December normally starts for our family with Jonathan’s birthday party. This year we had his FOURTH birthday party at Wonder Place. We decided to do it on a Sunday afternoon (December 5th) so that we could rent the entire building. I’m so glad that we did, because we had a TON of kids and even more adults show up for his party. We are so blessed to have made such great friends here in Little Rock and so blessed that Jonathan has made such wonderful friends as well. The kids had a blast with the water table, sand table, vet area, grocery store, kitchen area, arts and crafts, blocks, wind tunnels, etc. The big event for me was finding THE cake that Jonathan wanted. When asked, he said that he wanted a SUPER HERO cake. But he didn’t want just one super hero, no, he wanted ALL of them. I checked out different places and the only place that would/could do what I wanted was Kroger. Yes, you heard me, Kroger. And let me tell you, that cake rocked! The lady did an awesome job. Jonathan loved it and so did the rest of the kids. It tasted great too, which is always a plus! Both sets of grandparents came up for his party as well which was special too.
It just so happened that Jonathan’s first choir concert for church was that Sunday night as well. Needless to say, it was quite the busy of days. The concert went…well pretty good… and Jonathan had fun. That’s the important part! None of the kids sang very much, but I think they had fun playing on the stage. We had fun and Mark’s parents were able to stay and see his first performance. After church, Santa Clause made a special appearance at church. That was a lot of fun and Jonathan sat on his lap to tell him what he wanted. Here’s the list: a Spiderman toy that shoots webs and things, a radio to listen to music in his room, and a Superman toy that flies and stuff. Those are his words. He told Santa three different times this list.
December 8th was our sweet Gracie girl’s first birthday. It just doesn’t really get easier. Changes yes, but we still miss her each and every day. So much. So very much. Her birthday was a nice day though. We spent some time out at her garden. Put new flowers on her marker. Ate cupcakes that Mommy made and just remembered her and her life. 
That weekend, I had my second baby shower given by the girls at my work. We had a great time at Carrie’s house. They had planned a bunch of silly games and the girls truly showered Daniel and our family with some super cute gifts. Special props to Mandy for the personalized diapers. It is a long standing joke from when Jonathan was born. We didn’t know if he was a boy or a girl, so she didn’t make him any. I’ve been harassing her about it (in fun) for the past four years, so she and I were both glad to be able to put Daniel Andrew on the back of a diaper!! They are very cute and everyone was so very loving towards our family.
The next day was the December birthday celebration for children in the preschool at our church. Mrs. Susan always does a great job remembering the children’s birthdays. Jonathan loved singing “Happy Birthday” again and having MORE cake!
For Jonathan’s actual birthday on the 21st, I made his cake. He has been very big into Superman lately, and my good friend Edie let me borrow her Superman cake pan. Mark very sweetly bought me some new cake decorating supplies so that I could decorate the cake a little easier. It was hard, but I had fun, and I really think that the finished product turned out really nice. Jonathan seemed to like it anyway!! I had also gotten him a Superman card for his birthday. When it got time to open presents, he decided that he needed to put on his Superman costume from Halloween to open his presents. It was so cute and we all had fun watching him play with all of his new toys.
Most of the month was spent in anticipation and preparation for the arrival of our new baby boy. Mark worked so very hard on his room. He painted, put up a chair rail, new base boards, and new vertical boards in Daniel’s room. We bought some new furniture for his room that matches the baby furniture in Jonathan’s room. So now the furniture in both of their rooms match and can be switched out as we need to. I am just so happy with the way that Daniel’s room turned out. It is exactly how I had it pictured in my head and just a happy place for me to just go and sit. We had saved all of Jonathan’s clothes from when he was little. Opening all those boxes, washing the clothes, and then putting them away was such a nice trip down memory lane of Jonathan being little and preparation for new memories of Daniel in those same clothes. Of course, so many people gave us so many new, wonderful things too. And, then there would be the things that I bought. I’m not going to lie, I had fun buying baby clothes and stuff for him!
I was just convinced that Daniel would come in December. Just seemed to be the month for our kids. I left work every day prepared not to come back. At our appointments, the doctor was seeing progression, and even she thought he might come early. Her words were, ‘after Christmas, but probably New Years.’ Well, we were all wrong! All those intermittent contractions were truly just practice! My work is closed the week of Christmas and I thought he’d be here that week. Nope! He had his own ideas!! Of course, that is just fine. We just wanted him to be safe, and happy, and healthy. But his story is for another post…
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