All is Calm, All is Bright

I've always loved the holidays. I love the food, the time with family and friends. I love the music, decorations and lights. I love Christmas shopping for my family and finding the perfect gifts that will make them smile. But the past three holiday seasons carried with them tinges of sadness for me. Christmas revolves around a baby, after all, and it's a holiday that's made more special only by the presence of children and their joy at Christmas time. I felt like Kevin in 'Home Alone' watching all the other families celebrate with smiles and warmth in their homes while I stood out on the street in the cold. The outsider looking in.

But this holiday will be different. Every night I thank God that it's different, that He's given me the ultimate gift. I thank Him that this year I won't want to avoid the ornaments on the trees in the stores because I can't stand seeing the Baby's First Christmas ornaments, or that my heart won't break when all the Christmas cards come with toothless smiles. I am thankful to think that next holiday season we'll be buying gifts for one more family member. 

We celebrated our pregnancy with a babymoon to Savannah over Thanksgiving. It was wonderful. Savannah is a beautiful city with that quintessential Southern charm. They call it "Slow-vannah" so it was the perfect place to relax, unwind, and leave the To Do list far behind. We ate so much good food, learned some interesting history, visited the ocean, stayed in a B&B for the first time which was really fun, but most of all we just enjoyed being together. These past 7 months have been such a whirlwind, and I know it's not going to slow down anytime soon, so we really took advantage of our time together. I realized while we there that for the first time in almost three years I felt like I didn't have a care in the world. Now that's a vacation :)

Last week we also had our 3D sonogram! It was awesome and I'm so glad we did it. We got some really great images of baby Bill's face. It really gives a good snapshot of what he looks like. Every day now I find myself just getting lost in those images and I catch Bill doing the same. I feel like one of those crazed bird watchers that's been looking for that rare bird for so many years, only to finally capture it on camera one day. Every day I have to look at the pictures to remind myself I really saw it; it really does exist. Bill thinks he looks like me. I think he has my mouth, maybe my nose. The sonographer said she could see he has lots of hair and long eyelashes. He already has some chub in his cheeks! He definitely has Bill's hands and feet though! He has long, straight fingers and toes that are unmistakably Bill's. And the sonographer said he's a big boy - she estimated 3 lbs 11 oz's! The average estimate for 31 weeks is closer to 3 lbs. I know you have to take those weight estimates as guesses for the most part, but it brings me comfort knowing he's bigger and growing so much. 

Without further ado, I introduce to you baby Bill:

7 mo's pregnant