Christmas Morning

Christmas morning, my alarm went off at its normal 5:45. Jack got in the shower first (I'd been up every three hours with fussy Miss E, so I wanted a few extra minutes of sleep). A few minutes after 6, I was getting into my dresser to pull out clothes when I thought I heard Carter outside my door. We have an open hallway upstairs, so the "hallway" is actually an open railing that overlooks the foyer on one side and the family room on the other. I turned my door knob the same time someone was turning it from the other side. I don't know how long Carter had been standing there, peering over the railing, but he started gushing "Mommy, Santa brought a lot of stuff. He brought me McQueen slippers, and you got a stroller, and I got some games ..."

So Jack and Carter played iPad in our bed while I showered, then we went downstairs while E was still sleeping. Carter was in awe. He didn't even seem all that disappointed that there was no four-wheeler under the tree. But there was a Little Tykes gas pump. So after all the other gifts were opened, and E was up, and we'd had breakfast, we took the gas pump to the garage so Carter could gas-up his new tractor from Papa Jack.

And do you know what he found?? In the garage was a blue four-wheeler (Power Wheels truck) for Carter and a Cozy Coupe for E. He literally dropped the gas pump and ran for the truck. It was great.

We then hosted my family for dinner.

We had an admittedly big Christmas this year. It's been a big year for us in so many ways. Some of the gift highlights (besides the Power Wheel and Cozy Coupe):

• Carter got Lincoln Logs, a John Deere tractor, Duplos and lots of board games - his new love.
• E got an American Girl doll.
• Jack got a DSLR camera. He's been wanting one for a few years but one of us has always talked him out of it.
• I got a new single jogger - a BOB. My old single was fine, but I don't think it was really built to log hundreds of miles a year. It's really worn out. I use my double jogger on weekends and over the summer, but I use the single during the school year, while Carter is at preschool. I also got a handlful of Vera Bradley pieces, and Jack got the first three years of my blog printed in book form.

This photo was taken immediately after he dropped the gas pump.

Dear Santa

We made it home before dinner on Christmas Eve, which was a great change. In past years, we've had dinner as a family at Nana and Papa Jack's house. But it feels like, no matter how early we start, we're rushing home to get our little ones in bed in time for Santa. So this year, we did lunch with family, and had the kids in bed at their normal 7:30.

Carter did write a letter to Santa before bed. He had a little help because he struggles with writing small enough to fit all the letters on the page, and thus, the letters end up not always in proper sequence.

Santa also learned some lessons about assembly last year. After taking three hours to assemble all the gifts for Carter, changes had to be made. So this year, many of the gifts were unpackaged in advance, and we actually assembled the Cozy Coupe and Power Wheel (which took one hour each) in the nights prior to Christmas Eve. Which meant on Christmas Eve night, we were finished in less than the 90 minutes it took to play the movie A Christmas Story - our traditional "playing Santa" movie. And that included the 30 minutes - after everything else was in place - that it took for Jack to assemble my new BOB.

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Jack's family, as usual. The kids enjoyed some time at Nana and Papa Jack's house. Actually, E wasn't feeling very well, and refused to nap. So she could have had a better time ...

Meredith was due on Christmas Day ... a day that came and went. Still no baby Braden.

10 Months

E is 10 months old today.

Mobility: Still not walking, but cruising up a storm - occasionally letting go of whatever she's holding, and standing on her own for a second or two.

Vocabulary: Using "da-da", "bra-wa-wa" (brother) and "dog", sometimes with meaning. Also has said "nana" but not in Nana's presence. Still no "mama".

Eating: Still nursing, and we continue to work through my supply issues. They are better, and I will post about that separately, but I'm still struggling.

Size: Average. 19 lb, 4 oz, which is 50th percentile. She's still wearing mostly 9M clothes. I could probably put her in 12M, but many of those are still too big - and that wardrobe is still a little sparse.



Health: She came down with a re-infection in her ears this weekend. We saw her ped this morning, and she started augmentin, which is the second antibiotic (out of the procession of five that kids go through before tubes). So, yay.

Carter's Special Stuffing

Carter's teacher made a class cookbook. She asked each of the students to tell her how to make a particular Christmas recipe. Then she typed each response and compiled them into a book. Each child's copy of the book also had a one-page write-up on the featured chef, listing their family members and future aspirations. Carter's page notes that he wants to be Captain America when he grows up. I was literally crying as I read through some of these recipes. Carter's is a little tame, but here goes.

Carter's Special Stuffing
2 cream cakes
2 carrots
2 corns

Put it in a pot. Put it on the stove. Cook for two minutes at two degrees. Then eat it!

Serves: Ellyson, Mommy, Daddy and Me.


Some of the other highlights?

• One girl's mashed potatoes should be mashed with your hands and then with your toes.
• The apple cider involves mashing hard with peanut butter, and drying for two minutes.
• The Christmas ham required lots of pink paper with sanitizer on it.
• The green bean casserole contains just one green bean, but two chicken nuggets, a fry and two cups of ketchup.
• Jello contains five socks.
• The pumpkin pie wears a hat to "make it pretty".

Papa Jack's Birthday

Guess who loaded a bunch of pictures from the memory card this week?? See the uptick in posting? Last weekend, we celebrated Jack's dad's 60th birthday at our house. Happy birthday, Papa Jack!

School Christmas Program

A little more timely ... Carter's preschool Christmas program was this week. It was pretty entertaining. The same group of family (both sets of grandparents, and Jack's brother and sister-in-law) attended both programs.

It is funny to see the transformation from two-year-old to three-year-old. Most of these kids were together last year as well, and as two-year-olds, they were quiet and stage-shy. This year, most of them tried to one-up each other on stage.

Carter's BFF/girlfriend is the one next to him in both pictures. She actually spent most of their second-half performance, picking her nose. Her parents were so proud.

Church Christmas Program

Before I get ahead of myself, I need to back up a bit and revisit Carter's Christmas program at church. I bet you didn't know there was a lion at the nativity, did you? Carter spent about half the time facing forward and singing, and the other half of his time was spent facing backwards, watching the other kids. Oh, and there was the time when they were all sitting down and Carter started picking at his toes.

Naps. Ugh.

Apparently, Ellyson hates naps. She goes to bed at night peacefully - not quite asleep, but not a peep, and she's asleep within moments. Nap time is a whole different ordeal. She always, without fail, screams when I put her down for a nap. She gets up and pulls the monitor camera off the corner of her crib (though never at nighttime). I have to go in and move the camera to a more obstructed view, sitting on the book shelf.

I've started to wonder if maybe she's getting too much nap time. (Morning and afternoon - two naps - that's normal for nine months old, right?) Carter switched to one nap a day when he was nine months old, but it was dictated by his daycare class, and I personally thought he wasn't ready. So I anticipated making the switch closer to a year this time. So today I didn't put her down for a morning nap (though she clearly still needs one - she falls asleep if she rides in the car at all after 9:30 a.m.) - lo and behold, when 1:45 p.m. rolled around and I put her down for an afternoon nap . . . she screamed, pulled down her camera, and screamed some more. Are you kidding me???? She finally, just now, fell asleep. 40 minutes after I first put her in bed.

Nursing versus Running

Last week, two things I'm passionate about came head-to-head: breastmilk and running. I recently decided to definitely schedule a half-marathon next spring, so I ramped up my training after Thanksgiving. I pushed my pace, added one run per week (bringing me up to five runs a week), and just generally started cracking the whip.

As a result, I found myself wearing restrictive sports bras for up to three hours a day, more days than not. I also was sweating a lot, and probably not drinking enough to compensate.

All together, those factors brought my milk supply to a near halt. I spent two days pumping every hour, another day pumping every two hours, and a final day pumping after Ellyson finished nursing. I also refrained from running. After all that . . . I think we're back on track. I didn't have to touch my frozen stockpile, but did deplete the week's surplus in the refrigerator. (And I was sweating that stockpile, too. I calculated I only have a 12-day supply if I had to go cold-turkey, because I've been shipping it all to the milk bank.) Thankfully we averted that crisis. And I did manage a run today - in a nursing bra, not a normal sports bra. Hopefully I can get back in the saddle without sacrificing the milk supply.

Word of the Week: Da-da

Yep, after the pediatrician encouraged me (last week) to start prodding E to use more consonants, we have a whole mess of sounds on our hands. Some of those sounds have been strung together already. It started with "bra-wa-wa" which we weren't entirely sure meant "brother" - and then she came back with "da-da". And when I get in her face with "ma-ma-ma" she laughs and says "da-da". So we now think she has nailed Daddy and Brother.

Christmas Hand-me-downs

2008

(Carter at six months)

2011

(E at nine months)

Breakfast with Santa

Last Saturday, we had breakfast with Santa. It was lots of fun. It was put on at a special events facility near us. This is the first year they've done it, and they're hoping to make it an annual event. Our reservation was first thing in the morning when they started, so it was really quiet while we were there. We waited behind one family for our Santa visit. They had a full breakfast buffet (complete with a hot chocolate bar). And when we left an hour later, there seemed to be a pretty good crowd. We're really hopeful they'll continue the event.

Both kids did great, though. E couldn't take her eyes off Santa. Carter was fully prepared to give Santa his wish list, and he did: A four-wheeler (blue, please) and chocolate milk. Umm, Santa, we'll get the chocolate milk if you get the four-wheeler. Thanks. ;-)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a two-part deal for this family. We spent Wednesday and Thursday with Jack's family, and Friday with mine.

Wednesday we spent time at the lake and ended the day with a four-hour game of Monopoly. (Jack's brother won.)

Thursday we went to Warner Robbins and joined about 75 other members of Jack's mom's family for Thanksgiving lunch.

Friday we hosted my family. For the first time ever, we had both my sisters, their husband and fiance, my stepbrother, my dad and stepmom together at once. We ate lasagna because we'd all had turkey already, and I made everyone fill out "I am thankful for" cards while we ate.

 Then Carter worked on his camera skills some more - specifically the art of self-portrait.

Nine-Month Checkup

E's nine-month checkup was yesterday. She's about average in size: 40th percentile for weight (18 lb, 8 oz) and 50th percentile for height (27-3/4"). She did have infections in both ears, though. Guess she's a Dillard after all. The funny thing is, she's had no symptoms. The doctor was even surprised to find the infections, since she was happy, laughing and very social throughout the checkup.

Wordless Wednesday