34 weeks: hey santa?

TJ and I have been discussing lately what we plan on doing with the whole Santa issue with our kids. We know that our parents and other family members will want to play up Santa, but we aren't sure about it because we want to make sure that our kids know the real reason for Christmas. It's no simple task to tell your children that Santa doesn't exist, though, because all the other kids will be talking about Santa once they get to school. I was one of those jerks in first grade who told others that Santa didn't exist, and I would hate for our kids to be like that. And how do you explain all the Santa decorations around peoples' houses?

My vision for Christmas is for our family to go out together every year to pick out gifts to donate to children who are less fortunate. I would love for our kids to be able to think about others and put aside their own desires at the toy store so they can bless another kid their age. But how do you incorporate Santa into that vision? How do you explain why Santa doesn't go to those kids' houses?

I would love to hear other Christian parents' advice on this topic because it's really important to us to focus on Jesus rather than the greed that so easily infects kids around the holidays. This isn't an easy decision to make, but thank God, we have another year until we have to deal with it. I don't quite have a satisfactory answer yet, but all I know is what some friends and mentors have told us to keep in the back of our minds about any decision: What are your family values, and what decision will be consistent with those values?

When it comes to the Christmas holiday, our family values are to enjoy time with family and to bless others. Jesus has to be at the center of everything we do, and during the Christmas season, that will be even more important to keep in mind as the focus of Christmas can too easily be about presents and busyness.

32 weeks

Our little "nursery" in the corner of our room. It's quite cozy!

So we bought our crib a few weeks ago, and TJ was going to put it together that night. But when we opened the box, the backboard piece had a few huge scratches in it! So I called the company, and they said they would mail us a new piece. So we waited patiently and got that piece about two weeks later. TJ opened that box and got ready, for the second time, to put the crib together, and this piece was scratched too! I was so upset. The scratches were not as bad on the second piece, so we decided to just go with it.

TJ put about 75% of the crib together, and then he realized that he had switched a left and a right pole. So he basically would have to take apart everything and start at the beginning. He was so frustrated! At that point, it was 10:30 at night, so I told him he had to wait until the next day to do it.

Anyway, as you can see, the crib is finished! We bought a cute mobile, and thanks to my lovely sister in law Amber, we had some cute stickers to put on the wall. I'll tell you what, if this boy doesn't grow up to love animals... well, let's just say, he is most likely going to either love animals or hate them based on the exorbitant amounts of animal prints he is going to see around him.

I'm at 32 weeks. Baby and Mom are both healthy, so I can't complain too much. I've been having some pain that the midwife said is probably caused by a varicose vain. It is painful to walk most of the time and to switch to my other side when sleeping. I'm 1.5 lbs heavier than I wish I was right now, since my goal is to gain no more than the recommended 30 lbs.