We had a great weekend with Jackson. He got to experience his first snow, built a snowman with Seth and made a gingerbread house. It was a big treat to get to do some of these things just with Jackson before a new baby comes. Don’t get my wrong, we can’t wait to add Owen into the mix but we know that Jackson will have a hard time sharing our attention and we will miss our one on one time with him. So, a weekend packed with things that we could focus on with him was fun.

Jackson is still very social and enjoys being around people. His nursery teacher and MOPs teacher comment on how joyful he is. He is. He makes us smile and helps us to be social by pulling perfect strangers into our world!  His enthusiasm is contagious. We are amazed at how Jackson keeps track of all of his friends near and far. He talks frequently about friends in Bogota, cousins that live far away and his friends from here. I was sad when we left Bogota that he would forget our friends but he continues to amaze us when he comes out with questions about them.

Jackson’s favorite pastimes at this point are playing with legos and going to the parks in our area. He loves to run and climb! He has a tough time on weeks when it is rainy and we don’t get out too much.  With all of the Christmas music playing another favorite pastime is dancing. Almost immediately when Seth walks in from work Jackson usually asks “don’t you want to dance with me daddy?” or “can you build me a pirate ship daddy?”. Seth doesn’t get much down time when he gets home! His number one fan is always on call and desiring his attention!

Jackson is recently puzzled by the concepts of God and Santa. He is a little nervous about Santa. He doesn’t quite know if God is connected to Santa. The snow was a fun example for him of something that God made.  We will be working on these concepts for a while! His questions amaze us and cause us to work hard to clarify things for him.

He has grown up so fast. It feels like he went from talking in short phrases to speaking in paragraphs over night. He has so much to say and so many plans. He wakes up on a mission. He has somehow figured out if he says “I need…” that he might get something faster. We are working on “I would like…, please” because somehow yelling “I need a cookie, NOW” doesn’t seem to be motivating us to meet his “need”.

When Jackson saw the snow out the window he shrieked ” I am going to build a snowman with a carrot nose, and I am going to say “hola” to him”. He had it all planned out. Very funny!

“Hurry, Daddy! It’s snowing”

We love our big boy!  We look forward to watching him grow into his new role as a big brother!

I realized that with all of our busyness of getting resettled and the holiday season beginning that I have barely posted about Owen and this pregnancy. I also need to post pictures of Owen’s waiting nursery so I will do that soon! It is ready and waiting, as are we!

Yesterday we went to the doctor for our 36 week appt. As many of you know at 32/33 weeks I had a sonogram here and they discovered that Owen was “gigantic”, as they said, and breech. So we have been praying and hoping that he would turn head down! I am not excited about the possibility of a c-section! Yesterday the doctor thought that Owen had likely moved head down although without a sonogram she didn’t want to promise anything. I have a sonogram on Monday to look at his size and position and then an appt with my doctor to decide if we will need a c-section, induction, etc.  We are excited to get another peek at our little boy and even more anxious for him to be here. At this point, it appears he will be here before Christmas based on what the doctor said yesterday. It will make Christmas so special to have him here!  And a little hectic of course!

This pregnancy has been much more interesting with a 2 yr old along for the ride! I am feeling very big and uncomfortable and not so great at chasing after Jackson. Jackson is thrilled with Owen and talks about him a lot. He has helped get ready for him by putting out baby toys for him, watching daddy put in the carseat and talking to my belly. He saw a picture of a baby the other day before it had been bathed and has been telling us that when Owen comes out he will be messy but that he will help give him a bath. We are anxious about Jackson’s transition into being a big brother but we hope the fact that he seems to kind of get it means at least we will be able to talk through the hard times. I think having grandparents around for the holidays will help him to get plenty of attention!

Our hospital has a no visitor policy right now due to the swine flu outbreak. I am so sad to not be able to have friends and family come, and of course it will be so sad not to have Owen’s big brother up there to meet him.  I don’t want to have a c-section and be there longer with no one getting to meet Owen! Originally I was going to be able to have one other family member in addition to Seth but now they have taken away that privilege. Having a baby is already an emotional time so I have been a bit overwhelmed with all of the new developments. We were telling Jackson the Christmas story the other night and I realized ….Mary’s husband took her on a long trip (on a donkey remember) when she was huge pregnant. She could not have been comfortable. They had no reservations at a nice clean hospital, in fact they couldn’t even find a room at the inn. She must have been hoping with each contraction that Jesus would wait to come until she got home to her family and friends. I bet she didn’t envision a stable for the birth of her child. I bet she hoped for a blanket to wrap him in. Wasn’t it enough that she was experiencing a pregnancy she hadn’t expected and the turmoil that that must have caused? Hadn’t the girl been through enough?! All this to say, in the midst of all of my attempts to plan, I am reminded of Mary. She was a faithful mom and appeared to handle her circumstances with grace. She couldn’t control when baby Jesus arrived and I most certainly cannot control when Owen is born. Wish I could but I can’t! At this point I am praying for an ounce of the grace that Mary had!