More Pre-Christmas Happenings

The rest of December went by in a blur.  My pregnancy morning sickness disappeared at 16 weeks, 6 days--ll weeks to the day of when it all began.  Thank goodness for the reprieve, because it was a week before Christmas, and I was able to enjoy the holidays A LOT more now that I could be around and enjoy food.

To celebrate my nausea liberation, Cooper and I made some yummy Christmas sugar cookies.  Nate was thrilled to know these weren't for friends and neighbors, but for us to enjoy.  Coop had a fun time helping me with the cookie cutters.  As we were frosting the cookies later, our neighbor friends came over, and the two girls frosted a few cookies with Cooper before they went outside to play in the beautiful December weather we'd been enjoying (65 degrees--say what?!).

 The children performed some songs at our ward (church) Christmas party.  Although Cooper doesn't officially attend Primary (the childrens' portion of our church services) until January, he'd been learning the songs, and was very eager to sing with them.  ALL DAY LONG the day of the party, he kept telling me that HE was going to sing with the children on the stage, and I had to stay in my seat.  However, come go-time, he wanted me right there, which worked out because I was helping direct some of the children anyway.  This picture was taken between songs.  Not sure why the somber face.  He didn't really sing, except for "Away in a Manger" when he sang, "asleep, asleep."  The rest of the time he bobbed his head to the melody, and swallowed like he was about to sing, but then didn't.  It was too cute, and was his first performance of any kind in church, albeit a little impromptu.

 I finally found the pics of Santa driving through our neighborhood on the firetruck, mentioned in one of my last few posts...

 

Cooper is certainly loved and spoiled by our family, even though none of them live close by.  As such, when Christmas rolls around, Cooper receives A LOT of packages in the mail (so many that he got used to looking for them from the mailman, UPS guy and FedEx guy each day), and has A LOT of presents under our tree.  Since we would be going out of town to the coast to Nate's Dad's for Christmas, and there were so many presents for Cooper, we decided to let him open a few gifts each day for a few days before we left on vacation.   Cooper's excitement erupted when we told him he could start opening a few gifts each day.  He exclaimed, "It's Christmas time now?!!"  I had to explain that while we were still counting down to Christmas (per the countdown chain we'd made together), and it wasn't Jesus' birthday yet., we'd start celebrating a few days early.  He was ecstatic.

Here are the gifts for the spoiled kid, not in any order:

A John Deere front loader from Uncle David to play in the DIRT!!!  It took him about 2.5 seconds to throw on his boots and hurry outside to break this new toy in.  He knew exactly where he wanted to play with it.  Since David had ordered this toy at Thanksgiving, and I'd been privy to knowing what it was, I'd suggested to Nate that we let Coop open this one at lunch time so he'd have time to play with it before going to bed.  That was such a good decision.  Coop ended up playing outside in the beautiful sunshine with his new JD tractor for 4 hours, pausing only for bathroom breaks and forced water breaks from Mom.  Needless to say, he was in John Deere, dirt heaven.

 So sad that this picture won't save my red-eye corrections. :(  Aunt Denise gave Cooper this handsome shirt.  But his FAVORITE outfit is his Patriots sweatpants and hoodie, which I have yet to capture on camera because it takes only a few seconds for him to get it all dirty while playing outside.  Maybe I'll just have to take one with mud all over him.  I know he loves the dirt, but I do love when he lets me dress him up a bit, and he looks so handsome. 

 Cooper had been BEGGING all week to open this colorful Christmas box from Grammie and Papa.

 He LOVED everything in it too!  He got right to work playing with the action figures.  He also loved reading the Christmas stories Grammie sent.  We have enough Christmas storybooks now that we can read about one a day leading up to Christmas, which is so fun!

 Nana and Grandpa sent some dapper clothes, perfect for church.

 Nana and Grandpa also sent this fun fire station/ Transformers set.  Cooper played with this for a few hours that night before we could convince him to go to bed.

 A few days earlier, Cooper opened this gift from Aunt Eileen and Uncle Peter--a Little People airport set.  He played and played, and told us those were HIS airplane and helicopter, NOT ours.  I also hosted/ taught preschool that week, and this was a big hit with the preschool kids as well.

 Not pictured are a dry erase board from Samantha and Elizabeth (2nd cousins), which he loves to tote around and draw on, and some Christmas books from them that they used to read as kids.  Winnie the Pooh is not a popular cartoon for Cooper, what with Curious George and Caiou, so he didn't know the characters in the books, and when I said, "Pooh," he giggled and giggled that I said poo, and then said that's a time-out word, unless I'm in the bathroom.  I had to try to explain the difference to him.  Ah, boys and their bathroom humor.

Also not pictured is a remote control dump truck from Uncle Tom and Aunt Delia, which he plays with constantly as well.  Time to clean out the "baby" toys and make room for these big boy things.

Lastly, Cooper gets a new Christmas ornament each year to add to the tree.  This year he got a John Deere tractor to go along with his mild obsession.  Our family ornament was a beach house from our vacation in September to Folley Beach, SC.  Cooper also made us several ornaments at school and such, and I helped him make one with his hand print on it, which we also gave away as gifts to grandparents.

May I also mention that Nate and I received a lot of wonderful, thoughtful gifts from family as well.  We also feel very spoiled, and thankful.  It's fun to receive a bit of Christmas from home, even when we're so far away.  Thank you to all of you who spent time and money sending things our way.  You are all so wonderful, and we love you, and wish we could spend every holiday with ALL of you!

Baby Cheese Makes His Debut

This last Thursday despite all the holiday rush, we got to take a few hours to slow down and focus on our family.  Nathan and Cooper came to the doctor's office with me for our baby's 18-week ultrasound.  It was a stressful morning with Cooper acting out and trying to get on Santa's naughty list, but with the afternoon full of baby video, the day was turned around for me.

Before starting the ultrasound, the tech asked whether we wanted to find out the gender.  Of course!  With this baby, all I really want is a healthy baby.  I really didn't care either way whether we are having a boy or girl.  Finding out the gender is more about being able to prepare, knowing what we need to buy, being able to figure out a name for the baby, and also be able to celebrate our little one in a more personal way.  Anyway, I had thought it may be a girl, mostly because of Cooper's comments about the baby and such.  So you can imagine my surprise when the tech put the wand on my lower belly, and I immediately saw feet legs, and what most certainly was not a middle finger sticking up.  She said, "Oh, the baby hasn't turned around yet.  It's still breech."  And then I said, "Yep, and I know exactly what that is there on the screen--it's a boy!"  Nate had also thought the baby may be a girl, but was ecstatic at the announcement of it being a boy.  Cooper was indifferent, or more accurately, just focused on the fact that we could see the baby on the tv.

Thankfully, the rest of the ultrasound went without incident, and the baby is healthy and perfect.  I recall that with Cooper, we couldn't see his left hand during the ultrasound because of the position it was in, and so for a week we worried that our baby had only one hand, until we went to a specialist for a second ultrasound.  No such need this time.  Our baby boy was very cooperative, except that he is breech, and was in a weird spot, so getting a picture of all the parts of his hear they wanted to see was challenging.  The tech pushed the wand harder into my belly, while moving it around.  It went over his face, and he grimaced.  Be still my heart--I wanted to be able to hold and comfort him right then and there!  Then as she backed off to try to get another angle, he reached up and started sucking his thumb, as if to comfort himself from all the prodding.  That is when the tech snapped this picture.  She said it's actually pretty rare to see a baby sucking its thumb during an ultrasound, and this is one of the best pictures she's ever taken of it.

I tell you, right at that moment, my love for this little boy became so full and so real.

I am amazed that at 18 weeks gestation, a baby has such strong emotions, and can self-soothe.  Our little guy has already captured my heart, just as Cooper did.  Suddenly my frame of mind shifted from thinking "I'm pregnant" to "We're having a baby boy!"

Another memorable moment from that doctor visit was when the doctor came in the room, and asked Cooper whether he was excited to have a baby brother.  He replied, "Yeah, but Santa is coming to my house soon, and it's Christmas time, and we get to open presents!!"  Sorry, baby brother, your news is trumped by presents in this child's mind.  At this point, Cooper is still calling the baby his baby sister, and when I tell him it's a brother, not a sister, he pauses and then says something like, "No, it's baby cheese!"  He does love the baby, and will hug my belly, or whisper, "I love you, Baby Cheese" at my belly.

Nate was so excited it was a boy, that late that night after driving our dog to the kennel to stay for a few days, he stopped at the store and purchased a baby gift for me, showing up at home at 11:30 pm with a blue gift bag.  He purchased a cute little summer t-shirt and shorts for the baby to celebrate the addition to our family.  It was so sweet, and a great ending to the day.

On another note:  I'm ready for this baby to turn.  With him being breech, when he has soccer practice like he does every night about 10 pm, he pummels my bladder with his little kicks.  We were driving in the car the other night, and it was like he was drumming on my bladder, NOT a great sensation, and it also made us have to stop almost immediately for me to have a potty break.  So this little guy likes to kick and punch just like his older brother.  I think they're going to get along, and can already imagine them wrestling with Daddy on the floor.  Yay for boys!

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Candy Cane Stripes Christmas

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Christmas Week Celebrations Begin with Aunt Denise and Uncle Jim

This last Sunday Nate's Aunt Denise and Uncle Jim came for a visit.  This started our real countdown to Christmas, since this was the first of our family holiday celebrations.

Cooper LOVES it when Aunt Denise comes to visit because she plays with him.  During this visit Cooper and Denise played outside and explored our woods, played and giggled on the swings, went for a walk/bike ride down the street (despite the drizzling rain and cold) to see the tractors, played cars, played trains, built things with duplos, and giggled and giggled, and I bet I don't even know the half of it!  They have the best time together, and Cooper always looks forward to her visits.

Nathan and Uncle Jim watched some football on tv.  Then we had a Christmas-y dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls.  I joked that like a true Southern dinner, there was nothing fresh on my table for that meal.  It was a CRAZY busy day for me, and getting anything on the table was a feat.  We all enjoyed dinner and a scrumptious dessert of decadent chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream.

During their visit, we also exchanged Christmas presents.  These were the first Christmas presents Cooper has been allowed to open, and he was all over it.  Denise and Jim gave him this Patriot's hoodie (and sweatpants not pictured, which he looks adorable in!), and awesome Hess helicopter, complete with battery-operated lights and rotors, and an SUV that fits inside the helicopter that also has lights.  He's hardly put it down since, and it's even gone with us in the car a time or two since then.

Thank you, Jim and Denise, for helping us kick off our Christmas celebrations--Merry Christmas!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

A few weeks ago on a Saturday morning, I heard police sirens outside our house. A few minutes later I heard a fire truck outside. So naturally I went to the window to see what was going on. Not a minute later, another fire truck came down the street, but this time with Christmas music blaring, and a Santa Claus sitting on top waving to all the kids. We ran outside, and some people dressed as elves ran up and handed Cooper and the neighbor kids some candycanes. They went all around the neighborhood, and we sat on the porch and waved again as they went by our house again on the way out of our neighborhood. Coop was excited as ever: Santa and real firetrucks! Doesn't get much better than that. But as we were going inside he asked worriedly why Santa hadn't brought any toys to him, just a candycane. I told him Santa will come again on Christmas Eve, and now he thinks Santa is coming back on a fire truck because we don't have any snow for his sleigh. :)
I thought that was a neat surprise, and heard Santa's fire truck visiting all the neighborhoods near us throughout the rest of that day.

Last Saturday Nathan and I took Cooper to the mall to see Santa. We went earlyin the morning, and there was no line. Coop walked right up and got to visit with Santa for a good amount of time. I'm kinda cheap and refused to pay the $18 for a picture of Coop with Santa, so I took a few of my own from the sidelines. This Santa had a real beard! Pretty convincing that he could be the real Santa instead of one of Santa's helpers, minus the thick Southern accent. ;-)

Cooper gave Santa his letter, a picture of it is below. He dictated to me what to write.
"Dear Santa,
I have been a good boy. Can you please bring me some toys? The reindeer can go up and move their legs and fly and bring them to my house. I would like:
- A big truck as high as the ceiling
- A bubble gun
- A car to go in the bath
Thank You.
I love Santa. Merry Christmas!
Love,
Cooper James Smith
(3 years old)"

After his visit with Santa, we rode the electric train through the mall, and Coop was in heaven--Santa AND a train ride!! Afterward we went out for donuts and hot chocolate (orange juice for Coop), and then went to play at the park. It was a really fun morning.

Boys, Girls, and Play Time

Cooper and his best friend, Ethan were playing together on this toy the other day. It was cute the way they were playing.

That same day It was my turn to teach our co-op preschool. When having outside play time, I thought it was funny how the boys (Cooper and Ethan) were wrestling each other on the grass, literally rolling down the hill, practically strangling each other, all in good play. Meanwhile, the girls were across he yard playing princess. Couldn't be more opposite! :)

I also recently finished some fun folder games I've been trying to do for months. Cooper was excited to try them, and has enjoyed them immensely for the last few days. Feels good to have made something myself that my son enjoys, and that he can learn from.

First Annual Smith Christmas Party

Since our NC friends who had hosted such fun Christmas parties the last two years moved out of state, this year I decided to be the hostess, and plan a party with some of our friends.  I'm sure glad we did, because we had a fun night full of laughs and friendship, and good holiday eats.

Those attending were invited to wear an ugly Christmas sweater for the ugly sweater contest, winner determined by votes cast by those at the party.  Natalie Gleaves won first prize (a movie theater gift certificate) with her Santa hat-wearing cats sweatshirt.  Natalie is pictured below with her husband.  How did I not take a good photo of the winning sweater?!

We also enjoyed a good white elephant/ Yankee gift swap.  The cost limit was $5 per gift, and of course, the  sillier the gift, the better.  Here are the results of all the picking and swapping:

For a guy who is usually quite reserved, Andrew Gleaves about died when he opened a gift containing this leopard bra made for the well-endowed.

He was so happy to pose for another photo with is wife, Natalie, who swiped this firefly cage (empty mason jar with holes punched in the lid) and fleece blanket.

  Chelsee and baby Scout Snider ended up with a cute little box of decorative hearts, to which Chelsee said, "Oh my stars, I just LOVE hearts!" Matt Snider CHOSE to swap with someone else to take possession of this highly fashionable poncho.

 Adam and Kokena Donnelly received a movie theater gift card, and a "Merry Chuckmas" list of Chuck Norris trivia (i.e. Chuch Norris' tears cure cancer; too bad he's never cried.), along with a DVD with three Chuck Norris movies that, according to Nathan, are all "life changing." I hear say that Andrew Gleaves took the Merry Chuckmas gift off Kokena's hands later that night, and his life is indeed changed forever.

 Lauren and Joey looked like little elves in their Christmas get-ups. They scored some good stocking stuffers for the kiddos with a set of juggling balls and a paratrooper. Joey was runner-up for the ugly sweater contest in his full-body red pajamas, complete with trap door in the back. 

 Stephanie Davis scored a book written and published by Adam Donnelly himself--a first edition, signed by the author. Nate Davis swapped for a customizable drinking straw kit.

 Candace and Brad Staples walked away with some pretty useful items, a potato peeler with a handle shaped like potatoes, and some peppermint-scented candles.

A box of sardines, buck urine spray, and a sign that says "And baby makes 3" ... As Nate said (in true Nate sarcasm), "We HOSTED the party, and we got the WORST gifts!" Haha, suchh goes the Yankee swap.  And for those who were wondering, my granny outfit (velvet jogging suit with flower applique) was part of the ugly sweater contest, not a real Christmas party outfit, although it was super comfy. Apparently there were some questions. :P

We had such a fun evening with our friends, and plan to make this an annual event.