The holidays can be a time for joy and celebration but sometimes they can also be twinged with a bit of sadness. For the first time in 8 years my inlaws won’t be spending Christmas with us. Some would consider an inlaw free holiday to be a pleasant occurrence, but I truly enjoy and adore spending time with each of them.

When they first told me they weren’t coming I was very sad and trying to think of ways to convince them they had to come be here- but they assured me they’ll be coming down in January instead. My parents will still come to visit and spend the holidays with us so the boys will get to enjoy one set of grandparents. I have to admit there will still be a hole without the presence of EDad’s kinfolk and I’m hoping they’ll be back next year to celebrate Christmas with the new baby.

Although I’ve been dealing with missing my family, this time of year can invoke even deeper sadness for those who have relatives that they can’t visit or worse yet are no longer with them. Family Aware offers useful support, podcasts, articles, and resources for families and individuals experiencing depression. Thanks so much to the Parent Bloggers Network for publicizing such a valuable resource during this emotional time of year.

ETot and I were driving through our neighborhood this evening when he suddenly noticed the winter wonderland all around. Our street went from one or two lit and decorated houses to suddenly sparkling glittering lights on just about every house.

“Mommy!” he exclaimed “Where did all these lights come from?” I explained to him that people decorated their houses for Christmas to celebrate the season. “They are all so beayouuuuuutiful!” he said as he gazed at the twinkling angel on one neighbors lawn “I wish I had lights on my house.”

The look of magic and wonder on his face let me know we’re definitely going to have to add holiday lights to our to-do list for next year. I love experiencing holidays and special moments through the eyes of my children, the magic and wonderment of Christmas truly seems brand new all over again.

Week 18 has reinforced just how grateful I am for my chiropractor. My pelvic pain returned with a vengeance so I went back to my chiropractor and told her to be more agressive so I can walk without waddling. She quickly fixed me up and I am so appreciative of her skills!

Overall I’m feeling like the whole sinus thing has taken a step back a few weeks, if I never spit again it won’t be too soon. I’ve been getting a few side projects wrapped up for some clients and it does feel great to get some work accomplished. I just so look forward to being able to return to a regular shooting schedule.

Food has been pretty difficult for me this week. Nothing sounds especially wonderful and I don’t have much of an appetite. Nice because I am steering clear of eating junk but not so good since I know I need to be getting a tad more protein than I have. Milk is still a favorite drink though and I’ve added grape juice to my regular beverages.

Next week is ultrasound week and though I tell myself I’ll be happy either way I am starting to feel a teensie bit nervous. I’m trying to focus on the positive and looking forward to my Mom getting to come with me to see one of my babies via ultrasound for the first time ever. I’ve also still been on my movie kick and this documentary on the American Drug War truly blew my mind. Eventually I’m hoping to come out of the pregnancy fog enough to write about just how deep of an impact the facts presented have on my life but until then I just strongly encourage everyone to watch it.

I’ve been finding myself a little more inclined to be online lately. I thought I’d share a few of my favorite links:

Geni.com a free family geneology website. Its incredibly well put together with each member of the family being able to create their own page and join together into one huge tree. my current family count is 151 relatives. I’ve been learning more about my distant cousins and family members than ever before, plus it keeps track of birthdays so I can leave birthday greetings as well as see regularly updated pictures. Its very secure as well so while I still have my Facebook phobia I was easily able to hide my information on geni

Bic Crystal Ballpoint Pen: I can’t help but crack up at the brilliant reviews left for a ballpoint pen.

slickdeals.net: The quintessential deal website. I am apt to check slickdeals several times a day, but for some reason I’ve never actually ordered any of the great deals. My brother and EDad are well known for their slickdeal accomplishments (including my brother managing to get a 50 inch plasma for free, and yes it was WAY more complicated than anything I would attempt but he did it)

Nappturality.com: Now that my hair is locked I no longer visit for the sole purpose of coveting the hair of others but its a lovely place of comraderie with tons of great tips for all types of natural hair.

I’m also beginning to think my rss reader is broken. Bloglines has been my reader of choice but it doesn’t seem to be updating everything. I tried google reader and still am not pleased- does anyone know of an exceptional (dependable) rss reader you would recommend?

I’m long overdue a pregnancy update. I’ve decided this time I really need to chronicle more of my pregnancy- the previous times I was afraid of leaving negative memoirs to my children (i.e. Today I woke up and threw up, then tried to drink water and threw up again…)so I kind of skipped journaling much of my prior gestations. This time I have to make sure I don’t forget because I’m determined that I am 100% done and our family of 5 will be complete (unless adoption opportunities come up in the future).

Typically I carry my pregnancies really low, with plenty of agonizing hip and pelvic pain to go along with their low placement. This time I have felt a brand new sensation of getting kicked in my ribcage already. I felt movement remarkably early (by week 11 or so) and the baby’s primary happy dance reaction was to my eating watermelon. Watermelon was pretty much my best friend for most of the first trimester because it was the only thing I could reliably hold down. Funny because typically I don’t even like the smell of fresh watermelon, let alone eating it. Fruit in general has been quite a wonderful experience and I can’t get enough of sweet oranges and apples.

My usual hip pain (which usually kicks in by the end of the first trimester) was absent until this week. Thankfully a trip to my chiropractor and massage therapist has relieved much of the pain, allowing me to actually walk normally instead of waddling about. The ligaments in my pelvis are extremely soft in pregnancy so my chiropractor was a bit surprised at how far out of place my left hip had become (she repeatedly asked me what on earth I’d been doing to make it do that lol but I assured her it’s just what my body does). I’ll be spending lots of time there and will hopefully do an interactive visit to share here in the near future.

As far as cravings go the strangest one of all has been milk. I can drink glasses and glasses of it and it tastes so wonderful. The strangest part is I have never once in my life been a regular milk drinker (choosing instead things like yogurt, cottage cheese, and green leafy vegetables as my calcium source). I also have become fast friends with Cherry 7Up, another oddity since its been several years since I even looked at a soda let alone drank one.

While I’m holding down food much better, it seems like as soon as my gag reflex calmed down suddenly ptylism (excessive salivation) kicked in complete overdrive. If there’s one thing I can’t stand is the sight of spitting so its pretty horrible when I gross my own self out. I’ve finally had to give in and carry a cup around with me, I really can’t figure out how my body is staying hydrated when I’m spitting out so much liquid day in and day out but I’m not questioning it. I’ve had a few people to share their own spit cup stories so it at least makes me realize I’m not a complete freak of nature.

Overall I’m in much better spirits but have learned to not overdue it. My photography business is on hiatus until the baby is born because its too difficult to know day by day if I’m going to be up to shooting (plus balancing a spit cup while trying to take pictures is a little distracting). I’d actually gotten quite down about how much of my life I’d completely given up during those weeks when all I could do was lay on the couch in between times hugging on the toilet. It’s looking up and I might even make it to a couple of holiday events if all continues doing well. Having my parents near has definitely been a neat experience and I’ve found out that many of my more hormonal moments during this pregnancy are direct reflections of what my Mom went through when she was pregnant with me. My Dad has also been very kind and drove around Dallas finding the best watermelon possible to make sure I had all I could eat.

With both of my previous pregnancies I had some serious food aversions but this one has a new aversion in the making- computer time. It’s strange but I get on for a few minutes and then want to shut the screen down and walk away. Very odd behavior, I have suddenly developed a new appreciation for movies and books. I’m terribly curious to find out what this new little one’s personality will be like, if this pregnancy is any indication we may be in for a very interesting future.