We completed the last tradition of the year by going to see the Festival Lights tonight in Spanish Fork. We do this every year during the week after Christmas Day but before New Year's Eve. It's our way of having one last Christmas hoorah before we feel like the season is officially over. The kids have always loved this place and this year is the first year where all of the kids were able to see everything because usually we have one kid who is facing backwards in their car seat. It hasn't been too long that we finally switched Grant around and he was really loving that he could see all the lights that his siblings could see. For some reason this year was particularly busy. I don't know if more people were looking for Covid free friendly activities to do this year but for the first time it didn't feel like we had the whole park to ourselves. There's usually some cars but never as many as there were tonight. As we were leaving we could see that there was a humongous line of cars still trying to get into the park. Hopefully this doesn't deter us from going again next year because it's a nice little tradition that we've been doing for several years now. The kids are all in bed now and all of them were really happy with how we spent our night. Any night of us out doing something as a family is usually a really great night.
Despite everything the year 2020 has thrown at people this Christmas was amazing and still ended up better than last year. Addie had been so nervous that this year would be a repeat of last year where most of the family ended up with the flu. Luckily we were all healthy and she couldn't have been happier about that.
Last night as we were bathing the kids Danny snuck out for a second and placed the Christmas pajamas underneath the Christmas tree. He came back to the bathroom to help me finish up with the kids and Addie was the first one out of the tub. Wrapped tightly in her towel she headed to the other room while we got the boys out and then very excitedly ran back to us. She had seen the wrapped presents and was so ecstatic that they had magically shown up. For about three years now every year on Christmas Eve we have had their Christmas jammies magically show up and she now looks forward to it each year. The first year they showed up while everyone was distracted watching a movie. She eventually turned around and then made us all gook because she was in such shock at how they could have appeared when we were all together watching a Christmas movie. She has no idea that Danny snuck them there while the movie was playing and then sat right back down on the couch. She had no idea he had even left. The following year I believe is when we left the house to go drive around and look at Christmas lights and while the kids were being buckled in the car Danny ran back in to 'grab something' but really he was positioning the gifts for Addie to find under the tree when we got back. It's awesome because it's so magical to her and that makes it fun for us as her parents. I'm not sure if the surprise factor started four years ago or if this is the third year but I hope we have many more years of her sweet childlike wonder when those Christmas pjs show up.
The kids were all so excited to leave out cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve night and I don't think they've ever all been this eager at the same time to head to bed. Before that though Addie did add a special touch with a letter for Santa to read.
"Dear Santa,
Thank you Santa for the pajamas and for the toys. I hope your traveling was safe and smooth. We left a cookie out and some milk for you to enjoy. There is also a snack for your reindeer. I hope you enjoy them. We love you and hope you have a very merry Christmas.
Love,
Ferguson Family
After the kids were in bed Danny and I grabbed all the presents and placed them underneath the tree for them to find in the morning. Sometime between three and four in the middle of the night we woke up to little footsteps coming into our room. It was Addie. She had her stuffed animals that she sleeps with at night but we were prepared for this and had a little bed set up for her on our couch in our room. Luckily she went straight back to sleep and slept until morning.
Just like it happens every single year so far Danny is always the first one up excited to go. I try to stay in bed for as long as the kids will sleep but he's always so eager to wake them up and get the presents started. It's pretty cute. We waited for Addie to wake up and then waited a little bit longer before getting the boys out of their beds around 7:50am.
Before opening up presents we always start by reading chapter two in the book of Luke. This year the kids are all really into Superheros, Sonic and Pokemon. Addie is really into Hatchimals and has been since her before her birthday. Santa granted all of their wishes and we had some pretty happy kids.
Addie's face here is adorable!
The after Christmas explosion always stresses me out until it's clean again.
Around 10am we headed to Mapleton to open some gifts from Danny's family. Marie and Ty officially announced that they are expecting a baby. Everyone in the family already knew except for Dave and Donna but we were all excited to see their reaction for this news. The family played some games and ate some food and then we headed back to our house where the kids were able to play the rest of the day with their new stuff. The only thing that would have made this day even better would have been some snow so the kids could utilize their new snow gear and take their new sleds out for a spin.
We celebrated Christmas with my parents last week. Because of Covid my parents actually spread out the visits from family members and did most of the traveling to everyone's houses. It was nice to have it be more intimate and more one on one for the kids with their grandparents.
This year there weren't any huge extended family gatherings on either of our sides. It was a little sad not seeing mine or Danny's cousins but it's also been nice to relax at home during this pregnancy. My parents and siblings also didn't gather as a group this year and instead did our Christmas party via zoom. It's not the same but it still turned out well. All in all I think this Christmas season turned out pretty great.
I got to see the girls again today with the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor because of a cancellation and everything is still looking great. They were able to get all the measurements they needed and there is still zero evidence of twin to twin transfusion. They are both looking healthy and I even got to find out their current weights today. Twin A is 1 lb 13 ounces and Twin B is 1 lb 15 ounces. When we first started the ultrasound we could see that both girls were transverse and were laying facing each other. It was really cute. By the end of the appointment Baby B had completely flipped and her head ended up next to Baby A's feet which is just as cute but I really loved that brief moment that they were both head to head facing each other. I was very happy to hear how healthy they are both doing and that my cervix isn't short at all so there's no need for bedrest at this time but deep down I was also a little discouraged to hear that Baby A was no longer head down and that now she was transversed. I know there's time for her to reposition herself to the head down position once again but I was a little sad to see that she was sideways. It makes sense why these days I've been having more trouble breathing (especially at night) since both girls are basically laying across my ribs. As hopeful as I am to deliver both of these girls vaginally I think I need to really mentally prepare myself for a c section. Of course I want to deliver these girls in the best way possible and if that means a c section then so be it. I'm terrified of it since I've never had one before but maybe I should mentally plan on that so that if it somehow doesn't happen I can count it as a happy surprise. It's crazy that these girls can be here in as little as ten weeks. We better get their nursery done soon. :)
Baby B (left) facing Baby A (right)
Baby A's profile
Baby A's feet
Baby B's feet
Baby B holding her own foot by her head
Baby B's profile
Baby B was definitely a wiggler at today's appointment so I wasn't able to get a good shot of her face in 4D but I did get these of Baby A.
Today was a huge day for Danny and our family! He passed his oral examination! I'm so super happy for him and knew he would do a great job. He's worked so hard for our family and for his education. This has been a pretty stressful and exhausting ordeal. It was first supposed to happen earlier this summer but got pushed to today. It's probably good that we got some extra time for Danny to full prepare for this but now I'm just glad this hurdle has passed and we can proceed with the next thing. This oral examination was Danny presenting his research and everything he's done so far at BYU in a fifteen minute presentation followed by two hours of non stop questioning by all members on his committee. They drilled him and wanted to make sure he was still worthy of staying in BYU's PhD program. It would have surely been disappointing for Danny if he hadn't passed and was asked to leave the program because I know how badly he wants this to work out so I'm super ecstatic that it all worked out. I was on pins and needles all morning waiting to hear from him on how it went. He finally reached out to me when he was waiting for his results and it seemed like forever when he had to wait about thirty minutes for him to hear back from his advisor and committee but he did it and he should feel very accomplished even though he still has a ways to go left in his program. Daniel George I love you and I'm so proud of you. Celebratory dinner tonight had to be wings of course as that's always a go to favorite of his.
Picture of him from this morning.
Picture of him at 7pm tonight. Someone was really tired.
