Darr Family Blog

Weekly Happenings: We had a pretty low-key week as far as extra out of the house activities were concerned. Monday night, we went to Bass Pro Shops one more time so Joseph could play with all the fun Christmas stuff and get his picture taken with Santa. Friday night was the ward Christmas party. It was pretty low-key, too. Dinner, singing Christmas carols, and a short talk given by the bishop. It was nice to have a relaxing night. 🙂 Other than those two activities, we were mainly home-bodies. Getting ready for Abigail’s arrival, finals, and the weather kind of influenced that decision.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been COLD. Now, I know it’s all relative. I know that it hasn’t been as cold here as it has been in other parts of the country, but this is South Texas. When the temperature drops into the 40s-50s during the day (30s-40s at night) and the humidity jumps into the 70s, I don’t care what anyone says…it is down-right cold. We’ve been layering like crazy to stay warm. We’re supposed to have a brief respite tomorrow, but then it’s supposed to dip back down. I guess winter has arrived!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s entered the trenches of finals week with quite a few projects due for his classes. The poor guy has been hindered a bit by a bad cold and cough. It seems to slowly be getting better, but it is proving to be one tough bug! In spite of that, he’s still been making time to do fun stuff with the family. I sure appreciate his hard work ethic and the love he has for us! Yesterday, he and Joseph touched up the side of the crib (which Joseph had used as a teething tool when it was his) with a fresh coat of paint. It looks like new! He did also take Joseph to Old Town Helotes yesterday. They were having a craft fair and one of my friends had a booth set up, selling some of her crocheted items. I’ve been dropping some pretty strong hints about wanting one of her scarves for Christmas…it won’t be a total surprise, I suppose, except I don’t know what color he ended up getting, so that’s enough of a surprise to look forward to. 🙂

What Sarah’s Been Up To: In addition to being Joseph’s taxi and teaching piano, I’ve been nesting like crazy. My to-do list is almost a have-done list, though. There are a few things left on there, but they are sort of last-minute time sensitive things. The biggest thing was getting all of the littlest baby clothes washed and put into Abigail’s dresser, along with washing all the blankets, towels, etc.. It took a while, but it is done! My doctor let me know that she plans on inducing me anytime between the 21st-28th (unless I go into labor before then), so the more we can get done now, the better. We’re leaning towards before Christmas as opposed to after, simply because there are more options of days that are not holidays (which would be days that the hospital would not schedule one) and it would be nice to be home with her before Christmas. 🙂 Never mind the fact that by picking an earlier date, it’s less likely that I’ll go into labor on my own on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I meet with my doctor again tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll be able to pick a date then that works with us as well as with her on-call schedule.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Playing around the house, drawing, reading, school, etc. He had a blast at Bass Pro Shops. I didn’t get any pictures, but he loved playing with the bow and arrows game, the shooting game, and the diggers in the ball pit. He was a bit nervous to meet Santa, but ultimately decided that it was an okay idea. We try really hard to let it be his decision because his comfort level is what’s important. He’s also been a huge helper around the house. It’s been a bit more difficult for me to do some things and he is quick to come help. I love his helpful heart!

This Week in Pictures:

 

 

Weekly Happenings: During the week it was pretty normal. We didn’t do much out of routine. Yesterday was quite fun. My friends threw me a baby shower and Paul and Joseph had some great boy time (they went to the mall and then out for lunch). After that, we had a quiet afternoon and evening (the weather kind of determined that).

The Weekly Weather: It started out cool and clear. Friday it started to rain…and kept raining. We had a thunderstorm come through early Saturday morning (as in 4AM) which sent Joseph into our room (he spent the rest of sleep time in his sleeping bag on the floor in our room). Yesterday brought even more rain. It let up over night, but this morning it started up again. We’re supposed to get some more this week. I guess that’s just how the beginning of December is going to be. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: Most of his spare time outside of work has been spent finishing a project for one of his classes. Finals are swiftly approaching for him. He also made sure to make time for family time. I really appreciate how he does that. As we get closer to Abigail’s arrival, it’s nice to get some family time in before the crazy basically unleashes.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Another meeting with my diabetes nutritionist took place this past week. My blood sugar numbers are still looking good and I am still losing weight (it seems unavoidable with the diet I’m on and with how active I am running after a 5YO and getting ready for the holidays). I’m now two pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. It will be interesting to see what it’ll be after she’s born. Only 3.5 weeks left! I also went to the Relief Society Christmas dinner for our ward. It had a really spiritual theme (speaking about all the different aspects of the nativity). I ate dinner before going because I knew they were having pasta from Olive Garden which I was sure would make my numbers go crazy. That didn’t make it any less fun, though. As mentioned before, my friends threw me a baby shower yesterday. They were so sweet! I got a lot of cute clothes for Abigail, along with some much needed things (blankets, towels, burp cloths, diapers, wipes, bibs…I could go on and on). Also, my sweet friend made food that I could eat (high protein, low carbs, low fat) that was delicious. She also made treats for the guests. She had some really inventive games. One was where they had to guess names of popular children’s books by looking at what was synonyms of the title (for example, the Velour Hare was the Velveteen Rabbit), another was name that tune with songs that had the word “baby” in the title, and then there was a bingo game that they played as I opened gifts. Oh, yeah…there was also the game where if you said the word “baby”, someone could steal the clothespin you were wearing (whoever had the most clothespins won). I didn’t play the games (I was getting all the presents for Abigail, after all), but it was fun to see everyone else play!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been enjoying school immensely. His latest progress report says that he’s right on track with where he needs to be. He also has been demonstrating just how awesome his imagination is. He’s made up several games with rather intricate rules (that always change, or else I would try to explain them) and he turns chores into fun tasks (while cleaning out the dishwasher, each utensil was either a sword or a musical baton). He’s also showing off his sweet side. He decided that his Superman hat was too small. At first he was going to “donate it to a little boy who didn’t have one”, but then he decided to save it for Abigail to wear when she gets big enough. Sweetness, squared. One funny thing happened when he was watching an episode of Daniel Tiger. Daniel Tiger was getting really close to some ants, watching what they were doing. Joseph said, “Watch out, Daniel! Those are fire ants…they’ll bite ya’!” 😀 Poor little Texas boy, hahaha.

This Week in Pictures:

Weekly Happenings: This past week was nice. Joseph had the entire week off for Thanksgiving break, I gave my students the week off (since most of them were traveling for the holiday anyway), and Paul had the last part of the week off, as well. Sunday evening we were lucky enough to get a visit from our nephew Chris (Tracy’s second oldest), who was in the area for work. He came over after we got back from church, had dinner with us, and then visited/entertained Joseph (who just had an amazing time with his “big” cousin). Monday through Wednesday were pretty typical. Wednesday night we did go out to the zoo to see it all decorated for Christmas. The funny thing about that night was that when I asked Joseph what he was most excited about, he said he was most excited about seeing all the nocturnal animals. He did enjoy the rest of it as well, though. 😉 Thursday was a pretty relaxed Thanksgiving. Paul did some finishing touches on the shed office and grilled the turkey on the grill (it turned out amazing). I worked on some of the side dishes. I made sweet potato casserole and stuffing for the boys, a baked sweet potato for myself, and Paul helped out again by grilling some zucchini for all of us. There was also canned cranberry sauce and some Hawaiian sweet rolls (two more things I avoided, haha). Joseph surprised me by eating everything and even asking for seconds of sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce (two things he didn’t care for last year). When we had leftovers on another night, he cleaned his plate again, so I don’t think it was a fluke. 😉 I was proud of myself that I enjoyed dinner and had normal blood sugar numbers afterward. I did pick up some mini apple pies for the boys to enjoy so that they weren’t cheated out of dessert. Black Friday was spent decorating the house, inside and out, for Christmas. Yesterday, Paul and some people from the neighborhood put up the Christmas decorations at the entrances to the neighborhood (something that Paul is required to spearhead since he is head of the beautification committee). Thankfully, the same people volunteered to take them all down after Christmas since Miss Abigail will be here by then (hubba-what?!). He then spent the rest of the day moving his office stuff (Joseph even helped move some of the handheld stuff and was an awesome door opener/closer). It’s all moved over and he has the Internet working, so now the spare room can become Abigail’s!

The Weekly Weather: It’s been a bit cooler, we’ve had sprinkles here and there, and it’s just generally beautiful. A typical South Texas fall. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: I’ve already delved into a lot of what Paul’s been up to up in Weekly Happenings, but toss in work and school work and that’s pretty much it. He’s really excited to be able to park his car in the garage again (for a while there were supplies for finishing the shed/office and then there were neighborhood Christmas decorations). 🙂 Here’s a link to his blog post that he did about his entire shed project.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much. It was nice getting a bit of extra rest this week, not having to shuttle Joseph back and forth to school and having a break from students. I think it will make it possible for this 8 months pregnant momma to make it through three more weeks before Christmas break! I survived grocery shopping the Monday before Thanksgiving (seriously crazy) and I had a doctor’s appointment with my OB. Everything looks good with Abigail…I’ve lost another pound, which puts me down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have had some trouble with my joints and ligaments started to loosen (typical for this point of pregnancy), so I just have to be sure to take it easy, rest when I can (but still do some light exercise, since that seems to help), and make sure I’m getting enough water.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He enjoyed having time off of school, but I think he’ll be ready to go back tomorrow and see his friends. He also enjoyed being Daddy’s big helper yesterday during the office move. He is showing us that he can be such a great and willing helper. I sure love that little boy!

This Week in Pictures: