Christmas Prep Fun

 We are getting ready for Christmas at our house.  Monday the daycare kids, Patrick, and I made sugar cookies.  I have 4 cookie cutters, so everyone took charge of one and we took turns cutting out cookies.

Tuesday, DECORATING!!!  I had white, green, and red frosting for using and then different types of sprinkles to top them all off with.  I had a hard time keeping the kids from eating the frosting.  We each had a cookie after lunch and then sent home the girls cookies.

Wednesday, we made a snowman.  We rolled the balls in the backyard and then used the wagon to move the snowballs to the front yard.  The snowman ended up taller than the girls and Patrick.  We are supposed to get anywhere from 4-18 inches of snow (depending on what weather man you listen to) tonight.

15 Weeks

Peanut's the size of a navel orange!

Peanut, if average, at 15 weeks weighs 2.5 ounces and measures 4 inches -- and his proportions are becoming even more normal, since his legs now outmeasure his arms.  You probably can't feel it yet, but she's squirming a ton!  She might even be hiccuping in there.  She's making lots of progress: her joints and limbs can all move now.

Feeling great and can't wait to feel Peanut move.  It took a while to feel Patrick move as my placenta was on the front and muted his movements.  I mostly felt him move side to side, not to much kicking or punching.  I'm hoping this time to feel more kicks/punches than I did last time.  Only about 5 weeks until we get to see Peanut on ultrasound.  Very excited for this as it will be around my birthday.

Christmas Movie Memories

I love this time of year, especially getting to watch all the wonderful holiday specials.  They bring back a lot of memories of childhood and watching them on tv and then VHS.  My favorites were always the ones by Rankin and Bass, you all know them: Rudolph, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, The Year Without a Santa Clause and the like.  All the different versions of A Christmas Carol are fun to watch as well as the wonderful classics like It's A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

My favorites were always The Year Without a Santa Clause and one that most people probably haven't heard about; The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause.  It's based on a book by L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.  I've yet to find it on DVD or even shown to TV.  The only time I get to watch it is at my parents on the VHS we used the tape it off of TV about 30 years ago.  Today I'm watching them as Patrick is napping.  I hope he has fond memories of watching these shows as I do.

14 Weeks

WOOO WHOOO!  Second Trimester.


Peanut's the size of a lemon!
At week 14, Peanut is 3.4 inches and 1.5 ounces, he's almost doubled in weight since last week and keeps on growing.  He's probably sucking his thumb and wiggling his toes in there!  His kidneys are making urine, and his liver and spleen are doing their jobs, too.  Peanut's growing lanugo, a thin, peach-fuzz-like hair, all over his body -- it will help him keep warm!

Las Posadas

I have twin 3 year olds who come to our home for daycare.  Patrick and the girls get along well and enjoy playing together.  Each week I have a theme for our stories and art projects.  Last week we did Hanukkah since it started at the end of the week.  We made dreidels, learned about the history and how it is celebrated, and made latkes for snack one day.

This week we are doing a "Christmas Around the World".  Today we learned about Las Posadas.  In short, it's usually celebrated in Mexico and a few other areas with strong latino influences.  For 9 nights, people gather to pray and then walk to an "inn" (one of the participants homes)  with 2 children dressed as Mary and Joseph.  They sing a song asking to be let in to the inn.  After 9 or so verses they are let in and everyone celebrates and eats a meal at the "inn".  We also talked about pinatas as part of the celebration.

For our art project we made mini-pinatas to hang on the christmas tree.  They decorated them and then we added yarn streamers to the bottom.  They didn't turn out so bad.  Patrick wasn't to sure about taking the picture though.

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