Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Poor Daddy has been super sick with the flu all weekend, and by this morning we were all a little sick of being trapped inside the house. We decided to drag ourselves out to the mall to take Jack to see Santa. In the car, while we were explaining the whole process, the conversation went something like this:

Daddy: "Jack, we are going to take you to see Santa Claus. He brings you presents on Christmas, if you are a good boy. When you see him, you are going to sit on his lap and tell him what you want."

Jack: "I want presents!"

Mommy: "What kind of presents?"

Jack: "A garbage truck!" (There is a big garbage truck in Target that he loves to play with, and he's been saying for awhile now that he wants Santa to bring it. I think it's partially because when he asked if "it can come home with us?" last time, I said, "It's awful close to Christmas, maybe Santa will bring it for you..." Anyway.)

So we get to the mall, and we were fairly confident that he understood what was going on. We were lucky to hit Santa right when he opened (I mean, arrived at the mall on his sleigh) and so there was no line. We had plenty of time to try and snap a good shot.

We started off with his typical "Oh no...I'm scared...Mommy what is this?" look...

Slowly warming up to Santa, who was whispering in his ear.

The Elves asked Daddy to throw a ball to Jack to make him smile...
this was 2.5 second before Daddy his Santa square in the face with the ball :) Oops.

Ok Jack, there's a smile!!! Way to go!

Candy always makes it better.

After we were done, I asked Jack, "so did you tell Santa what you wanted him to bring you?" And Santa said, "Yes, he told me race cars, a garbage truck, toys, and candy." Apparently he was more loquacious with Santa than he was with us!!

It was a great experience - much better than our previous visits. As Justin was checking out, I sat there thinking: this may be the last visit like this that Jack will be alone! Easter next year is on April 8, about two weeks before my due date, and it is not unlikely that the baby will be here then. Either way, next year Santa will have two Crosby kids on his lap - and for that, we are very thankful!!

Speaking of our little baby, they call the second trimester of pregnancy the "golden weeks" for a reason. There are seriously days when I forget I am pregnant (and Justin does too, as he often admits!) I am not yet big enough for my belly to be a burden (although I do sometimes have the cramps / contractions / lower back pain, it's nothing compared to what I know is coming.) The nausea is completely gone and my migraines have improved considerably in the last few weeks. For the most part, I feel amazingly good...and I enjoy the little pokes and prods from the baby now (which I know will turn into oomphs and sharp kicks soon!) People looking at me can tell I am pregnant, but I am not yet swollen and I don't waddle. In another 12 weeks or so, I will be pretty miserable, but for now I am going to enjoy this special time :) This is *it* for babies in the Crosby house, so I'm already halfway done with my last pregnancy! That's something to celebrate!!