Feeling convicted

Last night, as I lay in bed, I was praying and thanking God for our wonderful Christmas & how blessed we are. I started to thank him for the gift of His Son, Jesus, when I got really convicted about something... never, not once, during our entire Christmas celebration did we even mention Jesus' name. Although I want Jonathan to have the experience of believing in Santa Claus, most importantly I want to make sure that he knows the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Every year we talk about how Christmas has become too commercial, yet we fall into the trap ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I love getting together with family & friends to exchange gifts & enjoy each other's company, I love the decorations, the movies, the music... everything "commercial" about the season. However, I really feel like I need to make more of an effort next year to bring Jesus' birth into the forefront of our celebrations. I'd love to start the tradition of reading the Christmas story from the Bible every year; in fact, because I know I tend to have grand ideas & then forget them, I'm going to put a note on the calendar. I just really felt convicted last night, and felt the need to put it out there.

On a lighter note, we were definitely blessed this year. We had such fun spending time with our families. Chris' family came over the evening of Christmas Eve. I had made chicken and dumplings (yum-o), mostly for Chris' mom, and they were quite good... if I do say so myself. After dinner we moved to the living room to open gifts. Jonathan racked up! Not to mention all of the goodies he got on Christmas day from my family. I'm seriously considering putting some of his toys up in the attic & switching them out come summer. That way they'll be like all new toys. And it will make more room in his playroom. It looks like a toy store in there! My parents came over yesterday & I made chicken and dumlings again. While I love me some chicken and dumplings, I think I'll be okay if we don't have them for a while.

Oh, and I had my weekly weigh in today. I gained .4 pounds... not too shabby considering the holiday & all. I'm really going to be diligent this week so it doesn't catch up to me. I actually didn't do too bad considering. Thankfully I'm not really a dessert person, but I am a bread person. I have to admit I went a little overboard on the rolls both Monday & Tuesday. I mean, when they're sitting right in front of you... what's a girl to do?

Wow, this turned out to be really long. Now it's really late and I need to get to bed. 'Night!

Just a couple...

of pics from Christmas morning. I have plenty more to post, but hopefully these will tide you over.


He loves his little rocking horse!

Merry Christmas...

From our family to yours!

Santa? Yeah, not so much...

First of all, just because it's cute, here's Jonathan's Santa picture from last year. Can you believe how little he was? Where did my little baby go?

I had to go to the mall today to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping, so I thought we'd better get Jonathan's picture taken with Santa while we were there, otherwise we might miss our chance this year. As you can see, he was not at all impressed with sitting on this strange man's lap while Mommy walked a few feet away. He was fine while we just stood next to Santa; he laughed & played with him. But once I sat him on his lap & walked away... this is what happened. Poor kid.



In other news, I went to weigh in today... and lost 5.8 pounds!!! I was so happy. That puts my total weight loss so far at 10.2 pounds. I have my annual *ladies* visit tomorrow and I'll be glad to tell him I'm finally losing weight.

Well, Jonathan's getting bored of being cooped up in the office here with me, so I'd better get going...

Merry Christmas!!!

He looks so mischievous in this picture, doesn't he!?

Wow.... and thank you!

I signed up for a blogger Secret Santa that Jessica put together and today I recieved my gift! Tracy sent me this really cool digital photo album that's on a keychain. How cool is that!? I can't wait to get it set up & put pictures on it. What a great (and high tech) way to carry photos with you. As we all know, I have a ridiculous amount of pictures of Jonathan, so now I can carry some of them with me. Thanks Tracy!!!



Speaking of Jonathan... as I feared, it seems his being sick has screwed up his sleeping again. :o( As I type he's in his room crying, which I hate to let him do. I put him down at 10:45 ish and he slept for about 30-45 minutes & woke up. I changed his diaper, got him back to sleep & laid him back down. Of course he woke up as soon as I did that. I know he's fine, he's had his medicine and some Motrin. I don't know if I can handle it if he starts waking up several times a night again. He woke up last night around 2:00 something & it was 3:00 before I got him back in bed. I'm not sure what to do... any suggestions?

my poor bug

We just got back from the doctor a bit ago; my poor bug has an ear infection and possibly croup. He of course never coughed in front of the doctor, so we're not 100% on the croup, but she gave him a prescription for steroids to be on the safe side. She also gave him some antibiotics so hopefully he'll be feeling better soon.

I must admit, I'm a bit concerned that this will affect his sleeping. He's finally back to sleeping all night (with the exception of the last two), and the last time he got sick it screwed his sleeping all up. Last night he woke up around 2:30 coughing so I turned on the hot shower & sat in the bathroom with the door closed for about 10 minutes or so. I got him back down around 3:15 and he slept until about 8:00. He's napping now. I hate it when he doesn't feel good; I just wish there was more I could do for him.