Determined and Curious

Today I set Preston in the floor to have a little tummy time and before I knew it he caught a glimpse of the Christmas tree and Savannah's nativity set. Once he saw them he was determined to reach them . . . and after many rolls at various angles, he achieved his goal. The first casualty was Savannah's perfectly aligned nativity. He was most intrigued with the fuzzy sheep. Once he had that and of course had tasted it, he continued towards the packages under the tree. He was about to taste them too before I pulled him away.

A Big Parade

Savannah has asked for two things for Christmas, "a hair cut thing and a pink guitar". I guess the first request is a way for mom to be a part of Christmas since she was a hairdresser. It's funny how Savannah has never been interested in cutting hair until she saw the "hair cut thing" in the Toys R Us big toy book and now it's all she talks about. I'm sure mom is smiling down from heaven seeing her granddaughter wanting to be a hairdresser. :) The second request I thought was a result of the letter "G" show and tell week at WEE school. Savannah's friend Gavin brought in a guitar and ever since she has talked about wanting a guitar, only she wants a pink one. However, yesterday I was on the computer and she asked for me to play her favorite song, Mighty to Save. So I pulled up Youtube and got the song going. She sat and stared at the computer through the entire video and half way through says to me "Mom, when I get my pink guitar I'm going to be in a big parade. You and dad can come too, and dad can play his guitar." (I'm thinking good luck with that one, but anyway . . .) Trying to clarify I asked her if she meant that she wanted to play a guitar in a band and she says "yeah, and you guys can come too." So now I think she is just really into music and wants to play in a band someday.

Still Congested . . .

This is week FOUR of Preston's congestion! I thought things were getting better and had partly convinced myself that the off and on cough was just reflux, but today things have definitely gotten worse. He has spit up more than ever (actually thrown up would be a better description), and now the spit up is coming out of his mouth and nose. He has completely filled his laundry basket in one day. So off we go again tomorrow to the doctor for the fourth time in four weeks. Please pray that we get some answers and can find something to help this congestion go away.

Thankful

I cannot believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already! Is it really almost December?! We've done a lot of travelling since Thursday, but have enjoyed spending time with almost all of our family. On Thursday we travelled to Greenville and had Thanksgiving with Dave's family. We had a feast and enjoyed spending time with the Weningers (Dave's brother in law's family). I was busy keeping up with Savannah and trying to keep Preston happy so I totally forgot to take the annual family picture! :( Then today we ventured to Burlington to have Thanksgiving with my side of the family. Of course there was yet another feast, which Deborah cooked all herself! YUMMY! Here are a few pictures from today..

Reflecting back over this year has made me realize just how much we have to be thankful for. Yes, it's been hard, but I'm so thankful for the journey. It's amazing to see how God has changed me and has really drawn me closer to Him throughout the year. That in itself is plenty to be thankful for, but we have oh so much more to give thanks for this Thanksgiving. I'll be the first to say that it's been different and definitely sad at times, but I could never express how thankful I am for all of the blessings . . . for an amazing husband who has walked me through this past year, two happy and healthy children, a loving family both near and far, my sitting shivah friends from Bible study, friends from high school and college that still stay in touch, a church home, great neighbors and the list could go on and on.

I also have to say that I'm thankful to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my mom is healthy, happy, and loving life at the feet of Jesus. Thank you Lord for the assurance that one day soon I'll see her again and be able to live with her forever. Oh what a reminder it is not to take one single day for granted here on earth . . . and to be ever so thankful for each day!

Christmas Decorating

Well, yesterday was the day. I've been doing quite a bit of holiday shopping and listening to a ridiculous amount of Christmas music on the radio so I decided that it was time to break out the Christmas decorations. I knew that we have a lot of travelling ahead of us, that Dave has to work both Wednesday and Friday, then there's month end, again, and another trip to FL for Dave so we decided to go ahead and start decorating for Christmas. We're a loooooong way from being finished, but it has begun.

Parent's Preview Day at Ballet

Today was the day that parents were finally allowed to be in the room for ballet lessons! Usually Dave takes Savannah and enjoys watching her on the TV from the lobby, but today parents were invited to preview their song for the showcase that is coming up in December. It was so cute and although it threw sweet Preston's "schedule" way off, it was fun to go as a family!

5 Months Already??

It seems like just yesterday that we were bring sweet Preston home from the hospital, and now here we are, 5 months later! He has changed so much in these past few weeks and is really developing his own little personality. So far his favorites include:

• ATTENTION! He loves to have your undivided attention and will make sure he has it.



• Milk (the expensive kind, and lots of it)



• Pulling Hair (especially his sister's)



• The jumparoo



• His exersaucer



• Slobbering on his sister's stuffed animals



• Squealing



• His blue lovey blanket



• Musical giraffe



• Green Soothie Pacifiers (for teething mostly)

He doesn't particularly care for tummy time or naps, but we're working on both of those! As of this past week we finally have a routine. I'm hesitant to call it a schedule because those always change, but we are definitely getting into a regular pattern of sleeping and eating that seems to work for us all!