Where to begin...

Guys, I don't even know where to begin. The last month so much has happened--good and bad. Let's just do some bullet points, shall we?

--Thanksgiving. We had Billy's parents and 88-year-old granny in town from Illinois. They came on Tuesday night and Thursday morning (Thanksigiving day) we drove to Dallas to spend the holiday and night at Billy's cousin Ellie's house. There were other cousins and aunts there, so it was a fun time and so cute to see Will playing with all his second cousins (all around his age).

--Will's birthday. Will technically turned three on November 20th, but we celebrated his big day after Thanksgiving. Billy was in a wedding the weekend of Will's birthday, so we had rehearsal dinners and wedding festivities to tend to instead. So, the weekend after Thanksgiving we did a family birthday celebration while Billy's parents and granny were in town and my parents came over and helped celebrate too. We basically opened gifts, went to dinner and ate a really bad strawberry cake that I made (Will insisted he wanted a strawberry cake--let it be known that the strawberry cake mix that you buy in a box is NOT good. Trust me on this one). Separate posts w/ birthday and Thanksgiving pics to come soon.

--Project Santa. I think I mentioned I am chairing Project Santa for the Austin Children's Shelter this year. This is the big week of all the activity (donation drop off days, shopping and wrapping, etc.), so I have been up to my eyeballs in coordinating all of this.

--Work. Insanity ensues at my new "part-time" job. It's great and crazy all at the same time. Can I keep up the pace after baby comes? Remains to be seen. But most imporantly on the job front, Billy got a new job. He starts in the New Year w/ a really great position at a really cool company. It's going to involve quite a bit of traveling, but most of his jobs have. The difference this time? I'll have a newborn AND a three-year-old. Yikes!

--Hospital visit. So the one downer we had was Billy ended up in the hospital for three days a few weeks ago. Some of you may remember a couple of years ago when he mysteriously had one of his carotid arteries(the major ones in your neck) tear (he was lucky to not have a major stroke or worse) and then they discovered he also had a torn celiac artery (it's in your abdomen). Doctors were stumped, all sorts of tests ensued but no answers (it's almost impossible to diagnose an aterial/connective tissue disorder...there's so little known about them and no real tests/treatments). Anyway, fast forward two years to three weeks ago. Billy woke up w/ pain in his lower abdomen and back that got worse. Off to the hospital we went and it turned out that another artery had torn (this time in one leading into his kidney, causing part of his kidney--a very small part--to die). Now we are really in "what the hell is this" land. The good news is we have been referred to a very well reputed vascular surgeon in Virginia who has taken an interest in Billy's case and who is at least helping us try and find some answers (even if those answers may only be in the form of ruling out other rare disorders--we may never know exactly why this is happening). It would be great to get some answers and if it is genetic, figure out if our kids will be affected. So, we feel very lucky to have someone guiding us through this process. And, we've also been referred to a rheumatologist here in Austin, so again, at least we are headed down a path of hopefully finding some answers.

You know, it's funny, but normally I find this time of year stressful with all the holiday busy-ness (cards, decorations, gift buying, etc.), but not this year. It hasn't phased me at all. I guess with being so busy and so many things happening all at once, the Christmas "to-dos" seem minute and a source of joy, not stress. Seeing Will really "get" Christmas this year and making cookies with him and decorating the tree as a family--how could I possibly let myself get stressed about that? This is the good stuff.