Christmas Day

Right after Santa came...

The next morning...








What a special day! Christmas Eve daddy stayed up to put Jackson's new scooter together and mommy had to do all the wrapping. (It was a very late night.) The next morning Jackson called us from his crib to come get him. We came in and wished him a Merry Christmas and then told him that Santa came. He slowly walked out to the tree and then his eyes got wide as he saw all the sesame street wrapping paper. He then started to open his gifts. I think his favorites were his Elmo slippers, his sparky sweatshirt and his new scooter. It was so nice to sit together as a family and open gifts. I am so excited for next year with 2 little kids of our own. Families are great! I put some pictures here of us opening gifts and then a video of Jackson on his scooter. (I know that it is sideways and no I don't know how to fix it, just turn your head-you'll get through it.) We love you all and thank you to all that sent gifts, especially to Jackson. It is so nice to know that others love and care about him as much as we do. Merry Christmas!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Oh, what a tree does for a home! Last week we went to pick out our tree. Jackson helped and we came home with a wonderful tree. The first picture is us a Home Depot with the tree on the car. The next day we decorated the tree together in our pjs as we listened to Christmas music. (That day is definitely on my top 10 favorite days.) We had such a good time. If Jackson couldn't put an ornament on the branch he would just throw it at the tree (in hopes that it would stick) so we did have about 3 ornament casualties. When we were all finished Jackson put the star on the top, as you can see it was a little crocked, but we thought it was too cute to fix. Merry Christmas!

Scary Stuff

On Monday I went for another OB appointment. I get so excited about these appointments because I almost feel closer to the baby when I go. I had no idea how close I would really feel to the baby when I went in last Monday. It started out normal, I went pee in my cup, they weighed me (only 1lb so far, yaaa!), and took my blood pressure and then I waited in the room for my doctor to come in. I had Jackson with me and he was being very good, watching Elmo on a little DVD player and eating some pretzels so I didn't mind about the 20 min wait in the exam room. (Except that I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so my tummy was growling.) The doctor finally came in and asked me some questions, then I asked a few of my own. It is really surprising how much you forget the second time around! Then I laid back so she could put the little monitor that lets you hear the baby's heart rate on my belly. She put the jelly on (which I love that they warm up) and then looked for the baby's heart rate....NOTHING....a few seconds later.....NOTHING....and even a few more seconds......NOTHING. The doctor put down her monitor and told me that she was unable to find the baby's heart beat. I immediately started to cry. She then said that we needed to do an ultrasound to see if we could find it there and to find out if there was something wrong. I sat up and got my stuff together as Jackson and I went to another room. Then I endured the longest wait of my life. I sat in the ultrasound room for another 20 minuets, which felt like days. I just sat and cried the thought that the little parasite that I had grown so attached to would no longer be inside me was just too much to handle. Jackson continued to watch Elmo happily as I cried. ( I have never been so thankful for that little red furry monster as I was at that moment.) The doctor finally came in and had me lay down again. I held my breath, she put the gel on (this time it wasn't warm, I was sure that was a bad sign) and the ultrasound clicked on. There the baby was moving around like a little jumping bean, and the heart beat was strong at 158. The tears began to flow again. I was so thankful, in that moment it was just me and my little baby, my little strong baby. As we left I was then struck by my Heavenly Father's love. I was not alone in that room, he was right there with me and he knew what I needed and he let me feel his love. Here is a picture of out little jumping bean with a strong little heart beat.

Sad Santa

Okay, this year the Santa picture is a little hard to look at. Jackson has perfected the sad face! When I look at this picture it almost brings me to tears. As we stood in line I kept asking Jackson to practice his smile for Santa. I would ask him to show me how he was going to smile and he would say cheeeese and then I would tell him that it was perfect. Well, when we got up to Santa it didn't work out as planned. He started to cry as soon as I handed him over. I then backed up to get out of the picture and tried to bribe him in to smiling by offering him one of my homemade candied pecans. (Which he LOVES!) He then stopped crying but still had the sad face so I asked them to just take the picture. (After waiting in line for 45 min I really didn't care.) I then rushed over to take him from the mean guy in the red suit and looked at the pictures on the screen. At first I thought it was cute and then it just made me sad. I hope I didn't damage him for life. Maybe he will like Santa a little better once he knows that is who brings him the toys.