MERRY CHRISTMAS - CHOOSE JOY!

December Daily Album: Day Twenty-Five (aka Merry Cot-tree)

Merry Christmas!!!!

I hope your day was Merry & Bright.
We're enjoying the grandparents and the cousins and the awesomeness.
And I'm trying to achieve holiday bokeh . . . thanks, babe!

(Isn't my niece a sweet face???)

Rrrawr!!!

First Annual Cookie Exchange

So, I've always wanted to do a cookie exchange. About 4 years ago the Relief Society in my ward tried to do one, but it didn't go very well and I ended up just taking my own cookies back home. Weird, huh? The beginning of this month was nuts for us with The Boy's birthday and my parents in town, so I didn't have it as early as I would have liked, so some of the people I wanted to come have already left town for Christmas, but we carried on.


I ended up with 2 sister in laws, my mother in law, my cousin and two friends attending and swapping cookies. Will's Grandma, his youngest sister, and his sister's friend also came and enjoyed the storytelling and tasting portion.

We had a great variety of cookies. I made egg nog creams - they are SUPER tasty and probably in my top 5 favorite Christmas treats. We also had Peanut Butter Blossoms, Gingerbread Men, Sugar Cracks, Heath Bar Chocolate Chip cookies, Pinwheel cookies, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies.

First we munched on hummus, bean dip, rolls and jam. Tasty! Then we went around and shared how we chose our cookie and one of our favorite holiday traditions. Then, the swapping began. we decided to take 10 from each person and that would leave you with some of your own to keep. Then we tasted a little bit (well, some of us started out eating the whole cookie and then figured out that wasn't the best choice when you had 6 cookies to tast) and voted for our favorite.

We took a group picture, but started out a little wacky. One of the girls said, "Tell me if my gut is hanging out" and right at that moment my cousin put a gingerbread man on her head (instead of bunny ears) and I said, "Or if there is a gingerbread man on my head!" This was the ensuing photo.

We had to take another one because J was acting all crazy in this one.

Finally.

Once the votes were in, this J was declared the winner with her Gingerbread cookies. They were super cute! So she won the flirty cookie baking apron.

(Yes, I made it. Yes, I take orders. LOL)

The guests were also instructed to dress festively. This J really got into it and she won a cute pair of earrings.

I can't wait for next year and the 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange. However, if there are more people, does that mean we have to make more cookies or just exchange less? Hmmm . . . decisions, decisions . . .

A Return of Old Friends

I'm back from blogger hiatus! Whenever I have a spare moment, Will is always telling me to go to bed. I usually blog at night when The Boy goes to bed, but by the time I nurse The Girl and get myself ready for bed, I don't have any spare minutes. So, I'm taking these few minutes here in the afternoon to blog about our extremely exciting lives:)

This little lady has the same wicked latch-on that her brother had. Luckily, since I dealt with it last time, this time I was equipped with some coping mechanisms. I even had 2 lactation specialists come in and talk with me at the hospital this time. That is something new our hospital has added since last time I had a baby there. With The Boy, I had to go to Hoag and attend a one-on-one session with a lactation specialist. Now, our hospital has a lactation specialist and she makes house calls after you've gone home for the same price I paid to go over to Hoag for an hour. Cool, huh? Anyway, they checked her suck and tongue and said that she sucks perfectly - almost too perfectly because she has a really strong latch on and suck. You're telling me! So, I pulled out my old friends below to help through this first month until she becomes less of an eating machine and more of a baby:)

Will calls this my artificial nipple. Wahahaha!
It's a contact nipple shield and I use it to get her latched on
and settled and then I remove it. With The Boy I didn't know
I was eventually supposed to wean him off of it. So, here he
was 6 weeks old and I'm wondering if I'll have to use it for life. LOL
I called back over to Hoag and the nurse told me to get him off of it
ASAP so I didn't affect my milk supply. So, that I did.

These things are so awesome! They are complete lifesaver
and I recommend them to anyone that is thinking

of giving up on nursing because it's just too painful.

This week The Girl had her first bath. Finally! I think The Boy was only home like 3 days and I was already bathing him. It just seems like things move more quickly during the day now and before I know it, it's dark and I'm ready to roll into bed. She didn't love her bath as much as her brother did, but she did pretty well.

Check out this gorgeous hooded towel Baby T's Grandma made for her!
I was so excited to get it and even more excited that she made her two!

The Boy dressed himself as a pirate last night before going to bed.

Last night was quite the adventure. After naps we loaded into the car and headed over to W-town so that Will could change my oil at his parents' house. We got there and everything was going smoothly. Will visited with his brother, I hung out with his little sister while I fed The Girl, and The Boy played with his cousin. After a little bit, Will went out and worked on the car and I stayed inside and hung out with the family. The oil change seemed to go flawlessly and Will pulled the car down off the lifts and BAM all Haedes broke lose. The car exploded oil all over the place and Will couldn't figure out where it was coming from. So, he puts it back up on the lift and comes running in to borrow a flashlight. I leave The Girl on the ouch with Aunt H and head outside to see if I can help. It takes him about a half hour to figure out what was wrong. The seal from the old filter hadn't come off when he removed the old filter, so it left a big gap and oil just spewed everywhere. Once he got that figured out and put back together we were ready to roll on home. Our poor friend that was bringing us dinner that night was so sweet and just held dinner until we got home. I stopped by there after I dropped a very oily Will and The Boy off at home to pick it up. It was super yummy and we were super hungry by that time.

So, this little girl is an awesome sleeper. On Sunday night The Girl slept 5 hours straight. On Monday night she went to bed at 10:30pm and didn't wake up until 7:30am!!!! I was shocked (and in pain!) when I opened my eyes to the sun that morning. On Tuesday night I woke her up at 3am to eat because I couldn't go a whole night without feeding her. She ate and went back to sleep until 8am. What a nut! Last night when she fell asleep at 9pm, I just got in bed and hoped for the best. She woke up at 2am, ate, went back to sleep and woke up at 8am this morning. I'm so proud of her and so happy for the sleep.

Here are the last few pages for my December Daily album. I forgot to put the date on Day 29, so I'll have to go back and add that. So it's done and it was a fun project. I'm attempting to do project 365 this year. You take a picture each day of the year that is meaningful to do that day. Then, most people scrap one layout a week with the 7 photos from the week on it. Hopefully I can be diligent and take a picture everyday!

Still Hanging in There

We've been busy that past few days and I can feel Christmas Day speeding closer and closer! Ahhh! The Boy's check up went well. He was really well behaved (thank goodness!) and he was polite and cooperative for the many people that checked him out that day. We started off with a medical assistant that weighed, measured, performed a hearing & vision test and took his temperature and blood pressure. Then a PA Student came in that did all the interview questions and then his pediatrician came in to talk about his growth. He's in the 95th percentile for height & weight - the average size of a 4 year old. I talked over my concerns with his lingering cold and so she ordered a tympanic for check for an ear infection and a pulse-ox to check his lungs. Both were ok, so she prescribed him some nasal spray to help him with inflammation in his nasal passages. She's hoping that will clear everything up and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Will has the same thing going on and the same thing happened to them both last year, so I'm thinking it's a family thing:)

Friday wa sa whirlwind of activity. We ran errands in the AM - the post office & Joann's. Then, straight to park day. We used to be regulars and The Boy loved it so much. However, for the past few months, I've either had something going on during park time or I haven't felt like going. It was good to go and socialize and let The Boy get out and really play hard. He needs to do more of that and I feel badly that I don't make an effort everyday to get him out to just play. That's one of my New Year's resolutions! Then it was home for lunch and naps. After naps, Aunt H came over. We hung out and made pizza dough. After Baby T went home (it was her last day & I know The Boy is going to miss her during our break) we played some of The Boy's games that he LOVES! When Will got home we all went to Costco and then we came home and made pizza.

I got the treat plates all packaged up and started delivering them today. I went to choir practice this morning, we did some shopping, I did some sewing and then we spent the evening with friends. It was a lot of fun and The Boy was so excited to play there. He woke up from his nap and asked if we could go there right now. I told him we still had a few hours before we were going. We ran to the store while Will went to get a haircut. He pulled up as I was loading the car and after a quick change we were off for out get together.

Tomorrow is our Christmas Choir program - in which I have a solo. So, I better get myself to bed and rest up my voice. I'm really nervous and I feel like everytime I sing it with the choir I totally biff it. I feel much better about my performance in the shower or the car:) I just need to relax and let it ride . . .

Here are my newest December Daily Album pages:

I Keep Forgetting!

. . .to post my December Daily pages! I've been all caught up, but I had so much to blog about with his birthday that I totally spaced posting them. So, here they are!

On the Eve of His Big Day

Well, tomorrow my little guy turns three. Where has the time gone? I really feel like the last 3 years have flown by. I remember emailing my friend during his first week of life and telling her how he was getting big so fast. Wow! It just never slowed down. I feel so blessed to be his mom, even if the Terrible Threes set in 2 months early and almost everything can send him into a meltdown these days. He is such a sweet boy and loves his "mama" (as he has taken to calling me lately - what the?) and I hope he always will. Will has told me that boys always love their mothers, so I hope the same is true with my little guy. I've loved having the last three years as just him and me. We've been able to do so many things and have so many adventures. It really has been a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity. I am so thrilled we are adding another child to the family and it will make things all the more sweet, but it has been so fun to have so much one-on-one time together. So, here's to my crazy 3-year-old boy on his big day. We love you so much and we are so grateful you are ours.

Today was a quiet day. We ran some errands during the afternoon and tonight I had a fabulous baby shower tonight thrown by the great ladies in my ward. Today during nap time I addressed, stuffed, and licked all 60 of the Christmas cards that need to mailed to friends and family near and far. Yuck! I hate licking envelopes and I usually use a sponge, but I was honestly too lazy to get up and get one, so I just licked them. Bleh! So, that's what my December Daily page was about today.

These Are a Few of my {Seasonal} Favorite Things

So tonight I decided to share with you a few of my holiday/seasonal favorite things. There are just certain things about this time of the year that only happen during this time of the year and I love them! Now, you can try them out for yourselves and also share with me some of your favorite things.

First up, lets start with the food! I mean, let's get our priorities straight here.

Caramel Apple Spice at Starbucks.
Come on, it's got caramel in it, so it HAS to be good!

Also from Starbucks, the pumpkin scone.
I haven't had one this year. You have to be an early bird
to get them and since I'm not teaching anymore, I'm not
out and about at 7am to catch one.

Yummy! Stephen's makes the best hot chocolate and this
is their best yet! My parents found it at Sam's and I had
them get me several boxes (which I still have) and I
savor every cup! They also have a cinnamon candy cane
that is super yummy too! (I have a box of that, too. Hee, hee)

I adore Philosophy products (you NEED Hope in a Jar)
and these yummy body washes are no exception.
It makes the entire bathroom smell like a bakery.
This is my favorite Christmas movie. I haven't watched
it yet this year. My mom and I have a tradition to watch
it at the first snow. Well, I have to sub rain for snow, but
I don't own it, so I have to wait for it to come on TV.
I love lights. I inherited the trait from my dad. He is Clark
Griswold in the making. I love that he decorates the house
ever year. One day I will take on the task of doing the outside
of my own house . . . just not this year when I
am 9 months pregnant.

Snow. It's not a four letter word . . .Mandy! LOL
It's something we don't get here in SoCal, but I love when I
go "home" to Utah and we get a good dumping on. They
better have it this year when we go in January.

Another thing you don't really need in SoCal. Well, unless you're
the crazy person that turned the heat up to max in
Sunday School this week and tried to cook everyone in
the room! Hello! We live in Orange County and it
was 70 degrees outside. LOL
O, Christmas tree . . . you are so lovely! And it has to
be real. We had a fake tree our first couple of
years of marriage because Wyview didn't allow live trees.
However, I refuse to have a fake one ever again.
I also love Christmas music and one of my favorite
artists is Harry Connick, Jr. This is such a fun CD - you
need to check it out.Nativities. Need I say more? My parents have
started giving me a part of the Willow Tree Nativity
each year and I love pulling it out and setting it up.
Amazon has a Kurt Adler set right now that I think is so
darling and is so tempting to buy since it is 60% off right now!

And that's just a few of my favorite things. So what are some of yours? Blog about it or leave me a comment so I can check them out.

Tonight we went and saw Santa at the neighborhood association party and it was a lot of fun. The Boy was excited to tell Santa that he wants zoo animals for Christmas. What the? We already own 26 of them! I don't think I can take anymore.

Here is my page for Day 3 of my of December Daily Album. I really like how it turned out!