BOY BOY BOY BOY BOY BOY BOY

That's right, FitzSimmons Baby #3 is a BOY!

I must admit, we opened the envelope before Christmas - the pressure was too much for us! Here is how we did it:

I had the most precious boy song picked out and I wanted to somehow play it for lance. It is called Godspeed (Sweet Dreams) by the Dixie Chics. If you have not heard it (and especially if you have a little boy) you need to check it out! It is so sweet. Anyway, I looked at the ultrasound results in private, and then (when I finished screaming in silence) I went into our room and put the Godspeed song into our CD player. I told Lance I had a girl song and a boy song picked out, and he just needed to press play to find out which one we were having. Then I hid in the bathroom, b/c there was NO WAY that lance wouldn't be able to read it in my grin, and I let him listen to the song alone. Of course, there is a long instrumental at first, so he was freaking out, but then it said "Pirate sails and lost boys fly" and he started thinking maybe... I kept hearing him say, "This sounds like boy, this sounds like boy"...

Anyway, it was sweet and we are excited. I must admit, three girls would have been fun too and part of me is sad to think that I won't have any more baby girls, but I am also really excited for this new chapter. Little boys are adorable as well and we feel really lucky! Now I know why my body hated me so much this pregnancy!!

Dragon tales and the "water is wide"
Pirate's sail and lost boys fly
Fish bite moonbeams every night
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a blessed and wonderful holiday. We certainly did!! We were lucky enough to celebrate with my mom and dad, in from Cincinnati, as well as Lance's dad, in from Dayton. Added to the people already in CO, we ended up with a packed house of 13 for Christmas dinner. Not content to only celebrate Christmas and Gwen's birthday (December 23), we also added Darcy's baptism to the mix this year (also December 23). It was festive, to say the least!

So I Won't Forget...

Last night in the car, Gwen and I had this conversation:

Gwen: Mommy, when am I going to hold onto a lot of balloons and float across the city?
Me: Well honey, that only really happens on Curious George and other cartoons. The only kind of balloon you can float in really is a hot air balloon.
Gwen: Why?
Me: Well, regular balloons just aren't strong enough to pick people up like that.
Gwen: Maybe if a worm was holding, like, 50 balloons they would pick him up and float him around.
Me: Yeah, maybe, I never thought of that idea.
Gwen: When are we going to ride in a hot air balloon?
Me: I don't know, but I hope someday b/c it sounds really fun. But its really expensive, so we'll just have to see.
Gwen: I have an idea Mommy. When we get home I will give you all my quarters and you can use them so you can take a hot air balloon ride.
Me: That is so nice of you! I'd want you to come with me. Maybe we'll do that someday.
Gwen: And my sister! Darcy would have to come too.
Me: Yes, of course
Gwen: Mommy, do you know how much I love you?
Me: How much?
Gwen: I love you all the way to the moon. (this is from "Guess how much I love you?" but she's never said it to me like that before. So cute!)

Success!

Well, the reindeer cookies were a hit! My dream of becoming the rock star of the Grand County Mom's Club is sure to become a reality (ha!). Gwen, Darcy and I made these cookies for a cookie exchange. It was a little tough to get the antlers to stay on, so I had to use icing as glue, but overall they were successful and delicious!

Reindeer-Pokey

On Thursday night Lance and I got to experience one of those moments that you dream about when you first find out you are expecting - the Preschool Christmas Pageant!!! I am not kidding, is there anything cuter? The answer in this case was NO. Lance and I were beaming from our seats just as much as Gwen was beaming from the stage. I believe there were even other kids there, but I can't be sure - we only had eyes for ours. Even Darcy joined in with an enthusiastic "Bingle Bells" from the audience.

I had a nice sweater and pants all picked out for Gwen to wear, but she got it in her head that she had to be "fancy" and wear her Christmas dress. She didn't have tights or shoes yet, so she called Lance and asked him to stop on his way home and buy "black shoes that are really fancy and shiny and have a bow on top, in size 10". Luckily, we have an Alco in town (which is like a small Big Lots) and they have some shoes. Phew.

What do ex-P&G'ers do when they become stay-at-home moms?

Answer: In an effort to feel productive, they involve their family in overly-complicated crafts!

I saw this candy cane wreath in a magazine and thought it would be a fun activity for Gwen and I to work on together. The problem? Well, first, I couldn't find a rounded wreath, so mine is squared off. This makes it tough to decorate. Problem #2, you need "five hundred million", as Gwen would say, mini candy canes. Did you know that candy canes only come individually wrapped? I bought over 100 mini candy canes and Gwen and I set to work unwrapping. About 1/2 hour later we finally started decorating the wreath. Problem #3 - you need to use hot glue, so Gwen couldn't even help. Instead, she ran around making a mess while I glued them on by myself. Problem #4 - I apparently should not be allowed to use a hot glue gun either, as evidenced by the blister burn on my finger ; )

So finally after the wreath was finished, Gwen says, "Excuse me mommy chickie, but it turns out this wasn't a very fun quiet time." The funniest part about that comment is that the day before I made her do chores around the house to earn money to "buy" a Christmas present for Darcy. After mopping my bathroom floor, she couldn't contain herself and kept exclaiming about how this was the most fun quiet time ever! I should learn my lesson : )

Now, on to the Reindeer Cookies...



Rest assured this looks nothing like the picture in the magazine. I didn't even do the sides!

At long last!

I was pretty impressed with this accumulation last night...


Until I saw this in the morning!

We finally got dumped on! Hooray! Lance got to ski the past 2 mornings - Not bad for a work week : ) We probably saw about 14 inches of accumulation at our house, and the mountain probably got 21 inches. Hopefully this is the start of a good winter!

Such a sweetheart

Last night I was talking on the phone to my mom and not paying attention to the girls. Gwen was getting very frustrated with me b/c she kept trying to tell me things and I wasn't listening. She started singing me the sweetest song...

"I wish you have a very sad Christmas,
I wish you have a very sad Christmas,
I wish you have a very sad Christmas
And a sad New Year."

I advised her not to sing songs like that to the person that would soon be buying her Christmas presents : )

Yea! A picture from our trip!

While we were in Cinci we saw so many great friends in addition to our family. We got to have lunch with Liz, Joe, Ami and Samir at the Art Museum, we enjoyed Bangkok Bistro with Matt & Katie Mayer and Dave & Angela Hulays, and Owen. We had pizza with my best friend from college Erika, her hilarious husband Jason and we got to watch Tucker eat a raw hot dog and meet Hudson for the first time. And then on Monday we met Antje (of "Randall and Antje", but Randall was out of town) and Tara, Kevin and Brooke for dinner. I had a great plan to take pictures of all our friends to post on the blog, but I was a total slacker. So I was so happy when Tara sent this picture from dinner!!! Their little girl Brooke is the cutest little thing - all smiles! Seeing both Hudson (5 months) and Brooke (10 months) made me excited for baby #3!!!

We Had Our Ultrasound and Its A.....

Healthy baby : ) That is right, no finding out the sex quite yet. Everything looks great with the baby, no trouble at all, so Thank Goodness for that! Now the question of when to find out? My guess is it will be soon - we are WEAK!!! The tech found the relevant parts on the ultrasound and printed a picture with a caption that says whethere its a boy or girl. We have it in a sealed envelope, just taunting us. We also have it on the DVD of the ultrasound, so there are multiple ways for us to give in and find out before Christmas. We'll just have to wait and see!

Lance did purchase a blue "blankie" at Target, just in case.....