Merry Christmas, Y'all

“Lemme e’splain. No, there is too much, let me sum up…”

JANUARY
-We ring in the new year with Steven’s family in Chicago; ice on the way back forces a stopover in Missouri
-Jenny is called as Primary Chorister (translation—music teacher for the children’s organization at church)

FEBRUARY
-Our first pet, a hamster (aptly named “Hammy”), manages to escape twice in the first week
-Steven and Jenny plan a big date for Valentine’s Day! The kids begin puking within 20 minutes of our intended departure! (sigh)

MARCH
-We enjoy a fun-filled month of visiting the zoo/beach/Space Center and pickin’ strawberries at Froberg Farms
-Stevie starts reading books to us (four years old, for cryin’ out loud!)

APRIL
-Disaster is narrowly averted when David pulls a 6-drawer dresser on top of himself. Luckily, Jenny was there, and he survived with little more than a scary bruise under his left eye
-Flash flooding during a spring torrent forces us to park on high ground and hoof it back home with the little boys in tow (~3 miles, though we were spared one of those by benevolent motorists we met as we sought temporary refuge at the local Dairy Queen)

MAY
-Steven turns 36
-Jenny makes Steven the ugliest birthday cake known to man, but quickly realizes that Steven was more interested in the cake’s personality anyway

JUNE
-R.I.P. Hammy
-Our long-awaited replacement digital piano arrives
-David and Stevie polish Guitar Hero renditions of Livin’ on a Prayer, Beat It, Eye of the Tiger, and Crazy Train (so begins their apprenticeship with the dark side…)

JULY
-Stevie starts swimming lessons
-We find out we’re FINALLY pregnant again with Baby #3!!! Due date: March 27th, 2010

AUGUST
-We travel to Arizona for the wedding of Steven’s sister in Mesa, spending time with much-missed family and paying visits to Flagstaff, Slide Rock State Park, and the Grand Canyon along the way (even managing to catch the last elevator down at Carlsbad Caverns on the return trip)
-Steven is called as Deacon’s Quorum Advisor at church (which means he teaches Sunday school to the 12-13 year old boys)
-David turns 3 with a vengeance
-Jenny turns 32 in the ER after a nasty gallbladder attack

SEPTEMBER
-Stevie and David start their preschool co-ops (sort of like Joy School; moms rotate teaching). We all love it, and Stevie and David are doing exceptionally well
-Stevie starts T-ball, where he shows off his crazy fast running skills
-We buy a new house! (In your face, IKE)
-Stevie turns 5, and we throw the boys a joint Rock-n-Roll/Spiderman birthday party

OCTOBER
-Jenny is called as choir director at church, and begins planning the annual Choir Christmas Sacrament Program
-After a high-definition ultrasound, we find out that Baby Grundberg #3 looks healthy, and that we’re having……(drum roll)…… ANOTHER BOY! (It’s going to be a madhouse!!!) Jenny chooses Jacob as his first name, but indulges Steven in the selection of a middle name (current frontrunners: Hoyt and Maher-shalal-hash-baz)

NOVEMBER
-David conquers potty-training. The Grundbergs are diaper-free for 4 whole months!
-We finally close on our new house and move in with the help of some great guys at church (It’s beautiful, and we love, absolutely love it!!!)

DECEMBER
-We currently find ourselves Christmas-decorating, singing carols, and thinking of how much we miss you all. Remember, our new house has a guest bedroom with YOUR NAME ON IT! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year is full of love, laughter, blessings and lottery scratch-off winnings!!!

With Much Love,
Steven, Jenny, Stevie & David
(and Baby Jacob, too!)

Christmas Day...

was a success. Can you believe that my children slept until 9 o'clock? I think that was probably the best Christmas present ever.

Santa gave the boys two fabulous yellow motorcross-esque bikes! Both of them needed a bigger bike as they had outgrown their old ones, and they were quite pleased.


Afterwards, we took turn opening presents. The kids got a surplus of crazy presents, including Gator Golf, a batman playcastle, and orange plastic cones (don't ask). I got some nice hairbrushes from David, two fancy umbrellas from Stevie and a VITAMIX from Steven (love it!)


I've endeavored for at least a month to keep Steven's Christmas gift a secret this year. It was a huge success, and I am officially titled "Sneakiest Wife Ever," but in a good way. His gift? A new digital drumset.



After presents, we tooled around a bit playing with gifts and relaxing in our pajamas.

My dad and brother Joey came over later that afternoon to exchange gifts and eat Christmas dinner. I had big plans this year of doing the dinner in "courses," just like they do at restuarants. It didn't work out quite as planned--timing is just about the hardest part of cooking!! At any rate, I've pledged that I will never again have a 4 course dinner until I have help--meaning servants--doing most of the work. Which also means probably never.



At any rate, dinner was lovely. After Dad and Joey went home, we watched the church video, Joy to the World with the boys. It's a lovely account of the true meaning of Christmas and the Savior's birth.

So Christmas is gone and past for another 363 days. It was stressful this year, so hopefully next year Steven and I can come up with some solutions to make it more stress-free and more importantly, more Christ-centered.

Christmas Eve: Long, Exasperating Post

Christmas Eve was very perplexing. But it all turned out good in the end—thanks to my wonderful little family.

Lately several things I’ve tried to plan end up blowing up in my face, and tonight was no exception. I had initially thrown around the idea with a friend to get together for Christmas Eve to hang out and play games---just a fun, casual night. She had to double check everything with the hubby just in case. I waited awhile and didn’t hear from her, but didn’t think too much of it.

After awhile, I talked with my dad on the phone, and ended up deciding to go with him to see the Dickinson Festival of Lights and go to IHOP afterwards. As SOON as I got off the phone with him, I notice that there was a message on my phone---my friend, saying that everything was “go” for tonight—which she had left on my phone 2 HOURS EARLIER.

So now I'd managed to double-schedule our day. For some reason, this made me have just a teeny mental breakdown that I tried to hide from the kids so they wouldn't notice Mommy had gone bananas (just chalk it up to hormones+Christmas pressure+being an emotional basket case in general). I ended up cancelling with my friend (whom I love dearly and really wanted to spend time with), and press forward—planning on spending time with my family that evening.

Well, as time went on, it got WINDIER and WINDIER outside. I mean, CRAZY-PSYCHO-TORNADO windy. Morning had been pleasant as punch, but as soon as it comes time for us to go to the festival of lights, a stinkin’ windstorm starts tearing League City apart. Of course.

The temperature drops and drops, and by the time my dad gets here it’s a whopping 42 degrees, with the wind chill making it feel subzero. After struggling with politeness for a moment or so, my dad admits that he’d really rather not spend the evening freezing his rear off in a park somewhere, and seeing as how he sort of has the Christmas Eve blues anyway, he decides to just go home.

So THAT was the sucky part of the day. Now on to the next part.

After much persuasion from my hubby and a bit more freaking out on my part, we decide to just stick to the dern plan and go to the festival of lights. Even though we were bundled up enough to face an Illinois blizzard, we were completely FREEZING! But the kids loved it, and oohed and ahhed in all the right places, exclaiming at the lights displays and running up and down the paths. David finally broke down and stuttered, “I’m c-c-c-cold, I want to g-g-go home.” Stevie, on the way out, said, “We had such a wonderful time here!” Both comments were strangely endearing.



Once home, it was time to open our one Christmas Eve gift. Everyone got new Christmas pajamas (except for me, who had received some pajamas as an early Christmas gift—instead I got to open some silver earrings!)

After putting on our new pajamas, we all headed to the kitchen to make “snowman soup” for the kiddos and drink some delicious Stephen’s peanut butter hot cocoa for mom and dad.


Next, we made some cookies for Santa, and called Grandpa Ron on the phone to wish him a Merry Christmas Eve.

Afterwards, I watched “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” with the kids. By this time, they were very sleepy, but not too sleepy to check online on the Official NORAD Santa Tracker to check on Santa’s progress. After seeing that Santa was ALREADY in DETROIT, Stevie hurried everyone off to bed.

Though nothing went as planned, and I admit that I’m glad this day is over, I’ll also say that I’m glad it ended so sweetly with my fellers all around me. I love my precious little monsters. And my precious big monster. All is well. More later on the big day (YAY CHRISTMAS!)

Bedtime with Santa

We had a new Christmas activity at church last Friday and it was just awesome. It was called "Bedtime with Santa," and all the kiddos showed up in their jammies.

First off, members of the activities committe and the bishopric read some Christmas stories to get everyone in the mood.



Next, they had a little table where the kids could write a letter to Santa and decorate it. My kids weren't interested at first--until they realized that they would be able to actually HAND the letter to Santa--that got them scribbling!

Then we all hearded into the Primary room to sing some Christmasy Carols while we waited for Santa to arrive. David's favorite was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." (Of course, he sang the Jackson Five version).


And then, of course, Steven and Ben Hewett had to start singing some of their OWN versions--one which included a few horrible Robert Goulet impersonations and climaxed with a falsetto soprano version of "O Holy Night."
FINALLY it was time to meet Santa! Stevie and David were a bit beside themselves with excitement. Both sat on his lap and reiterated what they wanted for Christmas (we had already written Christmas letters the week before).



And then Steven got it into his head to sit on Ole St. Nick's lap--he looks like he's drinking with an old army buddy or something.

Not to be outdone, I got in a picture with some of the girls. I thought we were going to do a little "Santa Baby"-type shot, but apparently I was alone in this thought. Which explains why I'm the only one with the "grr" action goin' on.


Regardless, a super fun time was had by all. I really hope they make this activity a tradition--we just loved it!

"The Polar Express" Party

I have a cute friend in the ward who came up with a great idea. She invited all the little kiddies from the ward over to have a "Polar Express" party. The kids came in their jammies, and we watched the movie "The Polar Express." Stevie and David absolutely loved it.

Here's a picture of the kiddos after they were given their "ticket" to the Polar Express.
During the part in the movie where the children are served hot chocolate on the train, our hostess (Amie) brings out hot chocolate for all the kids to enjoy. She also passed out little jingle bells for the kids to shake when it was time to "jingle their bells if they believed in Santa." It was so adorable and creative!


After the movie, we had a delicious lunch and I totally the kids pigged out.


I just loved this idea. Granted, most of the smaller kids only took in about 1/3 of the movie (other people's toys are just too darn interesting), but even so, my boys really remembered the experience. They talked about it all day. Adn I have to admit that I loved getting a chance to talk to all the awesome moms that were there. Such a fun way to start off our Christmas-filled week.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day...

Tonight I rushed out to run two errands before the bewitching hour (translation--about 9:00pm, which is the time that I turn into a zombie nowadays). I zoomed over to Office Depot about 7 minutes before they closed, made copies like a madwoman and then zoomed over to Target to get a few more things. As I was headed for the checkout, I looked at the time and congratulated myself on the general speediness of my shopping.

As I got up to the register, I started looking for my bankcard. It was nowhere to be found. I realized with a sinking feeling that I had no way to pay for my purchases. I started madly flipping through my wallet, and exclaimed, "Wait! I have cash. What's the total?" It was $24.42. I had exactly 23 dollars in my wallet.

I began to hem and haw and asked the cashier if she'd suspend my order for a few minutes while I looked in my car. Did I mention that I was hugely embarrassed, as there were quite a few people in line behind me and I was just sure they were all internally shouting obscenities at me?

But the girl behind me--college aged maybe, give or take a few years--said to me, "Here, I have 2 dollars." I immediately started to protest, but she just said, "It's no big deal, the same thing happened to me last week. That way you won't have to go all the way out to your car."

I almost kissed her. Maybe it was just a little thing, but it just made me so darn grateful and happy. People are just plain good inside, and it seems like I find new proof every day.

I Love Stevie

Yesterday, we were having lunch at a friend’s house. Before eating, we decided to play a quick game of “Candyland” with the kids. Everything was going pretty well until David ended up winning the game.

Tears started to well up in Stevie’s eyes and he pushed his face into his knees. He does this when he knows he’s going to start crying but doesn’t want me to see. I tried to talk to him softly about how it’s just a game and it’s only for fun and sometimes ya win some, sometimes ya lose some, etc.

But he just got more and more upset. His quiet tears turned into sobs. “I NEVER win at Candyland, Mom. I’m just a LOSER! I’m a big LOSER! I never win at anything!”

You can imagine how my heart broke when I heard this. I continued to talk with him and hold him and assure him that he was in NO way a loser of any sort. Finally, he decided that he needed to sit by himself for awhile so that he could calm down.

I know this is probably an everyday experience for a child, but it just got me thinking about my sweet little Stevie. He’s a thinker---a figure-it-out kind of guy. I feel brilliance brimming out of this child. But he also wears all his emotions on his sleeve, takes things very seriously and feels things very deeply. I love it because I know it means he’ll always be motivated to do great things—hunger for beauty and truth--be a “Mover and Shaker.” But I hurt for him because I know he’ll always struggle because of it. It’s the price you pay for having your emotions too much with you. It makes for living in a colorful and beautiful world, but also unbearable at times.

All I can do is watch and wait---hold him tight when he cries and assure him that he is NEVER, EVER a loser. In fact, he’s a pretty extraordinary guy. But I bet being extraordinary isn't always fun.

Christmas Is Getting Away from Me

...or so it would seem.

Last year I was all over Christmas. Besides going to every single Christmas activity available in the Bay Area, we made cookies, gingerbread houses, hung Christmas lights, made ornaments with the boys, played Secret Santa, read a Christmas book every night, etc., etc....

This year I feel like the move has gotten in the way a bit. We've been so worried about putting our house together that we haven't set aside a lot of time to feel, oh, I don't know,...Christmasy.

So we made a start on Monday night. For FHE, we retold the Nativity story using our Nativity figures, and we wrote down one thing that we were going to give Baby Jesus for Christmas (trying to get the boys to understand THAT concept was a bit like pulling teeth. David wanted to get Him a racecar).

Next, we sat down and wrote letters to Santa Claus, complete with envelope and stamp and a trip to the post office. (This last activity was mostly just a sneaky way to find out what the boys couldn't live without present-wise).

But today I'm back to feeling bogged down by everything that needs doing, and I don't want to feel this way. But at the same time, I want to get all the gifts delivered, cards and pictures sent---I want everyone to have that yearly feeling of being "remembered" by the Grundbergs.

You know what I really want to do? Go Christmas caroling--straight out of the hymn book. Followed by some nice and hot wassail to drink. And I want to watch Mickey's Christmas Carol. And wear Christmas pajamas.

And I want my heart to catch in my throat while pondering how His gift ended up making us all aware of that spark of goodness that's inside every human being---the one that makes us just want to Love and Give---even if we don't always remember the reason why.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Since we just moved our things in yesterday, it looks like a cyclone (with a fondness for cardboard) attacked the place. But stay tuned for pictures—I’ll post some as soon as we get things cleaned up.

The house is beautiful and I love it. We closed last Monday (the 23rd), and it was a relatively seamless event. I remember years ago when we bought our house in Chicago. After all the signatures were signed, I remember experiencing a horrible feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. This was mostly due to both 1) our general fear being first time homebuyers and 2) the fact that as first time inexperienced homebuyers, we got fleeced pretty good.

But THIS time, Steven put in a lot of hours researching every possible detail, and we’re pretty sure we made a smart, solid investment. I walked out of the Closing feeling like I was walking on air. It was a beautiful thing.

The house is a two-story red-brick number with 4 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths. It has a good-sized backyard with lovely landscaping and even a lemon and key lime tree. It’s in a cute little neighborhood very close to the church building, and it has SIDEWALKS! Now I can take the kiddos out on their bikes without worrying they’ll be run over like Frogger. There’s also a nice little park down the street and a community swimming pool.

The only thing that’s REALLY going to take some getting used to is the STAIRS! Oh my gosh, you’d think I was a 400 lb, 85 year old woman to hear me huff and puff up those things.

My brother Adam came by a few days ago to check it out, and made the following comment: “Doesn’t it kind of feel like moving into a mansion?” he jokingly asked. I laughed. But in all seriousness—to me that’s exactly how it feels. This house is by NO MEANS mansion-esque. But I’ve never lived in a house this nice in my entire life—and so I guess that means I’ve got to figure out how to make sure it stays nice…a daunting thought but oh, so worth it.

Now to break out that snot-green paint!

End of Season

Stevie’s last two games of the season were last Saturday, and he did a great job. They don’t actually keep score, mind you, but nonetheless all the kids worked hard and had fun. After the last game, there was a little ceremony where the teams lined up and sat around the infield, and the coaches called the kiddos up one by one and handed them their trophies.

At every game, the coach gives out a “game ball” to a player who’s done a particularly good job. Stevie got the game ball at the last game because he was the played that showed the most improvement and “always plays hard” (which is definitely true---I’ve seen the kid chase after the ball with an almost scary look of determination on his face).


I’m really proud of him. He really listened, followed instructions and tried hard. And what’s more, he really enjoyed it. I think our first experience with organized sports was a success. Stay tuned to see what he does next!

Could it Be?

2 days in a row without any excrement-related accidents whatsoever. I know I may be jinxing it, but I think David may have gotten the hang of this whole potty-training thing. He's even been TELLING me when he has to use the bathroom--which is completely out of character.

Granted, he seldom wears pants nowadays (they seem to make him forgetful), but nonetheless, I'd say this was tremendous progress. And the thought of having NO DIAPERS TO CHANGE for an entire glorious 4 months before Jacob gets here is almost too much to bear. Seriously, I may be tearing up here.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAVID!

Writing About Myself…Just Me, Me, Me. So There.

Here are a few things I’ve been doing lately—

1) Obsessing about Ward Choir and Christmas music. I just love the ward choir and I’m insanely in love with all things Christmas, so this is a dangerous combination for me. Every time we sing in sacrament meeting, I get the biggest high---this could be because we have so many talented people at church, and so the choir sounds outrageously awesome.

2) Puzzling over the Coupon Dilemma. I have a friend who will literally walk into a Kroger and come out with a bagful of free groceries. How is it done? I’m trying to take a few tutorials and such, but it’s very bewildering. But dang-it all, I want my free bagful of groceries!

3) Desperately seeking a sewing instructor. I bought a new (very simple) sewing machine with the intent on using it to better my skills as a SAHM. So far, I’ve figured out how to thread it and that’s it. And don’t ask me what would happen if the thread broke—I just don’t know. At any rate, there are lots of projects out there that are currently too daunting for me due to their mention of top or back or sideways stitching or what have you. I’d like to overcome that. However, sewing instructors don’t just grow on trees, and I’m finding it rather difficult to find someone who will actually teach me instead of just doing it for me. I’m willing to fork out the dough, mind you.

4) Reading books. I finally found a few that were worth it, and I actually zoomed through two of them (Shanghai Girls and The Nanny Diaries) in two days. The other two (Fahrenheit 451 and Brick Lane) are a little weightier, so I’m trying to take some more time with them.

5) Killing fruit flies. For the past week, those little demons have been dive-bombing my face day and night. My hatred of them is past reason. Fortunately, I found their source yesterday--a potato had apparently fallen out of the bag in the back cupboard and started up a little colony there. I got rid of it (and doused the entire area with bleach).

6) Being lonely. I don’t know what it is, but lately I’ve been feeling a little “nobody-likes-me-everybody-hates-me-I’m-gonna-go-eat-worms.” I always mean to call up a friend or set up a play-date, but something always holds me back. It'll pass, it always does. But in the meantime, I’ve been treasuring any and all adult conversation as manna from heaven. It’s a good thing my boys keep me cracking up all the live-long day. They keep me from wallowing, the little stinkers.

Halloween

Good Grief. THE CANDY!!!!

There are currently three gallon-sized zip-locked bags sitting on our counter at this very minute holding the boys’ Halloween candy. And that’s not even counting all the crappy candy I just threw away because I knew none of us would ever eat it.

So needless to say, the boys got a great haul this year.

Trunk-or-Treat was really fun this year. We combined with South Shore and Kemah wards, so it was HUGE! There were tons of cars for the kids to visit, and some of them were really creative! I manned our “JAWS” trunk while Steven took the boys around from car to car. One of the guys from our ward even brought his juggling equipment, and was JUGGLING FIRE right in front of our car! It was amazing. Here’s a picture of the cuties—(and I was almost tempted to cut myself RIGHT OUT of this picture, because I look like death warmed over--that belt doesn't look so great under preggie-belly).


We took the boys trick-or-treating around the neighborhood on Halloween as well, and it was so much fun.


We just went door to door, circling a few blocks. We had to explain to the boys that we only went to houses where the front porch light was on. Lots of people in our neighborhood were waiting on their front porch, sitting in lawn chairs and handing out candy. It was just really nice, for some reason—it felt old-school. It was dark outside---you talked with the neighbors who you hardly ever see otherwise. It was great.

Afterwards, we headed back to the house to examine the haul. It was quite appalling, but the boys were pleased.



We let them stay up WAY too late as we all watched dumb Disney Halloween movies together. What a great night.

Unrelated Blurbs

Steven blew a fuse last night while working in the garage--which busted the breaker--which was the result of a short in the garage. In the same day, the kitchen faucet decided it didn't want to turn off--ever--and so we had to turn off the water under the sink. Also, water is somehow leaking into the garage. This house if falling apart. Only 29 days till we move.

Stevie has taken to wearing his winter gloves all of the time now. And hat. I'm not sure if he just thinks it looks cool or if he's actually freezing all the time. He even sleeps in them.

I went through a lot of trouble tonight to make some delicious baked potato soup (a.k.a. ratatouille soup to my kids), and for some reason it just didn't turn out right. I hate that.

I've officially been called as the ward choir director, and I'm excited for Christmas. I only wish I could sing in the choir and be the director at the same time. Sometimes I wish that someone would just orchestrate and choreograph my life, so that every place I went would break out into some sort of musical event. I'm really crossing my fingers that there'll be something like that going on in the next life.

Today makes TWO days in a row that
1) I felt pretty good
2) I got several MUCH NEEDED household chores done
3) I've cooked a real dinner
I hope this lasts!

David is 1) definitely asserting his independence lately and 2) adamantly opposed to potty-training. Part of me wants to spank him and the other half wants to crack up at his crazy, self-asserting antics.

Little Jacob is officially on the move--or at least I can feel him now. Late at night and early in the morning, he starts getting the wiggles. Feeling the baby move is my very favorite part of being pregnant.

I miss my husband. This is weird because I see him every night, but it seems like we've been drifting off and doing our own things these past few nights. I think its time to turn the dang computers off and do some romancin'. So on that note...

Tired of the Snuffles

I have officially been coughing, sniffing, sneezing uncontrollably and losing my voice for about 4 weeks now and I'm getting really sick of it. (Ha-ha, ignore the pun--I am my father's daughter). It's been bad enough to make me really uncomfortable, but not bad enough to get me out of doing anything--which I think is monumentally unfair. I should at least be getting some sympathetic slack-off time.

To clarify, however, my sweet husband Steven has been very nice about it all. His nightly dinners have been reduced to once or twice a week dinners, and he's been letting me take lots of naps. I'm sure if I asked, he'd graciously treat me like an invalid and be happy eating sandwiches for dinner with the boys all week. But my stupid conscience gets in the way.

The worst part is that I keep hearing rumors and scary stories about women who have mysterious headaches, nasty colds, etc, that last the duration of their pregnancies. Once they deliver, they feel fine. Oh please, no.

Seriously, Allergies--or Bug-From Hades, or whatever you are--you can leave now. Christmas is coming and I want to sing me some carols! And right now everything I sing sounds like croaking from the evil old witches in all the Disney movies--which in retrospect is very Halloween appropriate, so that's a silver lining, right?

Children's Museum of Houston

My friend Sarah treated us to a day at the Houston's Children Museum, which is now officially my favorite kid's place in all of the Bay Area. I could not believe what an incredible place it was! And the kids, needless to say, loved it.

Regardless of how it may appear, Stevie is actually grimacing in joy and not extreme pain in this picture.

David and Rachel, who is gracing the camera with her signature fly-a-way hair and enormous baby blues.

Mikey was everywhere at once! There was just so much to look at! It sure kept Sarah hoppin'.

Here is Stevie hoisting himself up using a pulley system--which was a truly admirable feat because this kid weighs a ton.

Stevie, of course, had to give a big cheesey smile in front of the string bass (which was actually a display on the mechanics of stringed instruments--but Stevie was impressed solely for the rock-n-roll status).

Officers Stevie and Rachel zooming away in the police car...

One of the absolute COOLEST parts of the kid's museum was "Kidtropolis," which was virtually a play city, where the kids could try out all kids of adult activities, such as pet shop, voting at city hall, the diner, the grocery store, etc...

Here's the kids rushing around the kitchen of the diner, cooking up my lunch order--which was something like grapes and fried chicken.

David brings me my food---straight out of the frying pan.

Here's Stevie playing the role of "Grocer" in the Kidtropolis Grocery Store. He did an excellent job helping me find items.

He also spent some time at the check out (seen here). They had a neat little touch computer screen where they could "check out" the customers.

Next stop was the Art Institute, where the kids donned their artist garb and painted a few masterpieces. (See how David's double-brushin' it?)

The kids also really enjoyed the pet shop, where they were able to take care of animals, listen to their hearts, weigh them, look at x-rays, blow dry and wash their hair, etc. Stevie really took this part seriously (as you can tell from his face).

I think David had convinced himself that he actually heard a heartbeat, hence his look of suprised importance.

To sum up, it was absolutely wonderful. What a fabulous way to spend a rainy Friday. I look forward to going back again!

Feeling Better

It's been an emotional week.

With this pregnancy, I randomly decided to have the Quad Screen done, and ended up testing postive for Down Syndrome. Last Wednesday, after looking at my percentages, my OB-GYN called me personally and suggested that I go down to UTMB for a genetic counseling appointment and a high definition ultrasound.

I was devastated after getting that phone call. Completely emotionally overcome. I've always known that we'll be able to handle anything the Lord throws our way, but this time I wasn't so sure. I spent the next couple of days in tears.

The day of our appointment finally came. The doctor who gave us our genetics counseling was very direct. She wrote down both Steven's and my medical pedigree, in which we found out that each of us have childhood disabilities in our families. She told us that our chances were 1 in 53. This is where my eyes filled with tears. It was a higher number than I'd thought.

Then she showed us the chromosome information about D.S., and explained to us the mental limitations and related health problems. Then she showed us some pictures of the most angelic children I've ever seen, each with down syndrome. My heart was so full when I saw those precious children, and I was filled with fear and love for the baby inside me.

Next was the high definition ultrasound. The technician explained to us that she was looking for certain "slow markers," i.e. a collection of fluid at the nack of the fetal neck, shortness of limbs, etc. She stressed that the ultrasound was NOT completely definitive, but more of an indicator. As we continued the ultrasound, we saw the baby. So wiggly! Couldn't stand still for a second--it was adorable. I couldn't help but laugh.

As I was staring at the screen, not knowing what the heck I was looking at, the technician finally stopped and said to me, "I just want to let you know that so far, all the slow markers have been completely normal." I smiled gratefully. "There's that smile I was looking for!" she said. I started to feel a little better.

After a little while, she said asked us if we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. DUH!! She told us that if she wasn't sure, then she wouldn't even guess--seeing as how it was only 17 weeks and all. But after looking for about 2 seconds, she typed out on the screen, "I'M A BOY!"

I laughed outloud. And then I started to cry again--it was so wonderful just to be able to say, "That's my Jacob! There he is! I love him!" It made it seem to me that no matter what happens, who cares??? Because that's my Jacob!

After the ultrasound was over, another doctor came in an talked with us. He told us that all the slow markers had looked either normal or better than normal, but that in order to be completely sure we would need to do an amniocentesis. He told us that because we weren't planning on terminating, regardless of the outcome, that we had all the time in the world to decide.

I think we've pretty much decided against it. It doesn't matter anyway--and though it would be nice to know, we feel like it's not worth the risk--for us--right now, at least. It was enough for us to see that beautiful little baby squirm and wiggle around. The doctor is having us come back in 3 weeks for another hi-def ultrasound--just because the baby will be bigger and easier to see.

So, without further ado--here is the little bugger whose been causing all the trouble--and who I absolutely can not wait to meet.