December

December seemed to be a rough month for us with traveling and sickness. But on the bright side, Jonathan finished his first semester at Hardin-Simmons University. I am tracking through the 3rd trimester and Luke continues to grow and learn everyday.

My parents came to visit us the second weekend in December and we got to show them our favorite park and the zoo. Luke loved having an audience besides Mommy and Daddy. :)

Showing Mams and Pops the flamingos and ducks at the zoo.

Dad trying to provoke the peacock that was loose.

Playing in the fort Mams and Pops built for Luke.

Then we left our house on Wednesday, December 15th to go to Carrollton and visit Jonathan's brother and wife. Part of Jonathan's Christmas present was going to a Dallas Mavericks game and we were glad Sam and Jenn got to go with us. It was Luke's first experience at a Mavs game and he absolutely loved it!

The next day I got sick and just laid on the couch all day. It didn't help that I started having Braxton Hicks contractions too! That scared Jonathan. :) I was sick for about 48 hours so it continued when we went to the Mitchells in Fort Worth for Mitchell Christmas weekend. Luke started running a fever Friday afternoon but didn't have any other symptoms.

Saturday we opened presents with the Mitchells and had our Christmas meal together.

Opening his stocking.

Luke LOVED his baseball "glub" and baseball.

Papa and Gramma got Luke his own bike!

By that night Luke started throwing up. That was the saddest experience I've ever had (I'm sure the pregnancy hormones didn't help)! That was the first time Luke's thrown up and he was so scared, poor baby. It took everything in me to not break down when he did!

Sunday morning Luke was still a little sick but was getting over it. We decided to stay at the Mitchells and not risk going to church. By Sunday night it was Jonathan's turn. He was still feeling yucky Monday morning which was when we were scheduled to go to Palestine for Taylor Christmas. He wasn't feeling 100% so he asked me to drive to Palestine. Jonathan rested the rest of the day and was feeling better by Tuesday.

We did Taylor Christmas Wednesday night with my immediate family. Luke got a lot of fun things!

Luke's own work bench! I think Daddy was just as excited as Luke :)

Luke got his first piggy bank from Dave Ramsey aka Mams and Pops

And he got his first real guitar from Granny.

We got out my Grampa's hunting hat and Jacob and Luke modeled it for us. :) So sad Luke never got to meet his great Grampa but Luke has definitely taken over as the "ham" in the family for him.

After we opened our presents, we headed to Beaumont for extended Taylor Christmas. It was a late night and rough on my dad who got our sickness next. :(

We opened presents the next morning with the family.

We have many goofy people in our family :)

We came back to Palestine Friday afternoon and celebrated my parent's 27th anniversary with just the 8 of us. That evening we went to the Christmas Eve service at my parent's church. I even got to sing a song with Bek during the service.

Saturday morning my parents and Bek went to deliver goodies to people working on Christmas day (firemen, police, hospital, etc) then came back to the house for breakfast with the Hinson crew. The rest of the day we got ready for Christmas lunch and had great quality time with the family.

Sunday morning I woke up and couldn't walk without a lot of assistance. Probably all the traveling. I sat with a heating pad on and off all day. And by Monday morning I was a little better as we headed back to Abilene. We were so happy to be back home!

We set up all of Luke's toys he got and took down Christmas decorations. I went to the doctor for my 33 week appointment and found out that my glucose test results were elevated so I had to take the 3 hour glucose test. AWFUL!!! But I did just find out that I passed so no gestational diabetes but I do have anemia. That explains why I'm always weak and light-headed! I'll start iron pills today.

December had it's ups and downs for us, but we had a great Christmas and great family time! Luke was so fun this year with presents and Christmas decorations. He would point out Christmas lights on houses when we would be out driving and loved having a Christmas tree in his room. When I would ask who's Christmas tree that was he would say, "Uke and Pahkers!" I hope he's that willing to share with Parker after he gets here! :)

We hope you and your family had a great holiday season!