I know I know, I'm awful at keeping up. So we will summarize the last big episodes in the Rickenbach life. First, the picture is my Sprout belly at 27 weeks.
Matthew turned 1 years old on December 4th. He opened gifts like he's an experienced pro, ate the head off his teady bear cake like it was the most delicious drugging thing in the world, and played nicely all day. He's getting so big! He can take up to 5 or 6 steps at a time now before crashing down on his butt. He scoots around the house with basically any object he can find to slide along the floor. He is a smiley rambunctious little bundle of joy!
On December 11th I flew to Baltimore to watch the Colts play the Ravens with my Uncle. He had nosebleed tickets for us, which upgraded to field goal line tickets, and finally to...dun dun dahhh! A luxury suite!!! Yes, the kind you only get to sit in if you're invited! You cannot purchase these tickets. They are company owned suites where the bosses pay hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for. Then, they invite their friends. Fortunately for me, my Uncle knows those rich people. :) So we had all you can eat crab cakes, chicken tenders, pizza, shrimp, cheesecake, drinks, drinks, and more drinks! I had Nantucket lemonade, Sprite, and Keurig hot chocolates and decaf coffees. They have two large windows overlooking the field and seating inside, as well as a balcony that goes outside with rows of office-like chairs pulled up to tables. I sat outside the entire game and enjoyed the view of watching my Colts, once again, get slaughtered. After the losing game, our caterer, who is not a Colts fan, was telling us about her cleaning experience for the Colts' suite. They gave her an official sideline gear Colts cap, which I am now the very proud owner of! She doesn't care for the Colts and instead of tossing it to one of her kids with lack of interest, she gave it to me, their biggest fan. :) Yes, I am a nerd an I have a crappy team but I tell you what! This was one of the best days of my life :)
We had an ultrasound on Friday the 9th to make sure Sprout was growing as he should. Great news! He is he right size for gestation, in fact, maybe even bigger than most at this stage. It appears we will have a David and Goliath situation! Although I am thrilled for the sake of the baby, I am not looking forward to birthing Goliath AFTER David! I better get drugs, that's all I'm saying...
Yesterday I made about 10 dozen cookies...sugar cookies (frosted and decorated and everything!), date fills, swedish butters, and peanut butter bars (which are amazingly good! I have the recipe if you want it!) The day before I canned 14 jars of spicy dill beans, which are also amazing (Thanks Mom!) Dave gave me an early Christmas present...which was a huge canning pot with all the utinsels, so finally, it was actually managable to do! I hated burning my hands trying to get the jars out before! Today I will take three dozen of my finest cookies and go to a neighbor cookie swap. I've never been to one before so it should be fun. I will trade my cookies with someone else's. The best part is the social interaction with ladies in my neighborhood and the fact that Dave will be home watching Squiggles so I don't have to worry about keeping him entertained!
Nursery needs: Glider and ottoman thing?, a second crib (not until June or so...), possibly a jogging double stroller. We currently have more more than enough clothes for Sprout. As Bean grows, we may need more, but for now we are pretty set with clothes. In fact, thanks to Becca and Jourdan, I have to go empty Wal Mart of their baby hangers! GEESH!! 48 pound box of boy clothes came yesterday!!!!! So Much Fun! I have a lot of work ahead of me! Dave seems to think we need to sell the truck because it is expensive to hold onto and we don't use it a lot. However, we also think when we put two car seats in the back of our Jetta, none of us will be comfortable on any length of ride because the car seats force our seats to be moved all the way up. So we have a vehicle dilemma we are currently attempting a solution for. Dave would like to trade the truck for a van but we know we will lose a lot of money doing this, as dealers try to sucker you and I'm sure they won't take a flat trade (which we'd still lose on) but instead will insist we also pony up some cash for a trade like that. I love the truck but Dave's freaking out about future job outlook, getting out of the navy next March, and our upcoming expenses (Family vacation home to SD for a family reunion in July, wedding in Hawaii in October, selling our RV, paying for (getting rid of) our timeshare.) So, my nursery will have to take its turn, but I'm definitely on the market for a glider... I don't know how I've made it this far without one upstairs!!
We will be celebrating Jesus this Christmas in our little home with just the three (and a half) of us. It will be good though, maybe a bit lonely, but that's what Skype is for! Matthew has a million packages to open and so his first functional Christmas should be pretty entertaining!
God bless you all my dear friends and family.
