card-making,signing,stuffing
food-baking,planning,buying,mixing
party-preparing
gift-searching,buying,wrapping,hiding
house-cleaning,tidying,messing
**deep breath** – taking
I really do LOVE this time of year. And I make an effort to not be stressed or hurried, just to enjoy the beauty and busy-ness of it. But every once in a while I have moments of PANIC! Having one at the moment. But what do I decide to do…blog! hello?
…goes to his "happy place" any time I lay him down with his bottle. Half-open eyes, relaxed stance, etc. He holds his own bottle (he gets 3/day) and is only on formula now. I stopped nursing about a month ago.
…will eat anything I put on his highchair. He never turns away food…NEVER. That would explain his "stature". 🙂
…fell down the stairs yesterday, while I was video taping him climbing them. Talk about humiliating. I had to throw the video recorder down and try to catch him. I softened the blow, but he still let me have it. And now we have it memorialized on tape. So much for mother of the year…
…took his first bike ride on Saturday (before the temps dropped 30 degrees). He was all smiles…and believe it or not the helmet is too big for him. I don’t think that’s ever happened in this household.
CHRISTMAS!!
We have a wrapped Christmas book for each night (from Dec 1-25) that the kids open and then we read (a tradition I borrowed from Shelley). We usually read by the tree right before bed. But tonight we were eating "hello dollies" and having eggnog, so we read at the table. Jacob read our book tonight…I love Samuel’s face in the background.
I was feeding the baby this morning…applesauce (baby food).
Caleb asked if he could taste it. I obliged.
Several minutes later I asked if he would like another bite.
"No, mom, I only like human applesauce."
Driving in Dallas is crazy! I had to act like I was going to hit two cars today because they wouldn’t let me merge to exit. I know…it sounds bad, but you know what I mean…move in to their lane a little to make them think I’m comin’ over!
Then at a stoplight, I look to the car on my right and there’s a little old lady with her head back on the headrest and her eyes closed. It did NOT make me comfortable. 🙂
And right after that there is a teenager who almost hit me TWICE because he was swerving in to my lane (and we were not merging!). I thought, "what is going on?". Then I realize…he’s TEXTING on his phone while DRIVING. This dangerous activity should be BANNED!!
So…it’s a wonder I made it home at all.
I’m breathing a sigh of relief this morning. Last night was our big Christmas dinner for the women at church (Enrichment Night). I was assigned to decorate last week. And also asked to make 70 ornaments to give as gifts. They were based on the first "carol" and ornament in THIS book, The Forgotten Carols. I also spoke. So, since Saturday, Derek and I have been cutting wood, sanding wood, painting, staining, drawing, chalking, screwing and tieing these ornaments. LOTS of work. Yesterday I spent almost 5 hours setting up, getting ready. The evening was a big success and I felt really good about it.
But I have completely neglected my family, the laundry, the house, and the Christmas shopping…so I must get BUSY today.
Caleb was a very sweet angel in his program Monday night. Seeing lots of little ones sing Silent Night with sign language is just about the sweetest thing imaginable.
And I bought Samuel his very own Little People Nativity, which he loves.
IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH!!
This morning I’m wishing I could freeze time. Freeze Samuel just the way he is. Freeze the dynamic of our family. Freeze Christmastime. Life is so good for us. And happy. We’re all healthy. I would freeze having a baby this age, one month away from turning one…two naps a day, footed jammies, baby breath/Cheerio breath, bottles, open-mouthed kisses, toothless grins, sad cries, squeals of delight, peek-a-boo, blonde wisps of new hair on an otherwise bald head, tired eyes at night, cruising furniture, discovering, playing, inverted knuckles, crawling fast but not walking, babbling, ma-ma-ma, etc, etc, etc…
But then I wouldn’t get to see him be an angel and sing "Silent Night" at his preschool Christmas program (like I get to see Caleb do tonight), and I wouldn’t hear him tell me joke, after joke, after joke from the library book he picked up (like I hear Jacob do).
But this morning I’m feeling like I would…if I could…freeze him this way for forever.
This little tike is keeping me on my toes. I finally ordered a baby gate for the stairs, because he scares me to death on those things. And we’re going to lock up our cabinets this weekend. He opens them now and tries to throw my Pyrex dishes. When he’s awake (thankfully he takes 2 naps a day when we’re home) I’m on Samuel duty. He’s so fun…loves to swing, starting to play peek-a-boo, doing a subtle dance move and saying "cheese" with a big grin and squinty eyes.
We had a wonderful time ‘giving thanks’ last week in Austin with my Dad and Christy. And we paid a visit to the Robinson Farm…a favorite place for all of us. My boys are in heaven there…catching lizards, shooting their bb gun, fishing…it’s paradise for them. We were joined on Thursday and Friday by my brother Mark. It was so relaxing and fun. That is until the drive home when Derek took a wrong exit and Jacob threw up in the car (all over me). But other than that…it was perfect!
We came home and had Rudy’s bbq and s’mores on Papa C and Mimi’s chimenea.
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