Turkey and Tree

So this will probably be my last post until after Hazel is born, but since it has been over a week and a holiday has occurred, I figured I should write before I have a lot less time to do so.

So for the most part, pre-holiday, we just got our house ready and cleaned (again!). Justin and I really pushed it out and crossed a lot off our to do list. The house really looked great and stayed looking great after we were done. We've been doing good to keep it clean since I think we both don't want to have to do another deep cleaning before Hazel comes (which we are really hoping for any day now). When I did the laundry this last Tuesday I really thought it would be the last I would do it before she came, and yet I have a feeling I am going to make it through another laundry day. Last night I thought she was coming, and in fact Justin got so excited he could hardly sleep (welcome to my world). I was having a lot of pressure like they were contractions, but I was not feeling a great deal of pain. They progressed steadily until they were 3 minutes apart. I called my mom and asked what I should do since they weren't painful and didn't remind me of the contractions I felt with Levi. Her answer was to call my OB, and we both thought that meant I would have to go in and be checked. However, upon calling, she told me not to worry and to just wait it all out. She said it sounded like my uterus wanted to contract but I was not dilating, so there was no pain. She didn't want me to come in, but call her back if they became painful. So I waited. No pain. In fact, they faded away like she said. I did have one contraction that was very painful, but nothing followed it up so I was left again waiting. Here I sit 24 hours later and still nothing. I think she will come within the next couple days, but we shall see.

As for our holiday it was wonderful. We spent Thanksgiving with Justin's family in a nice day at home. Justin played football with his brothers and their ward from church in the morning while his mom, sister, and I watched the Macy's Day Parade. Justin didn't know that, that was ever a tradition in my family, so he learned something new. I love watching the parade, and I hope our kids will learn to cherish that tradition too. I made orange rolls, green bean casserole, and a carmel pecan pumpkin pie to bring with us for dinner. The orange rolls didn't come out the best, but Justin said my other two dishes were the best I've ever made them. His family seemed to enjoy my traditional food dishes too. The dinner was excellent and everything I could have wanted for a great Thanksgiving meal. After pie and disappointing football games, we played a game as a family. Heading home that evening we let Levi see some Christmas lights and he has been raving for them ever since. I have a feeling we will be going out in the evening a lot this month to see the lights. Luckily we have a business in town that has a huge light display (we've been there once already).

The next day my mom and I went shopping. Usually we wake up early and hit the major sales and massive, yet horrific crowds. But yesterday we slept in and went out around 8:30 instead. We still found some good deals and just enjoyed being out. Justin and I decided we should get out decorations out and up since we didn't know when Hazel would come and we wanted to get it all up before she did. So yesterday we got all our decorations up. Levi loved it and really enjoys our Christmas lights. Today we went back to Wal-Mart and got a fake tree for $25. It is a 6.5' pre-lit tree. We enjoy it and are glad not to have to spend $30+ every year for a tree. We figure in about 7-10 years when we have the money we'll replace it with a really nice fake tree, like my parents. They bought their first fake tree this year, and it looks great! They spent 10 times what we did, but wow is it worth it! Their tree really is beautiful. They also bought a train that attaches to the middle support and circles the tree about halfway up the tree. Levi loves this and asks to have it played as many times as anyone will let him. But back to our tree, we like our tree a lot and it serves all our needs right now, so we shall stick with this one for a while. Although upon inspection you can tell it is fake, it still looks really nice. Once we got all the decorations on it, it looked even better! We tried to put up our typical Angel Moroni as our tree-topper, but it was too heavy. In fact any star with lights would have been too heavy, so we employed Levi to do some drawing and finger painting to create a star for this year. He did a good job, and it came out looking lovely! It makes the tree look even better (that's a mom talking isn't it!). Now all I can think of is how nice it will be not to have all the needles to clean and the messy water to fill every other day. I will miss picking out our tree every year, but Justin said we should come up with a new tradition to do. We thought of picking out one nice ornament each year as a family, going out for hot chocolate and sledding, or maybe both. But we'll see. So our tree and decorations are up and we really are all set for Hazel to come... in fact both of us are quite anxious.

So until she comes and we are home again as a new, bigger family, I bid you farewell!