Christmas time is here...

Our elf Punky

Evie’s at an age where every day – no every moment – is unpredictable.  I suppose the reality of having children is that you need to expect the unexpected, no matter what their age.  At 2.5 years old, Evie is the most sweet, crabby, happy, grumpy, nice, mean, compliant, obstinate, generous, greedy, loving child ever.  The enthusiam and amazement that she has for things is unmatched and showing her the world can really be a lot of fun.  Except when it’s not.  We’ve had a few incidents when we’re out that have left me slightly scarred and petrified to ever take her out in public again.  I’ve talked to so many people who have made me feel better about it all. They’ve told me that it’s normal for her age and they’ve been through it with their kids too.  Hearing this from other parents helps me because there are so many times that I feel like I must be doing something wrong.  I’m sure there are times when I could handle situations differently, but it helps to know that other people have been there and it’s not just me.  Kids are hard work and sometimes, despite our best efforts, they act up. 

I’ve been feeling kind of bad because I don’t feel like we’ve done enough this Christmas season to really get Evie in the spirit.  So yesterday we decided to cross one major thing off of our list – a visit to Santa.  We figured it would be better to go in the middle of the week than wait til the weekend to avoid some of the crowds.  I’ve learned in my two+ years as a parent that the key to going out is preparation.  Half of the time this works in my favor and things go great.  But sometimes I’m crazed and disorganized and I find myself out with a kid that has dirty diaper, an empty wipe container and only one diaper that happens to be the wrong size.  Often it doesn’t matter what I do – my kids have a mind of their own and leaving the house is an exercise in patience and acceptance that I can’t control everything.   

That said, before we left, we sat down for a nice, early family dinner.  Gotta keep that blood sugar up!  After dinner, I helped Evie with her letter to Santa.  She colored the pictures and I wrote down what she really wants for Christmas.  She helped me fold it up and stick it in an envelope (complete with a sticker stamp).  She was so excited about this letter.  We loaded up the kids in the van, made sure we had plenty of diapers and wipes and headed to Tuttle Mall.  Mitch was bundled in his reindeer coat and Evie clutched the letter in her hand the whole way there.  She marched into Macy’s and proudly put her letter into the giant red mailbox. 

We made our way into the mall to find the longest line to Santa in existence.  It had to be at least a 90 minute wait.  Security guards were setting up additional turnstiles and more and more people continued to get in line.  We stood in this mess for about 5 minutes before I decided that we couldn’t take it.  After attempting to buy some personalized Christmas ornaments from a vendor in the mall (another long line = fail), we left.  Evie looked so disappointed that we were leaving without seeing Santa – “But Mama?  I see Santa?” – but we assured her that she would see Santa.  He was just at another mall.  Lucky for us, she is still too young to question why Santa is two places at once!  We got back in the van and head to the Shoppes of Worthington.  On the way there, Evie and I said a little prayer that Santa wasn’t too busy.  We pulled up, parked right next to the door and walked in to a virtually empty shopping center.  On the way to see Santa, I spotted a personalized ornament booth and was able to get a new 2014 family ornament and a “First Christmas” ornament for Mitchell.  We made it to Santa and, unbelievably, there was no line!  Evie walked right up, chatted with Santa, told him she wanted a pink bicycle, gave him a hug and got a candy cane.  Then she was played for little while on the indoor playground, we saw a toy train, some Christmas displays and a gingerbread village, and  stopped at Panera for hot cocoa and a warm chocolate chip cookie.  On the way home, we drove through some neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights and sing carols.  All of this was done in little over an hour.  It was a small Christmas miracle and we were thankful!

Park time in December

I took advantage of nice afternoon one day last week to take the kids to the park for half hour or so.  We had fun and Mitch loved the swings!

Happy Half Birthday Baby Boy!

Mitchell turned 6 months old one week ago and I can’t quite believe it’s been that long since I first held him in my arms.  Mitchell has secured a place firmly in our family and in our hearts over the past months and I know that none of us can imagine life without him in it.  He’s such a happy, even-tempered, sweet, snuggly little boy most of the time.  He loves to laugh and finds humor in the silliest things.  He started cracking up at Crosby the other day  and all the dog did was sit down in front of him.  Mitch is very ticklish – we love to tickle his belly and listen to him giggle.  Evie in particular gets a kick out of this and delights in showing people that she can make her little brother laugh.  I can already see that my kids have a strong bond and I hope it continues to get stronger throughout their lives. 

Mitchell is growing up so fast.  Within the span of about two weeks, he figured out to sit up unassisted, crawl backwards, crawl forward and pulling himself up on stuff.  Pat and I are a little bit amazed at how strong he is and how much he is doing at such a young age.  Looks like he’s trying to keep up with his big sister!  With the dawn of crawling came a whole new world for him and Mitch is trying to taste as much of it as possible.  If he sees it on the ground, he’ll go after it and it’ll go straight into his mouth.  It’s been a challenge to keep Evie’s stuff away from him. We keep reminding her to pick up her things, but there is only so much you can expect from a two year old.  Needless to say, we are constantly on our toes trying to keep stuff out of his mouth.  His favorite things to try and eat – cell phones, remote controls, IPads and power cords.  This child is obsessed with remote controls.  And don’t try and fool him with a toy remote – he’s not dumb! Obviously we are baby-proofing daily.  Lucky for us, Mitch seems to enjoy tasting new food as much a non-food items.  We’ve introduced baby food and, so far, it’s a hit.  He’s had green beans, peas, carrots, bananas, pears, applesauce, sweet potatoes, squash, peaches and mango.  Next, we’ll try some of the mixed veggies and fruits and some homemade stuff like mashed avocado and pureed spinach.   He’s still nursing and boy oh boy, does he like to eat!  I think we had Evie on a 3-4 hour nursing schedule by this time, but Mitch still wants to eat about every 2-2.5 hours.  He’s like his mama – give him a snack or he gets grouchy! 

In addition to crawling, Mitch is pulling up a little on things a little bit.  This means that we needed to move him from the co-sleeper to his crib.  I know that most people are probably thinking “What?  He’s still sleeping in your room?  Put him in his crib!”  Easier said than done when you’re me.  I like having him close and I don’t see any reason to have him in another room until we are both ready.  That said, he needed to be in his crib for his own safety when he started to pull up.  So far, he’s still getting up at almost exactly the same time every night – 12:00am and 3:00am.  He hardly ever wakes up crying, but he does when he is in his crib. It’s a scared cry too, which breaks my heart a little, but hopefully it will get better with time.

All in all, Mitchell is fantastic!  The reason I’m not posting this until now is because he didn’t have his 6 month check-up until yesterday and I wanted to include his stats.  Mitch is  19lbs. 3oz. and 27 inches long.  He’s in the 80^th percentile for height and weight – perfectly  proportional!  He blew the doctor away with what he’s doing – she said he’s behaving more like a nine-month old in terms of his gross motor skills.  She did say that sometimes when a baby focuses so much on one set of skills, other areas like fine motor and verbal skills can take a back seat and be slower to advance.  He’s not a huge babbler yet so maybe we will see some verbal progress next!  It’s hard not to compare your children and one difference I’ve noticed is how they react at the doctor’s office.  Evie has never minded going.  She actually loves it and gets excited when I say we are going.  She hops right up on the table.  Mitchell, on the other hand, didn’t trust that doctor at all.  He was tense the whole time we were there.  He screamed when I laid him down on the table to undress him, screamed when I put him on the scale, and wailed during his shots.  It was so out of character for my happy-go-lucky boy and it broke my heart.  Evie looked scared during his shots because he was crying so hard and it upset her.  Lucky, he calmed down quickly and I pointed out to Evie that got 4 Scooby Doo Band-Aids so he would be fine.   Evie and I both showed Mitchell with love last night to make up for his crummy afternoon.

Mitchell is growing and changing every day and he is such a source of joy for our family.  We love you sweet boy!

Our first Christmas party

This past Saturday, we hosted our first ever Christmas party.  We were excited to have the chance to get our families together and Pat was happy to have the chance to be a little more creative with the food.  I never let him do anything too different for Thanksgiving.  We try and keep it traditional.  But Christmas is a different story.  I told him that I didn’t care what he made – especially if I didn’t have to cook anything!  True to form, Pat cooked up some delicious dishes and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Evie and Mitchell both basked in the attention from everyone.  Especially Evie.  She had almost everyone that she loves in the world under one roof and she was on cloud nine. That’s saying a lot considering that 24 hours before, she seemed to have a touch of a stomach virus.  Luckily, she was feeling better by Saturday morning otherwise we might have had to cancel the party.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that nobody else gets sick!  Especially Mitchell.  Poor little guy has been fighting a cold for a few days now and he needs a break.  After everyone went home on Sunday, I put Evie down for a nap, turned on a Christmas movie and rocked him for a few hours.  I feel like I don’t get quiet moments with my baby boy often enough so I really cherish the time that I do have.  He’s growing up so fast already and I want to get as many snuggles as I can before he’s too old to care. 

So far, we’re making some pretty wonderful holiday memories!

Going up....

A Hot Mess....

...but they sure are cute!

She thought my concealer was chapstick...

I changed his clothes 5 minutes before this picture was taken.  What a boy!

The Elf

The Elf on the Shelf made his debut at our house.  Evie wasn’t as impressed as I’d hoped.  Maybe that will change once she sees him move around the house.

As per the book’s instructions, we named him and we let Evie choose his name.  At first she wanted to name him Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but I vetoed that since it’s already taken by another holiday character.  So she decided on Punky.  Punky the Elf.  I have no idea where she came up with that.

Later, she was being rotten and I told her that Punky was watching so she’d better be good because he’s tell Santa.  Her response – ‘Mama – You’re freaking me out’.

That child….

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we stayed in Columbus and had Thanksgiving with Grandpa Tim, Grandma Katharine and her family.  We ate at the Worthington Inn.  That was a first for me - eating out on Thanksgiving - but we all enjoyed it.  The food was delicious and the company wonderful! 
We saw everyone for Thanksgiving, but not on the same day.  We had Thanksgiving brunch with Kiki, Pops, Aunt Sha-Sha and Uncle Adam the weekend before in KY - yum!! We also had a homemade Ramen (courtesy of Chef Patrick) Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma Rita on Friday.
It's wonderful to get to spend time with family no matter the occasion!