Our first Christmas Tree Adventure

Today was beautiful outside and so we decided it was the perfect day to go find a Christmas tree. Up until this point, Jim and I have used a small plastic tree each year as we are gone for the week of Christmas either in MN or MI with family every year. With baby #2 due within weeks of Christmas, we will be spending it in good ole WI. I am actually excited about it because I have never really decorated the inside of the house.

So things on the Christmas list to buy were stockings, tree, skirt, garland, bulbs, angel for the top, and lights. I have been looking for years to find the stockings my parents had for us growing up. They are long knit stockings with very simple designs in green, red, and white. But can't find them ANYWHERE! So we settled on a set of knit ones for this year and will hopefully find them in the next year with a more dedicated search. Today we went to the tree farm to cut down a tree. The first big question, which type of tree do we want? Wow... well come to find out, both Jim and I liked the Frasier Fir. We found the perfect tree within 10 minutes which was good for Josh because he had asked to go back to the car 3 times already. When we went to pay in the little shed Josh screamed, "Mommy look whose here... It's Santa!". Wow was he excited. He wouldn't sit with him by himself but the bench was big enough for Josh to sit on my lap next to him. He asked for "Dan the dump truck" and a bulldozer. He has asked me for them about 10 times a day in the last week, so finally he was able to tell Santa himself. We got a picture and are not sure what was up with Santa... he looks more scared than Josh.

Next was a visit to Stein's. Where we found the rest of the goodies. Again, some major relationship decisions for Jim and I... garland? angel or star? candy canes? So we agree on garland, angel, and candy canes. Why not right?

We have finished decorating the tree although underestimated the amount of garland and size of skirt we would need for a 9.5ft tall tree. Otherwise not bad for our first attempt at it! :) I think my mom changed it every year in some way growing up. It is a work in progress right?

Josh has enjoyed helping us decorate. He is really good at covering the very bottom portion of the tree. Some branches have 3 ornaments on them... they are the lucky ones! The fake little tree is in our front room on the train track, which we have to get working, but it will be cool when it does. The other tree is in our family room where we spend most of our time and Josh was in charge of the candy canes. He also likes playing with all the animals in the nativity scene... I walked in to find a goat attacking one of the three wisemen and Josh had claimed the baby as "Baby Josh". Nice.

Finally. The ice rink. Jim let Josh walk on it today and boy did he get excited. He pretended to skate in his shoes back and forth and squealed at the top of his lungs, "Look at me Dad, see that? I am skating!!!" Can't wait for the next few coats so we can actually skate, it is almost ready! :)

Thanksgiving in MN

We spent Thanksgiving in MN with Nanna and Pappa Walsh's house. Josh was so excited to see them and to play hockey with Uncle Jack. We got there Wednesday before Thanksgiving just in time for dinner. It was nice to miss the snowstorm that was heading across the midwest. Thanksgiving day we relaxed with the family. Jim went with my dad and Josh to Play It Again to buy hockey gear for Josh. He got a helmet, skates, and shin guards. He was just beaming when he got home. Thanks Uncle Jack, Uncle Joe, and Nanna Pappa for my X-mas gift!

We had Thanksgiving dinner later that evening and were tormented by the delicious smells all day long! My parents friend Dee and her son Jake joined us for dinner and also my brothers new girlfriend Megan. So it was a full house. Josh fell asleep for the first time in Jim's arms just as we sat down for dinner. He has never fallen asleep in a room full of people... well since he was about 6 months old anyway. So I think it is safe to say we wore him out! As always dinner was full of laughs... and surprises. Some heckling toward my brother Joe for bringing a girl to dinner, harrassing our guests, and my sisters numerous attempts to start the "I'm thankful for..." tradition. We kept responding to this with sarcastic remarks. Finally toward the end of dinner she goes, "well we have some news..." WAHOO!!! They are expecting their first baby July 2nd! I am SO EXCITED to have a neice or nephew on that side. It was such a wonderful exciting surprise. And I am selfish since I immediately was excited that our boy/girl will be only 6 months older than their little one. YAY!

After dinner we had our infamous ping pong tournament in which I get my butt kicked each and every time by a sibling. I think Josh did better than I did. Pathetic! :)

That night my mom, sister, and I debated over and over as to whether or not we were going shopping the next day. My mom hurt her back really bad a month or so ago and can't walk/stand for that long. My back/legs start aching after an hour or two of standing at this point. And Shannon didn' t have any "must" go get items. So we said if we wake up and go fine... but if we don't oh well. The next morning I woke up with Josh at 6:45am... and I couldn't relax... I wanted to shop. I hopped online and voila... Herbergers was offering the exact same deals online and free shipping on orders over $100. I bought the three items I really wanted to get from the couch at my parents house. It was FANTASTIC! Later that morning once my mom and sister were up and moving, we decided to go to Babies R Us for their super saver gift items and well, because my sister is now expecting and we were excited.

That afternoon we had a visit from my high school friend Marcel and his wife Michaela and their two kids, Jadon and Sienna. It was great to catch up with him, but so weird to see us all grown up with kids!

Friday night we did a Christmas dinner since we will not be there this year. We opened gifts which basically was Josh... which was the fun part. My family did an outstanding job on the gifts seeing as how I gave them No suggestions. He got the "go fishin" game, the Vtech dancin camera, trucks, pj's, clothes, remote control car, and a memory game. He loved them all and still is playing with them... which is awesome.

Saturday night kicked off my brother Jack's senior year in Hockey. He plays for Hill Murray. I think we had about 60 friends/family show up for the game. It was a fantastic game and we were all on the edge of our seat. They had a great win and my brother played very well. Josh was so excited and was glued to the rink the entire game. After we went to my cousin Pats to visit with the Thuente clan. As always it was fun!

29 week appointment

Today's appointment was a quick one, just heartbeat and measuring my belly. Measuring 29 cm, right on track. Heartbeat 149bpm. Everything is good!

Josh has developed quite the vocabulary in recent months and has some really interesting stories. Today on the way home I asked if he wanted pizza with mommy and daddy and he didn't respond. So I asked if he wanted to cook dinner for himself and he goes, "No daddy cooks!" I said, "Yep, so does mommy right?" He said, "NOOOO, mom doesn't cook, that's silly!" OUCH! So true, but that kinda hurts!

He is always full of stories on the way home from school now, telling us about who was sad that day, what him and his friend Ella did at school, and usually who hit or bit him, which hasn't really happened. When I dropped him off at school the other morning I had asked his teacher if his friend Brooks was a big brother yet, and the kids overheard me. I then listened to their conversation of where Brooks was and was quite impressed with Josh' explanation. "No, Brooks at home, he is still tired. His mom is having a baby". Ha ha! Apparently preparing to be a big brother is a tiring job!

A visit from Nanna and Pappa

This weekend Nanna and Pappa came to visit. Josh was so excited to see them and couldn't wait to find out what toy Nanna brought for him. They arrived before dinner Friday night and Josh didn't hesitate to ask about the toy. Of course Nanna didn't disappoint him and had a little transformer toy for him. After opening the toy and putting it together, he was less than impressed and proceeded to ask for another toy. He rummaged through Nanna and Pappa's luggage and then asked to see if there was anything good in her purse, when the answer was no he tried again with the original toy. He kept trying to make the car drive with the light up sword like it was a remote control car. Ha ha! My mom felt so bad about it and Jim and I were shocked at how he was determined Nanna would have another option for him! So Nanna promised to take him shopping with which he responded, "To get a new toy!". Nice!

On our shopping trip Josh was happier with the $4 CAT trucks rather than the larger fire truck or anything else more expensive... oh and he wanted a nerf basketball hoop. And let me tell you, those two things have kept him entertained all weekend!

We went trick-or-treating on Halloween. Josh was dressed up as a bubble bee and Jim and I dressed up as bee keepers. My camera is still at my friends house (who are all sick with the flu) so I have to get all the pictures from my mom. He was so tired because he refused to take a nap that afternoon but he was determined to go to as many houses as we could. This year he was able to say Trick'Or'Treat to each neighbor and would politely say "Thank you". He is getting so old!

So for the last 2 weeks I have been very uncomfortable and feel like my whole stomach is cramped. I blamed it on the food I was eating. I decided to read up on "my pregnancy week by week" and realized - the crampiness - Braxton Hicks. DUH! For this being the second time around, I really have forgotten a lot of the stuff that happens! I definitely feel like this baby will arrive early like Josh. I am having braxton hicks all of the time now and my mom said it looks like the baby has already dropped. Which is what I thought but was glad someone else noticed. I have a doctor appointment on Tuesday, so I am looking forward to hearing what she has to say. I am only 29 weeks along, so we really have a long ways to go, but I guess it just seems like things are moving a lot quicker this time around. And I know a lot of things happen sooner with the second, so maybe that is all it is.

Happy Halloween everyone!