Our Christmas Tradition

When I was little, our Christmas Eve tradition was to eat mac n' cheese and hot dogs, go to a Christmas Eve Service at a local church, and drive around and look at Christmas lights.  One of my favorite parts of the night was pulling up in our driveway afterwards to see all the lights on our house (Dad was a pro at decorating) and knowing I was that much closer to going to bed and then waking in the wee hours of the night at a reasonable hour to open gifts.  As a parent, I realize how difficult it is to develop a tradition and keep it up annually, especially since we are in ministry and we never know when something may come up.  But here is the ONE thing we always do:  

Yep, cuz it's just not Christmastime if we don't go!  It's something Louis and I have done since our dating days back in 1995, well actually since 1997 when I was old enough to go out on dates! 

Some other traditions we do around our house at Christmastime:

•  Wait until the last possible minute to Go Christmas Shopping
• Make cookies with Christmas cookie cutters, and Halloween, Easter, and every other cutter they just "have" to try.
• Go Christmas caroling at the nursing home
• Help with the Angel Tree that our church hosts
• Lead the Christmas Eve service at church
• Stress about the lack of time we have (even though it always falls on the same day, EVERY YEAR
• Talk about and celebrate the birth of Christ, which really is the most perfect and only important gift there is!

For the first time since Abigail was a baby, we got out a wedding present.  Not a set of china, or crystal...but our Nativity Set.  We got it from my grandparents as a wedding gift in May 2000 and at the time of our first Christmas as Mr. & Mrs., we didn't have any other Christmas things to our name.  It was VERY special to us.  This year, it was so special to get it out (now that we have room for it) to share it with our girls.  It's ceramic and delicate, two factors that make it kid-friendly (NOT).  But it's large and so the girls were able to see it very well on the table we stored it on all of Christmas.  The girls never messed with it.  However...I'm not too sure how the Barrel of Monkeys monkeys were dangling from the roof one day.   I know who did it....her name begins with "A".

Our 4 sweet little Butterfly Fairies....
...and yes, we were late to Bible Study the next day because their make-up wore off and I had to re-do it. 

Just a driving

While driving a sibling pair home after church tonight, Aliza says to me, "Mommy- I want to be a mommy when I grow up". She must know that being a mommy is the best job there is!

17th to think happy

since it's the 17th

here are 17 things I'm happy about right now:

1) all 4 girls are sweetly sleeping.

2) had a good time at tonight's softball game.

3) got to see our new nephew, Ethan, on Wednesday.

4) Louis got his first homerun EVER at tonight's game.

5) we are blessed with an amazing church family.

6) Aliza has been potty trained for a month now!

7) Adalyn is rolling over completely both ways.

8) Louis has his lines memorized for the play in october.

9) Abigail is just as thrilled to have her songs to memorize...not quite there but she presses on.

10) Anna has her first loose tooth.

11) Aliza tells people, "See me loose too?"

12) Adalyn has 2 teeth.

13) Anna knows her scabs from mosquito bites will heal when she goes to Heaven.

14) Louis and I have been together for more than 15 years...just the other nite our date nite included him getting pizza at 10:00 when all the girls were asleep...hehe.

15) I'm very blessed to get to stay home with our girls full time!

"Falling in a Winter Wonderland"

Well, the hustle and bustle of holiday cheer is coming to an end! We are still rejoicing over the fact that our awesome savior, Christ Jesus was born for us! When I think of my pregnancy at this time, I think about Mary carrying the best baby in the world....the Baby that would save us all! What a perfect gift!

The Sunday before Christmas, we woke up to nearly 2 inches of snow. That night after church I was walking around to the back of the car to help a stubborn seatbelt for Anna, and as I stepped up onto a railroad tie (part of our church's landscaping), my feet flew out from under me! I didn't see that it was covered in ice and was slippery! We were loading up into the car to go to Livingston to see a lady at our church that had fallen earlier during our church supper. So we were already on our way to the Livingston hospital anyway. Although I felt okay following the fall, Louis insisted we call the doctor. I have fallen with every pregnancy and I never called the doctor before, but this time we did, well actually had him paged. We were just pulling into the Livingston hospital parking lot when we got a call from the "doctor on call". He said it was "standard procedure" to get monitored after a fall. So on the phone we got, trying to make arrangements for someone to keep the girls for a little while (while in the drive-thru getting Taco Bell at 8:45 p.m.) We finally got in touch with our friends and headed to Cookeville to drop them off and prepared to stay for an hour or so at the ER- since I felt good, and was feeling the baby move.
We got there, around 9:45 or so, and got put into a Labor & Delivery room around 11:00p.m. I got to do all the pre-admission paperwork (for March) as I laid in the hospital bed, which was ironic, considering I was "admitted" already. Once the doctor heard I had fallen on my knee and side, he said that was a good indicator I should be monitored between 12-24 hours (since the fall involved my abdomen). As I laid there, I cramped quite a bit, and baby Adalyn kept moving out of monitoring space, so the nurse had to come and readjust the monitors all night long- meaning I got no sleep! It felt strange to be in there plugged up and to not be in labor awaiting our precious baby's arrival! Luckily, all checked out just fine, but I had to park it on the couch for a few days upon discharge from the hospital- which was easy considering I was so sore. So imagine how crazy Christmas Eve was at the Davis Home as we tried to catch up!!!

Pregnancy Update- 16 weeks

We had our doctor's appointment Tuesday, October 13. Louis LOVES keeping track of my weight gain. Ask him to settle the little debate we are having about it! Getting on the scale is the worst part of being pregnant. I feel like the nurse is standing there thinking, "Whoa, Miss- you better watch how much you give into those cravings". Abigail has informed me that my belly is as big as a fat elephant (she's much too kind). Everything checked out well- baby's hearbeat was a strong 150 bpm, and once again the girls enjoyed that part best! I measured right at 15 cm, but I feel like a 25- weeker....I am showing so much!!! Our ultrasound is scheduled for November 9. I have enjoyed feeling little flutters at night when I'm lying flat in bed. My legs have already started the achy throbbing as in my other pregnancies, but MUCH sooner!! I'm hoping compression stockings will aid in some relief. I've had a great pregnancy all in all...I was very fortunate again this time to have a fairly smooth frist trimester without battling rough morning sickness. So onward we go into the 4th month!