To begin, Joey turned two on Dec 3rd...just in time for him to stop asking about opening more presents. Grandpa and Grandma Meinhart and Uncle Matt came into town to help celebrate. Grandma and Grandpa arrived the day before, early enough to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. The kids got a kick out of having a "birthday party" for a grown-up and enjoyed helping Grandpa open his presents.
For Joey's birthday, the Thomas the Train theme was continued, much to Joey's excitement. He had a Thomas cake and got a table on which he can play with his trains and tracks with less assistance (much to my excitement). It takes up a good bit of space in our living room, but it has become the focal point for the kids as they use it quite often.
The other activity that was undertaken during our visitors' stay was to get our Christmas tree. It was a bit cold, but we successfully got to the tree farm, rode the wagon out to the pines, picked one out, cut it down, got to ride the wagon again, secured it to the car, and made it home in one piece. A little hot chocolate when we arrived home helped to warm everyone up. Marie and Joey enjoyed decorating the tree as well and apart from needing to redistribute the ornaments to higher elevations, we thought it turned out well.
Joey also had his two-year check-up. He is definitely not usually a fan of visiting the doctor, even though our pediatrician is absolutely great. This time though, I think he was under the impression that it was Marie that needed to see the doctor. Plus, he didn't have to get any shots, so it was a much more manageable visit. The doctor affectionately calls him "Big Joe" since he always measures on the bigger side. He was 30.5 lbs and 37 1/2 inches which is roughly 98-99th percentile and 2-3 lbs and 1 1/2" bigger than Marie was at his age.
Marie has definitely been enjoying this season more this time around. All kids look forward to Christmas, but she has been really been getting into the Christmas spirit working on her Jesse tree, helping to decorate the house, making presents for friends and family, and lighting the advent candles. Joey enjoys it too, but more often asks his usual question, "Can we open presents?" Somewhere in there, I got to have a wonderful outing to do some outlet shopping (without kids!) with a good friend, Jon and I attended an adults only Christmas party where we always have too much fun and stay way too late, and we had a kid-friendly Christmas party hosted by my boss at a bowling alley. Marie and Joey had never been bowling, but we could hardly tear them away from the lanes. They basically bowled the entire time, only stopping long enough to gulp down a piece of pizza.
In weather-related news, we got our first real snow of the winter on Dec 12. You know what that means…sledding! We went out the same day and the conditions weren't great. It was windy, cold, and the snow was powdery which meant a lot of snow in the face during the descent down the hill. Plus, it was pretty hard for Marie to get all the way up the hill on her own. Since my self-imposed limit is to pull only my pregnant self up the hill, that meant that Jon got quite the workout pulling both Marie and Joey up. Thankfully, we've been out multiple other times and things have been much smoother. The kids could actually go down in their own sleds and Marie has gotten fantastic (to use her own words) at getting up the hill on her own. They have had a total blast. One of their favorite things to do is sled down and run right into the strategically placed straw bales at the bottom. As Joey would say, they go "Bonk!"
Things with baby #3 are going well. He is growing at the appropriate rate and I'm starting to receive quite a few substantial kicks. We are just shy of 30 weeks, so it's hard to believe that we'll have a precious newborn in just 8-9 weeks (based on my history of being induced a bit early). Marie and Joey are anxiously awaiting the baby's arrival. Marie has loved getting to feel the baby move and before bedtime while we are saying what makes us thankful, Joey has been known to say "Baby brother" while giving me a pat on the belly. Not sure Joey really knows what's coming. :)
So that basically bring us up to speed on what's been going on. I know that there are some funny stories that I'm missing about things the kids have done or said. I hope to do a better job at memorializing those things…I can always hope. I did just have to share one more picture that was taken over Thanksgiving and sent to us by Aunt Jess. We hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas!
