Substance of Faith: I'm still stuck in November...

I didn't post last Sunday, so that means I have two weeks of catching up. Not that there has really been that much interesting that has been going on in the past few weeks.
We did have Thanksgiving, and that was pretty awesome. We made the long trek across the street to my sister's house. :) I made my favorite side dishes and she made the Turkey. That is an exchange I am okay with. Anything to put off doing the Turkey another year. It was fun to spend the afternoon with my family (we do Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve Dinner with my family and big Spanish Christmas Dinner with Dave's family so we never have to figure out where we're going to be).
And that was followed up by Black Friday. Dave and I aren't ones to really do the whole "Black Friday Shopping" thing, especially since it started on Thanksgiving Day this year. But we do like to slip out after the crowds are down and see if there's anything left that we might be interested in (namely socks, yes, it's lame, but I love that Smiths has socks for 50% off). I guess I'm lying- this year, Dave and I did have something on our list for the Black Friday shopping (and the timing was good too). A few weeks ago, while I was up trying to handle a temper tantrum from Ethan, Emery decided it would be a great idea to steal my hot chocolate and drink it over my lap top (my fault completely for leaving my mug of hot chocolate sitting next to my lap top). Enough was spilled over my lap top to kill it. I turned it off and set it aside to dry, but the damage was done. When I finally booted it back up the keyboard was dead, but I was able to salvage my picture files before the computer died completely. So, long story short- the Black Friday deals for laptops came at a convenient time and I was able to get a new one without a hiccup in my work schedule.
Last week was rough. Dave had a 5 day weekend so I knew it was going to be hard for the boys when he went back to work (not to mention hard for me). Sure enough Tuesday was pretty rocky. And Friday was another rough day- the type of day where I couldn't pinpoint where everything went wrong, or specifically what was wrong, it was just a crappy day. Know those kinds of days? I think I gave up halfway through the day and just went into survival mode- made sure no one was going to kill themselves or someone else (myself included) and basically did the lowest level of required parenting. I definitely don't get any stars for Friday. One of the best pieces of advice about parenting I've heard/read has been that your perfect or ideal day is a moving target- your best may not be the same from day to day. I really try to keep that in mind when I think about what a crappy mom I am being on a specific day. Not as an excuse so much, but as an I'll get this tomorrow type thing. I'm sure that will be my mantra once baby #3 comes into the picture.
And life goes on... We're officially getting ready for Christmas and doing the last of the baby things that need to be done. The room is now ready (more or less) for it's new occupant. Ethan is super excited and keeps throwing toys into the crib for the baby. Ethan also found some sheets of felt that I had used for a project once and made a baby blanket. I thought that was super cute. I still need to pack a bag for the hospital (not that I am expecting an unexpected trip in the middle of the night) and I need to get the bassinet set up in our room. I started stocking up on diapers as well... So, short of baby arriving, we're good to go on that front. We asked the boys the other day if they were ready for another baby brother- Ethan was excited and Emery fervently shook his head no. I am really interested in seeing Emery's reaction once he meets the baby for the first time- especially when baby comes home with me.
And we are more or less ready for Christmas. Friday (my most recent crappy day), Dave came home and treated us to dinner and took us to buy our Christmas tree (we still do a real tree). It actually helped turned my mood around significantly. We got the tree up and in water on Friday night and decorated it Saturday morning. We then tried to take our annual Christmas photo in front of the tree and couldn't get a good one of the all of us together. I really hate having my picture taken when I am so pregnant. There's never a good "angle" or "side" or whatever. I'm just all over fat. Everyone else looked great though.
Anyway. So the boys are doing great. Emery is seriously getting like 3 or 4 teeth in at the same time- he's got 2 molars coming in and 2 front teeth. Poor kid. Em has become the master of crawling into bed (between Dave & me) without waking either of us up. It's really hard to get him back into his bed when we do wake up and he's snoring away between us (I'm too tired and I just don't care and/or he just looks so angelic laying there that it seems mean to move him). I tell myself we're only going to be able to snuggle like this for a few more weeks so I am trying to enjoy it.
Ethan is a spitfire. What a boy. He can be an angel one moment and the beginning of a bad day in the next. I need more sleep or patience or better parenting skills or something. Dave took Ethan Christmas shopping for Emery's Christmas present last weekend. I've really been trying to push to spend more individual time with each of the boy- I guess start good habits now? They seemed like they had a great time.
Oh, my one attempt at good parenting this week- I took the boys to the Discovery Gateway on Thursday. Ethan used to have such a good time there and I was thinking it would be a fun little adventure for the boys while we could still easily go. I used to like the Discovery Gateway- last winter we had a 6 month membership (we usually just go when it's cold out), and Ethan and Emery seemed like they had so much fun. The membership makes it worthwhile to go- we had to pay the full price at entrance (and I even had a coupon for a free admission) and it's just overpriced (in my opinion). Ethan was immediately bored and kept wanting to go on to the next thing. I felt bad for Em who was just trying to keep up with Ethan. The one thing that held Ethan's attention at all was the helicopter outside. I think the next time we go back it will be with just Emery and Ethan can stay home.
And now that it is December it means I can count on my fingers and toes the days until this little one arrives. I am okay with that. But to be honest I am having some anxiety about that. I think that's pretty common though. And the worst of the pregnancy symptoms have been setting in- the swollen fingers and toes, the fat face (and body), the insomnia at night and lack of energy during the day. Oh boy, I am just a general mess. And to throw in 2 little boys at the same time... Yikes! To all of my friends that have 4 kids- I have no clue how you do it. Congratulations, you are a better woman than me. :)
Dave's 2 classes are coming to an end- Dave has one final this upcoming week and the other final the following week. He is looking forward to the break between semesters. We're still discussing the plan for him for the next semester. He is hesitant to have to attend class on campus (as opposed to online), but it might be a necessary step. Wish him/us luck. That could be interesting.
Oh- and I sat in on Dave's primary class today. It is always so amazing to see Dave teach. He is really amazing at it. You can tell he has that spark that makes a good teacher. The kids listen and respond to him. I also have to say that the kids in our neighborhood are amazing. Seriously, I couldn't have hand picked a better group of kids for my boys to grow up with/around. It's one of those blessings that almost takes my breath away when I think about the alternatives and just how lucky we are. There's a little girl in Dave's class that my boys are just both totally in love with. It's so funny... they both totally light up when they see her in the hallway at church or when she's walking around the neighborhood. It cracks me up. And she's great with them- she always talks to them and helps Dave & me out with them if the boys try to run off.
And now for pictures...