Christmas

This was our year to go to Minnesota for Christmas. We had a great time, with the exception of Josh being sick the whole time we were there. :( It wasn't anything contagious (food poisoning, we think?), and he did manage to rally enough to visit a lot of friends and family.

Our first full day in town, we travelled out to Waconia to visit Mark, Amy and Ava. It had been wayyyy too long since we'd seen them, and it was so fun! Ava is 2 years younger than Willow, and they had a good time playing. Here's a picture of them jumping on the couch. What a couple of cuties!

 

Josh and Mark went in their hot tub (unfortunately I couldn't participate in that activity this time) while Amy and I watched the girls play, and we had pizza. Here are the girls, Amy and I.







At Grandma and Grandpa's house, Willow had fun decorating Christmas cookies.

Christmas Eve, we went over to Josh's great-aunt Lorraine's house, where all of her kids and grandkids were visiting as well. Willow had a lot of fun with those cousins, especially Bianca.

Just like two years ago, she had fun gambling as well.

Then we went back to Jack and Jean's to open presents; however it was already so late that Willow and I didn't make it until the end and had to go to bed. No big deal though; we woke up the next morning and plenty more present-opening occurred.

The best gift was probably the dollhouse that Willow got from aunt Jill and GG (that's Great-Grandma Lois). The dollhouse was made by GG's talented late brother, Tom. They also included furniture and dolls with it. Willow was pretty excited when they carried that up the stairs. Here she is playing with it.

She did receive the two gifts that she asked Santa for: an airplane and a bear.






Here she is in her new hat:





I had to include this one just because it makes me laugh. She was carrying around a bag, pretending to be Santa and distributing gifts.




Later Christmas day, we went over to aunt Joan and Uncle Ray's house to visit with Jean's side of the family. Willow spent most of the time playing with her favorite cousin (Josh's cousin), Katie. Katie is amazing with kids, and Willow is starting to remember her each time we visit the Jenson's, and ask for her. One special thing that happened is that Katie asked Willow to be the flower girl in her wedding this spring. It sounds like Willow and her second-cousin Natalie will share the job. Should be pretty cute...

One last thing relating to the holidays: Josh and I actually went out on New Year's Eve this year. We went to a "murder mystery" party given by our friends Andi and Jim. We were all assigned roles in advance. Josh was Jack Giuseppi, accountant to gangster "Big Jim" Ravioli, and I was his lovely wife Guilda. Ha. It was really fun, even considering that I was sober.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I am 29 weeks today. Yep, I am now 2 weeks past when Willow was born. I'm feeling pretty great about that. The baby is about 2 and a half pounds now. I'm up to weekly appointments with Dr. Hafeman, and I also have to have weekly non-stress tests. So far that has all been fine. I also had an appointment down in Wausau on January 2. That was pretty good...there was one sort of worrisome thing though, which was that the baby is not growing as fast as it was earlier in the pregnancy. It's fallen a little off of the growth curve it was following, though is still within the normal range. So now I have to go see that doctor again 3 weeks later, and 6 weeks, then 9 weeks. If everything was fine, I was just going to have to see him one more time 4 weeks later, and then I'd be done with him. I am trying not to worry about this, so please don't worry yourself either.

The other thing that is not a big deal is that the baby is still breech. This is more likely to happen because of my heart-shaped uterus. So on Dr. Hafeman's advice, I'm spending time each day with my butt propped up on pillows and my head down, with clothespins on my pinkie toes. Apparently those toes have an acupressure point that helps babies turn around. Don't laugh; if you look online, this is actually pretty common practice!

Here's the latest ultrasound photo.

We've finally gotten enough snow to have some winter fun (though still not nearly as much as we'd like!). I have some cute photos of Willow's first time skiing and snowshoeing, but I think I'll save those for the next post.