And so this is Christmas...

These are the words to the beginning of an old Christmas song, and so in the spirit of Christmas I began to ponder just what has our Christmas experience been this year. We had weeks of final exams, fussy baby, and a family affair of the flu, and so on. So I in my heart I have to ask the question…is this really Christmas? We are just a day or so away from all of this chaos and I have to shamefully admit that I am feeling very hopeless and not very spirited about this most important time of year in the Christian tradition. My parents have been out here now for a few days and have been a huge help with Wyatt and Addie. David and I even managed to sneak away from the kids for two hours so we could have our first date in over two months. As things begin to calm down in our household and I desperately cling to some resemblance of normalcy to return, I am reminded by the birth of our own baby just weeks ago, that this season is marked by such a joyous event…the birth of Jesus. I must confess that I am so easily swayed to lose all hope and my kingdom perspective in life when both trial or triumph come my way. And so this is Christmas…that my Savior was born and my Hope is found. May this stay fresh in my heart each day and I pray this for you too. Merry Christmas from the Juelfs.

Who's it Next?

As I sit down to drink my hot chocolate, I hear the words from David in the other room echo, "Dammit, I am going to throw up tonight!" Right now we are nearing the end of finals. That is, David is nearing the end of finals, which I suppose necessarily puts the rest of our family nearing the end of finals. As you might have read, Wyatt contracted some sort of stomach bug on Friday. So David decided to stay home to help me. Good choice, bad choice. Some decisions are for the overall good but do have their consequences. Today, David began feeling a little queezy. So our countdown began. When will David get the stomach bug and then when will I get it? How can we keep it from Addie? This seemed much easier when we were just keeping Wyatt away from Addie. Not so easy now. I suppose queezy has just taken a turn for the worse!

Holiday Tag

A friend of mine was tagged with these great holiday questions. Although I wasn’t tagged, I thought it would be fun to answer them and start my own game of tag!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate, without question.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? unwrapped, of coarse, so we could play with them immediately!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white lights so our ornaments’ color stand out.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but David might appreciate this tradition!

5. When do you put up your decorations? This year we bought our tree before Thanksgiving so Memaw would be able to help us decorate it. Usually, however, I like to get it right after Thanksgiving and keep it up until right after New Year’s.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Prime Rib and Scalloped Potatoes!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? opening Dad’s present on Christmas Eve.

8. When and how did you learn that Santa isn't real? I don't remember…in fact I hardly remember believing in Santa

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We always opened Dad’s Christmas gift on Christmas Eve. It was always a matching pair of pajamas for my sister and me.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? This year by myself while Memaw took Wyatt to the park in about twenty minutes flat. Addie was just a few weeks so the tree took little priority. Next year, hopefully as a family.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love it when I don’t have to go anywhere. I hate now that I have kids and need to run errands…too many fights over wearing the big winter jacket and drudging through the slush!

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, although I haven’t in many years.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I always got what I wished for...I must have been such a good little girl...so every Christmas seemed perfect.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with our family, both immediate and extended. Now that we have children it is fun to be able to share the wonder of Christmas in the story of “baby Jesus.” Wyatt is just beginning to understand this.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin Pie!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I look forward to starting this tradition next year…would’ve done it this year except for the craziness of having a newborn and too many things to do…When I was little my mom would take us to the local feed store to get some straw. We would begin our Advent count for the days up to Christmas by adding a piece of straw to a little manger up until Christmas Eve and then on Christmas morning we would lay Baby Jesus in the manger. I think it is a wonderful way to daily remind our children why we anticipate Christmas. Each day we are preparing for Christ’s arrival!

Mom and Allie, Tag! You're it! I know you don’t have blogs, but email your answers to a friend and tag them.

Is Someone Playing a Trick on Us?

So, last night I thought my world was crashing in on me. Addie was sleeping very little during the day becoming increasingly overtired and unable to sleep and Wyatt had had a bit of a rough day too. I was in tears telling David while we decided how we were going to get our daughter to sleep for longer than 20 minutes at a time. After quite some time we entered those late night hours where hunger sets in. What unhealthy snack would we choose for tonight? Well, we picked a moderately healthy snack this time. I had finally gotten Addie to quiet down in her crib and so I went to the kitchen to make some popcorn. I don't like microwavable popcorn, so I usually break out the kettle and make it over the stove. I proceeded to put the oil on and one kernel to wait for the pop in order to put the rest of the kernels in. However, not to my surprise but much to my dismay, Addie started crying and I left the stove to attend to her. I got distracted and returned to find the pot smoking. I lifted the lid and more smoke billowed out. So I decided to take the pot outside. I removed the lid once out there to let the smoke out and came inside. While trying to air the kitchen out, I noticed a bright light on our porch. I looked outside to find out the pot was on fire. Funny, huh? So I calmly said David, "the pot's on fire." He said, "Get the thingy magigger... you know the thing that puts out fire," while holding the baby. I said, "I don't think I know how to use it..." So I took the baby and he put the fire out.

We then stayed up for another hour or so putting Addie back to bed while leaving all the windows and doors open in our not entirely safe apartment in the ghetto. I went to bed around midnight while David continued to study for finals. We both woke up to Wyatt crying early in the morning and found him covered in the throwup from head to toe. He looked very ill to the point that we were a little worried. So, as if life couldn't get more complicated, all plans for the day scratched and David was off to the doctor with Wyatt. He has been diagnosed with some sort of stomach flu. Doctor's orders to be vigillent in keeping his germs from Addie. Not very easy when you are the only one at home to monitor the kids. So, David was unable to take his final and stayed home with me.

The evening was quite ironic as we look back. We both were pretty much having a break down about all of the things expected of us in the next few weeks and really couldn't see life getting any more complicated. I think we are beginning to see that we must rid ourselves of this expectation and the idea that we will be able to handle everything in our own human capacity. Oh, how every single day we are reminded that Christ must be our strength! Things could've been worse...We could have had a fire inside the apartment. Addie could have been hurt trying to put the fire out. Wyatt could've had somehting more serious...and yet they are not. We do have much to be thankful for!

What's Your Superpower?

So, David and I have discovered a new obsession. We have recently become quite addicted to the new TV show "Heroes." http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/ We have not been followers from the beginning. In fact, we just started to watch it last week. Episode 11 was on and it seemed kind of interesting. During one of the commercials, they said the previous episodes were available on line. So, we stopped watching Episode 11 on TV and started watching Episode 1 on the computer. I was always a little curious what "save the cheerleader, save the world" meant, but after the first episode I was thoroughly taken in. It has been less than a week and David and I are almost to Episode 11. We have come to enjoy our late night "Heroes" sessions during Addie's bouts of fussiness as we take turns bouncing her around and shushing. The show is fascinating and has prompted us to ponder what we would like our superpower to be. David is able to come up with a new superpower that he would like just about every day. For me, on the other hand, I haven't really been able to come up with one. Maybe it's because I know this world doesn't work that way and I don't have the imagination of my husband who loves role playing, fantasy books and movies like "The Lord of the Rings."Somehow, he can let himself dive in to their world for a short while which gives him quite the capacity to imagine himself with all sorts of superpowers. David thought maybe my lack of superpower desire means I am really content with myself. Let me think about that...NO! That can't be the answer as I am definitely not what I desire to be in the motherhood and wife categories. However, I still couldn't come up with a superpower. So, I remained a boring, unimaginative realist. That is until I had my moment this afternoon. I have discovered my deep down desire for a superpower. As I have daily struggled with feeling like the failure mother of the year, it came to me that so many of my problems would be solved if I got a little more sleep...so what I really need is the power to not need sleep. I could definitely save the world if I never got tired! Or, maybe just save my household. Until I am granted my superpower wish, I suppose my only hope must remain in Christ saving me and my household. This seems like a much better alternative to fake superpowers!

An Early Morning

Well, for some of you my early start is normal, but for a sleep deprived mother of a newborn I have been getting quite accustomed to waking around 8:30am as it seems Wyatt has taken a liking to sleeping in. He used to not like covers, but we finally convinced him that two "blues" (translation blankets) are better than one. So, after a few nights of blanket sleeping and a few mornings of unusually late wakeups we concluded Wyatt must be warmer and cozier with the blankets and thus sleeping in. What a beautiful discovery for a mother! It seems Addie enjoys her 5 or 6 am feeding and has been sleeping until 8:30 or so too. That is, until today! Addie woke up for her 6 am feeding and decided she wanted to belt out a little musical number of screaming for a while which proceeded to wake Wyatt, who I thought might return to sleep, but was officially awakened when Sierra (the dog) started barking at the dogs outside. This all happenning before 7am making for a very grumpy mother. As if the screaming during the day by our "miserable baby" (as the doctor described Addie) wasn't enough to make me grumpy, the very early start to our morning is definitely going to take the cake today! So, I finally got Addie back to sleep and then went in to Wyatt's room to hear him telling me, "Mommy I awake...I awake!" My reply, "Yes, son you are indeed! Are you sure you want to be awake?"

Our Little Ladybug

Tetee gave Addie this ladybug hat. Still fits despite the potential "big head." Isn't she cute in it? It lasted about one minute and I turned around after the pictures and Wyatt decided Addie no longer needed the hat. It is so nice to have a big brother that takes care of you whether you like it or not!

Gray or Blonde?

So many of you who know David know that he has these little blonde patches of hair in the front of his head that are lighter than the rest of his hair. Today, I saw them in just the right light and I suspect they may be turning gray. I told David, which most people would refrain from telling a 28 year old that they are graying; however, David wants to turn gray and looks forward to a full head of gray. Unfortunately, he told me he wanted to turn gray, but not where he was already developing a receeding hairline! So, maybe it's gray or maybe it's blonde. Only time will tell!

Talk these numbers...

We have been teaching Wyatt the Children's First Catechism which has a series of questions and answers that teach him about Scripture and God. He loves it and is doing quite well. Today at lunch we were looking at the book and Wyatt saw the question and answers on the pages. He turned to David and said, "Talk these numbers, daddy, talk these numbers!" Simple translation, "Read these letters, daddy, read these letters." Oh, how eager a two year old is to learn!! So, the next time you see Wyatt or talk to him you can ask him, "Who made you?, What else did God make?, and Why did God make you and all things?"

What kind of bean are you?

Wyatt loves to jump! Out of the blue he will just start jumping around. He loves to show his grandparents how he jumps when we video chat. So, today while I was feeding Addie, Wyatt began to jump around. I asked him, "Are you a Mexican jumping bean?" (www.beansthatjump.com) He looked at me and with intensity said, "No Mommy, I am a coffee bean!" And so this prompted my self reflection. Just how much coffee do David and I drink? It is very likely...too much. But what are two sleepless parents going to do? So until we reenter the land of eight hour sleep...we will drink our coffee and parent our very own coffee bean.

Oh, How different they can be...

It is not just that my son and daughter are just that...male and then female. They are remarkably different in every way. Their entrance to the world strikingly opposite. Wyatt came quickly and with great ease. Addie took two trips to the hospital in 24 hours, getting my water broken, and pitocin. She was very high maintenance. It is not that Wyatt was never fussy, but oh how Addie's fussiness differs. Wyatt had the usual episodes here and there. Addie however seems to be as the doctor told me yesterday..."a miserable baby." Just what any mother wants to hear. Yesterday, I had to excuse myself after 30 minutes from a baby shower when the celebration of this new life to come was rudely interrupted by yours truly screaming nonstop. And there is the messy work. Wyatt never once spit up or had diaper rash in his first year of life. Addie has blisters on her bum and projectile vomits regularly. The only thing the two have in common is their looks, their dislike of the carseat, and two parents who will love them despite their difficulties!