Divine intervention

Last summer Mac decided he would announce to anyone who would listen that he was going to have a baby sister.  We had no idea where this came from, especially since most of his friends have no baby siblings and those that did primarily had brothers. But, despite being told that this was not the case, Mac was insistent.

Then, Samantha got pregnant and we told Mac.  All of the sudden, when asked if he was going to have a baby brother or baby sister, he would answer, "just a baby."  We often tried to explain that the baby was going to be a boy or a girl.  He only grew more insistent that it was "just a baby."

We had an appointment scheduled for this past week to have an ultrasound done and find out if the baby would be a boy or a girl.

We braved the snow and ice in Athens to get to Samantha's doctor so we could find out if this baby would be a boy or girl.  Thankfully, the ultrasound technician was brave enough to drive in the conditions as well.  Even as we took Mac into the doctor's office to watch the ultrasound, he continued to say that it was just a baby.

Now we know ...We are having a GIRL!!

Mac has immediately adapted to saying that he is having a baby sister and even saying "her" when referring to things he will do for his baby.  (like take her to feed the ducks and make sure she has gloves on)

We were very excited about a baby and had nearly convinced ourselves that we were just as happy with either a boy or a girl, but we sure are excited about this baby girl.
This post is entitled divine intervention because we feel certain that God had a hand in Mac's behavior during this time.  I think if he had continued saying he was going to have a baby sister for the last 20 weeks we would have all had our hopes up.  The reality is that we had hoped for a girl anyway (yes, even Doug), but Mac's neutrality on the subject helped us to have a good attitude and remember that either way a baby is an amazing gift from God.

Snow, continued

The snow was quickly covered with a solid layer of ice, so our snow day turned into two days.  Thankfully this was Samantha's week to have several days off and I didn't have to go in since the office was still closed.

Mac and I decided to get the wagon out and just take a walk through the ice and snow.  We saw the ducks at the neighborhood "lake" and decided we should come back to feed them.  On the way back home we saw kids sledding on the fairway of hole number 5 and couldn't resist.  We did sled a few times and watched as the kids played together.  The mom of one girl took a few pictures of us sledding, so hopefully we will have pictures soon.

Later in the day we went back out to feed the ducks and ended up building a snowman.  The snow wasn't originally good packing snow, but as it got better as it melted.  Mac couldn't decide if he wanted to push the snowman into the water, put him on the side of the road, or take him in his wagon.  He also couldn't decide if he wanted the snowman to be big or little, or if there should be one or a lot of snowmen.  The good thing is, he is typically happy with how things turn out.



School is still closed tomorrow. Hopefully we can find more things to do.  We're starting to run out of things that don't involve getting in the car.

Snow! Again!

In case you haven't heard, a small snow storm recently came through the southeast, depositing 6-8" of snow here around Athens.  It started Sunday night and Monday morning we had snow everywhere.

It was beautiful except for the fact that Samantha was still supposed to be at work.  Doug's boss already told him to stay home and check in during the day.  We all loaded into the car to try our luck on the road.  We made it maybe 10 miles and it took us close to 30 minutes.  So, we threw in the towel, turned around, and went home.  Its been great having time for the three of us to spend together.  We did take Mac out to play in the snow before the freezing rain/sleet started.

Doug tried to teach Mac how to make snow angels and showed him how much fun it can be to practice sliding in the snow. We even tried to show Mac how to make snowballs, but the snow wasn't wet enough to pack.

And...

This was taken recently at Mac's daycare so we don't know exactly how this encounter with Santa went, but here is our guess.

Hey Santa,
I want buzz and woody and basketball and football and baseball and soccer ball and umm games and...

For some added realism, try stuttering and repeating every other word at least twice.  That's how Mac talks when he gets excited, and he is EXCITED about Christmas.  (This is the kid who had to read the Toys R Us Christmas catalog (his book) at every meal for at least 2 weeks.)
This past Friday, one of the Dads at daycare came in with a Santa hat and beard on and Mac just stopped and stared with his mouth hanging open.  He couldn't believe that Santa was here already.  After Santa left the  building, Mac told everyone in the room that Santa was there to bring him his buzz and woody.

I'm so glad that he his "getting it" this year. That he knows what is going on and gets almost as excited about picking out gifts for others as he does telling us what he wants.  But sometimes I worry that he's missing the real meaning of Christmas - the birth of Christ.  I try to make sure he knows that story and that we think about others this time of year.
I worry, but i really shouldn't.  Mac will randomly start telling us about baby Jesus.  He will tell us that the angel at the manger says "Glory to God!"  Since we have started talking about and focusing on Christmas, his rocking horse has become his donkey.
As much as I'm happy that he's "getting it" with Santa and the gifts, I'm even more excited that he is "getting it" with Jesus and the story of his birth.

Jingle Bells!

By the way the ornament features Cindy Lu Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Decorating

We've had our trees up for a week or so, but its taken me a little longer to get the pictures on the blog.  Here is Mac with his little tree in his room.

 He decorated it himself, mostly.

 We had to help a little because the ornaments were all congregating in one location.  Like on Hairy Dog...

 And the angel on top

But otherwise he did an excellent job and he hasn't once taken the balls off and thrown them.  (We had a talk about that as we were decorating)  The house looks pretty festive and smells like Christmas too.
Now we just have to finish up the last of the present hunting and wrapping.  The wrapping is a little slow with Mac's help.  Mostly because I only have the patience to do a few at a time.  He gets a little ahead of me with the scissors and tape so I have to keep reigning him in the whole time.  But I still can't resist such a sweet little helper.

Nighttime drama

Sorry its been quite a while since we managed a post.  Its been a whirlwind lately.
We had a great Thanksgiving, Mac loved getting to play with cousins.  I'm not sure he really even ate anything he was so busy running around.  We can't wait for Christmas so we can see even more family.

Last night Mac woke up at 4 am and came to our room.  He was scared because he said there were sharks in his room.  He loves to play sharks and pretend they are in his room and we get them out.  Usually its a fun game, but last night he seemed really scared.  He was shaking and didn't want to go back to bed.  We turned on the lights and checked everything and got him calmed down.  He went back to bed and said that I could go back to bed as well.  That only lasted a few minutes and then he was back in our room.  I probably made a mistake by letting him get in our bed then.  My thought was that I was really tired and wanted to go back to sleep.  Ha. That was a terrible reason because I hardly slept at all after that.  I don't know how anyone so little can take up so much room.
Here's hoping that we won't repeat that experience again tonight.