Sweet Potato Gender: Deferred

We had the big anatomy ultrasound for our little Sweet Potato on Thursday the 30th at about 21+ weeks. Both my mom and Jon's mom were able to join us, and Cecilia was able to stay home with her Uncle Pat & Aunt Sarah. It was AWESOME! Ultrasound technology gets better and better every year. It was amazing to see baby moving and to see the heart, spine, arms, legs, face, fingers, toes, etc. Sweet Potato (who has also been dubbed the name "Yammy" by a Great Grandma) was very cooperative and posed just perfectly through out the ultrasound. Yammy was moving around so much too. Stretching legs and flipping this way and that. We got some great photos and videos.

We did not find out the gender of Yammy. When we got back to the exam room, the doctor came in and said " Congratulations, you're having a..... deferred!" I thought he was going to tell us the gender, and I was getting a little angry. It was funny. He showed us the chart and under gender it says "Deferred". It was a relief, because we want the surprise when the baby is born.

I am so excited to meet this little one. I feel baby move all the time now, and I had forgotten how much I missed that feeling.

We started moving stuff around in the house over the past few weeks. Gosh we have a lot of stuff! We needed to clean out and reorganize one of the bedrooms in the basement to make it into a guest room so that we can start repainting and making Cecilia's big girl room upstairs. Good think ARC/Goodwill does home pick ups! There is a ton of stuff to go out.

Fun at Grandma & Pops'

Having time at my parents home is one of the best things in the world. They are remote enough that there is no temptation to go shopping, or to go do anything with the rest of the post-Christmas world. We were able to enjoy quality time with Grandma, Pops and the rest of the family.

Cecilia seriously loves her Pops. She was a little cuddle bug with him.

We had the chance to make a real gingerbread house. This was a multi-step, multi-person effort. Cecilia helped Grandma make the gingerbread dough. She discovered molasses. I came over to the kitchen when I heard my Mom giggling at C, and this is what I found:

A few minutes later I heard Mom giggle again, and when I came to investigate, this is what I found:

Pat, Sarah, and I worked diligently on designing, rolling out, and decorating our gingerbread house and duck barn. We were so proud of our hard work. It was a fun labor of love. Pat completed the project with a Loch Ness monster. Sarah decorated the majority of the house, complete with Christmas "lights" and festive trees in the landscape. I worked on the Duck Barn, the mama duck and all of her little ducklings.



While us big kids were decorating, Cecilia was painting with Grandma. This was her first experience with paint. She was fascinated with all of the different places she could paint...


This painting session warranted a bath in Grandma's sink.


One evening after Cecilia went to bed, we played a rousing game of Yhatzee! I got TWO Yhatzee's and won the game. Wooowhooo!

Christmas Presents!

Nick and Megan joined us early on the 26th for breakfast and presents. NOW it felt like Christmas! The gifts were under the tree, and we were all together. Mom and Dad's house felt so festive and merry.
Cecilia jumped right in to help Grandma with the breakfast. She was so cute up there on the chair with her apron on.
After a delicious French Toast Casserole breakfast we got to the main event: PRESENTS! Cecilia was first, of course, she needed a distraction. She made out like a bandit. She got little bug puppets, blocks, new jammies, and other fun things.
Her most favorite present was her new dolly set. She has had her eye on this dolly set since around Thanksgiving, literally. Costco had this dolly displayed right in the front of their store and every time we went there, Cecilia was sure to let me know that she saw it. She would point and get excited, almost to the point of giddiness. So, when Grandma asked what Cecilia wanted for Christmas, I knew what to tell her.

Jon and I made gifts for my parents this year. Jon brewed a batch of beer from one of my Dad's old recipe's, I designed the label, and we gifted the entire batch to him. My Dad loved the idea and the beer, and it was fun to see that recipe recreated with love.


For my Mom, I designed a Brazil book from our trip that we went on two years ago. She has been begging me to do a book since we got home, and I finally got around to doing it. It turned out really well. I think I'll do a separate post on it after the new year.
Santa was soooo good to Jon and I. We got NEW PLUMBING! I know what your thinking: "What?". Really, though, this may not sound glamorous, but trust me, it is. We got new valves, and PEX fittings, and PEX tubing so that we can redo the plumbing in the house. Our house is 55 years old. It has galvanized pipes, aka rust. We have been crossing our fingers, and saying our prayers that the pipes don't burst before we get them replaced. Now we can, and Jon will ;) The idea of turning water on, and it not coming out that beautiful rust color is a dream soon to come true.
Christmas was also sponsored by Dave Ramsey this year. My parents have been taking his class over the last few months, and have learned so much. They are definitely on the band wagon. So, they got each of us kids his book and a set of CD's from the class they took. We listened to the first 1.5 discs on the way home from the mountains- we're hooked. The guy has great ideas that just make sense.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of tea parties, baking cookies, and napping.
Mom made a wonderful Christmas dinner, and we were all lucky enough to spend the afternoon and evening with Aunt Jenny and cousin Brendan. Cecilia ate her dinner earlier than the rest of us so as not to miss bed time. She has started saying her prayers every time she sits at the table. It is seriously cute!

After dinner we played a long game of "Things". I highly recommend this game for adults. There was a ton of laughter, and we were up until almost 1AM finishing the game.

Christmas Day!

We drove up the hill late on Christmas Eve to my parents house. It was a rough night with Cecilia, and I think at about 2:30AM, when she was still awake, was when I vowed to never travel to my parents house during a normal sleep time if possible. Never the less, it was nice to be at my parents home on Christmas morning. We didn't open many gifts that day, only the ones from Ma & Pa. We waited to do the majority of the gift opening on the day after Christmas when Nick and Megan could join us. But first, the Angel had to be placed on the tree. Mom designated Sarah, the newest family member, with this task. Mom had a new tree this year, and its a tall one! Good thing Pat is sturdy.



Cecilia had amazing focus while opening her present from Ma & Pa. And boy, was she excited about her new tea party set. We played "tea" all weekend long. Daddy was the first guest.
Cecilia also got a cute little clay nativity set from Ma & Pa. I love that it's her size. She loved that it was a box, with things to take out and put back in.


Remember how I vowed to never travel during a normal sleep period if possible again.... ya. Cecilia was exhausted by 9:30AM. She gave up her morning nap several months ago, but for Christmas, she took a morning nap and an afternoon nap.
One of the best things about Christmas day was being able to go to Mass at my parents Church. It was so nice to go without all of the crowds at my Church on Christmas Eve. Don't get me wrong, I love my Church, but the crowds and holiday Catholics tend to erk me a little. It was wonderful to go with the whole family and sit comfortably, and not have to rush to get a seat.

We had a relaxing afternoon just being together. There was not a flake of snow on the ground, the skies were as blue as could be. Mom, Sarah, and I even took a walk in the 45 degree weather. It was beautiful!

Cecilia was so ready for a bath that night. One mention of the word "bath", and she was in the tub. It was pretty funny trying to get her out of the tub long enough to find the naked baby before she could actually take her bath.



After dinner we played several rounds of poker. Mom raked it in at the end (she always does).

It didn't really feel like Christmas. Maybe it was because all of the presents were still wrapped under the tree. Maybe it was because Nick wasn't with us yet. Maybe it had something to do with the lack of snow, the bright sun, and the fall like temperatures. It didn't matter though, we enjoyed each others company and celebrated the birth of Jesus. That is what Christmas is all about!