Tis the Season...

Yet another Friday afternoon at work almost over! I needed a break again!!

Some of the highlights over the last couple of weeks....

1. Making and decorating cookies with my parents, Tom, Micaela, Gabe and Riley. We did this not last Sunday but the Sunday before and it was so much fun! We spent pretty much the entire afternoon and into the evening a bit making gingerbread men, a gingerbread house, and a variety of other goodies. Everyone agreed that it is fun to make them and even more fun to sample them! Everyone has their own favorites too!!

2. Jerz is feeling better!! Jerz has pretty much fully recuperated from her slipped disc injury from Thanksgiving weekend. We continue to monitor her as much as possible to keep her from reinjuring it, but there have been no other problems so far - knock on wood! We are trying to keep little Bailey from doing the same thing but she is a little more wiley than Jerz and harder to catch and stop from jumping onto and off of furniture! Jay and his buddies constructed some steps for the dogs that should help too...

3. Baby Gerving seems to be doing well! No emergency doctor visits since the one almost two weeks ago and we are so thankful for that! We want to make it to our next doctor appointment which is scheduled for Jan. 5 with no other complications or problems! Baby will be 15 weeks along this weekend. Once we hit that 20-week mark I think it will really sink in how fast it all goes! I have been feeling much better and can now stay up past 8:00 pm I am proud to say! (Well, OK, Wednesday evening I may have accidentally fallen asleep watching TV around 8:00pm or so....)

Oh yes - and for the baby size/food comparison of the week:
How Big is the Baby at 15 Weeks Pregnant? Your baby is a about the size of an orange by pregnancy week 15, between 4 and 4 and ½ inches long and weighing more than 1 ½ ounces!

4. Christmas shopping will end for me/us today!! After work, I'm braving the cold and the crowds to finalize my Christmas shopping for the 2008 season! Hope to get those gifts wrapped by tomorrow morning! Next year I have a feeling there may be just a BIT more shopping involved for the little one!! ;)

5. House Guests. We had Julie and Scott over last Friday evening (before the horrible weather hit us) for pizza, French Silk Pie (thanks to Julie) and to visit. They stayed for quite awhile and we got to catch up with them. It was a nice evening! Plus we got a Denver Broncos gnome out of the deal! (The gnome story is sort of an inside thing...suffice it to say, it was the "perfect" gift from Julie). Who doesn't love a gnome for their new home?

6. A new tradition is born! The sisters-in-law from the Gerving side have traditionally exchanged names for gifts each year. This year we decided to just meet - the 5 of us - to go out to eat and spend a girls' evening together instead. We did that last night - and, though there was a one-hour wait at the Olive Garden, it was well worth it. Good food and good company! I left at around 9:30pm or so (I think?) and Carrie did too to head back to GU. Lynds, Val and Julie stayed until 11:30 I heard, even though the Olive Garden is supposedly only open until 10:00! Wonder how they pulled that one off??

That's all that is coming to mind that was of note over the last week and a half or so....Last weekend was spent (by me) entirely at home. Jay went to Prairie Knights on Saturday for his work Christmas party (I wasn't feeling the greatest that day so I didn't go with) and I'm pretty glad I didn't go. Not only did they have a LONG bus ride home from the casino (due to the weather they went about 20 mph and had to stop several times), but about an hour after Jay got home, he started throwing up. Apparently he wasn't the only one to suffer such a fate - there were others that also got sick. Jay had a rought few days after that but started feeling better yesterday finally.

Other than that, we are looking forward to the weekend and of course next week's family holiday festivities! We're heading to GU for Christmas Eve and then will spend Christmas Day in Bismarck. Jay is taking some vacation after that through the end of the year. I'll continue to "slave away" at work but will enjoy my time off for the holidays as well!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend (stay warm if you can!) and of course a very Merry Christmas! Looks like we're in for some more cold and snowy weather!