almost Christmas

Only one more week 'til Christmas- hurray! It's kind of a bummer because Ben has to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but oh well... I'd rather have to rearrange the timing of events during the holidays than be fretting over him deployed or something. Yes, it's another Christmas season where I find myself realizing, over and over, just how blessed we are.

I can't believe that this is my baby's 2nd Christmas! I feel like we just celebrated his first! I was going through the pictures from last year and sighing over how sweet and chubby and immobile he was (hee hee). He's still sweet, but the daily goings-on are quite different: He's broken at least half a dozen ornaments (why oh why did we not think to buy the unbreakable kind?!), knows the difference between the healthy snacks I'm offering him and the cookies I'm eating myself (man, kids are smart these days), and is already picking on his little brother in utero (snuck off with an "early" Christmas present for Eli from Grandma and Grandpa Ross and tore it open.... it was a stuffed turtle, in case you're wondering).

Oh, and remember how I was bragging in the last post about his super adaptability to a toddler bed? I've eaten my words, dear friends, because he now prefers to crawl out, knock at the door/scream for awhile, then curl up and sleep in the corner. I was reading suggestions from parents on babycenter.com on how they went about transitioning their kids from cribs to beds, and was humored by the idea to reward them with candy; I imagined myself sitting by Gabriel's bed all night in the darkness, shoving M&M's in his mouth every time he woke up. Yeah, I think the candy reward will be tagged as a last resort.

"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!'"
♦ Luke 1:41-45 ♦