New Year's Day brunch

We will miss Uncle James!!

Sitting down for the meal


Saying "goodbye" to Aunt Caroline :(







Having fun with Great Grandmama

The past two years, we have invited our immediate and extended family over on New Year's Eve and stayed up till past midnight. I guess that David and I have aged tremendously over the past year......we didn't host or attend a New Year's party and were asleep before midnight. Instead, we had our parents, David's brother, and my Grandmama over on New Year's Day for a brunch.

Playing in the snow, potty-training, and pregnancy

Raleigh joined in the fun, too.
David had to chase his dad with snowballs....one of which was rather large
Grandpa and John Harrison
Grandpa helping John Harrison stand on top of the snowman

Grandpa's snowman
We had fun playing in the snow last Monday. We got about 4-5 inches and John Harrison had so much fun playing outside. John Harrison especially liked that Grandpa came over to play with him in the snow and make snowmen. David made a huge snowman that was taller than he is and also made a huge snow "sculpture" that was going to be a snowman, but the base was HUGE and the mid-section ended up being too heavy to stack.
Other things going on with us recently.....John Harrison is well on the way to being potty trained! We are about 8 days into potty training and today, John Harrison only had one accident. The first few days were very challenging and left me wondering if potty training was possible with our 22 month old toddler! At first, I was letting John Harrison run around in underwear, socks, and a shirt, put him on the potty at frequent intervals, and taught him a symbol that indicated he needed to go potty. After cleaning up numerous urine puddles....many of which came as quickly as 7 minutes apart, I was really frustrated. My mother-in-law suggested that I look into cotton training pants----David went out and bought some and they definitely helped control the puddle size when John Harrison had an accident (I was trying to avoid pull-ups or diapers as I thought that John Harrison wouldn't have motivation to learn to go in the potty with these on). We did buy some pull-ups today to put on John Harrison when we are out running errands, but keep him in the cotton training pants (and hopefully regular underwear soon) while we are at home. My primary motivation in potty training John Harrison has been the fact that our baby girl is due in less than 10 weeks! I think I could have easily put potty training indefinitely unless such a strong motivation had existed.
With the pregnancy, I am up to doctor's visits every 2 weeks now. I am feeling pretty good and my belly seems to be growing rapidly. I am still buttoning two pair of my regular jeans and wearing many of my normal tops, sweaters, athletic pants, and leggings. Thankfully, many clothing styles this season include long shirts and sweaters:)...(I really don't like maternity clothes very much). Elise is very active and we can't wait to meet our precious little girl in a little over 2 months!

Christmas with Grammy and Grandpa

John Harrison curious about Grammy's candle

playing with his new ring-sorting board from Uncle Jon

eyeing a gift

David's parents let John Harrison open a Fisher Price Precious Planet monkey that they bought for Elise and he immediately loved pushing the buttons to make monkey talk and sing...I'm sure he'll have fun entertaining Elise with this new toy at Grammy and Grandpa's house.

John Harrison and Grandpa
John Harrison has been having so much fun playing with his new toys that he got for Christmas. So much fun, in fact, that he still has several gifts left to open. We've divided most of his current toys between his room, the bonus room, and the living room (where he plays most often). One of his favorite new toys is a Fisher Price Little People Farm set from Grammy and Grandpa. John Harrison loves taking the animals in and out of the barn and gets a huge smile on his face and swings his arms around when the rooster plays "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." Grammy and Grandpa also gave John Harrison a Duplo farm--John Harrison's favorite thing to do with it is to drive the tractor into and out of the barn. A few days after Christmas, John Harrison and I were playing upstairs and he decided that every single toy in the bonus room...including the recently put together Duplo farm....needed to be moved into his playhouse. It was quite cramped with all of the toys and John Harrison and me in the playhouse, but he seemed happy with this arrangement.
Christmas lunch was the first meal we had ever hosted at our house on Christmas (or any major holiday for that matter....other than Fourth of July this past year). David's mom and I both cooked various dishes and David smoked a turkey....everything turned out really well! We had so much fun having everyone in our home for lunch and hope to repeat the tradition in years to come. It was really nice being able to put John Harrison down for a nap at our own house (and also having him contained to one area of the house while we visited and opened gifts). We are so excited that David's parents live in our neighborhood now and really enjoy being able to drop by for a short visit or drop off John Harrison when we need a babysitter (my dear mother-in-law will almost never say "no" when we ask her to babysit, so we have to be careful not to take advantage of her generosity:).

Christmas Recap

My dad wanted a picture of his grandson with 2 of his 3 granddogs (our dog didn't make it in the picture as she stayed home on Christmas:)

In the last month or so, John Harrison has started doing this scrunched-face "smile" when you ask him to smile
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Sitting on the bench Granddad made for John Harrison (my dad made John Harrison this bench based on how much John Harrison has enjoyed sitting on a similar bench at their house...John Harrison will often take your hand and lead you over to sit with him on the bench at Grandmama and Granddad's house)

John Harrison stepping into his Little People school bus from his Granddad and Grandmama (this toy seems to be one of his favorite Christmas gifts)

taking a ride in the Tonka truck from Granddad and Grandmama

Hugging Aunt Margaret and Uncle Matt's dog, Myles (very good-natured dog, I might add!)

Adorable tunic dress for Elise from Caroline and James....I can just imagine our sweet baby girl in 2 years from now wearing this dress with brown leggings and brown mary janes:)

David quickly learned that John Harrison didn't care too much about gifts when they were called "presents"....but when we called presents "toys," John Harrison suddenly was interested in opening them.

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. John Harrison seemed to have a much better grasp about what was going on this year than he did last year. We talked to John Harrison a lot about Jesus' birth so hopefully some of what we said will stick and his understanding of God will increase in the coming year! John Harrison has started saying "amen" when we pray to Jesus. It is SO, SO evident that John Harrison is soaking up everything around him and we often see him imitate us ...we want him to grow up seeing Christ in us and through us, desire to know his Savior! We pray that learning to obey and submit to his parents will help John Harrison one day be able to submit himself to and obey Christ.

Here is a recap of our recent weeks---

December 17--David's parents watched John Harrison overnight while David and I had a night out. We ate dinner at Texas de Brazil (probably our favorite restaurant) and went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (80s rock band and string orchestra meets Christmas concert with pyrotechnics, laser lights, and dramatic monologue).
December 19--Sunday before Christmas--our local church had a Christmas service at night and during the service, all the children went to the front while our worship leader read the Christmas story from The Jesus Storybook Bible. David sat with John Harrison at the front during the reading...trying to keep our very busy 21 month old still and quiet proved to be quite the challenging task.
December 21--We had our master bedroom and bathroom painted (completed Christmas Eve evening...goodbye brown walls and ceiling from the former homeowners!).....we also moved up to king-sized bed!! Bedroom makeover pictures coming soon!!!
December 22--This day marked the one year anniversary of David's paternal grandmother's death. We miss Grandmother and spent some time with David's Grandpa.
December 23--We spent the evening at my parents' house for our family's traditional Christmas dinner (beef tenderloin, yummy veggie sides and desserts).
December 24--My siblings and their spouses and my brother-in-law came over for a "siblings get-together" at night. We also set up the Little Tikes playhouse that we got John Harrison for Christmas. Excited about being 27 weeks pregnant....one more week marks the beginning of the third trimester!!
December 25--We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at home with our little boy and let him see his new playhouse after breakfast. John Harrison LOVES his playhouse....(David and I set up the playhouse in the bonus room and John Harrison asks to go "stairs" (upstairs) several times a day to play in his playhouse)!! David's parents and brother came over for lunch and John Harrison opened several gifts from his grandparents and uncle. We quickly decided to save many of John Harrison's gifts for later days so he wouldn't be so overwhelmed by so many new things to play with (he still has 6 gifts to open!). Before taking his nap, John Harrison, David, and I went and saw Aunt Lisa for a little bit to wish her Merry Christmas. After John Harrison's nap, we went to my parents' house and exchanged gifts with my parents, grandmother, and siblings. Elise even received several gifts!!! David's brother joined us at my parents' house and then also joined us at a family get-together. We only stayed for a few minutes at the family gathering as John Harrison was getting worn out from a busy day and was ready for bed. After we put John Harrison down to bed, David's brother stayed at our house for a little while so we could spend more time with David's sister, Lisa Marie. We so missed having you with us during the day, Lisa Marie!!
Christmas Day marked three calender months till Elise's due date!
December 26--At night, we had our siblings (and their spouses) and first cousins (and their spouses/fiances) over for an informal get-together.
December 28--We (along with my cousins, dad, and siblings/spouses) spent the evening enjoying a delicious dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. My mom and sister were sick and had to miss:(

We have taken John Harrison to look at Christmas lights MANY times (including tonight).....he LOVES Christmas lights and I'm sure will be quite sad once this weekend is over and Christmas lights are taken down (yes, David did put up lights at our house...John Harrison gets so excited about our lights every time we drive home). These past few weeks have been busy, but so meaningful and memorable.

Merry Christmas!

I'll wear that!

John Harrison has changed so much over the past month. He is definitely growing up!! One thing he has started doing in the last few weeks is pick out his own shirt to wear......it happens like this---I am holding John Harrison and standing in his closet trying to decide what he will wear for the day....John Harrison starts pointing at certain shirts (most often dress shirts), getting really excited, and doing sign language for "please." John Harrison has picked out the same dress shirt about 4 times in the past 2 weeks; how could I say no:)???
In the pictures above with the suitcases, John Harrison had been playing with his suitcases and wanted the suitcases positioned just right so he could stand behind them and have me take his picture.

Baby it's cold outside!

The cold weather doesn't stop John Harrison from wanting to play outside. Last week, we played outside almost everyday...including several days with temperatures in the 20s and 30s. I took the pictures in this post on a day that had highs in the low 50s:) (as evidenced by the light jacket John Harrison is wearing). One of the things John Harrison wants to do each time we go outside is go down to one of our trees and fill a hole at the base of the tree with pieces of tree bark and then take the tree bark out (and again and again...). Another thing John Harrison enjoys doing while we are outside is playing in the dirt in our raised garden bed....of course, he wants me in there playing in the dirt with him. I enjoy the fun times with our little boy....even when I am shivering.