The End...And The Beginning

We finally finished up Christmas on December 29th with my parents at their house.  They returned from Charlotte on the 28th and had a mere half day to catch their breath before we came over for another Christmas opening frenzy!  The kids loved it of course and Anna was clapping after each gift, a sure sign of approval, I'd say.

 Brice received a Crystal Growing Kit and I must say, they are coming along nicely, I will post pics later in the week.

 This was the best part of the night...as Anna pulled the tissue paper away, she realized what was in the bag, based on the commercial and said, "PILLOW PET!!!".  It was hilarious and I'm sure the makers of these things would have been happy to capture it on camera.

 A frog for Brice, named Augie the Froggie.

 And a purple Hippo for Anna, not named but if you hear her saying something like "puppet", she is actually saying "Pillow Pet" very fast.

 What is it about simple blocks that a kid of any age will play with and then of course, knock down?!

As most of you know, December 29th was the day that Anna became so sick and stopped breathing.  This year it was still a tough day, me remembering everything we went through on that day two years ago.  I still went to bed early so I didn't have to see the time on the clock of when the event happened but I do feel as though my heart has healed and part of me always wants to remember that night when I was brave enough to save my baby girl despite the fear in my heart.  I thank God that His plan for Anna was for me to be there.  Maybe by next year, the date will pass without me thinking about it.

And so this year December 29th marked The End of Christmas...And The Beginning of this....................................................................................................................................................

That's right!!  We are due August 7th!!!  We are so excited and can't wait to find out the gender.  Brice is pulling for a boy (which I am thinking it is a boy) and when we ask Anna, she says, "Baby girl"!  The lines have been drawn and the tie will be broken.  Either way, this will be the last!  I have been feeling very good for the most part.  I've had days where all I want to do is lay around on the couch but then other days when I can be very productive and hardly notice anything feeling different.  I will try to keep you all updated as we go along and add a new ticker to the sidebar of the blog so we can count down the days until #3 arrives.