Merry Christmas!

We had a good Christmas....kids got lots of goodies, too many I think. The house is still a big mess, toys everywhere. We opened our presents on Christmas Eve morning, had a short breakfast and then Derick flew out to go back to work. Jacob got a pair of Thomas slippers from Santa. He would wear those everywhere if I would let him. He sleeps in them. It is almost 80 degrees here but he bundles up in those slippers all day and night. He was upset there was no snow. Last year we actually got a white Christmas here in Houston, quite a surprise. He doesn't understand why it doesn't snow every Christmas, hard to explain weather and climate patterns to a 4 year old. The new camera is great, if I could just get both kids to look at it at the same time, or even just look at it period. This picture isn't great, but its about the only one I got that wasn't of their ears or scalps.

11 months

Adam is 11 months old today! I cannot believe in only 1 month he will be 1 year old....seems like only yesterday he was born. He is such a sweet and happy baby, always brings a smile to my face, at least in the day time! He can walk a little bit, stand from a sitting position, climb all the way to the top of the stairs and turn around and get back down. He babbles a good bit, can say mama and kee (for kitty). I have been teaching him signs since he was 4 months old and although he doesn't use them yet, he understands them. Some of his favorite things to do is play trains with his brother, chase the kitty, pet the doggy, sit in the grass outside. He is finally starting to get some hair and although I had hoped it would be red, it looks like he will have the same hair as Jacob. He is a Mama's boy through and through and I love that. I am sad thinking about how big he has become in such a short time, knowing he will be as big as his brother before long, but it is so much fun seeing him learn new things and become a little person. Happy 11 months baby!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

So today is for all intents and purposes our Christmas Eve. Derick has to go back to work on Christmas Day, flies out Christmas Eve afternoon so if he wants to see his kids bask in the glow of Santa we need to have Santa come tonight. Derick did get me a really nice digital camera a day early so we can figure it all out before prime picture taking opportunities tomorrow. Stay tuned to see how those turn out.

We had a few more things to pick up yesterday, total chaos. I have never encountered so many rude people all together in my life. So much for peace on Earth, good will towards men. What really gets me is how completely rude adults can be to little children. I walked into one store for barely 2 minutes holding Jacob's hand tight, never let him away from me. In that time, he was shoved, stepped on, and barked at by total strangers, dont' even get me started on the man who slammed the door in our faces and the other one who expected me to hold it open for him. I am typically pretty polite in that department, but when I am holding a 10 month old, a diaper bag, a purse, and the hand of a wiggly 4 year old, can't handle that so much. Now if the man were, say, struggling with packages or in a wheelchair I would have made more of an effort, but the able bodied, cologne reeking twenty five year old didn't need my help....so I get the 3 of us out the door (at the public library no less) the man isn't immediately behind me, but he runs right up after I get out and let the door shut to grumble about the rudeness of people.....I guess he is probably one of those who opposes Merry Christmas as well. AGH, on a related note, I have taught Jacob how to hold the doors open for people and he enjoys doing it, I think it would be nice, though, if the strangers he holds the door for would thank him.

Ho Ho Ho?

Last night was the annual Santa drive by on the fire truck in our neighborhood. I swear, Jacob has bionic hearing because he heard those sirens way off in the distant and knew instantly what it was. We got geared up in our warm clothes to go out and wait; it was cold out, not northern cold, but it was still pretty cold. I didnt' take into account all the new homes that have gone up behind us since last Christmas so we waited and waited...an hour passed, we were still waiting. Jacob is outside about to burst in anticipation and all he can talk about is how Santa is going to throw him a sucker just like last year. He can't sit still thinking about it, he is dreaming of that sucker, it's going to be blue and tasty and can he eat it as soon as he gets it? Never mind that we still have a bag full of Halloween candy in the pantry. Finally, after 2 hours here comes the fire truck...Jacob is excited, I was excited just seeing him excited, Santa drives by doesn't even wave at my kid who is jumping up and down like a maniac, doesn't throw any candy either BUT he made sure to throw a big pile about 4 houses up to a couple girls, so off scampers my sweet boy, after that sucker he is been all about since he first heard that blasted fire truck and guess what? No candy, the other kids had taken off with it all and I am left with a completely limp legged, screaming and crying little boy. I had to drag him into the house, screaming the whole way, so many tears, he could have awakened the dead with the fit he threw. I felt horrible for him, he is 4 years old and he was disappointed by "Santa". He cried for over an hour, finally when he was ready to talk he told me he wasn't upset about not getting the sucker, he knew he had suckers in the house, he was just upset because he didnt' think Santa liked him because he didnt throw him any candy, only the girls up the street. Damn you fake fireman Santa, if you are going to throw the damn candy, throw it to everyone!!!THis is the stuff bad Christmas memories are made of, my kid will probably be on a therapist couch twenty years from now with self esteem issues over this. So now I will probably have to haul my pitiful boy back up to that crowded mall so our good and faithful mall Santa can reassure him that he loves him and he is a good boy......note to self, next weekend before Christmas we are going out of town to avoid this whole fiasco. Bah Humbug!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Happy Birthday Zane!
One year ago today my friend, Erin, had a sweet baby boy. Zane was born 8 weeks premature with a heart condition called tetralogy of fallot. He spent some time in Boston where they repaired his heart, but in the process developed a blood clot in his leg and had to have that removed as well. We prayed and prayed for Zane to get better and recover from all he had been through and here is proof that prayers are answered. He is just an amazing little guy, he has touched so many hearts this year.

The First Steps

Adam took a couple steps yesterday. It was bittersweet for me.....he is most likely my last baby and I just want him to be a baby a little while longer. It seems like these past 10 months have flown by. Jacob's first year seemed to drag along and I couldn't wait for him to hit all his milestones. He was a preemie and I had high anxiety about all he could do or couldn't do. Now with Adam I just want it all to slow down and savor it all like I wish I had done with his brother. Adam, though, has been on the move for a while. He scooted at 4 months, started pulling up at 6 months, and has been cruising for a while now, I guess I am surprised he hasn't walked before now. Derick, of course, is gone until the 20th so he will probably miss the big steps when he starts doing it all the time. I guess I better go get the camera ready.

Little Prisoners

We went shopping last week. You know, trying to finish up all those last minute gifts. I thought I had been finished well before Halloween, but every year someone will remind me about someone else and off we go. I truly hate to shop here at the holiday season and this bothers me because I really do love to Christmas shop. If you saw the Hurricane Rita evacuations on tv then you saw what its like on the highways and roads near the malls. We thought we would take a nice family outing last night to a church near here that was having a drive thru Bethlehem, a great way to show Jacob the real meaning of Christmas. It was very nice, but we spent an hour and ten minutes in slow moving line to see Bethlehem for about two minutes. Seeing as how we were at church I was trying really hard not to get upset about it. Neither of the kids saw it, though, as they fell asleep half way through the traffic jam. Anyway, here are my beautiful children in the Christmas jammies that Jacob picked out. They looked much less prisoner like in the package. Jacob thinks they look like elves.

Laura

Our neice, Laura, died in September. She was born with a rare lung disease and lived to be 14 before it was determined that she needed a transplant to live. Obviously, she didn't get the transplant. She waited 6 months for one and ended up on life support for about a week after a cardiac episode. She was a sweet girl; I hate that she missed out on the things in life she was most looking forward to....a drivers license, the prom, having babies. This is my favorite picture of her...she is with my neice, Abigail. They were very close. When we got to Florida at Thanksgiving she asked us if we had brought Laura with us. She is only 2, too young to understand the concept of death. She even had Teresa buy a Christmas gift for Laura when she realized there were none under the tree. Teresa didn't have the heart to tell her no. It will be hard on all of them to gather at the tree to open presents without Laura, we all miss her.

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

Artist in Training

Jacob has a new fascination with art supplies, markers mostly. I have tried to get him to draw pictures for ages but he previously showed no interest. Now he is drawing on anything with anything he can get his hands on. Our kitchen table now has a colorful assortment of x's and o's that I can't quite get off. Jacob thinks they are beautiful and that he has "fixed" the table. Thank goodness it is an 11 year old cheap dining set, but still I think his dad is going to have a fit when he sees it. I took a nap with Adam the other day, you know trying to fix my sleep deficit, and this is what happened while we were sleeping. Note to self....both boys must nap when mama does.

All is well

Well, the kids are fine....forked out 60 bucks in copays to find out they have a slight cold, nothing a little tylenol and dimetapp won't cure. I am glad about this because I was sure Jacob had an ear infection from the blood curdling screams, but I am so mad I dished out all that dough for nothing. We hit the Barnes and Noble afterwards to make us all feel better.....smear those germs all over the innocent kiddies there.

What fun we are having here this morning! Jacob has been up since 3 screaming with his ear hurting, Adam just screams in sympathy, I think, but he is snotty so he could hurt as well. I haven't slept more than 4 hours at a stretch in almost a year. This is hard on someone who needs 10 hours of sleep to function normally. So....we are off to the dr. this morning. I think I said to my sister last week that my kids are never sick, never see the dr. except on well baby visits....yep, I was just asking for this.

One more thing before I forget....

I hope my sister doesn't see this because I have made fun of her for the exact same thing.....
As Derick was leaving this afternoon he picked up Adam and was talking to him. Adam babbles a bit now and then, but he's not much of a talker. Anyway, Derick says to him: I love you, I love you, I love you and I swear the kid said I love you back to him. He is 10 months old, is that possible? Maybe I just have smart kids?
Oh, and about the Santa picture. I cannot figure out for the life of me how to get my scanned photos to center. If anyone can explain it to me, please do.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We took the boys to see Santa Claus at the mall on Monday. I would really prefer to do it closer to Christmas, but here in Houston the line for Santa begins the weekend after Halloween and gets worse and worse until zero hour. When Jacob was 1 we waited in line for almost 3 hours to see him, it was horrible. I do love that we have seen the same Santa since Jacob was 8 months old. Once it was our turn, the computer broke for the pictures so the boys got to spend a good bit of time with Santa before the "elves" got things up and running again. Jacob was thrilled and was able to ask Santa to come a day early so he could spend Christmas with his dad, since Derick has to work Christmas Day and goes back into the plant on Christmas Eve. Here is this year's picture and Colette, notice that Adam has shoes on this time!!!

Its Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas......

We put up the Christmas tree last night. In comparison to the rest of the neighborhood, who have had their decorations up since the day after Halloween, we are behind. We still need to do the outside stuff. It is hard to get into the spirit of it when it is 80 degrees outside. We have our AC on for goodness sake. Jacob really got into the tree trimming this year. Last year he put on 2 ornaments, both Thomas don't ya know, but this time he did almost the whole thing. We have a very small tree that Derick never gets tired of reminding us that it cost him all of 15 bucks ten years ago, but it is on it's last legs. I think our Charlie Brown tree has seen it's last Christmas. Anyway, having such a small tree made it really easy for Jacob to do most of the work. Adam, on the other hand, wasn't impressed. He took the opportunity while his brother was occupied to scoot over to the train tracks and play with all those things Jacob rarely allows him to touch.

Our Thanksgiving

We had a good visit with Teresa and Abigail for Thanksgiving. Abigail will be 3 in March and she is a hoot. I forgot how funny they are at that age. She asked question after question about everything and she just talks ALL the time. She's like her mom in that regard. She loves babies and she had such a good time with Adam. Adam sprouted his fifth tooth while we were there and started pointing at things with a grunt, like he is showing us something. He also had his first Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, cranberry sauce, dressing, and sweet potatoes. I think baby food may soon become a distant memory for him, he isn't liking it as well after that. He turned 10 months old on Wednesday as well. Jacob played really well with Abigail, they had such a good time together. I have a couple pictures, but who knew it would be so hard to get a good picture of 3 kids together?

Happy Thanksgiving

We are heading out this morning to see my sister and nieces in Florida for Thanksgiving. Derick was able to have some more time off work so he will be going with us. We are leaving the animals, Ezra has kennel cough and, of course, that whole tail fiasco with Phoebe on her last trip keeps us from wanting to bring her. This is our first holiday without them, so sad, but when you have limited car space and two restless kids, it just works out better this way. I leave you with attempt number 2 at Christmas card photo, the 2 biggest reasons I am thankful this year.

Let's Go Mountaineers!

WVU plays Pitt Thanksgiving evening. The Mountaineers are now 6 - 1, or is it 7-1? Anyway, Adam can do his arms up in the air when you say "Lets Go Mountaineers" For those of you who didn't know, we are big WVU fans here. If you haven't watched them play this year, you should catch the Pitt game. They are having a good season.

Hi....just started this so everyone can see the boys as the grow and so maybe I can remember for posterity all the cute little things they do each day that drive me crazy.