~The End~

Project 365 has been completed.  Thanks for sharing it with me!

In December

Early in the month, Grace and Heather were treated to a show at the Myerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore to see a children's version of the Nutcracker ballet.  Since Grace is now an accomplished ballet dancer (for a three year old), she really appreciated all the dancing and costumes!

Before the show, the guests were allowed to test out some instruments and visit with a real penguin.  Thanks to Grandma and Pa Deterding for taking us and getting the Christmas season off to a great start!

Then it was off to the tree farm to find our Christmas tree.  Grace was a huge help as Steve began sawing:

Then it was time to deck the halls and eat our special Christmas-tree decorating "dinner".  Of course, Leah did more snacking than decorating...

The girls always enjoy drinking sparkling cider from glass goblets:

5 Months

The baby and I have reached 23 weeks.  I celebrated by getting a mom haircut and then lying on the sofa while my wonderful parents did my laundry and vacuumed the house etc, etc.  My newest pregnancy adventure since my last belly update is some bad lower back pain that I think may be with me for the next 4 months.  Really, though, I think that not being able to bend over or sit in a chair for too long is a small price to pay for bringing our baby into the world.  I must have a really cozy backbone that makes a lovely little cradle for my little guy or girl!  Steve and I are very thankful for both sets of grandparents who pamper me with playdates and meals and housecleaning.  And I should say for the record that Steve has stepped up in the laundry department and keeping clean clothes on our backs....what a guy!  Right now I'm laughing at myself for ever entertaining the thought that I may be able to pull off reusable diapers this time around.  HA!

All in all I'm feeling well!  The newest name suggestion from Grace is "Clementine", in honor of our favorite seasonal treat:

(that would be Clem, I guess, if we're having a boy).  Isn't it FUN not knowing the gender?!  :)