Merry Christmas from the Orosz Family!

Merry Christmas from the Orosz Family!

Our Christmas card from this year. We took the photos in Old Town Alexandria back in October. 

Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas! 

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Day and so far it has been a relaxing and beautiful day. No Clare in sight at this point, but it was very nice to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas morning all together (instead of a hospital visit). I got a little worried the night before Christmas Eve that I would miss all the Christmas action when I was feeling sort of funny, but Clare has held on and we are home relaxing now. 

Christmas Eve we sprinkled our reindeer food out front in the morning. Buddy the Elf made his last appearance for the year and left the kids a nice note. William and Grace really love the Elf. He's a very fun addition to the holiday season. Then we had a delicious dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Orosz at their home that evening. And when we got home we watched a Mickey Christmas movie and prepped for Santa's arrival. We put out chocolate milk, gingerbread men and carrots. Half of each cookie was missing because Grace insisted on biting the head off of every single cookie. William stirred up the chocolate milk. Both of them hit the hay with ease that night knowing that Santa doesn't deliver presents until everyone is SLEEPING!

Buddy's last day

Sprinkling reindeer food

Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's

Setting up Santa and reindeer's tray of food

Christmas morning I was up at 4:30 a.m. Oh boy. I prepped for breakfast, had a cup of coffee, watched the Homeland finale... I thought for sure William would pop out of bed early, but he stayed in bed until 8:30 a.m. Grace slept in too. It was a foggy and dark morning - very much a sleep in day. Matt and I had breakfast bread pudding together before the kids even got up. So it was actually a very peaceful and relaxing early morning for the adults. 

Breakfast for two!

Present time! William and Grace got a lot of wonderful goodies. The big Santa gifts were a tricycle for Grace and a bike WITH pedals for William. We bought William a balance bike several months ago and he hasn't been able to get over the fact that there are no pedals... the reviews are spectacular... I thought it would work. SO bike with training wheels it is. I'd say their favorite gifts were random though. Grace loves the Made in China Elsa and Anna plastic toys in her stocking and then William is loving the Batmobile Plane that shoots Batman out the front. 

Grace loves her Elsa and Anna

Batmobile plane for William

Spin on the bike

Tricycle with streamers!

I went back to bed at 10 a.m. (4:30 a.m. wake up call had me wiped). Took a Kat Nap for an hour then we all headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Orosz's house to open presents with the aunts, uncles, and cousins. I wish I had the energy to take photos over there, but you know I'm totally exhausted when I can't summon the energy to wrangle the kids for more pictures. They all had a lot of fun and came home with even more wonderful goodies. 

Christmas morning the four of us

An amazing Christmas and the excitement continues... when will Clare join us? 

Teddy bear and baby Jack Rogers for Clare

39 Week Appointment

I had my 39 week appointment this morning with Dr. Dukes, but I wasn't sure last night that I would make it to this appointment! Last night I laid in bed with cramping and pressure that I was neeearly ready to wake up Matt. Instead I decided to get up and walk around the house to see how I felt moving around. This was at 2 a.m. I cut up strawberries for breakfast prep, organized the kids' stocking stuffers, wrapped the gifts Matt hadn't wrapped for his Orosz Family Secret Santa, setup Buddy the Elf for his last day, pulled out the reindeer food for Christmas Eve... amazing how productive one can be at that ungodly hour... But the pressure stopped, I got sleepy and went back to bed at 4 a.m. 

Nothing happened and so I went to my regular appointment. Dr. Dukes checked and progressing along - I'm now 2cm and 30/50% effaced, she's a bit lower too. William and Grace were at that exact point at their 39 weeks checks too! 

So the waiting continues. Talk about suspenseful! Christmas and not knowing when your baby will arrive is pretty exciting. We are ready though and happy to see her when she's ready. Dr. Dukes is on call Christmas and the rest of the holiday weekend and I'd be very happy to have him deliver Clare. Next week early in the week are a couple random doctors on call from the practice I never see, which would be fine - but it would be nice to have a doctor I'm fond of. I'm still perfectly fine to wait - physically it's not comfortable, but so long as my feet are up and I'm sitting there isn't a problem. 

If she doesn't arrive this weekend then I go back on Monday (due date) and play it by ear. They wouldn't let me go beyond a week from my due date and Dr. Dukes said I'm a perfect candidate for induction (because I'm already progressing and this is a third). So he'd let me pick a day next week. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though. It would seem so strange for a third delivery to go late and end up induced when the first two came early and on their own. Stranger things have happened though. 

When will Clare arrive...?

Last Name

William signs his first name on so many things (all the artwork he brings home from school) and he's practicing his last name now. He is very interested in writing and reading - which he can't do at all (other than recognize his first and last name), but he likes to pretend he's reading. He moves his finger across the words in a book and repeats from memory what the book says. Adorable!

Here is his last name practice from breakfast the other day. I write the word and he writes below me. 

William writing "Orosz"

Last Santa Sighting

This past Sunday we had our last meet and greet with Santa Claus! No more plans to see the big guy before he leaves the North Pole to hopefully deliver presents (no coal!) on Christmas Eve. 

Friends of ours hosted a story time with Santa and it was the sweetest thing. When Santa first walked into the backyard where all the kids were eating cookies, they were in complete shock. The looks on their faces = priceless. 

Santa read the Night Before Christmas and then took pictures with the kids. Such a fun evening!

Santa reading Night Before Christmas

All the kids with Santa

Family picture with Santa

All the mommys are on the nice list :)

Brynn and Grace - always barefoot, holding hands

39 weeks today!

I'm 39 weeks pregnant today, but don't see my OB doctor until Thursday. I did go to the hematologist this afternoon like I mentioned in my last post (no patience in waiting until Wednesday). And the results were fantastic! 114! We are above 100. The platelets can still jump around a bit, but we should be in the clear. Quite the burden lifted and I feel much better going into the weekend -- possibly meeting Clare! 

I got a pumpkin pie to celebrate! Probably my favorite food (outside of the usual bacon, egg and cheese on an English muffin for all three pregnancies) in this pregnancy :) 

School Christmas Parties

William and Grace had their school Christmas parties this past week to wrap up the "fall semester" of school. The 2015 school year is over! It is crazy to think half of their year has come to a close. We sign them up for the next school year in early January. I feel like we only began... but, back to Christmas parties.

Both parties were on the same day at the same time, so I run back and forth between the two classes. They're only 10 feet apart from each other. It isn't that dramatic :) I love seeing the progress Grace's class makes at each party because you can see how much they've grown in only a month time. The Halloween party to Christmas party is a big difference. They're really mature. Not. But they are noticeably more civilized. I didn't see any tears now that I think about it! There were a couple criers. Obviously Grace wasn't a crier, but she might have pushed someone causing them to cry... Oh, Grace.

Grace's class listening to a Christmas story

Grace spots Mommy!

Snack and party time!

Straight to the cupcake...

I went from Grace's party over to William's party and talk about night and day... The 2's are more civilized than even a month ago, but the 3's are perfect angels! It's incredibly quiet and they eat their food and clean their places and then participate in the craft -- without any instruction. William has a smaller class and his teacher is really big on structure, so I think that helps. Grace's class has 14 two year olds... wow, holy patience.

William's class party.

Holiday sticker wreath craft

William loves his crafts!

Grace with her girl buddies, Brynn and Leighton

Grace LOVES her assistant teacher, Mrs. Kest

The parties are always a good time. It's fun to chat with the moms and hear what their kids are saying too. A mom from William's class told me that her daughter is "wishing her and William could play more often, but he wants to play bad guys and she wants to play princesses, so they can't play right now!" Cracks me up!

Fun party day! We went home and passed out -- them from sugar comas and me from pregnancy tiredness and running back and forth between classes :) Looking forward to the next half of the year - they go back January 5, 2016!

36, 37 and 38 Weeks

And the weekly checks for baby Clare's arrival began on December 4.

• 36 week check was nothing. No progress. 
• 37 week check on December 10 was nothing as well. I went to my hematologist the next day to see how my platelets were doing.

37 week check entourage... oh geez

My platelets dropped big time - panic mode! They were in the 70s and so I started my prescription.

I had my blood drawn the day before (Thursday) my 38 week appointment to see how they were looking after a week of my prescription. No change!! Double panic mode! I wasn't suppose to see my hematologist, but I tracked her down and she said there wasn't much to do. I'd have to wait. I crossed my fingers that my 38 week appointment the next day (this past Friday) would be no change in the dilating/effacing area as well.

• 38 week check appointment results on Friday were 1 cm dilated and 0% effaced. Baby Clare is still high up in my belly. Phew... Now the waiting game to see if this prescription will kick in and I can get my epidural. 

I'll be 39 weeks on Monday and I'm suppose to have my blood drawn again on Wednesday. I'm going to walk into the hematologist on Monday morning to see if they'll check it sooner. I can't wait another few days because I'm guessing this baby will be coming later next week. Right now my guess is the day after Christmas... Matt says there is a full moon on Christmas and my grandma the baby nurse at Fairfax Hospital always said crazy things happen on full moons in the delivery/baby ward... I wouldn't be so opposed to a nice Christmas morning and wheeling into the hospital that night - baby being born on the 26th, ideally :) My 39 week appointment is on Christmas Eve (Friday).

I've felt a little cramping and I'm quite tired. I'm really, really trying to take it easy.

Cross your fingers for my platelets to hit 100 before my 39 week appointment! Otherwise, this delivery story may be more dramatic than the past two that were extremely uneventful, peaceful and pain free.

But most of all - I want a safe and healthy delivery for all. We are very excited for baby Clare's arrival! I can't believe it is right upon us. I've been asked if I'm ready for 3 and honestly, I haven't had a single anxious thought about having a third child at home. Maybe it should phase me more, but I figure the more the merrier! Yes it can get crazy, but the fun outweighs it all. Famous last words, right :)

I still need to pack my hospital bag... we really need to get our act together over here. I do have a few goodies pulled out for Clare's hospital bag. I love the tiny little gowns and hats for a baby...

Clare Virginia goodies

Grace's First Flick

Grace went to the movies for the first time a couple weeks ago. Her first movie was The Good Dinosaur. We went with her best bud, Brynn and her mommy, Kelsey. The movie unfortunately wasn't the best. I don't think Grace minded, but it was actually very sad! I thought for sure it would be a typical kid movie that kept you laughing along the way. She watched the whole movie start to finish and ate popcorn. She didn't talk about it much after though. It's still Elsa and Anna world for Grace. Maybe we will wait to see a movie again until Frozen 2 comes out. We can pretend that is her first movie instead of the Good Dinosaur. Sorry - sadly don't recommend it. Oh well! Better luck next time!

We've got tickets and now we need food!

Captivated with popcorn

Brynn and Grace

William's Christmas Musical

This past week we had William's school's Christmas Musical performance! I have been really looking forward to this event! I dropped him off at school then waited for my seat immediately. The performance wasn't happening for another 45 minutes haha! I wanted a good seat for pictures and video, of course. William has been singing the three Christmas songs his class was performing since before Thanksgiving! All of us have the songs stuck in our heads. We could have joined his class. Grace was singing "Bells are Ringing" the weekend before at brunch. So funny. 

Mrs. Massengale's class (William's class) sang with Mrs. Carter's class and they were so sweet. They did a really good job singing loudly. See video attached! 

William and Grace before dropping him off at class

William walked in holding hands with a little lady!

Up to stage to perform

Lined up and ready to go

Post performance picture

Handsome boy in his handsome sweater vest

So proud of himself

I just love this stuff. It is the best and I already can't wait until next year when Grace will perform too. Grace sat in the audience this year and definitely wasn't as interested in sitting there for 45 minutes plus the 20 minutes of performances. She did wave to William and show some support though haha! Great job, William!

Breakfast with Santa

We went to Breakfast with Santa at William and Grace's school this year. Last year we skipped and did the Park Avenue parade instead, but this year vice versa. We already had our meet and greet with Santa, but they had a fun time seeing Santa again. Though this Santa is a little strange looking... they definitely eyed him, but they agreed to sit on his lap and tell him their Christmas wishes. After all, the reward was a candy cane. Grace even wore a "Kathleen Tisone" original. I wore the skirt back in the 80s! It was in the 80s temperature wise in Florida, but she was a trooper and made mama happy by wearing the cable tights with wool skirt to the breakfast. She adorned the outfit with her favorite necklace and purse. 

Off to Breakfast with Santa

Muffins and donuts

Crafting with Daddy

Sitting with Santa

Making reindeer food for Christmas Eve

Creepy Santa...

Christmas Spirit

Meet Santa!

Monday after Thanksgiving and it's time to get into the Christmas spirit!

William and Matt went to the Osbourne Festival of Lights at Hollywood Studios. It's their last year and unfortunately I didn't get to see the lights. I'm too tired to walk Disney this last month and so I stayed home with Grace. Matt and William had a great time though.

Osbourne Festival of Lights

We went to Home Depot and picked up our tree that same weekend.

Home Depot tree pick up

We decorated ornaments and took out maybe half of our real decorations. With the baby's arrival coming at any point it seemed like a good idea to keep it on the more simple side. The house is festive, but I usually get way more into the decorative touches.

Santa and Rudolph ornament making

More Santa pictures. William and Grace were happy to see the big guy and totally cracked us up with their posing. 

Waiting in line... thankfully for a short time

William's best photos

Grace's best photos

William and I had a Christmas date night and had sushi (it's cooked - not the raw type for this pregnant lady or young boy) then went to pottery painting to make a Santa milk mug. We have a plate, but figured out we need a mug for milk - or chocolate milk as William would prefer to give him. We painted several other things as well... an elf (below) and multiple ornaments. I'm so happy William likes to paint pottery as much as I do! It's addicting! We ended the evening at Kilwins and checking out the Park Ave. Christmas lights.

California roll for William

Our ornament for Daddy - 5 snow people for our family
We used William's hand to make the snow people 

Painting an elf

Kilwin's ice cream for us

A very fun first couple weeks of the Christmas season! We continue, of course... but I'll keep you updated with other posts!