Christmas Memories

Following are some things I would like to remember about Christmas this year.

• Christmas was preceded by the best week of my life....my parents took the kids from Mon - Saturday and it was so wonderful, I can't explain it properly. I did some shopping, Chad and I saw TWO movies, hung out with some friends....it was wonderful.
• Mom and Dad spent the weekend with us (Sat - Mon). It was fun, but loud and busy. Who knew? Poor Mom had mouth surgery a little over a week ago and isn't completely healed yet. But it was fun to have them and nice to be able to have the room to have them!
• Jack still isn't totally into the present thing yet. I think a huge part of the problem had been that he was at my parents' house all week, so was a little off already. Christmas Eve he was very resistant and Christmas Day he just wasn't interested. Part of me likes it, that he isn't consumed by the commercialism, but I know Mom and Lin were looking forward to his excitement, so I was sorry that they were disappointed. I think he made up for it by being very pleased with the gifts while playing with them.
• Big gifts this year were: Ride on train (they got two, one is motorized and runs on a track, and the other is a push/ride on toy; both are VERY popular), the limbo game (Jack likes it, Charlie doesn't seem to notice it), this Wiggles guitar thing, some dinosaurs with caveman, and one dinosaur roars really loudly (huge hit).
• I can't say how wonderful it was to celebrate our first Christmas in this house. To have the room to have 8 people sleeping here (Lin and Matt spent Christmas Eve night here), to have the room for all of those presents, people and still be able to move. To just feel like this is home and share that with our family was precious.
• And lastly, I need to remember how exhausted I am right now. The house is fairly clean, since my mom is wonderful and a neat freak, but there is still things that need to be put away. Plus, my sister helped me decided how I need to rearrange my kitchen, so that is calling to me. Nothing sounds as good as climbing back into bed, though. Plus, the week just continues in its business. Friday we are having Chad's family over to celebrate Don's birthday, Thursday night I have girl's night, Chad's cousin and his wife might come over tonight or tomorrow night, Wayne and Sarah want to come by and give the guys their presents, and I am having Lin and Matt and two of their friends over for New Year's!!!! Wow, no time for napping.

When it Pours

First, on a light note, Charlie is starting to speak sentences! Those toddler sentences, where it sounds like he is asking/saying something, but you can't make out any of the words. I clearly remember Jack doing it (can't remember when, mind you), and I remember how that merged into understanding a word or two, and then finally, all of it! So, very exciting. It seems like Charlie is doing everything faster than Jack did (it could be; they say that the 2nd kid when they are very close together tends to do things faster) but Charlie is almost as old and Jack was when Charlie was born! I can't believe it, he seems so much younger! Hence my need to record things HERE.

Anyway, onto the main reason I am making this entry. It seems Chad's inferior jeans are rearing their ugly head again. Jack has a hydrocele, which, I guess, is a hernia. Chad had one when he was 5, Jack is just a quicker learner or something. We had to go to urgent care last night, as Jack left testicle looked like the size of a walnut. Of course, Chad is in Canada, so his parents came over. Don watched a slumbering Charlie, and Connie came with me. The ped. took about 25 seconds of squeezing to diagnose it, and we have to see another ped. today, I guess to confirm? and to schedule surgery? Not sure. The ped. last night was less than friendly. Or talkative. So, my poor, little baby boy is gonna go under the knife. And I just hope his Daddy will be here for it!

More Words

I had been adding to the other post about Charlie's budding vocabulary, but we are getting into New Words category, so maybe this will be a weekly thing? Not sure....

Without further ado:

• WINDOW! Can you believe it? He walked right over to it and said "indow". Genius.
• Parker. I guess he does know that there are two of them!!
• Yeah
• and No. Wasn't sure of their existence before, but he clearly uses them correctly, especially in response to food and naps!

Memorable Moments

Jack was up really late last night. It started when I kept him up, wanting to bond with him while watching Rudolph on TV. He was kind of into it (he kept saying that the monster scared him, and would say "I scared". I was worried he would have nightmares, but I think he was fine) and always said "where Rudolph go" during commercials (he does the same thing with Ellen DeGeneress). Anyway, he went to bed at 8 (and it was a bit of a struggle, which is unusual).

Throughout the next hour, we kept hearing him. Chad went up one time, and Jack wanted his tape flipped over. I went up about 9, and he was laying there, looking at the ceiling, with one of his hands in the air. He was playing puppets (he loves to pretend his hands are puppets). So I sat on his bed and we played puppets for awhile. 20 or so minutes, at least. He was SO adorable, wanting my puppet to tickle his, his changing from Jack, to a polar bear, to a lion, to a monkey, to a gorilla, to an orangutan....and oddly enough, they all wanted to be tickled. It was fun. We hoped that him staying up so late would cause him to sleep in...nope.

It was still worth it.