Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful white Christmas in Utah this year with some existing snow, and another 5-6″ that fell Christmas Eve/Morning. After weeks of being sick with colds, 
a round of antibiotics, and most recently the stomach flu, we all managed to be healthy by about 2 days before Christmas. Jason and I didn’t exchange gifts this year, but spoiled the boys instead. They really enjoyed the presents Santa (and everyone else!) brought for them. Unfortunately Santa did not include an increased ability to share, leading to a few discussions about not hitting each other. Santa also did not bring an additional toy room for our home. I’m starting to see that taking down the Christmas tree immediately after Christmas might be necessary just to make room for the additional toys. I even packed away two totes of “old” toys in preparation for the new ones.
Pregnancy continues as planned. I was most recently sick with two different head-colds and two different stomach bugs, but at least for this week I feel pretty good. I never believed what they say about having a weakened immune system during pregnancy….until this pregnancy. Maybe it’s the fact that I now have two little germ-mongers bringing stuff home and smearing it around our house. Hand-washing my a**. Anyone with small children knows these little buggers will sneeze directly into your eyeballs with a smile on their face, and you’ll kiss them anyways because you just think they’re the cutest. The baby is kicking a lot in there and my sleep seems more restless than in past pregnancies. I also feel more encumbered…but again possibly due to trying to chase two little boys around the house every day. We’re at about 3 months to go. I think my OB and I might get to pick a due-date during my January appointment. I guess that’s part of the excitement (and predictability) of a scheduled c-section.
Work is busy for me this time of year. One of our current co-workers is moving to Georgia with her husband for school, so my schedule will change slightly in the new year. I’m not sure if it will be for the better or for the worse, but at least it’s only for 12 weeks until I go on maternity leave. Unfortunately I have no coverage plan for when I am gone. I keep thinking I’ll figure that out after the first of the year, which is quickly approaching. I am still flip-flopping about whether I return to work or not. I’d really like to work 3 days per week, but can’t afford full-time daycare (4 days/week) for 3 kids unless I’m working about 30 hours. I guess time will tell, and hopefully whenever I make the decision it just feels right.
Jason has one last week-long trip to MA before this baby comes. I am NOT looking forward to him being gone…but I really never look forward to his trips. I tend to manage, and might enroll some extra help again for this one. The great news is that Jason’s company (Fidelity Investments) decided to give dads 6 weeks of paid paternity in 2016! I look forward to fully using that benefit for this last baby. It’s such a great deal it would be tempting to have another one…..ha. ha. NO. My parents are also planning to come visit in the spring, so for at least a few weeks there will be lots of extra hands.
Christopher is still my cute little mute. He does say more and more, but has somewhat 
unintelligible baby-speak like a lot of little kids do. He loves socks (‘ocks’) and hats (‘ats’). William (and I) picked out a superman baseball cap to give him for Christmas and William was super-excited to see him open it. He would happily wear a hat around most of the day if you let him. He really is into building things lately either with a pretend tool-set or blocks (also ‘ocks’). He’s (finally) been sleeping completely through the night consistently since after our WI trip at the beginning of November. Thank goodness! He’s my snuggler and wants to rock-a-bye ‘ock-bye’ before bed way longer than I’d like to let him.
William seems to have the mental maturity of a 4-year-old, but some days still has the emotional maturity of a 3-year old. He’s currently OBSESSED with all things 
Angry Birds. Santa brought him some Angry Birds figures for Christmas and it’s been two days of non-stop pretend play with them. Everything is about building levels and making up scenarios. The only time we run into serious trouble is if little brother tries to interfere. Then a referee must be located ASAP. Christopher continues to out-eat him at most meals, but he seems to have shot up once again. The kid really lives on air and fruit snacks I swear. A few weeks ago William got to go bowling for the first time during my work Christmas party. At first it was noisy and intimidating, but once he played a few frames he really enjoyed it. We’ll have to keep bowling in mind for a birthday idea when he turns 4 this spring. This weekend Jason built a snow/fort/cave for the boys in the driveway and they sure had a good time…at least until their little faces got too frozen, or today when after 3 minutes William got the hiccups and decided that meant it was quitting time. Kiki runs outside on a daily basis only to discover it is STILL cold outside just like the last trip out. She doesn’t run like in her younger days, so during the summer we got in the habit of letting her roam. Now that it is winter she’s going to get forgotten in the cold some evening if she isn’t careful.
Shortly before Christmas the bunk bed I purchased a month ago was delivered. It is a large metal bed with a full size mattress over another full size bed. William adjusted to the new arrangements just fine. We haven’t tried Christopher in it yet. At this point, I’m thinking we give it a go sometime in February. William can get up and down from the top bunk, but I’m not sure I’d trust him on sleepy legs. The bottom is big enough they could share for awhile, but I don’t know if they’d ever fall asleep that way. One way or another, they will be sharing a room by the time the new baby gets here in March. Wish us luck!
I haven’t gotten Christmas cards sent out this year. It has been cray-cray. I’m not sure if I’ll get it done or not. I surely appreciate all of the cards we have gotten though. Lots of cute family pictures this year! I know some good looking people 😉 If I did send out cards it would go something like this: I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy. I hope Santa brought each of you just what you needed. Happy end of 2015 and my sincere wishes for a great start to the new year!
S.~