Christmas in Scotland

I thought I'd post about our Scottish Christmas and fill y'all in on the last week and a half of December. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Each day of December began by opening our advent calendar(s). We had our traditional candy-filled calendar and a fun winter scene PlayMobile toy calendar 

(I saved it from the Christmas sale at Kroger last year--90% off BOOM baby!)

Cheater-Pants Post

This is a cheater-pants post because I'm a new mom and I ain't got the time (seriously) to sit and write posts and take pictures right now. We're watching other moms do fun Christmas cookies and parties and cards and I'm over here like, "I kept my kids alive today."

Since Mark ran back to the US the morning after Thanksgiving to see his dad in the hospital I've been running, running, running. In my week as a single parent of 4 I found that:

-I cannot sleep more than 6 hours at night not counting middle-of-the-night feedings. There aren't enough hours in the day to get things done so I have to borrow from the nighttime!

-Laundry never, ever ends. The washer and dryers here take about twice as long as the ones in the US so I'm half as efficient as I was (and to enlighten you; I am NOT laundry efficient).

-Plan, plan, plan. To get things done in a timely manner I have to lay out outfits for everyone the night before, set alarm reminders on the phone, make school lunches the night before, and even set out the toaster, Nutella, and bananas for breakfast to keep me on track!

-You might be an idiot to try and drag out Christmas decorations during all this chaotic time. ("you" means "me" in this case).

-I need lots of precious friends. People walking me home, helping me put kids to bed, doing my laundry (I know I just admitted I'm still behind despite the help, just some raw truth there). Caedmon's teacher even came and picked him up one morning for me when I had to get him to school and Nessie to her Highland Dance medal test at the same time. SO precious and SO telling that I'm not a great single parent!

So all that being said I'm telling y'all I'm going to do one giant post with lots of pictures and a few captions and say that's me done blogging for December!

Thanks for your understanding.

I'll do better when my 4 are grown and out of the house.

Maybe.

AirBear all dressed up (and hating it) at one month old.

She is a miracle and a living testament to God's goodness. 

We treasure each day.

Meeting Sally-Pink *Airdrie Abileen Anderson* Part 2

 If you're just now joining us and love a good 'ol birth story scroll down to the previous post and start there. If you just came to see pictures of our sweet girl and would rather avoid all the birth terminology and details then stay right where you are because we have pictures galore of our Airdrie-girl!

Airdrie Abileen Anderson came in to the world a bit reluctantly on Thursday 24 October. She was delivered by c-section and had some immediate troubles. We didn't know it at the time but when they rushed her over to the other side of the room they were "giving her a little help" meaning emptying her lungs and giving her oxygen. We later saw that her 1 minute Apgar score was a "5" and her 10 minute score was a "9."

Meeting Sally-Pink *Airdrie Abileen Anderson* Part 1

 It's been a while...Mark and I have lived several months in the past few weeks!
This post will be extensive, but full of pictures for those who enjoy the break in my ramblings! Also, I'm including birth details using words like "cervix, dilation" and "birth canal." If this doesn't suit your taste exit while you still can and visit our FaceBook page for the benign details of the past weeks. :)

Monday, and Tuesday October 14-15 my parents along with my sisters, Jillian and Catlin flew in to Aberdeen so they could be a part of what we thought was birth week! I was scheduled to be induced at 4pm on Wednesday, October 16th.

There was general shenanigans and fun as the aunts and grandma and papa revealed they had all packed in their carry-on luggage and all other suitcases were FILLED with presents from America! We had cake mixes, candy, Pumpkin spice---everything, maple syrup, Italian and Ranch dressing packets, and Halloween goodies.

Grandma also brought over a tin filled with buttons for the girls. They love this and love to scatter buttons ALL over the house!