Christmas poems

My family has the best Christmas tradition in the world. With 6 kids, buying presents for everyone can be pretty expensive and difficult, so rather than every person getting a present for every person, we trade names and set a $20 limit. 

Then, we all go shopping together, buy our person a present, and sneakily get the present into the car, home, and wrapped without anyone seeing what we got. Then we write a poem for our person. When we open the presents later that day, we read the poems out loud and have a blast together. 

I already lost the poem I wrote this year, but I still have the ones that were written for us. Rather than lose them too, I decided to copy, share, and memorialize them. 

April wrote this poem for Eric (who was absent, but Skyped in). She got him two laundry baskets, which we desperately needed. 

There once was a man from Port Alberni

at Christmastime he went on a journey.

Far away he fled, 

sending his family in his stead.

Angela and John

came clowning on down, 

but they longed for some better way

to transport and carry their things of play.

Laundry baskets I found

with handles so sound. 

Two to match; 

get rid of those with a patch. 

Anna had my name and got me a nursing tank-top and some wonderful scarves. For some context, I was 8 months pregnant. I think her poem was the best: 

Angela, Angela 

You're so close to done

Soon your little one will shoot out and come. 

So here's something to help with the fun. 

Little ones can squirm and pout, 

make a fuss and scream and shout. 

When hunger hits without a doubt, 

sit right down and whip it out!

Will you nurse her on a train?

Will you nurse her on a plane?

WIll you nurse her in a car? 

Will you nurse her in a bar? 

You can serve it by the ounce, 

you can serve it while you bounce. 

In a bottle or in a jar, 

You can serve it from near or far (kinda).

Some may scoff and some may wriggle

Avert their eyes and give a giggle. 

To those who can be cruel and rude

remind them breast's the perfect food. 

Can you nurse with your seatbelt on? 

Can you nurse from dusk to dawn? 

Though she may pinch you, bite you, pull, 

you can nurse her till she's full. 

Though one is big and one is small, 

nurse her, nurse her, nurse with all!

Will you use a grey tank top? 

And whip them out before they pop? 

Now I'm done, its time to stop, 

before you give me a little whop. 

Photographic Evidence

When I was pregnant with John, I felt HUGE. My belly stuck out very far and even out the sides a little bit. One of our friends (Karen Wiersma) took some pictures of us at Riverside park on Saturday, May 5, exactly one week before John was born. 

This time, I don't feel nearly as large. My belly sticks out front for sure, but not nearly as far as it did before. Also, I think she's riding lower than John did. I can fit my fingers between my ribs and uterus. I found someone on Facebook who is looking for newborn models to build up her photography portfolio and asked if she was interested in doing a maternity photo shoot as well. She was. We got some maternity photos taken on Sunday, January 12. Who knows, maybe that will be a week before this kid is born!?

So, I thought that you would be able to see it more in the pictures, but I can't actually see much difference. Here are the comparison pictures: 

And here are the full shots from the most recent photo shoot, just for fun: 

I can't wait to meet the little baby in that bump!

Confession

John knows that coffee mugs contain hot beverages. John does not like hot beverages. 

Sometimes, I get a cup of tea, coffee, or make a latte just so I don't have to share with him. 

Sometimes, I pretend I have a hot beverage, but actually just put juice, milk, smoothie, or whatever I want to drink, but don't want him to have. 

If he ever asks for it, I get him his own coffee mug and let him push the button on the Kuerig for an espresso-shot-size-hot water. He gets to sit down at the table with his hot water (which he won't touch), and I get to relax and drink my beverage in peace. 

Nesting?

I had a good Saturday this week. When John and Eric went down for a nap, I went out to run some errands. I went to Target with a gift card and spent a good hour+ leisure shopping. I don't get to do that very often so it was quite the treat. 

I got a little hook thingy to hang our keys: 

I got a magnetic mail organizer and schedule thing: 

I got a carseat for the other car for John ($40 bucks!) and a blanket and pillowcase for Jenna's room. We also did a few other things to Jenna's room in the last few weeks, but I'll probably put pictures of that up later. I think it looks great and I'm really excited for her to move in. 

After finishing my target trip, I went grocery shopping with a grocery list from this website: 

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/09/slow-cooker-freezer-meals-make-8-meals.html

When I got back, I went to town using all those ingredients! I got a little too much, so I doubled up on a few and made 10 crock-pot meals. An hour was an optimistic estimate for an 8-month pregnant lady, but I was done and cleaned up within three hours. Here's the photographic evidence: 

Meat in bags: 

Completed meals: 

The mess afterward wasn't bad at all! Only 1 dirty pan, cutting board, strainer, a couple knives, and lots of trash/recycling. 

And here, friends, is what my freezer looks like now: 

Eric says I'm nesting.