What a fantastic long weekend.
I took a half-day on Wednesday to hit up the grocery store and go home to start the preparations for Thanksgiving. I was fully prepared to duke it out with anyone over the last potato, but the store was surprisingly quiet. In fact, I think I was in and out in less than a half-hour, which is unheard of. So, I came home and got started on the food. I read somewhere that it takes, on average, eighteen hours to cook a Thanksgiving dinner that is consumed, on average, in twelve and a half minutes. It obviously didn't take me that long, but I really enjoyed myself. I've been trying to commit myself to a laid-back holiday season. I always feel like I get incredibly stressed out every year with all that needs to be done - the decorating, cooking, parties, gifts to buy and wrap - and it seems to only be compounded by the holiday crowds.
Anyways, I went to pick Jack and Nora up from school after I'd finished my cooking for the day. Nora, my sweet little girl, was so happy to see me. Jack was dressed like an elf.
He had, apparently, been playing in the snow and gotten himself soaking wet. They came inside to change his clothes and he elected to put on the elf costume. Additionally, he also informed me that it was his birthday - and he wanted cake and a puppy. I tried to bargain with him and I offered him a fish, but he didn't take me up on that offer...
I don't think there's another kid in the world that loves playing in the snow as much as Jack does. He's always loved it, I think. I remember his teachers telling me last year how he'd run out on the playground and fall into the nearest snowbank. Anyways, we had a pretty quiet night, snuggling in bed, singing songs and playing on the iPad...
I woke up at 6:00 on Thanksgiving morning to put the turkey into the oven. Poor Nora started getting a really nasty cough and I started getting worried that it would turn into croup. Fortunately we weren't going anywhere, so we stayed inside all day and I tried to keep her as warm as I could. Jeff took charge of her since I was cooking and getting everything ready. Our friends, Lindsey, Brendan and their two girls, came over a little after 11:00 - we ate, the kids played in the basement together, and everything was cleaned up and put away by 4:00 that afternoon - my kind of holiday. Jeff went out to brave a few early Black Friday deals, but didn't really come back with much.
On Friday, I went out to the grocery store and spent the rest of the day cleaning and putting up the Christmas decorations. I made some soup and Nana and Boppa came up to help Jack decorate the Christmas tree. I have to tell you, Christmas this year is going to be amazing. I put Jack down for his nap on Friday afternoon - about a half-hour after he'd gone upstairs, I heard him get up. I hollered up the stairs for him to get back into bed, but he came down into the kitchen where I was finishing the soup. I told him to get his butt back to bed and he said to me, "But Mommy, I just wanted to see Christmas." And then I totally melted. He was pretty excited when Nana and Boppa came over to put up the tree - I have a few cute pictures of Jack and Boppa putting the ornaments on the tree, but they're on my camera so I'll have to post them later. Jack loves the Christmas tree. Last night, he kept taking my hand and asking me to come and look at the tree with him. He likes to look at all the ornaments, ask me about them, and then I tell them the story of each one. My ornaments are pretty much all hand-me-downs, and my mom was telling me about the ones my grandma had made and such. It's pretty special for me to hear the stories my mom told me and then be able to pass them down to my son. I also put up the nativity scene my grandpa made me when I was a little girl and I was telling Jack how precious it was to me too - when my parents came in, he ran over to get them to show them the creche and tell them that it was very important to Mommy.
And then, Jack turned three on Saturday. He woke up that morning and threw his arms around me and said, "I love you, Mommy!" Um, could there be a better way to start your day? And then he asked for cake. Anyways, we hadn't told him what we were going to do for his birthday - he only knew that he was going to get cake. So, I told him that we were going to go on an adventure, stay in a hotel, and go see Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Mickey and Minnie, Doc McStuffins, and Sofia - all his buddies. He was so jazzed. We got up and went to see Daddy and Jack opened one of his presents - it was a Micky and Minnie "Chutes and Ladders" type game - we tried to play a round, but Jack was more interested in having everyone party on the game board. Anyways, the birthday boy requested pancakes for breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning getting packed up and we hit the road just before lunchtime. I got a few pictures of the birthday boy and got his birthday interview done as well...
We got down to Rochester right around nap time - Jeff played with Nora and watched the Gopher game while Jack and I hit the hay for a little snooze...
And then it was time to go to the show. Jack was absolutely mesmerized by it. I've never seen him sit that still for that long. It was awesome - I don't think that I watched all that much of the show because I just loved watching him.
He really had a ball. It is so cool to watch the world through your child's eyes. I was telling Jeff that I couldn't wait to take him to Disney World because I'm sure he'll absolutely lose his mind. Nora was great throughout the show too - I thought, at first, I'd have to leave because I think she was a little put off by the loud noises, but she got used to it and then passed out.
So we went back to the hotel room after the show so she could eat and we could talk to Uncle Chris and Aunt Kate. Jeff and I tried to find a decent restaurant for dinner, but everything was either booked or not up to Jack's tastes, so we ended up eating dinner at Denny's. Jack was fine with this because again, he had pancakes. However, they did NOT have cake - we got him a brownie and ice cream, but he totally turned up his nose at this. I think he was angling for his pirate birthday cake.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. Nora ended up having a pretty rough night which meant that I did too. Her cough got worse and there were times during the night that she'd have a really tough coughing spell and then I thought she stopped breathing. I ended up being up with her most of the night. I was sitting in the bathroom with her at 3:00 in the morning, shower running on high heat to try and steam her lungs a little bit.
We got up early on Sunday and headed home. I unpacked, started the laundry and then threw both kids in the car and went to urgent care. Turns out, both kids have ear infections, Jack and I have sinus infections, and I've got bronchitis. It was a family affair at the urgent care yesterday - antibiotics all around!
Nora is the worst of us all, unfortunately. She was so upset all day yesterday. She had a low grade fever, her ears hurt, her nose wouldn't stop running, and I think she's getting teeth. She only wanted to be held and cuddled. If I put her down for a minute, she'd scream her head off until I picked her up again. I had imagined a pretty tough night, but I broke down and gave her some Tylenol - and then she sacked out and had the best night of sleep of her life. Literally. Thank goodness because I really needed the rest too.
And now, she's four months old:
She is the sweetest, happiest and cuddliest little lady that I know. She's gotten the hang of rolling over now and drools all over everything. She loves silly little songs, belly kisses, Super Baby, and her big brother. She smiles at everything. I can't tell you how sweet and happy she is. My little Bell.
I think that I'm going to take Friday off this week and take the kids to see Santa. We've also got Jack's big birthday party on Saturday and I need to spend some time getting ready for that. And then there's the shopping, wrapping, cooking, card sending....
Anyways, I went to pick Jack and Nora up from school after I'd finished my cooking for the day. Nora, my sweet little girl, was so happy to see me. Jack was dressed like an elf.
He had, apparently, been playing in the snow and gotten himself soaking wet. They came inside to change his clothes and he elected to put on the elf costume. Additionally, he also informed me that it was his birthday - and he wanted cake and a puppy. I tried to bargain with him and I offered him a fish, but he didn't take me up on that offer...
I don't think there's another kid in the world that loves playing in the snow as much as Jack does. He's always loved it, I think. I remember his teachers telling me last year how he'd run out on the playground and fall into the nearest snowbank. Anyways, we had a pretty quiet night, snuggling in bed, singing songs and playing on the iPad...
I woke up at 6:00 on Thanksgiving morning to put the turkey into the oven. Poor Nora started getting a really nasty cough and I started getting worried that it would turn into croup. Fortunately we weren't going anywhere, so we stayed inside all day and I tried to keep her as warm as I could. Jeff took charge of her since I was cooking and getting everything ready. Our friends, Lindsey, Brendan and their two girls, came over a little after 11:00 - we ate, the kids played in the basement together, and everything was cleaned up and put away by 4:00 that afternoon - my kind of holiday. Jeff went out to brave a few early Black Friday deals, but didn't really come back with much.
On Friday, I went out to the grocery store and spent the rest of the day cleaning and putting up the Christmas decorations. I made some soup and Nana and Boppa came up to help Jack decorate the Christmas tree. I have to tell you, Christmas this year is going to be amazing. I put Jack down for his nap on Friday afternoon - about a half-hour after he'd gone upstairs, I heard him get up. I hollered up the stairs for him to get back into bed, but he came down into the kitchen where I was finishing the soup. I told him to get his butt back to bed and he said to me, "But Mommy, I just wanted to see Christmas." And then I totally melted. He was pretty excited when Nana and Boppa came over to put up the tree - I have a few cute pictures of Jack and Boppa putting the ornaments on the tree, but they're on my camera so I'll have to post them later. Jack loves the Christmas tree. Last night, he kept taking my hand and asking me to come and look at the tree with him. He likes to look at all the ornaments, ask me about them, and then I tell them the story of each one. My ornaments are pretty much all hand-me-downs, and my mom was telling me about the ones my grandma had made and such. It's pretty special for me to hear the stories my mom told me and then be able to pass them down to my son. I also put up the nativity scene my grandpa made me when I was a little girl and I was telling Jack how precious it was to me too - when my parents came in, he ran over to get them to show them the creche and tell them that it was very important to Mommy.
And then, Jack turned three on Saturday. He woke up that morning and threw his arms around me and said, "I love you, Mommy!" Um, could there be a better way to start your day? And then he asked for cake. Anyways, we hadn't told him what we were going to do for his birthday - he only knew that he was going to get cake. So, I told him that we were going to go on an adventure, stay in a hotel, and go see Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Mickey and Minnie, Doc McStuffins, and Sofia - all his buddies. He was so jazzed. We got up and went to see Daddy and Jack opened one of his presents - it was a Micky and Minnie "Chutes and Ladders" type game - we tried to play a round, but Jack was more interested in having everyone party on the game board. Anyways, the birthday boy requested pancakes for breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning getting packed up and we hit the road just before lunchtime. I got a few pictures of the birthday boy and got his birthday interview done as well...
We got down to Rochester right around nap time - Jeff played with Nora and watched the Gopher game while Jack and I hit the hay for a little snooze...
And then it was time to go to the show. Jack was absolutely mesmerized by it. I've never seen him sit that still for that long. It was awesome - I don't think that I watched all that much of the show because I just loved watching him.
He really had a ball. It is so cool to watch the world through your child's eyes. I was telling Jeff that I couldn't wait to take him to Disney World because I'm sure he'll absolutely lose his mind. Nora was great throughout the show too - I thought, at first, I'd have to leave because I think she was a little put off by the loud noises, but she got used to it and then passed out.
So we went back to the hotel room after the show so she could eat and we could talk to Uncle Chris and Aunt Kate. Jeff and I tried to find a decent restaurant for dinner, but everything was either booked or not up to Jack's tastes, so we ended up eating dinner at Denny's. Jack was fine with this because again, he had pancakes. However, they did NOT have cake - we got him a brownie and ice cream, but he totally turned up his nose at this. I think he was angling for his pirate birthday cake.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. Nora ended up having a pretty rough night which meant that I did too. Her cough got worse and there were times during the night that she'd have a really tough coughing spell and then I thought she stopped breathing. I ended up being up with her most of the night. I was sitting in the bathroom with her at 3:00 in the morning, shower running on high heat to try and steam her lungs a little bit.
We got up early on Sunday and headed home. I unpacked, started the laundry and then threw both kids in the car and went to urgent care. Turns out, both kids have ear infections, Jack and I have sinus infections, and I've got bronchitis. It was a family affair at the urgent care yesterday - antibiotics all around!
Nora is the worst of us all, unfortunately. She was so upset all day yesterday. She had a low grade fever, her ears hurt, her nose wouldn't stop running, and I think she's getting teeth. She only wanted to be held and cuddled. If I put her down for a minute, she'd scream her head off until I picked her up again. I had imagined a pretty tough night, but I broke down and gave her some Tylenol - and then she sacked out and had the best night of sleep of her life. Literally. Thank goodness because I really needed the rest too.
And now, she's four months old:
She is the sweetest, happiest and cuddliest little lady that I know. She's gotten the hang of rolling over now and drools all over everything. She loves silly little songs, belly kisses, Super Baby, and her big brother. She smiles at everything. I can't tell you how sweet and happy she is. My little Bell.
I think that I'm going to take Friday off this week and take the kids to see Santa. We've also got Jack's big birthday party on Saturday and I need to spend some time getting ready for that. And then there's the shopping, wrapping, cooking, card sending....
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