Thanksmas

With 5 kids in my family, and all of us with families, it's hard to coordinate all of our schedules, so this year we picked a random weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas to get together. Family Thanksmas was last weekend at my sister's house. Lots of celebrating, because this also fell on my nephew's 2nd birthday.

Avery at the ready to help open presents if needed

Ransom checking out Grayson's loot

4 of 5 cousins

Thanksmas brunch!

Bri is sporting some spiffy new glasses. We decided that she pulled off the thick glasses and plaid better than my husband (see pic below)

Dane and Ransom; Luke and Eleanor

kid table

Sophie will get to join the kid table next year!

Elmo!! She couldn't wait for me to get him out of the box.

This girl was BEYOND excited over her new headband and Disney Fairy set

When I see this picture, all I can think of is this:

Cousin pic - Grayson and Eleanor were napping. And, happens to be the only pic of my brother. I'm such a bad photographer. Missed the other brother entirely, plus about half of the family. Sheesh.

The best we could get.

Ransom snuggles so well.

Luke testing out his new sleeping bag

Grayson practicing being a big brother. Not much longer now!

Bumpdate, Weeks 21-25

The Good and the Bad this month, for posterity:

• Still feeling good, for the most part. Lower back pain kicks in once in awhile, and I wake up with a sore back most morning. I kind of hobble out of bed these days. 
• Exhaustion reigns. I'm more tired this pregnancy than in pregnancies past, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. 
• Despite that, I love pregnancy. I can't help but feel humbled, this time especially, that God would bless us with this gift of a child.
• This sweet babe is super active. I feel him (or her!) all the time, but most when I'm sitting still or laying down. I love all of the little pokes and jabs, and I'm even starting to see the movement too. 
• My midwives tested me early for diabetes since I had it in my last pregnancy. I failed the 1-hr test, so they brought me back in a few days later to do the dreaded 3-hr glucose test. Which I passed. With flying colors. I felt so amazing the whole time I was in the waiting room, and I sat there thankful for all who had prayed and were praying for me that morning. This was a big change from last pregnancy, when I was the weird sweaty woman in the corner of the lab waiting room. 

My last junk food meal in case my test turned out to be positive for gestational diabetes. It really was as good as it looks here.

• My doc/midwives now do all labwork in their own office, and they have the sweetest lab tech. I adore her. She makes getting multiple needles in your arm and losing a lot of blood a ton of fun. (No lie - she has me laughing the whole time.)
• At my 24 week appointment, they did another ultrasound because they couldn't get a good picture of the baby's heart last time. This made me a little nervous, thinking that something might have been wrong, but praise God, it really was just a positioning issue, and we received some sweet bonus pictures of a more filled out baby. The profile now looks more like the girls' profiles. 

Love this one so much - the baby's hand is up by the face.

• We have traveled every weekend since Thanksgiving.
• With all of this traveling, it's been really hard to get bump pics in. I might have one for 21 weeks lying around here somewhere, but it's been transferred off my phone already. 23 weeks was spent in NYC.
• We celebrated Christmas early with my side of the family last weekend so that we could have all 5 kids together. So much fun to have all the cousins together.
• No weird cravings. Latest snack is celery sticks with sunbutter spread on them. Also made a citrus kale salad the other night that I'm in love with, so this will be appearing weekly on the menu until I tire of it. 
• That above bullet point makes me sound crazy healthy. I'm totally normal, y'all. I went to a cookie exchange party last night and came home with 4 dozen cookies and ate my weight in something called crack dip (shredded chicken, cream cheese, and buffalo sauce, baked in the oven.)
• I've had remarkable restraint on the cookies though. Two days of baking and smelling sugar, and you kind of get over the desire to eat it. Yes, even I can resist sugar.
• I have the tendency to blame anger and irritation and impatience on my hormones. Not everyday is pretty around our house these days. Really, it's my own selfishness and sin. I'm in need of a major overhaul in my spirit.