Updates that i don't want clouding the Christmas post

Soon I will get around to posting pictures from the last week. The kids had a great Christmas despite many many rocky moments. But first I wanted to share some news...

Good news:  We were all feeling well all day on Christmas Eve (when we celebrate with Oma and Opa) and Christmas Day (when we celebrated with Grandpa and Grandma Sue). Those were the most important days of the week, so I was really relieved.

Bad news: Shortly after grandparents left on Christmas night, I fell victim to the bug, and fell hard. I was up through the night getting sick and could not get out of bed the whole next day. That morning, Brian also got sick and had to retreat back to bed.

Good news: Melanie jumped up and just took over caring for the kids while Brian and I were so sick. I don't know what we would have done without her.

Bad news: Due to all of these relapses, I was never able to meet up with my friend Cindy during her holiday visit.  She's only in Ohio about twice a year so I was really sad to miss her.

Good news: At my OB appointment on Friday, I was 2 cm dilated and found out that I have an induction scheduled for January 9th!!!! I am soooooo excited to meet this baby girl!

Bad news: This isn't really bad, but more of a flip side: I start to panic a little bit every time I think about having this baby in TEN DAYS. Holy cow! This is really happening.

Good news: After deliberating back and forth about whether or not they should still come, Brian's family decided to keep their plans to visit us for the weekend and celebrate Christmas. We only get to see Mark and Kelly and the cousins 2-3 times a year so it was tough to cancel. We had a really nice time and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

Bad news: Even though we took every precaution, they did not even finish their 9 hour drive home before one of the girls got sick. And at last report, 3/5 of them are down.  I feel absolutely terrible. I HATE knowing that we've made someone else sick. (Grandma Sue caught it from us, too, earlier in the week.) It put such a huge damper on Christmas that we had to evaluate every set of plans and try to decide if it was worth the risk of sharing germs. We made decisions based on what we knew at the time, and several family members did not get sick. But it feels like a big wet blanket on the whole week.

Good news: Let's end on a positive note, shall we? We spent today deflating air mattresses, washing the 20th load of laundry this week, putting Christmas away, and getting out baby stuff. I went through Katy's box of newborn clothes that I haven't touched in 6 years! This is surreal, I can't believe we're having a baby girl so soon. So soon!!!

Pictures next...