Right after getting back from our Anniversary trip on Sunday, I was back into the swing of things at work on Monday morning. Monday – Wednesday were all pretty quiet days around the office with lots of people gone and everyone in the Christmas spirit. We had our last company caroling session and had lots of goodies to go with it. I was frantically trying to finish everything I needed to get done for the company database transfer to Avionte – since the transfer would be occurring while I was out of the office on vacation. So, the quiet office allowed me to get a lot done.

On Tuesday I had my second doctors visit and it was totally different than the first! While I had been there for about 2 hours for the first visit, I was probably only back in the back a grand total of 10 minutes this time – although I did have to wait almost an hour before – since the whole waiting room was jam packed with people. All she did was listen for the heartbeat – which was 165. I was really excited to hear that everything was still going okay – since at this point I really wasn’t feeling or looking pregnant at all. I think the whole pregnancy thing is becoming more and more real to me as time goes on. I know that the Lord wants me to trust in him through this whole process, and I will admit it definitely is something that requires faith. Most of the time I feel absolutely powerless to making sure that the pregnancy is going A-OK. There is just so many miraculous things that are happening everyday inside of me, that it is hard to believe that everything is going fine – without a hitch. I try to reassure myself that God’s will will be done no matter what – and I do know and believe that, but somehow, I always have this nagging “I hope nothing goes wrong” worry all the time! Sometimes I think I am trying to protect myself from future heartbreak too, by not letting myself get super excited yet. However, I’ve talked with a few people about this and they tell me to just be excited because I have no reason but to expect a healthy outcome. Also, I’ve come to realize that there is a big temptation in pregnancy – for a person like me – to worry about every little thing. Like, if I feel something funny to automatically think – “Oh no, something must be wrong!” Or another few examples – I picked up a really heavy jug of water at work a few weeks ago. I didn’t really think anything of it – but my co-worker was like – “Aren’t you not supposed to lift heavy stuff?” – I still wasn’t too worried until I looked it up online, read a few horror stories about other women’s pregnancies, and was sufficiently worried the rest of the day! Then, this past week, my little brother hugged me super tight – something he just likes to do, normally I don’t think twice about it. But of course now, since I am super-paranoid, I was again worried that something bad had probably happened to the baby as a result. I am learning that there is a fine line between being a responsible pregnant woman, and being a crazy-worried pregnant woman. I am trying (with God’s help) to be the former. All I can say is that if there is a healthy baby at the end of this, it will be the greatest miracle I have ever experienced and it will be another example of how God is faithful to the end – despite my worrying. I truly can’t understand how people can believe that there isn’t a God when they see the miracle of pregnancy and birth. I really desire to honor God by not worrying even when there are many temptations for me to do so.

On Wednesday, I had my last day of work and we invited Angelyn and Michael over for Papa John’s pizza so they could help us film the video trailer that we used to announce the pregnancy on Facebook! We had a lot of fun filming both at our house and at Target. We also shot a few scenes with my little sister’s baby dolls in Atlanta.

On Thursday morning, we spent a few hours packing and getting everything ready to go. We got to Atlanta in time for lunch with my parents at the club. It was nice to get some time to hang out with them while the kids were still in school. After that, we came home and David Chen and his girlfriend Chrissy came over. It was really good to see both of them and catch up. On Thursday night, we just had a normal family dinner and watched Captain America with my parents. As always- I fell asleep during it!

On Friday, Latonya came over to work with my mom and she found out and was super excited about the baby. Right after that, I went on a walk with my mom, Lucas, and Summer, and Roxy of course. We got back just in time for me to get ready (barely) to go to brunch at J. Christopher’s with Julianna, Catie, and Laura – my old roommates from college. It was so fun to catch up with them and we got to hear all about Laura’s engagement that had happened just a few days before. I also got to share our news with them which was really fun. We ended up staying for a while after we had eaten and it seemed like our waiter wanted us to leave, so we headed over the Chick-fil-a to continue hanging out. It was so funny because about 15 minutes after we got there, in walk my dad, Jason, and the kids! It was fun because Jason got to see everyone, and after the girls had to leave I stuck around with the fam. They were in the middle of getting some last minute gifts for my mom. I left that gang to go with my mom and sister to the club to check out their space for her bridesmaids’ luncheon. We also drove up to North Point Mall to get some Christmas presents from the American Girl Doll Store for Summer. While there, we also got some last minute presents at Sport Authority and Michael’s. It was fun, although I think the day wore me out because by the end I was getting really tired and feeling sick in the car 🙁  When we got back, I made sugar cookies with the kids and all 6 adults went out to dinner at Mirko Pasta (super good!). We had lots of fun hanging out and talking. When we got back home, we played Phase 10.

The next day – Saturday – was Christmas Eve, always a busy day! We hung around the house for most of the morning. We went to the grocery store to get supplies for the chili, cornbread, and Christmas food that we would be making over the next two days. We made a gingerbread house with the kids, exercised a little, I took a nap and read a little, and then headed out to the candlelight service at church where we met up with Kristen and Ben. After the service, we came home, enjoyed our delicious dinner (I think we will make the chili and cornbread a tradition, since it was ready as soon as we walked in the door!), took some pics and opened some presents. I overheard my little sister S asking my dad, “Some kids at school say that Santa isn’t real, they say that parents are the ones that bring presents. Is that true?” My dad had some cop out answer like “Santa is the spirit of Christmas,” or something like that lol. This was not the first time she had asked, and it seemed like it was kind of weighing on her mind. After the kids went to bed, we were like – I think it is time to tell them the truth about Santa….my parents – especially my mom, looked kinda sad, like they didn’t want the fun to be over for everyone. Then we all discussed when they should tell them – before they opened presents in the morning? after? Nobody could decide. Then, we all watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” our family tradition. For the first time in a long time we made it through the whole movie and nobody even fell asleep!

The next morning, we got to sleep in until about 8:30. The kids got up and were super excited, talking all about what Santa had brought them. They said the “Santa” word enough to discourage my parents from saying anything. We had a great morning – Jason got money to buy a putter and a cute little Georgia Bulldog to put on top of his driver and I got a crib! I’ll post more about Christmas “loot” later. After opening presents, we made sausage cheese eggs and scones for breakfast. At the breakfast table, my dad decided to break the news. He asked S, “Do you remember the question that you asked me last night?” – and of course she couldn’t even remember so we all started second guessing if it was really time to tell. But my dad went on, “Are you sure you don’t remember…you asked something about Santa.” Then she said, “Oh yeah, I asked about how could Santa fit down the chimney and not get dirty?” And my dad was like “Remember when you asked if Santa was real?” Then S was like, “oh yeah…” Then my dad went on to explain that yes, it is indeed true that parents are the ones that give presents to kids, that the reason we celebrate is because Jesus’ birth was the greatest gift God could ever give us, etc. There was some awkward silence. Then we asked the older two siblings, “Didn’t you already know? Hadn’t your friends already told you?” And there were both like “No! They did, but we believed you.” 🙁 Then, my little bro L said to my little sis – “You shouldn’t have asked the question – you took the fun out of it,” or something like that….

The rest of the day, they didn’t seem too phased by the news, they were all pretty happy to have gotten their presents. However, my little bro, L is the most sensitive of the three, and even at Christmas dinner, he actually started crying a little and said “Christmas is ruined!” and was still upset at my sister for asking the question. A few funny things happened though. We heard the kids talking about Ernie, the Christmas elf, and L said, “He’s a fake.” Then, we overheard L talking about Santa to S, and S said “Get over it!” hahaha.

As for the rest of Christmas, we spent the day cooking, hanging out with my grandparents, who came over for dinner, then we all went to see “Tin-Tin” in 3D. I highly recommend it!

Merry Christmas Everyone!