Christmas 2007

What a Christmas! Looking back a few years, I never would have thought that Christmas could be so incredibly fun, special, miraculous and just plain awesome. Holidays are such an emotional time - for many reasons. It's so easy to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas with all of the prep, chaos and commercial craziness surrounding the holidays. Every time I got overwhelmed by my "to do" list I tried to remember to step back and remember the true meaning and then things seemed to get back into perspective. Today was one of my favorite days, ever.

The kids loved everything Christmas – although they didn’t really “get” a single bit of it. The lights, music and excitement were just plenty for them this year. And the toys, an added overwhelming bonus. They loved having family around and hammed it up whenever they could. It was amazing to see how much love they were surrounded with - and how their eyes lit up with the simplest things. They were smothered with attention from their Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. What fun it was to watch.

Christmas Eve day was spent with Chuck’s Mom and Sisters family (with cousins) which was great. The boys followed around their big cousins watching every move they made with the big boy toys. They both insisted in snagging the trains off of their tracks and pushing all of the noisy buttons on their cousins toys – which didn’t go over too terribly well at first. But then their cousins gave them a little leeway when they realized that they didn’t really understand “sharing” all that well yet. Luckily nobody got beaned in the head over stolen toys. The kids had a ball & got some great things – and the car was over half full upon departure.

For the evening, we headed over to my brothers for dinner and more fun with cousin Emily and my family. We had a wonderful dinner and lots of fun awaiting Santa’s arrival. The kids exchanged gifts with Emily and got one of the favorite gifts of the year, a new basketball hoop for bigger boys. Despite the new toys, we spent most of the evening peeling them off of the fireplace that they incessantly tried to climb – funny how they had more toys than imaginable but only wanted to climb on those things they are forbidden from climbing. Boys will be boys.

As bedtime rolled around, the kids started fading into pre-bedtime mode; we packed up, changed into jammies and made our way home. Their new Christmas jammies were a little on the small side – no idea why since they were 18 month sizes. They were quickly deemed their “scuba suits” - I have not ever laughed quite as hard as I did when we finally got them squeezed into their Christmas suits. They found it very entertaining as well and laughed at each other, while we belly laughed at them.

It was a full moon evening and we looked for Santa & his reindeer all the way home. The car was jam packed and I couldn’t even see out the back window driving home – the toys & baby gear were overflowing. By the time we got home, the boys were just about toast – they went down with a thud.

We woke up early this morning and waited for Daddy to get up. *see previous post about the “usual” timing for this daily event. We mustered him out of bed around 8am and went down to see if Santa had indeed made a stop at our house. Low and behold, he did come and he left lots of toys for the little boys. Both JD & Cole were a bit overwhelmed at the sight of the loot – JD gave it the ole’ chevy chase look and turned for his playroom with his old toys. Cole took a little more time investigating things and touched everything he could. He eventually followed suit and retreated to the playroom with his old familiar things.

One of the gifts that they got from Aunt Susie & the kids was a tent/tunnel combo. It is really made for a large room or outdoors. But of course we felt the need to put this thing together, despite that we don’t have an area nearly large enough for such an adventurous toy. Let me just say that we will have sore knees in the morning from crawling through this thing all morning. The kids absolutely had a blast in it – as evidenced by the photos. EDIT***During the night, I was awaken by what I though was an intruder in the house – until I realized that Gus was also enjoying the new tents & tunnels. He was like a kitten again running up and down the tunnels and skidding out on the hard wood floors.

We went out to the cemetery after lunch to visit Grampa Joe & Calvin; it was a beautiful day and I know that Cal was looking down on his brothers. In the afternoon, Grammy & Grampy arrived with more toys and fun things – including big boy bean bags, puzzles, books and some more ride on toys. We had a wonderful afternoon at our house and a yummy chili dinner to finish off the day.

We are so fortunate & blessed. Words cannot describe how thankful and gracious I feel for this holiday season & all that we have to be thankful for. As we roll into the new year, we continue to remember those who have lost loved ones or who could not be "home" for Christmas. And we remember those who are less fortunate and do not have family or friends to spend their holidays with. Part of the emotion of the holidays is remembering those who could not be with us for whatever reason or those who have left this earth. Those loved ones are never too far away in spirit; and if you're lucky, you can feel them nearby during those times when you miss them the most. To all of our out of town family, you were all in our thoughts as well.

Now, back to the grind. That's the hardest part!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Drive safely if you're traveling and eat lots and be merry. We're more excited for Christmas this year than ever. It's thrilling to be able to see the kids enjoy the magic of Christmas.

Best to your families and here's to a special holiday for all of you! Love to all.

Mommy's Helpers

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, cookies!

Never say Never

I’m eating crow. Again. It isn’t the first time. And it certainly won’t be the last. The old adage is true, never say never.

Last March I went on a girls trip. One of the many times we loaded into my car to go somewhere, the girls were commenting on how clean my car was. I’ve always kept a neat and tidy car. Clutter drives me nuts. The conversation then continued on about how the kids can trash your car in a matter of seconds with food, toys and other miscellaneous crap. My comment was something along the lines of “well, why do you let your kids eat in the car? I will NEVER let my kids eat in the car!”.

Simultaneous bursts of laughter came and they all said “Just wait”. I stopped talking at that point. Well, true to form, my car has turned into a trash can. And the back is so full of “gear” that I can’t even put my groceries in there. Two strollers, blankets, pack and play, extra diaper bag, case of water, tailgate chairs etc. Why did we buy an SUV again? I think we need a Suburban.

Well, surprise, surprise, my car is now officially a “kid” car. Just this week we had our first “meal in the car” which consisted of goldfish and cheese nips. BIG MISTAKE. Cole eats without dropping a single crumb. You would never know we gave the boy any food. JD however, crushes everything he eats in his fist before he eats it. And when he tries to get it to the mouth, he’s lucky to get a single crumb in. The rest goes all over him (and whatever he happens to be sitting in). Let me add that while I was passing food behind me to the kids, I was cringing all the while. By the time we stopped and I saw the damage, it was unbelievable that the kid was not hungry any longer. It didn’t look like anything made it to his mouth – it was all ground into his car seat and his hair. This car eating episode was not by choice – it was by necessity. Our schedules got crazy and as I packed some snacks for the ride, I didn’t count on it being in the car since I would NEVER do such a thing as feed them in the car?!?!?

You guys told me it would happen and I’m here to say, you were right. I presume this will get worse before it gets better….I guess I’ll ask for some car wash/vacuum gift cards for Christmas since I’ll soon be a very regular customer!

Trains...

We finally got back out to Homestead Gardens yesterday to show the kids the trains. They have an amazing set up out there. I don't think they really understood but I'm sure that next year it will be a hit. They were more enthralled with the actual size stuffed animals I think!

And here they are with their favorite Nanny, Jessica! Thanks to Jessica, we have photos of this event. My camera took a dive off of the counter this weekend and is on the fritz - perfect timing eh? Just in time for Christmas - ugh! Guess we know what is on my Christmas list - pronto!

Up Down Up Down

Here's our latest form of entertainment....

Crunch Time

Christmas is 10 days away – AHHHHHHHHHH! Actually, I’m in pretty good stead at this point – my shopping is done which is a huge plus. Cards are out, another plus. Out of town gifts mailed, house decorated (took 2 weeks) and stockings hung with care. Now I just have to wrap gifts and bake cookies. That shouldn’t be too hard should it? We are a host house on our annual progressive dinner tour tomorrow (we are sans kids for the first time overnight) so I have a bit of scrambling to do in the next 24 hours. Nevermind the scheduled “winter event” which is rolling in sometime tomorrow – will be fun to be sloshing around in the snow with a few cocktails!

The kids have been really enjoying the holiday spirit – currently, their favorite thing is to dump a wire basket of red balls all over the floor REPEATEDLY and watch them scatter in all directions. Then we pick them up, put them back in the basket, and do it again. And again. And again. And again. The simple things. Thank goodness I thought to get a few plastic Christmas balls for them to play with. It has provided them with several minutes of entertainment so I can actually get a few things done. They are infatuated with the Christmas tree. They love the singing animals that we bought them which I’m about to throw out into the yard. We took them to Lights on the Bay the other night and they were mesmerized by the lights (it’s a light show that you drive through and see lots of different Christmas characters and fun light formations). Although we are not yet proficient at understanding toddler gibberish, it sounded like they were enjoying it in the back seat based on their chit chat back and forth.

We were back at the pediatrician this week – for the 7th time in 4 weeks – to have Cole’s ears checked again. After his second bout with hives on the 3rd medication, it does appear that his ears are getting better. But we’re headed to the ENT doc next week to discuss future ear issues. Our pediatrician thinks it might be wise to consider getting tubes now rather than go through the winter with chronic ear infections and risk hearing issues or further medication allergy flare ups. I’m relieved actually as I do not want him to have to endure the whole winter season in and out of the doctors office. That is no fun for any of us. We’ll see what the consensus is.

In early January JD is having surgery to remove the epidermal cyst on his left eye. I’m already losing sleep. We are going to Children’s Hospital in DC for the outpatient procedure and both the surgeon and his nurse have promised that this will indeed be harder on C. & I than it will be on JD. Although outpatient, he still has to be put under for a short time and that in itself scares the crap out of me. You would think that all we went through early on would have prepared me for this but I guess you are never prepared for your little guys to have to get anesthesia and endure the risks that are involved. God will give me strength, I hope.

On a bigger note, JD IS WALKING! How did this happen? A year ago this child could barely hold his head up – and now he’s walking around grabbing everything in sight! Crawling is still his preferred mode of transportation – but he’s taking 10-12 steps in a row before he falls down to his knees. And he will not walk on demand – it’s usually when we act like we’re not watching that he will start toddling over to something. It’s funny to see his little head bobbing up and down as he waddles around…once we notice that he’s walking, he falls to the ground. He can crawl much faster than he can walk right now so in an effort to be more efficient, that’s his preference. I would think that by the end of next week, he’ll be up on two feet more than down on all 4’s. Cole is closing the gap pretty quick – his progress over the last 2-3 weeks has been amazing. His therapists are impressed and so are we. Although I will admit, I’m not rushing his walking – having two little people walking will really rock my world!

The Christmas cards have started coming – and I will admit, I still get a little pang in my heart when I see Christmas cards. For so long, it was hard to open those envelopes and see the growing families when we were struggling so much. Although I have always loved to see the family photos each year – it was a reminder that we were still waiting to be blessed with a family of our own. The sting is less but it never fails to remind me each day when I get the mail, of those who are still struggling to have children.

Personally, I am in a very strange place this holiday season. Most days go by now and I don’t think of Calvin. There are certain triggers and reminders of him periodically but as time goes on, my heart is healing. As I took out the Christmas tree decorations this year, I found all of the ornaments that we got last year in memory of Baby Calvin; and all of those feelings came rushing back. I’ve got that funny feeling back with me – and it’s almost a comfort because I know he’s with me this holiday season; he’s watching us and reminding me that he’s ok. I miss him terribly. And only recently have I started talking to JD & Cole about their brother. I’m not really sure how you go about doing that with kids that have a sibling in heaven. But I’m just winging it and hoping that the way I’m handling it will allow JD & Cole to grow up knowing about their brother and knowing what a special boy he was. A part of my heart will always long for him ~ and I can’t help but think about how life would be if he was still here. Looking at Cole, I know what he would look like now and often wonder if he would be doing the same things. Would they sound the same? Would they have a special connection between the two of them?



We're in for a very special Christmas since the kids are starting to get the concept of the holidays. Seeing them experience the wonder of Christmas for the first time has been so heartwarming and fun. Surely there will be many more memories to record between now and the day the Big Man comes...

It's a mystery to me....

OK, I hate to sell my husband out here but I’ve got to get some input on this. Why do husbands get to sleep through the morning chaos and then wake up in the morning complaining about how tired they are…after all is restored and calm and the day has been started?

I have been pondering this question for the last several months, since the birth of the boys. But more so in the past few days since we’re going on week #4 that the kids have been sick and up throughout the night. I have been trying unsuccessfully to find a logical explanation for my question.....Why is it that my husband gets to lay in bed well past the sun has peeked over the horizon while my day started when it was dark enough that the moon could still be seen? Better yet, why does he get to sleep his aches and pains away without even a thought to who's going to get the kids up and ready for their day?

As of late, he has had a few fun events that he’s had the privilege of attending – all of which have given him reason to come home VERY late. His social schedule (which has involved a work function or two) allows him to get home late some nights from Terps games, Redskins games, basketball league games or whatever “guy” events he attends. Mind you, I have been home taking care of the kids while he is out enjoying this time with his buddies. But after these engagements, is that a license to sleep extra long the next morning, just because you were out partying your butt off the night before and got home late BY CHOICE? I think my inquiry into this issue peaked yesterday when he dropped the bomb that he wanted to go on a golf trip in March for FIVE days in Naples…ahem, when was the last time I left him alone with the kids for a R&R trip during the work week for five days?

Our nanny arrives at 8am each morning, and I’m out the door shortly after to get to work. By the time she gets there, the kids are ready to go for the day. MOST DAYS he is flailing by this time to get into the shower and get out the door himself – I'm actually his human alarm clock, giving him reminders of the time in between my morning duties & getting the house organized for the day. Prior to his eyeballs even seeing the day of light, I have checked and responded to email, updated my blog, taken a shower, woken two kids up, dressed two kids, changed diapers, fed the screaming cats, cleaned out the litter boxes, put out the dry cleaning for pick up, put out the trash if needed, started breakfast, poured glasses of milk, added a load of laundry to the washing machine and eaten my own breakfast.

If I posed this question directly to him, his response would be “just tell me what you need help with and I’ll be happy to help”. And in his defense, he would help. He’s great like that. I too get to go out when I want to for certain events during the week and he steps right up and does Daddy duty. But the killer is the fact that he just stays in bed in the mornings until I wake him up – and on weekends, he would sleep until noon time if I let him; and wouldn’t really see a problem with it. Am I crazy for being so irritated at this?

Which brings me back to the question.....Why is it that my husband gets the privilege to catch zzzz's until the very last moment, while I feel like I've already run a marathon by the time he meanders out of the bedroom? There must be a logical answer to this question.....anyone?

The Wonder of Christmas

We started decorating the house a bit tonight and the boys had a blast. The tree is up but not yet decorated. We'll hopefully get that finished this weekend. Nonetheless, it was a fun evening listening to Christmas music and seeing the kids enjoy all of the decorations....(don't worry, the red balls are plastic!)

First Snow

Well, it's the first snow of the season; and the first snow that the kids have ever seen. As you can see, they were not at all impressed or entertained. Apparently playing in the snow will not be high on the list this year - next year perhaps?




Maybe once they can walk in it they will have more fun...