Thanksgiving Weekend

Riding the horse at the cabin in Helen

Decked out in his "soldier jacket and pants"

Showing me the river he and Wes found earlier that day

We "needed" to walk down the hill

Looking for fish

We didn't find any fish but Jay was content with all of the "cool rocks"

So happy that his papa was there!

He didn't let papa out of his sight all weekend

"I need my papa to tote me"

Riding on Uncle Oren...

Look at that smile, he thought he was pretty cool up there

"See the fire, mama!"

He asked Aunt Carrie to fix his hair like hers...

This is as much as his hair can be "fixed"

Reminding us that he is a boy!

"I'm a samurai!"

I asked Jay to look at the camera and smile, he promptly put his head down and ignored me. :)

Santa and Mrs Clause....Jay went right up to him this year....after saluting him, of course (he salutes soldiers, firemen, and apparently Santa Clause, on a regular basis now)

When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas Jay said, "a candy cane!" and Santa pulled one right out of his pocket...I told Wes he was going to be disappointed next year if he asks for something bigger.

We had a great time with the Ross' in Helen for Thanksgiving. He stayed right with his papa the entire time and briefly granted the rest of us with his presence when Papa was busy. Since we've been home it seems like more and more things keep coming up for us to do before Eli arrives. Last Wednesday I saw my doctor and he said I was showing all of the signs that I was ready for labor and casually asked, "so do you want to be induced at 39 weeks?"  After I managed to catch my breath I said, "well, sure, that sounds just fine" trying to be as calm as he was. When I was sitting out in the waiting room I was having a nervous breakdown in my head as I thought about the reality that he really IS coming soon!  So, as long as everything looks good this Wed, that is the plan. Dec 9th will be his birthday! I have been going between being really nervous about having another child to unbelievably excited all week. And I am trying to spend more time with Jay than usual as I can't help but feel some sadness that our days of just the two of us are ending. Jay keeps talking about "his baby brother" and calls the hospital "Eli's hospital" ever since I told him that is where he would be born.

This week we are going to do some fun things with Jay to make the most of the last week as a family of 3. And I have a list of things to do this week while Jay is at school. I know it is just nervous energy but I have an overwhelming urge to reorganize all of my closets and clean every inch of the house. Maybe all of the work will go ahead and get labor started sooner than Friday???  :) 

One quick story about Jay and Christmas before I go....
He knows about Santa and he knows about Baby Jesus but has been getting the two confused (as I discovered when he told me that Christmas is Santa's birthday) so we have been teaching him about Christmas a lot this week. Last night we were reading a book about Mary and baby Jesus before bedtime. It talks about how Jesus will one day be king but tonight he is mary's baby. I told Jay that baby brother would be a baby when he comes out of my tummy like Jesus was a baby. At the end of the story he said, "Eli is going to be king!"  So we explained some things and read the book again. When we got done the second time Jay said, "Eli is a baby and I am a king!"  We gave up and told him to go nite-nite.