0 – number of Christmas prestents left to buy. (sorry carrie.)

1 – foot of water that stands in our bathtub during a shower. (stubborn clog. any tips?)

2 – number of weeks that we are spending in TX for Christmas

3 – days until we leave for TX

7 – hours of uninterupted sleep last night. woohoo!!

10 – number of hours that Joseph slept last night without waking or nursing

12 – Christmas gifts that I think with really bless people this year. I hope.

13 – sheets of paper that Brenna went through today while finger painting

47 – number of pictures that I have taken of my kids today

215 – Christmas cards left to finish

1,433 – number of times that i have read the Dora the Explorer Choo Choo book (thanks again dad)

82,582 – things left to pack before Thursday

Today, just before lunch Brenna was already at the table and I was holding Joseph walking into the dining room. Joseph grabbed a huge handful of hair and pulled. Hard. I reacted with a loud “OWW”. To which Brenna reponded by saying “Are you otay, Mama?” My heavens, could it be that my two year old is just beginning to understand that other people feel things too? That, just possibly, she is not the center of the universe? I actually teared up a little.

Well, after this evening I guess that I can officially call myself a mama. For the first time I had the smelly, “I can’t believe that I am touching this” job of cleaning up my child’s puke. We were having a lovely time at a friend’s going away party when Brenna puked. In large quantities. Surrounded by a ton of other kids. All over our friend’s train table. And their carpet. Their white carpet. Did I mentioned that the puke was a nice bold red color?

How does that happen? Your kid seems fine and then all of the sudden she empties her stomach? Are you telling me that this could happen anytime and anywhere? We may never leave the house again.

In other news, these are the fun things that arue happening in our house:

Joseph is turning into quite the smilely, laughy baby. Very sweet.

Got some very fun things for our house thanks to hosting a Southern Living at Home party a couple of weeks ago. Merry early Christmas to me.

Christmas shopping is completed. Well, almost. Close enough that is fits into the “fun” category.

Getting ready for a nice long visit to Texas. Even after living in South Carolina and Maryland for going on 5 years we still feel the pull to go home to Texas.

A&M beat Texas. Navy beat Army. Good times.

The advent season is here. Year after year, we marvel at the incarnation of Christ. Oh Jesus, thank you that you were “pleased as man with men to dwell,” that you were “born that men no more may die!”

We have much to be thankful for. These, however, are the not so fun things that are happening around here.

Cleaning up puke.

The amount of things that we need to accomplish before we leave for Texas is large. Daunting, even.

Joseph seems to really like my company around 3a.m. every night. Will my nights ever be reclaimed for solely sleeping? Please, someone tell me yes.

Mt Wash Me that is looming and growing by the day downstairs in the basement.

Well, my list of not so fun things makes me think that I better get up from the computer and get busy.

Oh, (sorry mom) Brenna seems to be fine now. Must have been a fluke.