Calaway: Where Oh Where Have I Been??

Sorry about being MIA for the last month or so! It's been rather busy around these parts. We had an eventful Thanksgiving break, which included Dallin receiving 7 stitches in his face and lots of good food! Once we got home, a dear friend of ours passed away and we were fortunate enough to provide music for the funeral. Since then it has been decorating for Christmas, preparing for baby boy to make his arrival, last minute Christmas shopping and gift making! Most nights I fall into bed exhausted, until I get awoken by kicking, contractions, or having to make yet another trip to the bathroom. I'm feeling incredibly blessed right now as I reflect on the events of the last year, however and am so grateful for the life I have.

Dallin is 3/4 done with graduate school! Hooray! One semester left and then he graduates in May with his MBA. I couldn't be more proud. He works so hard and has been the absolute best husband any pregnant woman could ever ask for. Somehow, he still thinks I look beautiful, despite my increasing belly (and the ever increasing numbers on the scale...) he always volunteers to take Claire and run errands (usually picking up an ingredient from the store that I forgot to get at an earlier shopping trip) and he gives me foot massages. Really, what more can a girl ask for?!

Claire is keeping us busy, busy! Her vocabulary is slowly but surely getting bigger and better and her favorite words these days are "lis-lis lies" (Christmas lights) and "me miss-moss" (Merry Christmas) She loves all animals, but cats and dogs seem to be the favorite. She's a picky eater (surprise, surprise, as I was deemed failure to thrive when I was her age because of how picky I was!) but will surprise me every now and again by eating something totally out of the blue. She loves tutu's, dancing, music and singing. She is able to pick up on songs so quickly. One day she randomly started singing Jingle Bells, and Dallin and I still have no idea where she learned it. We have been listening to Christmas music for quite a while, so she must have picked it up from that, but neither of us taught it to her. She sings along to the theme songs of her favorite tv shows, Arthur and Little Einsteins and can usually be heard singing both of those songs as she falls asleep at nap or bedtime. She runs everywhere, climbs as high as we will let her and would spend all day, everyday outside if we would let her. She's stolen our hearts as well as the hearts of all her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. We think she's pretty special!

At my Dr. appointment last Thursday I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. We thought for sure this little man was coming that day or the next, but he has decided he really likes where he's at for the time being! I have another appointment this morning, so I will update if anything new has developed. We thought for sure this pregnancy would be just like Claire's and that he would come at 37 weeks, but I'm almost 38 and he doesn't seem any closer to coming, so who knows! I pray I don't go full term. I will be the grouchiest lady that ever lived if that happens!

All in all, we are grateful for this wonderful season and for the reminders of what is truly important. We're so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and for the health and happiness we have been so abundantly blessed with. Stay tuned for more updates, I promise I will get better at blogging again! This has been a great journaling tool for me and I want to keep it better updated, if for nothing else, than to have my kids look back and see what happened in our lives! And now, the pictures!