazing boy, and it just goes to show you that life is short and we often don't slow down to truly appreciate what He has given us.  He and his family remained strong and faith-driven throughout their painstaking ordeal.  And I have hugged my own little guy extra hard during this holiday season, thanking God for him.