Welcome Cecilia

Cecilia
Born at 7:07 am
8 lbs 12 oz, 17"

Many, many thanks for your prayers and thoughts! God bless!

Baby sister sitting with 2nd oldest sister.

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no news...

...they say is good news. Or so they say. So, that being the case, I have only good news to report on the baby front: which is to say NO NEWS.

Please pray for me for faith and perseverance and, better yet, for a baby to produce herself - VERY SOON.

Thank you in advance for the prayers.
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St. Stephen's Feast Day

...or as it is known in Canada and England - Boxing Day. Today is our big Christmas dinner - with THREE Priests coming. And I am having contractions... typically every 20 minutes. Now and then they stop for an hour or two and then start again. CP - If this baby comes today as you predicted... you are in big trouble!! I have told baby to be - she must be born by 12 or not till after 5 pm!

Will let everyone know what happens!

Blessings
Christi

POST SCRIPT - Contractions stopped shortly after 12 so no baby... she is either very lazy or very obedient. CP - you may breath a sigh of relief as we got through dinner with no surprise arrival. And I got TWO blessings. Now that every one is gone... contractions have started again. Hmmm.... lazy or obedient! Only time will tell.

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A child was born and they laid him in a manger...

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Happy Christmas Adam...

...which means we are the day before Christmas Eve. Where did Advent go? Is Christmas really just around the corner or to borrow an expression from the Muppet Christmas Carol - just two more sleeps till Christmas!?

Now that we are so close to Christmas, as impatient as I am to have this baby, I also now want to get through Christmas before she arrives! Ack!

Last night the children and I put together two ginger bread houses and decorated them. One is a gift and one is for us. I will try to get some pictures but first I need to locate my rechargeable batteries while also praying they are actually charged!

As ready as I thought I was - here we are only a few days... and I still have some important tasks to complete! Lots of baking still to do and clothes to double check for Mass. Benjamin and Noah are serving and Anna and Gabriela are bringing up the gifts. Emma is going to be GREEN with envy as she is dying for a chance to do that!

Well... I will let you all know what happens with this possible Christmas baby - she has lots of dates to arrive on so as to spoil plans of some sort, and after all, isn't that what babies LOVE to do? Arrive at the worst possible moment. Say on the 26th when we have three priests expected for dinner? I'll let you know - so stay tuned!

For some fun strolling down memory lane here are two posts from previous Christmas Adams:

2005

2006

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Overheard at the mission

On the fourth night of our parish mission a fellow parishioner introduced herself to our two youngest daughters:

"Hi - my name is Mary!" she said.

To which 3 yr. old Elsa responded:

"Aren't you supposed to be in Heaven?" Read more!

No - no new baby yet...

... just lots of contractions complicated with a couple of gall bladder attacks. Yippe - so much fun! I certainly can not complain that God is not loving me with lots to offer up this Advent!

Confession time - our Jesse Tree is a dismal failure! Between a four day Mission that we attended at night and colds and contractions and ... you get the idea. At least I got all of the posts up and can just follow them again next year. I am planning on creating permanent ornaments and focusing on the readings next year with each child taking a turn according to age to place an ornament.

We are betting on the Holy Innocents as her birthday - anyone care to place some bets - Due dates range from Dec 27 to Jan 04!

Love and blessings to all my dear readers. I promised someone will post as as possible after baby to be arrives, with her stats etc. Even a picture or two if possible.

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Congratulations...

...to Casey P. of South Carolina as she won this month's giveaway! Next month I hope to feature another book! So be sure to stay tuned in.


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Don't Forget...

...to enter the giveaway this month. Just leave a comment with your first name and a means of contacting you should you win! This is the last day you can enter!

May the best reader win!

Only one comment/entry per reader please.

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Note to Self

When passing the new kitten tuck in pajama strings to avoid tempting her to play... OUCH!


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Don't forget...

...to enter the giveaway this month. Just leave a comment with your first name and a means of contacting you should you win!

May the best reader win!

Only one comment/entry per reader please.

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Following our Advent progress...

I promised a few pictures of our progress through Advent. I will be honest, we have not done as well as I had hoped. Often by evening - I have been too tired to do the Jesse Tree every night - so we have sometimes been doing double symbols! I have been very focused on getting ready for the baby. I think I am ready... until I remember one more thing that needs to bought, washed or brought out of storage. Umm like the swing.... ARGH!

Anyway - I am posting a picture with this post so that you can see how the chains are shortening and also enjoy a vision in pink in front of a pair of the chains. It is Elsa all dressed up and waiting to leave for our parish Christmas party last weekend. So the chains are even shorter now!

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Where was my brain?

Where was my brain when I added the following to my fun things to do while waiting for baby to be this Advent/Christmas season:

'Take trip to tree farm in the mountains, on the 14th, to find and cut down tree with kids.'

Ummm, yeah. I guess it has been a while since I have been 37 weeks pregnant - otherwise how could I plan such an arduous expedition when somewhere between37 and 38 weeks pregnant. Typically I am pretty much immobile at this point into my pregnancy, a trip to the bathroom requires planning on my part. And I thought I was going to drive and hour or more to the mountains, clamber through the woods for another hour or so looking for the perfect tree, with eight kids in tow? Mind, my husband would be there too - but still - what was he going to do - piggy back me through the woods?

This thought struck me last week as I struggled just to maneuver out the front door and into our 15 passenger van! I looked at Hugo after settling myself into the passenger seat in the front and said, "There is no way I can go hunting for a tree - like this!" He sagely nodded and we drove off. A little while later he came up with a much better idea than mine.

"Since we would have had to spend money on gas to drive up there, let's use that money to take the kids out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel next Saturday, and then find a tree lot to buy our tree from. Then they might not be too disappointed about not going to the tree farm!"

Excellent idea and all of the kids, without a murmur, agreed to it. After all, they are watching me hourly waddle here and there in the house. Being reasonable kids - it is just too painfully obvious that I would more than slow them down on the tree farm, I would plain out right bring it all to a full halt after about 10 steps! That would probably get us from the van - to the barn... never mind out into the cold, still acres of Christmas trees!

So Cracker Barrel - here we come: "A table for ten please, with two boosters, non smoking if you don't mind."

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At long last...

... this month's giveaway! This cool little sleeping bag would make a lovely gift for a daughter, niece, grand daughter or a neighbour's little girl you have been wondering what to give to for Christmas.



This is a hand made sleeping bag - sized for an Only Hearts Doll. These are nine inch dolls and you can learn more about their unique features here. I decided to make these sleeping bags because when I took a look at the ones being sold online - the price was more than I was willing to spend. Now the factory made sleeping bags do have zippers, but my experience told me that this was one more thing to break and until it broke - one more thing for me to have to open and close for little girls who would inevitably get the zippers stuck - as they do on their own clothes. (This sleeping bag would also work for Skipper, a member of the Barbie family and is about 9.5 inches tall)

This contest will be open until midnight of the 15th.
I will pull the lucky winner's number on the morning of the 21st.
(Only one comment/entry per reader please.)

All you have to do to participate is to leave a comment with your first name and a means of contacting you so that if you are the lucky winner I can let you know. Winner will be announced by first name only and the State they reside in.

The girls, who are ten and under, in this family really enjoy the Only Heart Club dolls and our boys are pleased with the fact that if a doll is left around undressed - they are not staring the adult female anatomy! I am pleased to be able to provide a well made doll that has lots of clothes to wear, fun and innocent accessories and does not provide an anorexic view of how a female body should look. There are also a number of books that go along with these dolls.

Please feel free to share the link to this contest and help get the word out on these really cool dolls!

(Note: I am providing this gift myself and have not received any compensation for the endorsement of the Only Heart Dolls or for mentioning Skipper/Barbie! Only the sleeping bag and matching pillow are included, The doll was for looks only and is not included as it is a well loved member of my daughters' family of Only Hearts Dolls! )

POST SCRIPT: Unless I am in labour, every attempt will be made within 48 hours of the end of the contest to mail the sleeping bag so that the winner can hopefully receive it in time for Christmas. This contest is open only to US and Canadian Residents to keep shipping simple at this time. )

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Sisters...

(Photography credits: Miss Bethany!)


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Woo Hoo!

I won a draw... I don't think I have EVER won anything in my life. I certainly can not remember ever winning anything! Do you remember Scribbit's week long giveaway? Well - I won one of the items and here it is!. Awesomeness! Thank you Scribbit!

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Some really Cool Advent Calendars...

...a little too late for this year but maybe next year? To check them out click here. I found the link on Danielle's site so you might have already checked them out. I really like the magnetic one - but I Have to wonder how long before we managed to lose some of the magnets. We have done well in the past with calendars but still - I wonder - magnets are so fascinating. "Will it stick here, how about here or here - oops - guess not!"And this little manger scene is adorable and so affordable! It would make a great distraction for the youngest magnet tester in my family. I need to remember to check out this site after Christmas and see if they are offering any of the Advent items at a discount.
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Some calendars we made for Advent

We made a couple of Advent calendars for ourselves. One was based on Bethany's idea that since Advent is a time of waiting wouldn't it be a good idea to have a calendar that gave us little sacrifices to do as we wait as opposed to treats. Now we didn't have any calendars with treats but I guess she has noticed the ones for sale that have a little chocolate for the person who opens the door that day.

I thought that was an excellent idea so I went to work on it that very night - it was jsut a few days before Advent was to start - so I did not have a lot of time.

I ultimately created two calendars, one with little sacrifices and activities for us to do that helped one to focus on the quiet spiritual side of Advent and another with the fun things we were planning on doing, such as crafts or baking we need to get finished in time to give away for Christmas.

I only have pictures of the calendars before we started to use them, but I thought I would share them anyway. At some point today - I hope to take a picture of the chains so we can see how we are coming closer to the removal of our bondage.

So enjoy the pics and look forward to some more as we come closer to the light of the world being revealed to us all in a little manger in Bethlehem.



The one above is the calendar with the prayers and sacrifices we are doing daily to help draw us closer to the Infant Jesus.
The one below is the fun stuff we are doing. Remember that you can click on the pictures and they will open up allowing you to study them closer - if you would like.



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Happy Feast Day, St Nickolas!

We love to celebrate Saint Nickolas (or Nicholas) Day in our home. Years and years ago we replaced the secular image of Santa Claus with Saint Nick and our children just adore him and the little ones have a great respect for St Nickolas' assistant, Black Peter . In fact, as I type this up - the two youngest girls are helping Bethany to clean their room as they were reminded that Black Peter would be letting St. Nick know what shape their room is in.

Some fun articles to read and recipes to check out.

An interesting article about the variations of Saint Nicholas is here.

Here is a brief article that introduces some of the various names St Nick is known by around the world.

A wonderful page filled with cookies and treats for St Nicholas' day is here.

Interested in buying some cookies cutters shaped like the famous saint - click here. I will be looking into getting some of these.

And two more links to some baking ideas are here and here.

Enjoy and have a wonderful feast day.

On a different note - while my Advent Jesse tree posts will be consistent and I have a few posts already and pre-scheduled to post, any actual real time posting may come to an end, for a short time, soon as I am struggling both with pre-term labour symtoms, and severe back ache.

I am almost ready for Christmas and am thankful for the distraction of preparing for it, this has helped tremendously. While the Chiropractor has done wonders to keep me mobile I am finally reaching that point (that I usually reach much sooner) of just not being able to walk very well. Sitting is even becoming hard on my back so prolonged times at the computer have become painful.

Prayers are very welcome as I seek the graces I need from our Lord to be patient at a time of my pregancy when I am typically not patient!

Blessings to you all and we will let you know when this bundle of joy arrives and in the meantime enjoy the Jesse tree postings and the additional ramblings I have pre-posted. (Is that a word?)

Oh, and I am still trying to get the contest for this month up and running so keep an eye out for that, eh? I already have a wonderful book rounded up for possibly January, and another for later in the spring!


(Found the picture above of St Nick here.)

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is THIS my baby????

Where oh where did my baby go?

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Christmas Baking

Are you looking for some new ideas, tired of baking the same cookies every Christmas? Well this year we decided to buy a magazine for the price of a book! Not something I often do but I really wanted to try some new recipes this year. It is fun perusing the pages - but sitting here bored... drinking herbal teas and taking herbal tinctures to stop early labour... I started googling and came up with a really nice site. I am still exploring the site but thought I would share it so that others who might be looking for new ideas could have some fun too.

If you like to bake and want to try something new, or are just looking for some tips on how to make some of your traditional cookies look a little more professional - click here and have fun!

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A complete week of giveaways at Scribbit's place.

Scribbit is having a weeks worth of giveaways so jump on over to her place and try your luck! I put my name down for a nursing camisole. Can't wait to see what else she has to give away!

Best of luck to you all! Oh and she also has a link on the left side called the Message Board where you can see other giveaway blogging events that are going on. So check that out too.

Keep in mind that in a few days I will have Decembers giveaway up and running. This time it is a hand crafted gift - just ideal for that little girl on your Christmas list.

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We were privileged to enjoy...

...THIS tonight as we drove home from Raleigh. It was an awesome thing to see - even though we were not too sure exactly what was happening. It was clear though that some astronomical phenomenon was happening. However, not all of the family was with us - and it is possible that tomorrow another view, though not as clear as tonights, will occur. So perhaps we will take an after dinner drive tomorrow and like the bear who went over the mountain - see what we can see. After all, this will not occur again for another 247 years.

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Chef and Music critic...

Elsa appears to be both master chef and music critic at the ripe old age of 3 as determined by the following observation she made while deftly mixing up pumpkin bread while I added in the ingredients. We had Christmas music playing in the background and a particularly pretty piece had just finished playing when Frosty the Snowman came on. Within seconds Elsa sagely stated as she solemnly stirred without spilling a fleck of flour:

"That is not a beautiful song, Mummy."

"Well - it is a happy song, even if a little noisy, isn't it?" I asked her.

She nodded her agreement as she continued to studiously and carefully mix the flour into the wet ingredients.




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