umm...are we still here?

Yes, we are still here. No baby news yet - I am at 36+ weeks and past the scary don't go into labor yet stage which is wonderful. Feeling good yet, having good appointments with our wonderful midwife K, actually thankful for the cold and dry air outside as I am not nearly as hot and swollen as I was at the end of W's pregnancy, and slightly freaking out each day about things we would like to get done before Baby B3 comes and also the realization that this itty bitty could come at any moment or wait to make his/her appearance for another couple of weeks!

I was completely planning on doing a big post about G's birth when I reached "G day" which was Fri Dec 5. On that day I was 34 weeks, 5 days which was how far along when G was born. But that was also the day that our computer died. Like dead died - motherboard is fried. Makes us crabby as this computer is less than 3 years old and had the motherboard replaced 2 years ago while still under warranty. Also made me sick to my stomach as we had not backed up for a number of months and there were so many pictures on the computer that I don't have hard copies of! Luckily computer savvy bil J was able to get all of our data off the computer once Mom B brought us their old computer to use in the meantime. Yay J! =) But boy, 4 days without internet access much less a computer at all is really tough! Shows how the times have changed as 10 years ago it wouldn't have been nearly as big a deal for us. So we had slower (am sure that is why Mom and Dad B just upgraded!) access to the internet and all our files again which also made trying to post something frustrating, so I just left it. Then I was going to at least post a new baby belly shot or some sort of we are still here post last weekend, but then borrowed computer also died. Sorry Mom and Dad B - hope you didn't have plans for this one! Once again bil J to the rescue sending over the magic Ubuntu disk which at least lets us get to the internet which was helpful as we had 3 internet orders to place for Christmas and needed to make the shipping deadline! (He also sent over another disk in case ubuntu didn't work called "Kill Hard Drive!" - happy it didn't have to come to that. =) Once again still running slow, which is frustrating when you are used to faster speeds and/or need to look something up REAL QUICK before children attack you or have a meltdown. Then S installed more ram from our old computer (which is what seemed to kill Mom and Dad's computer the first time he tried it - "DEATH RAM!!!" =), and it worked this time with Ubuntu and we are running at a little bit better speed now so I feel like we can at least function normally on the internet. But no access to printer or pictures so my rambling is all you get for today.

In other events that have happened since last post, right after Thanksgiving we put up our small tree which had fun additions this year of childhood ornaments of S's that his mom found, and a new quilted tree skirt from my Gma K! She also made us stockings which are also beautiful that are hanging up and really make us feel Christmasy! I would love to post pics of them, but yeah... Thanks so much Gma!! We love them. Then we had B Christmas the first weekend in December. It was a lovely time with everyone coming up to A/CR. We spent Saturday afternoon at our place with just the girls making Christmas cookies while the boys volunteered with our church at Operation Christmas Child. Then Saturday evening we went downtown for a pizza supper at one of our favorite pizza places, Pizza Luce, and then to see the Holidazzle parade, a Christmas tradition we have been doing with J&C and family since moving here to the cities. Then Sunday after church we spent a lovely afternoon and evening at J&C's with a soup, bread and salad meal, gifts for kids (adults gave their gift $$ to charities this year), plenty of munchies and yummy cheesecake, and good fellowship with all. Check out dear sil C's post here to see a few pictures and read more about it! Then last Sunday evening we had our Christmas program at church. Oh so fun with G singing "Who made Ocean Earth and Sky," "Away in the Manger," and this years favorite "Angels from the REALMS of Glory" (extra enthusiasm on the REALMS! =). S & I also were singing with the adult choir, but poor W got sick with the crud the night before and we weren't quite sure what to do with sick W while we sang 3 numbers at the end of the service. Who do you pick to give a hacky snotty unhappy boy to? Then we thought maybe one of us just shouldn't sing and stay down with him. But we both love to sing and we only have church choir 1 or 2 times a year so neither of us really wanted to say "Oh go ahead, you sing, I will hold W!" Solution? Just take W up there with us! I was standing on the end of the front row, so I just held W with the plans to make a quick exit if he fussed or made a scene. He was wonderful, fascinated with J, our choir director, as she waved our hands, and luckily I still had enough breath support even while holding him and Baby B3 in belly to still squeak out a few notes. =)

The crud. So not worth writing about. No sleep (literally! One night at 3 when up for the 15th time with W I commented to S that if I went into labor they might as well wheel me in hook me up to the drugs adn give me a c-section cuz there would be no go left in me!), nothing accomplished besides holding and comforting sick babies, and then getting it ourselves. W is getting over it though so hopefully we will all be feeling better by the time all our company comes!

Yes, we are having the whole R crew here for Christmas (or the weekend after Christmas) including Nanna, Boppa, Aahma, L, J, M & A! And S and I are taking this Christmas very low key, realizing I don't need to stress about anything so we are not uber cleaning, uber planning, or trying to be uber-hosts, we are just going to let people come, have space for them to crash, have food in the house, and just enjoy being together. S said that if I stress, he is going to throw everyone out! =) Many hands make light work of everything and we have a wonderful family who always wants to lend a hand so it should be a great time. And if Baby B3 comes while everyone is here that will just be a bonus! Christmas Day is "W day" as he was born at 37 weeks 5 days!

Well, I should be paying bills, doing more baby stuff or baby lists or figuring out what we are going to name this little one yet, or doing housework, but I wanted to get an update out for all of you that we emailed the blog address out to a month ago and then haven't posted a word! (plus, W is sleeping and G is playing so nicely with play dough so I feel like I can sit for a little bit =) Don't know when we will post again - maybe with baby news? maybe with Christmas fun? maybe just randomly, but we will for sure talk with you all later. In case we don't post again before next week, may you all have a blessed blessed Christmas and enjoy time with family and friends reflecting on the wonderful gift that God gave us through Jesus and all the other blessings that He has given us. I know we surely will be!