December 22nd

Today was Alex's 29th birthday and my best friend Jennifer's 30th birthday. It is always fun for me to have two of my most special people celebrate on the same day. Since this was a milestone birthday for Jenn we let tonight be more about her.

We celebrated Alex's birthday at mom's house last night. She cooked lasagna and Lori and Dave baked a cake. Alex opened a few presents, including an XBox he has been dreaming about since he sold his early this year.

Tonight we had a surprise party for Jennifer. It was a joint effort to coordinate the surprise and it was a perfect mix of close friends, who all showed up with yummies to contribute to the pot-luck dinner... and plenty of desserts.

Happy birthday to both these special people, whom I am grateful to have for yet another year!

That's Mr. Paramedic to you

We went to Alex's Paramedic School Graduation ceremony tonight. It was nice to see Alex recognized for his hard work and dedication to a very demanding program. All the speakers talked about thanking the support systems the paramedics have at home, but in all honesty, I've been a bit of a wreck this year, and Alex did a great job supporting me and taking care of his school and career this year. I couldn't be prouder to be Mrs. Alexander Moran!

Here is Alex with his best friend from school, Sardenga

Today was a very, very good day

Well Alex and I went to the doctor today for my 13 week appointment. We have made many trips to the doctor in the past two months, at 4, 6, 9 and now 13 weeks. Every time I was apprehensive and hoping that what the doctors were telling me was there was still in fact there. I knew that if I got to this end-of-trimester appointment and everything was as it should be that I would ease in my cautiousness and would fully embrace this pregnancy without fear that something would go wrong at each turn.

Well that happened today... We went in and spent about 30 minutes with our sweet baby boy! We saw him kick and jump, and move his arms all over the place. We heard his heart beat, saw the heart beating in his chest, saw movement in his internal organs, saw the lobes in his brain, saw his adorable foot with all his perfect toes, and even saw his wiener, which he enjoyed touching.

We praise God for this day. After all we have been through this year we sometimes, er, very often, questioned where was God and wondered why we felt alone. Then this week at church Pastor Matthew's final thought was that God often separates from you when you need him most so that when he finally reveals himself to you when you need it most it 1) builds your faith and 2) demonstrates God's glory. I definitely got that today.

Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby boy.

Everything falling into place

Alex finished the last of 3 paramedic semesters last night. In one year he has completed about 4oo hours of rides with Paramedic crews, about 70 hours in hospital rotations, successfully passed all practicals and tests. He has one more final and then he is all done. This is a very demanding course and is full of extensive content. I am so proud of how much he has studied, all the time he has put into school, and how he has been able to start a new job and still be a wonderfully supportive husband at home. Last night I got to take him to my work's holiday party and I felt lucky to be on the arm of such a great man.

So like I said, everything is falling into place... Alex is finished with school, he has a job he loves, and our lives are about to get to a sense of normal for a few months until normal gets a whole new definition.