Christmas Day

Dianna and her family spent the night Christmas Eve and her 4 year old (Kinleigh) decided to wake us up bright and early. I think it was payback for all those years I would wake Dianna up Christmas morning by pinching her and telling her Santa had come so she could wake the family up and I could keep my cool by looking like I didn't care and oh isn't Christmas such a drag.

Despite the early hour, it was so fun for Ellie to open her Christmas presents alongside her cousins. She loved her "house with the purple roof" and her digital camera (more on that later). Jack seemed somewhat interested in his gifts,too.
After a leisurely morning opening gifts and eating cinnamon rolls, turkey bacon, and scrambled eggs, we headed over to my mother in law's for more gifts and eating. When I say more gifts, I'm not kidding. I only bought Ellie three gifts. My MIL bought Ellie like thirty gifts. Seriously. We left the house with two black garbage bags stuffed full. It got to the point where Ellie was not even looking at the present she opened, just tossing it aside and asking for another one. I was a little embarrassed by her ungratefulness because she is usually so excited by a gift and always wants to know who gave it to her and then gives an enthusiastic thank you. I think the sheer number of gifts just went to her head. We decided that next year, we are putting a limit on the number of gifts Ellie is given. She had so much fun playing with all her presents once we got home, but I just don't want Ellie to get to caught up in the materialistic aspect of Christmas and forget what it is all about. Of course, Tom and I were more then happy to accept the Wii my MIL bought us (hey, we already know the meaning of Christmas)! Anyway, we had a great afternoon hanging with family and enjoying a yummy meal of ham and brisket. I wish I had more pictures, but I put Tom in charge of the camera while my hands were full of Jack and he failed me miserably! I have like 3 pictures! Men.

Christmas Eve

I feel like I have so much blogging to catch up on! I almost want to say forget it, but since I turn my blog into yearly books, I would hate to miss Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent at my brother Mark's house. Dianna and her family drove in from North Carolina so the 4 youngest kids were able to celebrate together along with our parents. I was so excited for Ellie to experience the Christmas traditions that I loved as a child.

Rosie made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate for Santa. Ellie couldn't help herself and ate Santa's cookies. No wonder she wasn't hungry when it came time to eat the yummy spread of finger foods Rosie and Sabrina put together.

After dinner we reenacted the Nativity, something that we have done every Christmas for as long as I can remember. My Dad always narrates from the Bible while the kids act it out in robes, towels, and whatever other costumes we can come up with. I made sure that Ellie was given a noncritical role because I know what an unreliable actress she is (like Lindsey Lohan minus the drugs). We made her a sheep.

Ellie kept encroaching on the scenes that just involved Mary and Joseph, demanding rides on the donkey, but when it came time for the shepherds to appear, Ellie was out of costume and on to other things. See? Unreliable. At least we were able to count on Jack to pull off the swaddling clothes look.

After the Nativity, my Dad told his Pack for Santa's Back story. This is generally done on a felt board, but the kids seemed to enjoy it on the ottoman as well.

Finally, we had Jesus' birthday cake. My hands were full with the baby Jesus aka Jack (is that sacrilegious?) so I didn't get a picture but it is always white cake with a yellow star on top. We used to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus as well, but Mark nixed it this year.

The highlight of the evening was when the kids opened their present from my parents. My dad had painstakingly made them all Noah's Arks. He used the best wood and carefully carved and sanded each piece. It is a toy that will last forever and something that Ellie already loves playing with. I know how much time and love my dad spent on the Ark set and that just makes it all the more special.

I still have Christmas Day and Christmas Day After to write about, but Jack is now awake and demanding to be fed.

Oh so busy

It is 3am and I am awake with a tummyache. The fact that Jack is asleep and therefore I actually could be sleeping, but am not, is such a travesty. I don't mind lack of sleep due to Jack's hungry tummy, but when it is caused by my own issues, well, that just sucks. But, hey, I can finally update the ol blog!

My sister and her family drove down (across?) from North Carolina and arrived last Saturday. Just in time to take the kids to see Santa. There is this guy in Sabrina's neighborhood who goes all out on his lights (I'm talking crazy, Clark Griswald all out) and on Fridays and Saturdays has a Santa Claus in his yard listening to kids and handing out candy canes. Ellie was beyond excited about it, but also disappointed that he didn't have ponies for her to ride.

The following day, we dressed all the kids in their Christmas "Sunday Best" for church. They all looked so adorable. Especially Jack and Levi who were wearing the same sweater vest. Totally unplanned.

So far, we have been super busy this week. Monday, we went to the library. Tuesday we went to the outlet malls, and today (yesterday) Rosie, Dianna, and I took our girls to go see The Princess and the Frog. Tom stayed home with Jack. Ellie was riveted by the movie, but whenever asked about it afterwards, she would just say, "It was kinda scary." And it was. Then, the whole fam got together at the baseball fields to let the kids run and wear themselves out. After they all spent enough time to coat themselves in the only mud puddle in the entire ball field we headed back to Rosie's house for pizza and games. I just need to note for my journaling purposes that I won at the train game. No, I totally killed. I modestly said it was the luck of the cards, but really I am just skilled.

I am really looking forward to Christmas eve tomorrow (tonight?) where we all get together to act out the Nativity play, listen to my Dad tell his "Pack for Santa's Back" story, and eat Jesus's birthday cake. I love traditions. Merry Christmas!

Coach Tom

A gift from Tom's cross country team. An exact replica...right down to the clipboard and stopwatch (although in real life his head does not bobble). Is it not the most awesome thing ever?

2 month check up

I took Jack in to the doctor yesterday for his 2 month check up and vaccinations. Before going, I tried to prepare Ellie for what was going to occur. Jack is going to get some shots today, baby. He will cry, but it will be fine and the shots have important medicine in them.

Jack was the happiest baby for the whole two hours we were there (until the shots). The doctor commented on what an easy going baby he is. I was all, well, he was pretty fussy last week. She dismissed it as a probable growth spurt. Then, when asking milestone questions, she asked about smiling spontaneously and responsively. I told her he makes you work hard for smiles and doesn't coo much. While telling her this, Jack is on my lap smiling and cooing the whole time. Yeah, just like Ellie, always making me out to be a liar.

His 2 month (9 weeks) stats are as follows:

Weight - 15 lbs even

Height - 23 3/4 oz.

FOC - 41.5.

He was in the 75-100 percentile for everything. That's my big boy! Gained over 5 pounds and grew over 2 inches! He is in 3-6 month clothing and wearing size 2 diapers (totally kicking myself for buying the huge box of 1-2 Huggies).

After the doctor left, we waited over 30 minutes for the nurse to show up with the vaccinations. I used that time to snap some pics with my phone. Couldn't quite get smiles.

Then it was time for the dreaded shots. There were 5 of them and Ellie freaked out. She kept telling the nurse over and over, "Babies don't like sharp, pointy things!" When we got home, she ran up to Tom and told him, "They hurt Jack at the doctor's office!" I think it was more traumatic for her than for Jack.

So, I can't seem to get a real smile on camera, but here is a hint of one:

And some cooing: