Christmas morning, 2011

Coming down the stairs on Christmas morning. Poor Luke woke up excited at 6 am....and Julia and Jake slept till past 8. Luke was a patient boy hanging out with us in our bed (I admit I was up with excitement, too, after a while I paced around downstairs, making coffee, lighting candles, and enjoying the calm sunny house before chaos broke out.

Julia opened her presents. Santa brought her what she asked for, a Dr. Suess book about butterflies, a watch, and a tinkerbell nightlight.

Santa also brought a group gift this year. Our playroom was transformed into an art room, since lately drawing and crafting is all the kids want to do. Thanks, Ikea! The gate also was taken off, which symbolizes a huge shift in our life/dynamic! No more babies!

Putting out cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the Reindeer. We then hunkered down in front of the fire and read "the Polar Express" before bed, and then whisked the kids off to sleep so Nate and I could cook up a romantic dinner. All of the gifts had been wrapped and the furniture put together (Thanks Prells and Frees!) at our annual wrapping get together with a couple of friends, so we didn't really have any work to do other than stuff the stockings and carry up the gifts.

Happy with hot chocolate to go before we set out on our Christmas Eve Christmas lights tour. We ooohed and aahhhed at all of the beautiful lights in the neighborhoods around us, listened to Christmas music, and laughed a lot.

7 Fish dinner 2011

Strapping in Jake for his second annual 7 fish. About 5 years ago we took this from an extended family event (with my Dad's brothers/wives/my cousins) and it just became our immediate family. We still do the extended family night event, but a week later and as a pig roast. The logistics of planning a sit down meal for way over 30 just became too much as all of the cousins married and started having kids. The pig roast was also a great time, and I loved seeing my kids playing with their cousins at my Uncle Bobby and Aunt Cindys house....just like I grew up doing.

The cousins, 6 kids 4 and under. Samantha, Alyssa, Jake, Luke, Tessa and Julia. What a crew!

I admit to being excessively fond of traditions. I really get emotional and excited about doing things with my kids which I grew up doing and loving as a child. This works out well ~ my kids get very few gifts on Christmas morning, but get a ton of experiences and special events with family and with us over the holidays. Everyone has to find their own balance with this, but for us, this works. Sharing this night with my kids and my parents and my siblings is incredibly emotional for me, it was very literally the favorite night of my childhood, year after year. It has changed, as has the food, but the tradition is still meaningful to me, and I hope that my children are continuing it long after I am gone.

Christmas Programs 2011

Julia in her 3 YO preschool class Christmas Program. Remember last year, when asshole Mom drug my sick kids out for a torturous morning of programs? Luckily this year we were all healthy, and things went off without a hitch.

Mom Mom and Nate and I all went to watch.

Luke delivered a method acting performance as "lead Shepherd". The best part was the dance with little Abagail, but since blogger and I aren't getting along when it comes to video, you will just have to visualize Luke dancing with beautiful little girl about a head shorter than him.

My poor little neglected blog! I need to dust you off and get caught up.

Long story short, we had a lovely Christmas this year. It was one of the more relaxing that I remember, thanks to Amazon Prime, a well spread out assortment of family events/get togethers, and the kids being incredibly easy and generally well behaved.

Since blogger wants to lump all my photos together I'm just going to start a new post to fill in on other events, as that drives me crazy.

Sparkly fun.

Little Santa boy samples the appetizers while gracing the craft table with his presence.

A sullen Jules refusing to let me take photos of her glitter encrusted hands at the Nova party.

Dinner.

Attempt and fail at a Santa photo. Really miss my camera. Need Santa to send me one. iPhone no good at making humans look like humans, instead of demons, when flash is required.

Great weekend. Too much fun. Many wardrobe malfunctions, but we had a great time at every event. Daddies are so wonderful, but don't really know much about kids and glitter. My kids sweet Dad took off the lids of the glitter for them.............and soon learned that that was not a wise decision. I'm still sparkling.

An apology to the universe.

Story hour at the kids soon to be school. I discovered that the WCASD has a preschool link for Mom's of kids heading to our local public school. I signed us up for a story hour at Fern Hill Elementary, which is where Luke will (*Gasp, Sob*) go next year. I know that you can't see it in this picture, but my dynamic duo was holding hands when I took this. It was so much fun to be out on a random Thursday night while smalls slept and Nate studied at home.

The early part of the evening. We mixed up the dough and let it chill while we all took a shower and then I put an exhausted Jake to bed at 6:30. I admit to having lots of "WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING" thoughts during this portion of the evening.

It got better, way better, this is my post shower pajamed kids rolling out the cookies. Jake was blissfully asleep, christmas music was playing courtesy of Pandora, and things were looking up.

They were a seriously huge help. They rolled the cookie balls, placed the mint M&M's, and sprinkled the sprinkles. We banged out 120 cookies in an hour or so. It was awesome, and fun, and we had great conversation.

The finished product.

I am stressed, and half of it is unfounded. I admit to being the queen of undue stress. Not proud. I just like to overthink and overplan things to the point of personal stomach aches.

Today was one of those days (again). Wake up, kiss Nate goodbye after barely saying hello as he has been away or studying all week (an end IS in sight, really really in sight!), pack the bigs lunch, make coffee, empty the dishwasher, make breakfast, clean breakfast, nurse the baby, do laundry, chug coffee, get em all dressed, get to school, get to the mall, meet Jeannie and Henry, shop for something relatively suitable for the three parties that this weekend entails, pick up things at Moms house, pick up the kids at 12:30, get the kids to nap, do laundry, talk to Bec and kiss sweet Tessa as she stayed at the house during nap time, run to nail place for a mani/pedi/wax, race home, do laundry, get to gym, make dough, feed kids dinner, shower kids, nurse Jake and put him to bed, make 120 cookies, bag them, and straighten up and fold 4 loads of laundry that Nate dropped off in his few hours at home this week. Cakewalk, yes? Everything happened except the gym.

We have three parties in the next.........48 hours or so. Two involve the kids (who are supposed to look relatively holiday fancyish, and all three involve me being some sort of presentable). One is downright fancy. I need one of those Superman phonebooths. I don't have one of those booths, damn it. I had grandiose plans. I thought that perhaps I would watch what I ate for a few days so as to be holiday fancy dress trim looking. I considered getting a spray tan. I even admit to putting some self tanner stuff on my face. I DID get a manicure and pedicure today, big treat.....but I ate 3000 cookies and everything else in my stressed out sight this week, am decidedly NOT holiday trim, and my awesome manicure is great.....but my fingers are stained red from the sprinkles that I put on the cookies all night. Oh, and I'm sporting like eleventy awesome zits courtesy of the self tanner I applied to my vain face. Super hot. I pretty much stink at this whole "trying to primp" thing.

So that is cool. I'm going to look decidedly holiday harried for the slew of parties ahead of us. It is actually a great thing for me, my kids keep me in check from being as crazy as this area can encourage one to be when it comes to personal vanity and whatnot. So, I'm decidedly not at my best, and I have to get three kids all dressed up tomorrow, wake them up early from naps, and get to a party (solo, with kids, to meet Nate there) looking relatively put togetherish. I also have to have all of their pajamas laid out and ready here at home, so that when we drop them off and quick change and race off we can hand them off to poor Brooke without too much hardship on her part. Do I sound like I'm complaining? I'm so not complaining, this is just me trying to work through my to do list.

Anyway. The point of this post is to rave about my kids. I had the super angst about today, for nought. The kids made tonight awesome. They are SO.MUCH.FUN at this age, once I get poor Jake to bed. I'm struggling with feeling like I don't get enough big kid time alone with the bigs.....so am trying to incorporate more evening activities, and work the two shows that they are allowed to watch on TV into the day or the post nap afternoon so that I can enjoy my post jake time with them doing more grown up things. That was a wordy sentence, but what I mean is that I miss Luke and Julia. I miss them because I get very little alone time with them, and juggling three is doable, but oftentimes I find myself negotiating to the least common denominator (Jake). Jake is super powerful, and he knows it. I am the queen of not negotiating with the little terrorists that preschoolers are......but then Jake figured me out. He has learned to SCREAM. He has learned to scream not just when he has been wronged (which is rarely) but when he wants something. And I have on occasion committed the cardinal sin of negotiation, I have actually said "JUST GIVE IT TO HIM!!!!!!". This is deeply, deeply wrong, unfair to the bigs, and simply does not jive with my parenting. So, I'm learning and changing course. Less will get done around the house, when all three are awake. I will learn to live with that.

I need to adapt. This is my goal.

It's Christmas!

Jake is a big help. A huge help! Seriously. Afer he annoyed everyone eleventy times and tried hard to break 73 things, I brought him into the kitchen to sit at the island and help me cook (aka eat grapes). We had a celabratory dinner with Uncle Brian that included homemade meatballs, sausage and gravy, a caesar salad, garlic bread and some peppermint ice cream.

Them, in action, as I ducked in while cooking. A few years back I would have been sad about just looking in while I cooked.....honestly? A sign that I am a Mom of three busy kids? This year it was a relief! I can control food way better than I can control three kids with precious and delicate ornaments.

The house!

Jake gets his newsboy breakfast look on while he reads the paper and entertains us all.

Luke and I get to build a gingerbread house ~ in lieu of a Christmas program his enrichment program (i.e his one afternoon of preschool/week) did this. A total blast. Love my sweet boy, and a date with just him was fantastic. This is one of the weirdest grimace faces I have ever seen Luke make, and it makes me laugh.

CRAZY! Not shopping, just doing! Nate is studying round the clock as he is about to finish his first term (of 5! 20% done already, and rocking!), we are seemingly doing events of some sort most every day, and time is just clicking by way way too quickly!

The kids had an awesome sleepover last night at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's, with their cousin Samantha (who will be three next week). I dropped them off at 4, they had a great Mom Mom made dinner, built a fire, snuggled down and (eventually) went to sleep. This morning they had pancakes, made gorgeous ornaments, and went on a 90 minute Santa train ride complete with carols and the like. They were dropped off by Pop Pop around 12:30, ate lunch, and promptly fell asleep (Luke, my almost 5 year old, slept until 5, despite Jake trying to rouse him at 4:15. Jules slept until Jake woke her at that point).

Nate and I, chilling with just Jake, felt like teenagers. I mean no disrespect at all to people with one child, but DAMN having just one child (when one is accustomed to having three) is super easy vacationish wonderful! Children are hard period, however, so I would like to reiterate that in my glee over having just one child I am not trying to diminish the reality or difficulty of having a child, period. Mkay (but it was a party for us).

We went and got a tree. Took 4 minutes. Honestly, took 4 minutes. Another bonus of having three kids? Dumb crap like picking the perfect tree just falls by the wayside. Love the tree. Perfect, because it was easy. Jake dove into his bed by 6:40, and we had a great night of homemade pizza, a fire, and a movie. One of the huge upsides to school is that when I get undivided time with my husband, I revel in it in entirely new ways ~ I felt so incredibly lucky! This morning was a treat, Jake woke a little early, around 7:15, and nursed and slept in bed till after 8. We quickly shoved our coffee down our throats and got in the car to go to Ikea, with (our) boyfriend Jake. We bought a couple of things to transform our playroom into an artroom, as this is what is happening this Christmas. Got home and got the lights on the tree and marveled at Jake and his gums, which are so swollen that he is actually gagging and choking on his own saliva, which is super hot. Thankfully he remains his cheerful self, despite his new oral anomoly. The kids got home, happy and giddy (fueled by tootsie rolls, courtesy of Pop Pop) and ate the extra pizza that I made last night. When they passed out, we (with Brian's help ~ so grateful!) put the lights up outside of the house and got the lights on the tree.

The kids had a great time decorating the tree while I cooked, we had a wonderful dinner, and now the adults are settling in to watch a movie and enjoy the lovely lights and fire. This is our weekend of relative calm before the storm of next week/end. I bought my first gift on line yesterday ~ and would like to officially make clear that I think that the whole consumer insanity of Christmas is plain old nutty. Stupid. Why on EARTH would we buy our kids 3000 things? They don't need them, and most *things* are junk. Our kids have what they need, they don't watch TV to know what they *want*, and they are very happy. They need love. That is what they need. They need memories. They need traditions. These things, we are happy to lavish on them. I admit to getting way more anti gift and pro experience as I go....and I started off pretty much anti gift.

Anyway, soapbox aside, I'm awed that Christmas is just 15 days away! I feel like I'm too busy to feel pressure, too busy to worry about anything, and am just enjoying every moment that I steal with my husband and our kids. We are so lucky to live in a home that we love, to love one another, to be warm, to be fed, to be able to help others where and when we can. I find myself especially emotional this year when I consider all of the families out there who are just seeking warmth and food.....and admit that I am more turned off than normal to TV, the newspapers, and all of the other advertising that we are being sold as normal or festive.

Anyway. Happy early December, to all.

10.30

We had the kids out till 10.30 last night for the first time in their entire lives, and it was well worth it.  I have never felt more proud of my kids than I did last night ~ seeing them interact with their extended family was simply a treat.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude for how adaptable and joyful and just.......easy.........the two of them are.  Nights like those make the three million illnesses and early mornings and diapers and everything else just worth it a million times over. Seeing them give and receive so much love to and from their family members just brought me insane amounts of joy.

We are in the midst of a blizzard. We woke up this morning to an inch or two already on the ground, and have just gotten pounded with snow all day long. We have well over a foot of snow on the ground and it's still coming down hard. A snow day sounds relaxing, no? Instead, it turned into a do house projects, cook and clean day.  We took the kids out sledding, but MAN was it cold. The wind was whipping snow into their little faces so after about 30 minutes we threw in the towel and tumbled inside in a wet snowy mess for some hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup.  Hot chocolate is far and away the best part of sledding with a 2 and 1 year old. 

Hopefully everyone is bundled into their home safe and cozy on this snowy night.  The fireplace is roaring, the snow falling, all of the Christmas lights are on, and our two healthy and happy kids are tucked into bed. I also have eaten my body weight in homemade Christmas cookies thanks to my friend Melissa today. Somewhere between a sugar high and total physical exhaustion, I feel joy. 

So when Santa (or Christmas)

Makes you feel a bit like this:



Do some yoga instead of having a meltdown! Nate and I were looking at the Santa pic last night and laughing ~ somehow even Julia's EARS look angry in this picture.  This picture just SCREAMS righteous indignation. Much to my eternal shame (okay, not really, I'm already over it) I did the toss-n-snap ~ Julia tossed onto Santa's lap while I snapped a picture. Poor Luke was so excited to meet Santa but you can see the conflict on his face ~ It's as though with his sister so beside herself he felt disloyal in smiling or enjoying the moment.

We came home and had a yoga party that afternoon. Big thanks to Jeannie for the book that she gave us for Christmas two years ago about doing yoga with kids ~ the kids love it and its a fun way to kill 30 minutes on a cold winters day. By the time we are done we are always all laughing and refreshed.

Julia doing tree with some support from the armoire. 

Luke prefers to freestyle his tree. He cracks up every time he does it.

Downward dog with a twist.

What practice is complete without some inversions?

Luke teaches Jules airplane.

Nate does not know it yet, but part of my secret plan to dominate the world includes becoming a yoga teacher after I am finished birthing my last baby. Where better to start than at home? I have a devoted following already :)

Decking the Halls

We decorated the Christmas tree last weekend after our breakfast with Santa. An unexpected and totally beautiful first snow of the season kept us company all day long as we listened to Christmas music, lit the fireplace, hung the stockings, and generally made the house as festive as possible.

"Decorating" is a loose term for terribly controlled chaos. Luke calls the ornaments "toys". His method of decorating involves putting ornament after ornament on the same branch. At some point, that poor branch gives up the ghost, tumbling all of Luke's meticulously placed toys onto the floor. Luke cries, then repeats. 

Jules likes to rip the hook off of the ornament, laugh like a little lunatic, and throw it at the tree.

*sigh*. 

It was fun? No, really, it WAS fun! (?). Have I mentioned that Motherhood will wrest every single last iota of perfectionism from your body, even when you relinquish the last vestiges of it kicking and screaming?  My tree is slightly ugly with its very asymmetrically and unscientifically applied ornaments, but truly a creation of my entire family. I have had more perfect trees, but none laden with more love. 

I tried to take a nap today and just found my mind racing. All that we have to do, places we have to go, gifts yet to buy and wrap and meals to make and guests to entertain....... and all that I feel I am doing less than even close to perfectly just kept racing through my brain. I need daily yoga and or meditation right now to remind myself that we are choosing to keep things simple, that perfection is boring, and that we are finding our way and formulating our rituals and traditions as a young, and imperfect family. I'm trying to walk the delicate balance beam between some of the thoughts I inherited from my childhood (make and do the perfect everything) and some of the ideas that resonate with my soul (it's better to stay calm, get some rest and try to enjoy the season than worry about everything being perfect ~ sometimes less IS more). I am learning to figure out what is important to our family (the fourpointfive of us) and how we can incorporate what is important to our extended families (both of them) as we grow and change. I'm three years into this Motherhood gig and still find myself falling ungracefully off of that damn beam as I bridge that gaping chasm between being a child of my family and being a mother to my family. I don't know if this is a transition that happens gracefully for others, but at times my attempt to work it all out is anything but graceful. Nothing like the holidays to remind you of that. 

Luke has a new habit. He comes running to our room and climbs in bed with us a lot of mornings for his last hour of sleep. He snuggles up right in between us, but not before hugging each of us and giving us a big smacker of a kiss. He then usually settles in, takes his thumb in his mouth, and treats us to a warm snuggly hour of sleep. Lately he has added a new component to this routine. He looks over at Nate and declares "I love you Nate", then turns to me and says "I love you Melissa ~ and I love Julia too" ~ Then laughs, throws his arms out to both sides and says "I love my whoooooole family".

THAT could be my only Christmas gift this year and I would be a lucky woman, indeed. 

DC

We had a great time walking around downtown, taking the kids to the monuments, and taking in a Nova/MD game at the Verizon center. Luke kept screaming "YAY, BASKETBALL!!!" during the game, and turned to me, astonished, saying "MAMA, SOMETIMES THEY MISS, JUST LIKE ME!" We got to see Obama's motorcade as he whizzed from Capitol hill back to the White House after lobbying for the passage of the health care bill in the Senate. Whatever happens with all of this health care stuff, kiddos, you caught a slight glimpse of American history in action.

On Monday, Nate worked and I was lucky enough to have lunch with Tamara (due in April) and then spend a leisurely afternoon with Christine (due in Feb) while Ronan and my kids slept the afternoon away. We went out to dinner that night ~ Odj was working so it was Nate, Christine, myself, Luke, Ronan, Julia, and two babies in utero. It was SO Big Love. 5 kids under 3, counting those not yet born but very visibly on the way. I think that Nate rather liked the attention and being the head of our pseudo Mormon family for the evening. ;)

I managed to NOT invade the Pentagon (though I came too close for my liking when trying to find Pentagon City Mall ~ I had visions of how I was going to tearfully have to explain to armed soldiers that I was not a terrorist, just a frazzled PA pregnant Mom dealing with the very confusing DC roads while two kids sang the ABC's at the top of their lungs and every time my GPS told me to make a left Luke started screaming "NO MAMA! A RIGHT! MAKE A RIGHT! I WANT TO GO RIGHT MAMA!").

In new baby news I had a great midwife appointment today ~ 16 weeks now and feeling fabulous. Baby didn't even try to hide from us this time and we got to hear its little heartbeat kicking along at 140 bpm. As I lay in Luke's bed reading to them before naps this afternoon, Trey was kicking me and I had Luke on one side with his legs tangled around me and Julia laying on my arm tapping my belly with her foot. We were like an octopus ~ 8 legs flailing around in one bed. It was awesome. I will never, ever, get enough of baby kicks. I honestly feel so lucky to be a woman and do feel a bit badly for men that they will never get to feel the beginnings of life inside of them. Magical is an understatement.

I feel caught up from our trip ~ after 6 loads of laundry, 140 Christmas cards out the door, and getting the house back together it has simply been a long week. Nate is off on his last trip before Christmas and both kids are tucked safely into bed. Me, my ice cream, and Carrie Bradshaw are tucked into bed as well.

Parading.

This is Julia grasping her weapon of choice should the big guy have approached her at our Breakfast with Santa. To say that the child is not a fan of Santa is the understatement of the year. Had she been able to kill him with the mere ferocity of her glare, she would have. Needless to say, I have a hard time believing that we will have a two child Santa photo op this year. I have tried to talk her into thinking that Santa is cool. Luke and I tag team peer pressure her, lauding the kindness and sheer awesomeness of he-that-is-Santa. She simply says resolutely, "NO" when mention of Santa's lap comes up. When asked why she states, flatly, "I don't like him". Knowing the intensity of her feelings it is hard for me to justify doing the toss and snap photo option. I would feel as though I was feeding her to the wolves. Who knew that Santa could be such an issue to a 20 month old?

Luke and Santa. Luke insisted on showing Santa his pirate shirt, getting nearly naked in the process. Santa made the appropriate sounds of appreciation. When asked what he wanted for Christmas Luke replied, "A Banana!". Could my kid be any easier?

The dynamic duo at the Christmas Parade. We took them to their first art show before the parade with Laura and Chris, then watched the fantastic VERRRRY long 30th Annual West Chester Christmas Parade. All of the town was decorated, and it was a cold crisp night, perfect for parading around town. The kids LOVED it. Luke waved at every single person (and pointed it out to me when they "did not wave back at me, Mama?!". Two classic Luke moments~ Every time a marching band came by he started marching in place in his little fleece pajamas.....and when the Bolivian dancers came and put on quite a show he looked up at me with his eyes alight saying "Mama! Those boys have moves ~ JUST LIKE ME!!!!".

Candy canes were thrown into the crowd. The kids enjoyed them immensely. Until they were dropped, sticky and sweet, into the street, and Mean Mama had to take them away. Then it was a TRAGEDY. Stupid candy canes.

Publish Post

My third "pregnant lady at the Christmas parade" photo.

I have so much to catch up on ~ we were down in DC this weekend and I feel as though I am now totally off track with Christmas preparations. Gah. I guess I should stop sitting here decimating this herd of Animal Crackers and get to work.