Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I have been putting off this post for way too long! Finally, however, I find myself with a little time to write a few words and post a few pictures from our exciting 2013 Christmas.  It has been so long since I've written anything of note on here that I cannot remember all that has happened, so I think I will just stick with Christmas and some exciting news!

First off, this is been a truly wonderful, blessings-filled Christmas season.  Do you remember the song from "The Sound of Music" that Maria sings with Captain Von Trapp when they finally declare their love for each other?  There is a line that says, "Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.  So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good." This song comes to mind when I think about the tremendously blessed life I live.  One of the great mysteries of the world in my mind is why some genuinely good people who deserve the very best are in constant want or need, while others seem to have everything they need at their very fingertips, deserved or not?  We'll never know I guess.  For me, I feel like it's a test - I try my best to always have a prayer of thanks in my heart, donate where I can, and help others when the need arises.  I know it's something I can definitely improve upon, but I do try. I know how blessed I am.  Somewhere along the line I feel I must have done something good to deserve such tremendous blessings. And I am not talking about my worldly possessions - I have healthy, beautiful children, a wonderful husband who loves me tremendously who would do anything for me, who supports us financially so I can stay home with our children.  We are all healthy.  I have a tremendous internal vault of faith.  I have many, many family members who love me and love my children and husband.  Add to that the worldly comforts of a roof over my head, warm home, and plenty of food to eat, I really cannot complain.

Speaking of family and loved ones brings me to the big news I talked about above: we have another little bundle of joy on the way!  Coming in late August or early September, another sweet little blue-eyed baby will make his or her arrival!  We are so excited and over-the-moon for this bundle of joy, and we certainly didn't come to the decision for this little addition lightly. 

While I won't go into all the details of our discussions (that's for Matt and I to know), I can tell you that I have been agonizing for this baby for over a year now.  I thought I was finished having kids after Kellen. We have a good balance in our family, and I have enough hands to go around.  Life is pretty loud and chaotic with two kids under 5, and the thought of adding another kind of makes me crazy just thinking about it and the increase in noise level!  That being said, I have literally been dreaming of another baby (even down to the gender and name, so we'll see if I actually have who I've been dreaming about).  When we started talking about it months and months ago, it was definitely a no-go, but more dreams and more discussions later, we finally decided we'd give it a go.  After only a couple of months we learned we would be welcoming a new bundle of joy! 

I have a lot of fears going into this pregnancy/birth/raising of the child.  I do not enjoy pregnancy very much, and I gained A LOT of weight with my other two. After having lost it all and then some, I am very nervous about keeping my weight gain to a minimum and the amount of work and discipline that is going to require.  I am worried about the morning sickness (I only had it with Audrey, so we'll see).  I'm worried about the financial side - I now have private insurance which is CRAPPY compared to the insurance I carried when I was working, so it's going to cost WAY more to have this baby.  Add to that the fact that we don't currently have a car big enough for us all so we'll have to buy something bigger, and it's a little bit scary.

I'm nervous about the birth (I've always been nervous about the births of my kids - you never know what you are in for).  I am nervous about having a difficult baby (my other two were dreams!).  I'm scared about how I am going to handle three kids.  Luckily I have Matthew by my side to help me all along the way, and he is always up for diapers and bottles and 3 am feedings if I am just too tired to do it.  He is an excellent father.  But he does work and that leaves me alone with three kids a lot. Ahhhh!!  

I worry, am I a good enough mother to handle this?  Can I do this?  Do I have the patience? 

But, all my fears put aside (and it actually feels good to share them with you and get it off my chest), I really am happy and excited. I really, really love babies, and I love being a mother.  And I have a lot of family around to help me. As far as I can tell, the pros definitely out-weigh the cons in this situation, and we made the right choice (ask me again when the baby is two weeks old, not sleeping and colic-y [which thankfully I have never actually had to deal with]). 

And so, my McDaniel 4-family will become a McDaniel 5-family.  My kids are excited, all the grandparents and great-grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins are excited.  Mommy and Daddy are excited. 

We wanted to wait until Christmas to tell everyone, so I managed to keep it a secret until Christmas morning (and if you know much about me and secrets, you know that I am LOUSY at keeping them. I don't intentionally give them away, but I manage to find a way to say something that in my mind has no correlation at all to the secret, but manages to completely give it away).  So, first up was Grandpa Chuck Christmas morning.  I actually almost forgot to tell him because I had been working so hard at NOT telling anyone for so long, it seems unnatural to finally share the news!  But, towards the end of our Christmas morning chat I told him I had a Christmas surprise for him, and he suspected immediately.  :D   He was super excited to hear of another grand-baby!

For our moms, we purchased jars of Prego spaghetti sauce for them to open on Christmas.  First up was Matt's mom, Joyce.  Upon discovering what her brightly-wrapped package contained, she managed to hide her confusion (and possible disappointment) over opening a jar of spaghetti cause for Christmas, thank us graciously, and then started to put it aside.  We told her "Wait! Look at it again", and after some hint dropping she got the shock of her life when she finally realized what was going on. My mom's reaction was a little different, but fun none-the-less. After she tore the wrapping off of her jar of Prego, she stared at it, turned it around in her hand a few times, looked from person to person with this confused look on her face, and said, "Thank you!" After a giggle or two, and another spin of the jar in her hands, she confusingly set it down on the table next to her ready to move on to the next thing. That's when Karlin said, "What is that?? You guys got her a jar of spaghetti sauce?" I think my cousin Cody was the first to get what was going on - from behind me I heard him say "Uh oh"....and then it dawned on my mom. "Are you trying to tell me something?" I am giggling at this point. "Kristina, are you trying to tell me SOMETHING?" Ah, finally - then everyone started laughing as they realized just why we gave my poor mom a jar of spaghetti sauce for Christmas. I happen to think it was genius! Haha! Over all, it was a fantastic Christmas Day. The kids were overwhelmed with gifts not only from Santa, but also from all over the country and the world. Matt got a new smoker. I got some awesome photography lighting equipment. Here are some fun pictures! PS - my blog is acting up and won't let me caption my pictures. I'm having Matt work on this...

Watching cartoons. 

Enjoying the snow! 

Elmo playing in the snow.  :)

Her favorite thing to do is make snow angels! 

Putting the star on the tree.

Decorating the Christmas tree.

The kids love Christmas! 

Brother and sister love!

Christmas tree giggles!

Got this pony at a yard sale for super cheap!

My handsome little man.

Cheese!

Selfie!

My handsome (and dorky) big man!

Lovely Christmas lights.  

Fun pick!  Kellen looks like he smells something bad here. :)

Took a picture of Audrey sleeping one night about 11 pm...

Proof positive of baby #3 (the line is faint, but it's there..)

Handsome boy in blue!

Cheesey! 

Our hoarfrost that we've had most of the winter so far!

Playing with Aunt June on Christmas Eve!

Adding to the decorations.

Merry Christmas!

They were watching "What does the fox say?"

Cookies for Santa.

Kellen drooling over the cookies!

Matt playing some Christmas music. 

Decorating our Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve.

Kellen eating the frosting for the cookies!

Christmas Eve Jammies! 

Hello Kitty jammies!!!

She had to put them on immediately! 

Fire truck jammies!

So happy!

Thanks Daddy!

Kisses for Daddy.

Christmas morning - new scooter! 

And a scooter for Audrey! 

Yay!

Excited Audrey!  

Tea set!

Gravity track for his cars!

She asked for a hippopotamus for Christmas...Santa delivered! 

Gifts from Grandpa Don and Evalena!

Movie to share - Despicable Me!

Princess shoes!

Oh my goodness - a tube of 70 matchbox cars. 

Super cute clothes from Grandpa Chuck!

Suitcase for all of his new cars!

New smoker!  

Waiting patiently to open gifts at gma and gpa McDaniel's.

They were weirdly calm and quiet.  

Gifts from China from Aunt Shell and Uncle Thad!

Waiting for another gift to open.

Seeing spaghetti sauce for the first time.

Trying to figure out what is going on here...

Realization!  

Happiness!

Audrey's butterfly wings from Cody! 

Butterfly wings and dinosaur (which he sleeps with every night now).

Opening Spaghetti sauce...

Grandma Betty!

What the heck??

"Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Really, Kristina - are you telling me something??"

Karlin figured out the spaghetti sauce and thought it was pretty funny! 

Happy Angie!

happy Lundynn on Christmas Day!

Grandma and Bob!

Cody, Shaydynn and Lundynn.