The day after Thanksgiving I headed to Rhode Island for my best friend Tracy's wedding. She married her college sweetheart Artie. The wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun! Gavin stayed with my parents that weekend because Steven had to work. This was his first time away from home overnight and my mom said he did great!!
I've spent the past few weeks preparing for Christmas. We got our Christmas tree and have it all decorated - Gavin was a big help with that. Our tree is a lot smaller than past years but we just couldn't justify spending $90 on a tree. I've been making little shopping trips here and there and we are just about done. All that's left to purchase is batteries for Gavin's toy and stocking stuffers for Gavin. I finished shopping for Steven last week - I'm excited about the gifts I have for him. I've got to be sneaky with wrapping them because he likes to feel the packages to figure out what they are - and he's really good at it! Gavin enjoyed seeing Santa at the mall. He cried at first but I just put him right down on Santa's lap and he warmed up to him pretty quickly!
We took a trip to Hershey Park Candy Lane with my brother-in-law Mike and his girlfriend Amanda. It was a great night, despite the nasty weather and 90 minute drive there. Gavin really liked the lights and he got to ride on the merry-go-round and the choo-choo!! We got to see Santa's reindeer and drink yummy hot chocolate!
The next day we had all of Steven's brothers over to the house for pizza and wings. We all had so much fun!! That was the first time we've had everyone over to our house - Christopher had not been there in almost 10 years and his wife Christy had never been over. We played pool, watched home movies and shared great memories of our childhood and family. I hope we can make that a monthly thing because I really had a great time!
We made gingerbread cookies at my mom's house last Saturday and he LOVED eating all the frosting. We also went to a breakfast with Santa at my mom's coworker's church.. that really was a lot of fun! Gavin really liked Santa - he kept waving to him and blowing him kisses!! Gavin made some crafts with Shayna and Lucas - it's so neat seeing them all interact with one another. 
On Sunday we went to Uncle Wayne and Aunt Donna's house to make our traditional clear toy lollipops, or as Gavin calls them, "pop-pops." That was a lot of fun, as always. Gavin probably ate a pound of sugar that day. He was up until 10:30 p.m. and only had a 30 minute nap around lunch time. He's been on a big lollipop kick lately so he was in heaven!! 
Last night we went outside to play in the snow. Gavin doesn't have snow boots yet so we had to put him in his sneakers.. that should have been a Christmas present for him! He absolutely LOVED the snow and was laughing the entire time we were outside!
Work is going well.. things have slowed down a bit and I've finally been able to catch my breath. I am doing some work for our SWAN program, which has been a challenge, but at least it pays my mortgage! I seriously have the greatest co-workers - we have such a great team! Our office is in the process of hiring a new director, a man that I like and don't like for various reasons, but I pray he will be a good addition to Bethany!On a personal note Steven and I are still trying to get pregnant. I didn't realize how badly I wanted to be pregnant until I found out a coworker of mine was pregnant. I keep going back and forth with "yes I am ready" "no I'm not ready" - and when she shared her news I got really upset. Please don't get me wrong, I am super excited for her and her husband, I know they will be great parents, and it wasn't like I was mad at her, but I wanted to be the one sharing that I was finally pregnant! I think I've been saying I'm not ready to be pregnant yet because that makes accepting the negative tests each month a little easier - if that makes sense. I had blood work done last Thursday to check my progesterone levels - this level will aid in learning if I am ovulating properly. I've not heard from the doctor yet with the test results but I am trying to wait patiently. I don't quite know what will happen if these levels are irregular.. I guess we will cross that bridge if we need to.
I don't know if I will post again before Christmas so I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday! I will be sure to post about our Christmas as soon as I can :-)
Love and blessings to all!!
