Jingle Bells!

Daniel has been singing Jingle Bells A LOT lately due to his constant practicing at school for their "performance" at the senior citizens center this morning.  It's so cute to hear this sweet voice in the back seat singing along with the Christmas music on the radio in the car.  He truly loves all things Christmas.  He's been daddy's helper hanging lights, trimming the tree, and even doing a little last minute yard work.

Daniel and I made Christmas sugar cookies the other day and let me tell you....Daniel almost needs no help!  He loves to help me bake and cook.  To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a chef when he gets older!  And if that means me not having to cook later, yay!

Please excuse the undies. :-\

He's even been a great helper to me. Helping me decorate inside the house. When we were unwrapping the ornaments he kept calling them presents because it was like a suprise was awaiting us every ornament we unwrapped. I have to tell you, he is a great helper and it makes the season even more enjoyable. 

 Here's an ornament we got when we first had Daniel.  Oh how I love Caribou coffee!

Just look at this picture!! This was Daniel's first Christmas!  Isn't he just to die for?!  Ornament courtesy of my amazing mother :-)

PJ has even gotten into the Christmas spirit with his Christmas jammies.  There might just be a slight smile there!

We've been enjoying this Christmas season so much this year.  There is just so much to celebrate and be thankful for!  We've been talking with Daniel a lot lately about what makes Christmas so special and why exactly we are celebrating.  He was so cute the other day.  He was playing with a nativity scene that Grandma Marsha sent us and he took the angel and faced it to Joseph and said, "you are going to have a baby"...I mean, my heart melted.  He didn't know that I was watching and I think he was a little embarrassed when I was like, "Daniel!  Tell Daddy what you just said...it's ok, tell him, tell him!"...haha...It's so neat (AND SCARY) how much he is soaking up and learning and home, school, and church.  It has definitely kept me on my toes, that's for sure! ha!

On a PJ note, we went to San Francisco last week for another Spina Bifida clinic.  He had an ultrasound on his ventricles, his bladder, kidneys, and his hip.  A HUGE PRAISE, his ventricles are remainging stable!! Not shunt so far!! YAY!!  We were so relieved.  As you can imagine, we are on the edge of our seats when it comes to that because we know 80-90% of kids with spina bifida get a shunt.  We are praying constantly that PJ can be that 10% that doesn't need one!  God has a plan for him and if that means getting a shunt, we are ok with that, but it's looking good so far!  His bladder looks great and we are getting all of his urine out when we cath him, which is good.  There is risk for UTI's and kidney damage if we don't empty him out all the way, so we were relieved to know that we are doing it correctly.  On a discouraging note...his left hip is dislocated.  We did have him in a harness for his hip for 4 weeks prior to this ultrasound, so we are very dissapointed about that.  So now he is in a meatier, more aggressive brace that he has to wear 12 hours a day.  He is getting adjusted to it, but it is hard on all of us.  We return to San Fran in 5 weeks to see if it's working and to check on his ventricles.

Please pray for his hip to be corrected with this brace.  If this doesn't work, the next step would be casting or surgery.  We don't want to do either.  We don't know what we would do with out everyone's prayers.  We know that we have tons of prayer warriors out there and there are no amount of words to express our appreciated and love for all of you.  God has been doing amazing things in our lives and we feel so blessed and honored that He would chose Mitch and I to be parent's to these 2 amazing boys.  The days aren't always easy and fun, but there are plenty of moments that make us melt and tear up because we just feel incredibly blessed.  Like I always say, God is GOOD!  I will try to post more frequently than I have been, but it is hard to find the time and also, the pictures take FOREVER to load!  We hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year!!  God bless.