sister

So for those of you who haven't heard the news, Emma is going to be a big sister! At least as of early August. I am about 10 weeks pregnant. My due date is August 3rd. We are very excited, or at least would be if I had the energy to get excited. I'm pretty worn out. But hopefully it won't last long. At least I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel because with Emma I was even more sick and it did go away. I am a little nervous about the baby acquiring mytonic dystrophy. There is a fairly serious congenital form of the disease, but at this point, we're not planning to do an amniocentesis or anything like that. Nature will just take it's course and hopefully we'll be blessed with a happy, healthy baby.

Now on to Christmas! We were lucky enough to be able to be part of four different Christmas celebrations this year. To get us into the Christmas spirit, Emma had a Christmas program which was incredibly cute. Only 4 kids from her class were there, but it was still fun. As you can see from the video, I think she was a little stunned by all the people. The auditorium was full (there were other classes performing too). Enjoy the video and sorry about all the laughing, but Ava, the girl on the far right, was just so hilarious!

The first Christmas was official Christmas which was spent in San Fransisco with Nate's Dad and brother. It was a great time and the weather was perfect! We went down to the beach a few days and really had a relaxing time. I forgot to bring our camera charger and when we went to take pictures our camera was dead. Bummer! We got plenty of great stuff. Nate got an XBox 360, and as he put it, Christmas was officially over. We did have quite an adventure getting home. We left San Jose airport on time, but then sat on the plane for about a half hour before the captain got on and said a light bulb on the wing needed to be changed, but someone was working on it and we were supposed to be leaving soon. After another half hour, he comes on again to say apparently the mechanic broke the light bulb while trying to replace it and they didn't have any extra ones in the whole airport so someone was sent to San Fran to get one. So we sat on the plane for a total of 2.5 hours before we took off and they wouldn't let anyone off! Not fun with a small toddler. Luckily though, the plane we were on was actually the plane going from Denver to Billings with the same pilot crew, so we were able to make into Billings, but didn't get home until about 2 am. I really hate traveling this time of year! Helping Uncle Josh. I know he and Nate look nothing alike. THANK GOODNESS! JK Josh! Our next Christmas celebration was December 30th. Emma, Ben, and I and my aunts and uncles gathered at my Grandma's house to open and few gifts and enjoy my grandma's great cooking. Thankfully my stomach was cooperating and I did get to enjoy a bit. Everyone was so generous and Emma got tons of new stuff including a mini soccer net and ball, which Nate loved. Of all of us, I think Nate enjoyed all the presents the most! Next we had our own Christmas with just Emma, Nate, and I. Emma finally got to receive her Santa present which Santa mistakenly delivered to our office so we couldn't find it for a few days. She was thrilled to get her new baby doll and stroller, though, regardless of the wait. She calls her new baby Emma and brings it with her everywhere. I'm trying to explain she needs to be very gentle with the baby in hopes that these lessons will transfer to her new sibling! As you can see from the video though, she likes to do things herself and will often politely say no when offered help. Nate got some new slippers and I got a great new dress that will probably have to wait until I lose some pregnancy weight before it gets worn. But it will still look nice hanging in the closet! Reading one of the millions of new books More presents? Our final Christmas celebration was over New Years when my family came down from Great Falls. I felt kinda bad that everyone just watched us open our gifts from them, but really not that bad! Again, we all got some great stuff. It was a really nice few days all around. Jake flew back to St. Louis for his next semester of med school which was the only downer. Way to go Jake. His schedule really picks up though after this semester and he likely won't be able to come home until next Christmas, so it was sad to see him go. What a great guy! Emma has repeatedly asked where Maddie, Gramma, Grampa, Nick, Jake, and Sam are. It's pretty cute. When I say they're at their house, she then tells me the names of all her daycare friends and informs me they're at their homes too. Glad you're already keeping tabs on your classmates. She'll be using facebook before we know it! Helping grampa The Wingerter clan: Maddie, Jake, Nick, Sam, Ben, Mom, Dad, me Hope you all had a happy holiday season. For me it's not officially over yet because I haven't taken down Christmas decorations or sent out my Christmas cards yet, but sadly it will likely happen over the weekend. January is seriously my least favorite month just for that reason. The weather doesn't help either. People are saying this is the worst winter weather in Billings in the last 30 years. We picked a great year to move back. Happy 2009!