our first Christmas

Oh, that's right.  This was Theo's third Christmas and Dexter's second.

But it felt like our first real Christmas.  It was important to me that we spent Christmas as a family, at our own home, on Christmas day.  I figured at 2 yrs and 9 months and smart as a whip, this would be the first year that Theo would really "get" it.  Santa.  Waiting until Christmas to open presents.  Leaving out treats for Santa and his reindeer on the fireplace hearth.

I had a lot of big ideas about traditions we would start this year and envisioned a picturesque scene of the gentle glow of our tree next to the crackling fire as we sat around on the floor nearby reading The Night Before Christmas and sipping hot cocoa, while wearing our coordinating Christmas Eve pajamas.

Well, per Theo's request, we ended up with LED lights that let off more of a neon illumination than a warm glow. Our fireplace is gas and does not crackle.  We don't have a mantle (yet) so the stockings were hung on the entertainment center. I was too tired to make hot cocoa and the boys had very little interest in The Night Before Christmas.  We did read it to each of them separately before they went to bed.  I threw some new pajama pants for myself and Ryan in the cart at Target a few days before Christmas and ordered the boys' from Carters a week before that because I couldn't find any in the stores by that point. So pieces of my vision fell into place but this house is not yet what we want it to be.  We'll get there eventually. Maybe.

Theo making some treats for the reindeer.

Our tree in our very blah, unfinished living room.

Puzzles from Santa.

Play table from Pop Pop and Nana.

Work bench from Grammy.

Regardless of what wasn't perfect, our "first" Christmas was.  Ryan's parents stayed the night with us so they could be there to watch the boys discover their gifts.  I cooked all day on Christmas Eve so that we could eat leftovers and lounge around in PJs on Christmas Day.  Wise thinking there, if I do say so myself.

Their faces were priceless.  They loved (almost) every gift.  I'm just not a proper mom if I don't give my kids some toothbrushes and socks for Christmas, right?

They woke up early and quickly discovered their unwrapped surprises.

Noticing their tiny Toy Story figures and some play food for their kitchen.

Trying out their new table.

And puzzles.

Just as I predicted, Dexter was pretty excited that Santa left him some cleaning supplies.

Stockings!

Watching a movie some hours after all the excitement.

We went to Cincinnati for New Year's weekend to celebrate Christmas with Ryan's sister and her family.  Then we went to Tennessee to celebrate with my family once Penelope was born.  That's about a 3 week long celebration!

With cousin Spencer.

More presents!

Aunt "Chelle"

Nana, Pop Pop, and their 3 very adorable grandsons.

So just short of 2 months AFTER Christmas, there you have it.  It was wonderful. Perfect just the way it was.  We'll always remember it.  One of my favorite things about it was that we were snowed in the day after Christmas, when we were supposed to go back to work. So we had an extra day, just the 4 of us, to continue celebrating, playing, and enjoying.  Perfect.

xo,
~C~

conversations with Theo: love fest & enough kids

In the car.

Dexter:  Mommy.
Me: What?
Dexter: Mommy.
Me:  What, Dexter?
Dexter: I dunno.
Me: You love me? Oh that's sweet. I love you too.
Theo: I love you, too!
Me: Awwww...thanks Theo! I love you, too. And do you love brother?
Theo: I love you, too, Dexter.  Do you love me AND Dexter, mommy?
Me:  I love ALLLLLLLLLLLL my babies. Soooo much!
Theo:  You don't have that many kids, mom.  You just have 2.
Me:  Well, that's true. But I love both of them a whole bunch.  Do you think I should have a lot of kids?
Theo: No.
Me:  Why not?  Don't you want another baby brother, or maybe a baby sister?
Theo:  No, mommy.  2 is enough for you.

Well. Hmmph.  What the hell is he really saying here?

xo,
~C~

weigh to go.

I just thought I would provide an occasional update on my efforts to live a little healthier, lose some weight, and gain more energy that I talked about a lot in some previous posts.  I've been dieting since Jan 2 and exercising since a couple weeks after that.  My longterm goal is to just be more active, maintain a healthy weight, and engage in lots of physical activities as a family.  To get there, I gave myself a shorter term goal of losing 20-24 pounds (and stay in that range thereafter) and exercising 3-4x per week.

Weight lost:  Two weeks ago I would have been proud to tell you that I had lost 9 pounds, but unfortunately that's no longer the case.  At my weigh-in two Fridays ago I had gained 1.8 of that back and then last Friday, another 1.6. So for now, my total weight loss is 5.6 lbs until I weigh again this Friday.  The thing is, I didn't even cheat much.  Not enough to be packing on over 3 lbs in 2 weeks.  I'm not sure what's going on but I was pretty bummed last Friday when I got on the scale. All I know is I'm not giving up.  I'm trying to increase my water intake since I do tend to eat a lot of pre-packaged (high sodium) foods for breakfast and lunch that may increase my water retention.

I'm having to pep talk the girl in the mirror (but not while looking in the mirror, that would be weird) to remind myself that I'm still exercising more than I have in the past three years.  That I'm not trying to lose 24 lbs in 2 months.  My goal is to lose the weight before we go to Disney in October.  My goal is for this current healthy living, that can be a struggle at times, to turn into a way of life by October.  I want to have energy and make good food decisions 90% of the time.  That there's more going on here than the numbers on the scale.  That if I keep doing what I have been doing for the past 6+ weeks, there's no way that I won't lose the weight eventually. 

How are you doing on your goals for this year?

~C~