A Short Nap after Dinner

There’s nothing sweeter than a babe snuggling in the arms of her daddy just hanging out except maybe falling asleep while doing it. I’m not sure who fell asleep first but they sure were plumb tuckered out after dinner. It was so cute, they were both snoring too. Sweet dreams my sweets . . .

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas . . .

And Claire got pink jammies with Hippos in jammies on them. Claire was surprising good at opening presents. I didn’t think she would get it at all but she was opening presents like she had done it before. Hazel got red jammies with sheep on them. She went to bed like a good girl but was very excited for Santa to visit.

And he did! Hazel was the first one to the stockings and was very excited too.

Progress Report: T-10 minutes ‘til Christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care . . . So as you can see not everything on the list was completed . . . here is the progress report.

1. Complete
2. Complete
3. Complete – UPDATE – thought they all went in the post that day but we found a handful of them that didn’t make it. Not sure how that happened but doesn’t really surprise me anymore.
4. Complete as it is going to get.
5. In Progress – Have most things together but need to find time to deliver. Happy New Year’s gifts maybe?
6. Complete
7. Complete
8. Not Complete as shown with photo above. Literally had to hang her own stockings by the chimney.
9. Not Complete – There’s always Christmas Day.
10. In Progress – Not any further than last post.

So I better get to bed so Santa can visit. Merry Christmas!

Baby Monitor Theatre . . .

Okay, I'm sitting at the computer and my sweet husband is feeding and putting Claire down for the night in the nursery. I can hear him over the baby monitor telling her sweet little things, rocking her, singing and general merriment. And then I hear "Now Claire, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your father and you can't pick your father's nose." Oh the things a girl should know . . .

UPDATE: I was just summoned to the nursery and I said "So you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your father and you can't pick your father's nose?" and he said

"No, that isn't what I said. I said "you can pick your nose, and you can pick your father's nose but you you can't pick your father."

"Okay" I giggle.

"Wait, there's more, stop laughing these are important life lessons here. Then I told her "You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your friends' noses." What? these are things she needs to know."

I am laughing at this point.

"What?" he says.

"Nothing, very sweet."

I then left the room before I got a chance to ask what he said to do about Mommy's nose. I think he will let me know once he reads this post . . .

Progress Report: T-2 days ‘til Christmas

Time is getting close and the list is still not complete. I think having this public is helping keep the fire under me going to get it all done.
1. Complete – We went to see Santa Claus today. She seemed to like him just fine. She told him what she wanted for Christmas, I hope he understands baby!
2. Complete – Please see previous post
3. Complete – went in the post today!
4. Further Along – Mike went shopping today. Just a few more things to get . . . or not if we don’t do it soon.
5. In Progress – Still need to get everything together and find time to deliver it.
6. In Progress – But not any further than last post.
7. Complete – Sunday was yesterday . . .
8. In Progress – Knitted a dozen rows or so yesterday but still have a long ways to go.
9. Not Complete – Didn’t get a chance to try to get someone to take one yesterday. Maybe on Christmas?
10. In Progress – Finished purchasing said presents, again just need to find the time to deliver them.

Off to knit! I hope to get to the heel tonight.

Progress Report: T-4 days ‘til Christmas

Things are looking up and items on the "Things that must be done" are starting to be accomplished.

1. Not complete – went to mall sans daughter and tried to scope out Santa (husband said he saw him and he waived at him, he was happy) but he was on break when we went by. Hunh . . .
2. Complete - We have a picture of Claire in a Christmasy situation and prints have been made and they are in envelopes as we speak.
3. Almost Complete – Aforementioned envelopes also contain Christmas cards. They are address and stamped but still sitting on the coffee table. Will be mailed tomorrow or Monday.
4. Further along – We did some shopping on Friday that furthered the progress on the list. Yay!
5. In Progress – We did a lot of cooking/baking today and we have many of the goodies prepared. There was actually a lot of melting involved . . . wonder what you call that, well besides melting.
6. In Progress – Quite a few presents have been wrapped but there are still plenty to go. Mainly oddly shaped and small items – the not as fun ones.
7. Complete – or as complete as it is going to get. Kind of went along with number five.
8. Not complete – I haven't had a chance to knit on it for several days. I might have to start staying up late at night to complete. But I don't know how to turn the heel so I must have my mother help me.
9. Not complete – Maybe someone will be nice and snap a shot of us tomorrow and it will be suitable for framing. A girl can dream, can't she?
10. In Progress – We had brunch at some sweet friends of ours today and we took a hostess present and a present for Claire's friend, Kate. Claire's first Christmas present to give! And I think she quite liked it. Anyway, we have begun and will probably be doing so for a while to come.

 

Progress report complete - I hope to have more to report in the near future.

Ack! Christmas is a week away!

Ok, so I am trying to "post more often" and I am going crazy in the meantime. Not because of the posting but just because of life in general. Christmas is a week from today. TODAY! Ack! (involuntary eye twitch) and I am in no way ready. One, I have a four month old baby that takes all of my free time (this is not a bad thing; I just need to either A. Her go to sleep at 8:00 or B.Get three more hours in the day) Two, I am a woman, mother, wife, daughter, employee. (the other night I was going over what we had for whom with my husband (who has yet to purchase a present) and I was going over the fifth or sixth person on the list and he looked up at me with that "what? Are you talking to me?" look and said "Who, what" and I said "Your Mother! I am going over the list of things that I have gotten for Your Mother." I think he is finally clued in to the fact that Christmas is next week and the crazy lady with the list might need some help. I could have smacked him! (for all of those who know us, you know I have a wonderful husband and really couldn't ask for anything more - I just have to hit the reset button every so often))

Anyway, so I am going to post my high priority list of "Things that must be done" publicly and maybe they will be completed for fear of public embarrassment.

1. Take Claire to see a Real Santa. (We had a pic at Bedford's but that was really just a fall back plan)
2. Get said pictures or some nice Christmasy picture printed multiple times.
3. Send out Christmas Cards (or at this point, quite possibly Happy New Year cards).
4. Complete my Christmas Shopping.
5. Make and distribute gifts for our two neighbors (that we know/like).
6. Wrap the presents in something other than the sack it came in.
7. Bake/Cook for parents' house on Sunday.
8. Finish knitting Claire's Stocking.
9. Take a family portrait.
10. Visit friends and deliver presents.

So stay tuned to see how far this wild ride spirals. Wish me luck and any help with the list is appreciated. 

Claire updates

I shall list the wonderful and fabulous things that Claire has been up to lately for everyone’s entertainment and admiration . . .

Things she is ahead of the curve on . . .

She is a very happy baby. (She smiles and laughs and just likes to be happy. She’ll be crying for you in her crib and as soon as you pop your head into view she stops and just smiles and does her happy dance – btw, I think she might be a tap dancer one of these days. Oh and we rarely catch this on film. As soon as we get the camera out she gets a curious/skeptical look on her face. I think she thinks the camera is going to steal her soul or something . . . the one here is a rarity)

She has a tooth! (Well sort of, it is not a traditional first tooth nor in the right place and you can’t see it, but it has been around for a while and so she is terribly advanced for her age.)

She blows raspberries! (Well she is trying really hard to – she sticks her tongue out and blows and gets spit everywhere so she is well on her way of a full blown raspberry.)

She makes very loud annoying sounds. (We are thrilled about this one – she likes to make that “I’m gasping for air and making loud high-pitched sounds in the process” one the best. We hope this is a phase. We are pretty sure she is going to be an early talker for as much as she vocalizes. Yakety yak, yakety yak)

She fake coughs. (Mike and I are convinced that she does this from time to time. Silly little girly.)

She grabs for things and gets them. (She has been good at holding toys and whacking at things are a long time but now she is reaching and grabbing for things herself. Her favorite thing after toys? Noses and the spoon.)

She tries to sit up. (She is always trying to pull herself up into a sitting position and can sit up well when propped or in her Bebe Pod (like a Bumbo)

She is really good at growing fingernails. (Her fingernails grow a mile every two days and I can’t keep them trimmed fast enough before she has scratched herself again. Ack! I hate trimming her nails but I do at least twice a week if not more than that but those suckers can grow. I asked her if she just wanted to let me grow and be like that guy in Guinness Book of World Records but she just blew a raspberry at me so I took that as a no.)

Here are some recent pictures -


Claire's First Thanksgiving


Claire's First Meal


Claire's first (and hopefully only) Centerfold

Home Sick

So I guess it is going to take my being home sick to update the blog. I think one of my resolutions is going to be to post more often . . . define more often. Once a week would do it at this point . . . I hope it is more often then that. Claire is doing so many fab things! I need to be more like my friend Jen. She posts to her blog "Meet the McFamily" practically daily. And puts up current pics of her new daughter, Caroline, just one week younger than Claire all the time. She is a super blogger. I strive to be somewhere between the two of us.

So while being home sick sounds like it would be all fun and stuff I am afraid it hasn't been. I have a cold and my head really hurts. I dare say that Hazel is enjoying my being home sans Claire. (Mike's folks kept her today so he could study and I could rest) This is the first day I have been home alone or at least without child since she was born. Too bad I feel like poop. I haven't done anything but wallow in my sickiness. So since I don't have my child here with me, the sicko that I am I am going to blog about her instead, but in another much nicer post. Stay tuned . . .