Christmas 2011

I realized tonight that I didn't post any photos from Christmas . . . probably because I gave birth 24 hours after I took these pictures and life hasn't really slowed down yet.

OK, first things first . . . the boys have a little Christmas tree for their room and they actually managed to decorate it together without fighting. Doing anything together without fighting doesn't happen that often.

And yes, Jack is wearing a Burger King crown . . . he wore it for 2 or 3 days straight in December.

We also baked and "decorated" cookies. There was way more frosting-eating than decorating, but whatever. They had fun.

And finally . . . Christmas Day!

I'm mildly embarrassed that we bought this for Ben. It's not normally the kind of toy that we'd buy, but he LOVED it every time we passed it at Target, and his excitement when he opened it was totally worth it.

Jack begged for Superheroes, so he got Spiderman and Captain America action figures. There was definitely staring in Toys R Us as I stood there for 10 minutes, pressing the button to make sure I heard every "wisecrack" Spiderman had to make sure there wasn't anything inappropriate.

It was pretty laid back and fun. It really was my favorite Christmas morning ever!

After opening many, many presents that he could have been playing with, Bennett and Kyle did this for a good 30 minutes. I love that boy.

Christmas Day from Sara on Vimeo.

What I thought I'd be doing this week . . .

I had this whole list of things I intended to write about and do this week . . . things we did leading up to Christmas, funny new things that the boys have been doing, photos, etc. I thoroughly expected to still be pregnant. I thought Claire would come January 4 . . . exactly one week past her due date.

But I'm not doing those things. Instead, I'm settling into my role as the mother of three, with all of its blessings and challenges.

I wanted to write about Friday, the 23rd, and how I cooked/baked all day. Trays of lasagna, macaroni and cheese, tons of shredded/cubed chicken for future recipes (thanks to my friends on facebook for the tips on doing that), gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, cheater cake pops, chocolate mint cookies . . . you could say that I overdid it. Kyle took the boys to the Treehouse that day, but even so, I was hurting and exhausted by the end of the day. I had a few contractions that night that made me think we might be headed to the hospital, but they amounted to nothing.

I wanted to write about how Jack helped me with my baking earlier in the week and told me before he went to bed on Wednesday night saying, "I loved baking with you mom, and I'll never forget this day." And how with that statement, the frustrations of cooking with a 4-year-old were almost totally erased from my memory.

I wanted to write about Ben and how he's picking up on all of the phrases Jack uses, including, but not limited to "That's disgusting," "It's not fair" and "I hate this." And how if we ask him a question he doesn't want to answer he looks and us and says, "shhh!" Make no mistake . . . none of those are appropriate responses, and they almost always come with consequences, but it still cracks me up when I put the news on in the morning and Ben says, "No! News is nisdusting!"

I was going to write about how the intense pain that I'd been having for the last 2 1/2 months had almost completely gone away that week and how it felt like a Christmas miracle. In retrospect, Claire had just dropped far enough down that it eliminated the pain.

My plan for the week was to edit all of the photos I've had building up since October and get those posted. I had hoped to have them all done before I edited the tons of baby pictures I knew I'd take once Claire arrived.

I wanted to finish the word art that I'd started for Claire's room and have it ordered and up in her room before she was born.

I had one last big project for work that I wanted to complete before she came.

I wanted to get all of the Christmas gifts put away and Christmas decorations down. I know this is kind of "bah humbug" of me, but it stresses me out to have Christmas decorations up. For the entire month of December, I feel like I'm kind of in limbo, just waiting for my house to go back to normal. I'm sure that says more about my control issues than it does anything else.

I wanted to get a 40 week picture.

But I don't control these things and Claire's arrival 3 days early was a reminder of that.

Instead, I'll be tackling these things over the next few weeks. I've also been jotting down notes on her birth story because even though it's only been a week since my water broke, memories are fading. And just typing that made me cry if it's any indication as to where I am emotionally right now.

I'm grateful for our friends and family who have made this transition a little easier. I'm incredibly grateful for Kyle, without whom I would be completely unable to cope. I'm grateful for Jack and Ben and how much they love us and their little sister. While they've presented challenges this week, my love for them increases daily, if that's even possible. And I'm grateful for Claire . . . that she's a good sleeper (knock on wood) and that she's changed me more in the last six days that I ever could have imagined. Even though I've already been through this twice before, I had no idea how fast and hard I'd fall for her. It's astonishing to think that God has entrusted us with another little life to take care of . . . I pray every day that He'll make us equal to the task.

Christmas Pajamas

Here are the boys in their Christmas pajamas. As you may or may not remember, Christmas day at our house this year didn't allow for much picture-taking.

Better late than never, right?

Oh, Christmas.

I have never been ready for the holiday season to be over as much as I was this year. I realize that might make me the Scroogiest of them all.

On the Wednesday before Christmas, about a minute after the babysitter walked out the door, I heard Ben in his room coughing. I went in to find him covered from head to toe in vomit. Sick. Kyle and I spent the rest of that afternoon and evening taking turns rocking him and holding him while he threw up every half hour. It wasn't fun. And I knew that the rest of us would get it.

Things were looking up, though, because he stopped throwing up on Wednesday night and resumed eating regularly on Thursday morning. He seemed to be okay, was playing well, eating well . . . so that night we decided to go to Toledo Zoo for the Lights Before Christmas. It was nice, but cold, so we only stayed for an hour or so. Just long enough for the boys to get their picture taken with Santa.

Side note: Jack was so funny about Santa this year. He went to Fantasyland (he kept calling it "Wonderceyland") with my parents earlier in December when he was staying with them.

I asked him, "Did you see Santa Claus there?"

"No, just a guy in a Santa suit."

"How do you know he wasn't the real Santa?"

"I could just tell."

Anyway, on Christmas Eve Kyle wasn't feeling well and by Christmas morning he was throwing up and Ben started all over again. The next day, Jack joined in. I've never done more laundry over the holidays than I did this year.

I don't have any photos from Christmas morning. I bought them super cute coordinating (NOT matching) snowboarding pajamas and they were both stripped down to a diaper before we even opened gifts.

We bought the boys a wooden toy kitchen and "Santa" left a trail of fake fruits and vegetables down to the basement where it was and they were pretty excited to see it.

In the days following Christmas, we had some family gatherings and Ben had a well visit with his doctor. In three months he had grown three inches! He went from the 89th percentile to the 65th percentile in weight and from the 85th percentile to the 98th percentile for height. I think his drop in weight was due to the stomach bug he had been dealing with up to that point. For the last week or so he's been eating us out of house and home, so I can't help but wonder what his weight is now.

On new year's eve, Brian and Debbie came over and we played The Settlers of Catan until well after midnight. It was the first time I had seen midnight on new year's eve since 2005.

It wasn't a horrible Christmas . . . just not one I'd want to do again.

Christmas

I did not take a single picture on Christmas morning. Or Christmas Eve. Or the day after Christmas, for that matter. I just didn't feel like it. I did shoot some video of Jack pulling the Wii controller out of the bottom of his stocking, but no photos.

For a while, I felt a bit like I was shirking some sort of parental responsibility for not taking any photos of Ben's first Christmas, but I don't think he cared. And I'm not sure he ever will. I do have some pictures of him from the day before Christmas Eve, so we'll call it good.

I will admit that I would have made the effort to take out the camera and snap a picture of them in their coordinating pajamas had they not BOTH wet through them. I actually might try and take one tomorrow just for posterity's sake.

On Christmas Eve, we went to my Aunt Kathy's house to celebrate with my mom's side of the family and on Christmas day (after some family time and Kyle's amazing crunchy french toast) we went to my mom's house to celebrate with them. On the day after Christmas, we went to Ohio to celebrate with my dad's side of the family. By that time, Jack had been without a nap for three days in a row and anyone around him could tell. I think he through a major temper tantrum within our first 10 minutes there.

On the 28th, we celebrated with Kyle's family and starting the 30th, his dad's side of the family came to the lodge at camp and will be here until January 2.

The boys both received some great gifts, and we are literally overwhelmed with what to do with all of the toys in our house. It's ridiculous. Our house feels so much smaller and for the first time EVER I wondered if we should think about buying a new house. I love our house and pictured us being here for the long haul, but seriously . . . that's how many toys we brought home. And as the boys get older, they're just going to have more and more stuff. Enough to make me want to buy a bigger house. Only in America . . .

Last year, we were able to shove them all in a closet and bring them out one at a time over the course of a few months. But this year Jack remembers each and every thing he opened, so that's not going to happen. At the beginning of this week, I was having panic attacks over the number of tiny pieces and boxes laying all over our house. I still kind of am.

So, that was our Christmas in a nutshell. Happy New Year!

Let us hold close one day . . . .

Whatever else be lost among the years
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing:
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.

- Grace Noll Crowell

Merry Christmas!

Christmas keepsake

When I hit 1000 sales last year, Crystal sent me a fun congratulatory package with several things, including the only homemade treats to grace our kitchen over the holidays. She also sent this awesome Christmas ornament that I had planned to buy anyway! I LOVE it.


I just noticed that she has them back up in her shop! If you have a tradition of getting your kid(s) a new ornament each year, I'd strongly recommend you consider doing one of these this year. It has the homemade look and feel, but the quality of a keepsake ornament! If you head over there and can't find them, she'll probably get more up. Or contact her for a custom one!

And I'm posting this without asking her first and my fingers are crossed that she wasn't thinking, "I'll just post two this year and then not make anymore." :)

Happy holidays, indeed.

We went to Ohio on Friday to visit my grandma. The drive takes about 2 hours. But because of icy conditions it took SEVEN HOURS. We were idling down I-75 and Kyle was still struggling to keep control of the car. Cars were spun out everywhere and exit ramps were closed because cars couldn't make it up them. It was so scary and miserable.

BUT, we made it there (later than expected) and were able to spend time with my grandma and catching up with cousins that I haven't seen in a long time. For some of them, it was their first time meeting Jack!

So, last week we drove through the snow storm. Friday we battled the ice. And last night, we dealt with the unruly wind.

I guess we were under a wind advisory, but I hadn't watched the news or anything for a day or two so I didn't realize it. We woke up to power outages and . . . a tree on our house. A tree in our back yard landed on our house and snapped in half. It woke Kyle up and he just thought it was thunder that shook the house. Not so much.


But this could have been much worse. First, Lukeapalooza started yesterday, and we had a lot of men at our house pretty soon after breakfast to help, well, get the tree off of our house. It took less than an hour. Second, there was very little damage to our roof. It will cost us next to nothing to repair the minor damage. Also, the tree snapped after it hit the house. If it had snapped before, it would have landed at an angle that would have made this much more traumatic. Third, we realized that there are a few more trees we need to take down before this happens again. We could have had multiple trees on our house . . . we were fortunate.

Love, Jack

In case you'd like to follow along, Jack will be reading Counting Christmas and Gossie and Gertie. Oh, and in case you don't speak his language, he's saying "Merry Christmas" in the last clip.



Merry Christmas from Sara on Vimeo.

Laid back

The best word to describe Christmas so far is "leisurely." No traveling, no rush, no stress . . . we're just taking our time. Jack woke up at about 7:30 and we brought him to bed with us for a while and we laid there chatting with him. You know, about things like snowmen, little einsteins and baby Jesus. We got up and gave him the presents from us . . . which he actually seemed excited about. We got dressed and headed to Kyle's parents house for breakfast and took our time opening gifts.

I just brought Jack back to our house for a much needed, albeit late, nap and we'll head back to Kyle's parents' house when he wakes up. I had planned to post a few pictures, but I left my camera behind. Those will have to wait. I'm so tired and should be putting toys away and getting things ready to head to Ohio to my grandma's tomorrow, but I'm going to take a nap. It's Christmas, after all.

On a much different note, I received an e-mail from the conference superintendent's office this morning about a church in our conference that was burned to the ground last night. It's the only Free Methodist church right in Detroit and a cause of the fire hasn't been determined yet. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the building is a total loss. If you think about it today, pray for the leaders in our conference, and the pastor of that church, as they spend Christmas Day away from their families trying to sort through this. The story on the news this morning was not very well done (double negatives, anyone?), but the article in the paper can tell you a little more.

And breathe . . .

Let's catch up.

The Monday before thanksgiving (or was it Wednesday) Jack and I built a snowman in the front yard. The kid LOVES to play in the snow. He hugged the snowman (there will be photos on my photo blog if I ever get it updated), patted the snowman and built a deep attachment to him. As I set him up for a final photo before naptime, he put his hand on the snowman and inadvertently tipped him over. He looked up at me as if to say, "WHAT DID I JUST DO?!" His lip started to quiver and he struggled to hold it together. And he did. I think it's the worst to see your child wanting to cry, but holding it in. It's almost less painful for you as a parent if they just let it all out!

Thanksgiving was great! It was so nice to be away from a computer screen for a while . . . though if you ask my family, they'll probably tell you I spent a lot of time in front of the computer. We went to my parents house on Wednesday and stayed through Friday. Family came to their house and we ate . . . a lot. On Friday morning, my mom, sister and I went shopping with all of the black Friday crazies. And, I will say that we got some tremendous deals. My parents flew to Puerto Rico for their cruise on Saturday, so when we left on Friday they sent us home with ALL of the leftovers. Jack refused the turkey on Sunday because he was so sick of it. The highlight of the weekend had to be Jack saying "gobble, gobble" every time someone said "turkey." It came out more like "Lollal, lollal."

Jack is pretty much a different kid since I last wrote about him. He communicates so well and I feel like we're in a virtual explosion of language growth right now. He says "tadaaa" whenever he does something . . . whether it be good or bad. I walked into his room and he had pulled everything out of his closet. I said, "What did you do?!" And he looked up at me and said "tadaaa." He constantly wants to see football, basketball, baseball or hockey on tv and identifies the sports pretty well. I seriously feel like he's changing so fast right now, and I'm so busy, that there's no way of recording all of the fun stuff he says. He's also become more ornery and will just collapse to the floor in a fit of drama that I've never seen before when we ask him to do something he'd rather not do.

His 18 month check up was on Tuesday. He's grown 2 inches in the last 3 months and gained a little under a pound. He's still off the charts for height, but he's in the 95th percentile for weight. Yay for being on the charts! I didn't get to talk to the doctor as much as I would have liked about vaccines because I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked and I was going on about 4 hours of sleep. But I did find out that the flu shots at the office are thimerosol-free and that's the only one that he needed.

After his appointment, we took him down the street to the Treehouse which was a first for us. It was fantastic. It's this huge indoor playground, but it was way better than a playground. We were there right when it opened and stayed for 1 1/2 hours, so Jack was one of five kids there the whole time. It might not have been as great if there were more kids. There was a two year old who shoved Jack down 6 or 7 times. Yikes. When telling my mother-in-law about it, she told me that Jack actually pushes Emma down sometimes. Yikes, again.

Last night, we did our annual live nativity at camp. It's a ride through on a horse drawn wagon . . . and it is COLD outside. Did anyone hear my radio interview on Friday about it? We taped it on Wednesday and I totally forgot to listen yesterday! It's usually the thing that kicks off the Christmas season for me. This year, it's the thing that is helping restore the Christmas spirit that had already begun to wane.

The past week has been insane, but I am seriously so thankful for the business. But I'm not going to lie . . . I need sleep. So, so badly. I have two photo sessions to process, one youth camp brochure to finish up and many card orders that I'm waiting to hear back on. I have been confronted with a few stinkers this season, but overall, I have worked for some lovely people and have found some great new blogs!

Speaking of blogs . . . I'm going to try and catch up with the 1772 blog posts in my reader. Seriously, you people write a lot.

In five minutes or less . . .

JUNK MAIL. I hate spam. I get so much of it. I'm not just talking about advertisements from places from which I've made purchases. I'm talking about the people trying to sell me questionable drugs, or the guy who wants me to think that I've inherited a large sum from a long lost relative overseas. I can't imagine what I would get if I didn't have a spam filter. I think it's fair to make a general assumption that e-mail from anyone named "Virgil" is probably junk mail.

REGRESSION. Jack crawled around the house all afternoon a few days ago, only standing up to reach things that he couldn't from his hands and knees. Every so often, he'd just roll over on his back and lay there laughing. He's been walking for 7 months. And I suppose he just thought it would be fun to crawl. Please tell me that this is normal.

CHRISTMAS. Last week was such a down week, and playing Christmas music this week has REALLY helped to lift my spirits. It's amazing how much it helps. It doesn't hurt that Jack now tries to sing along . . . and it melts my heart every time I hear him. Also, I made my first Christmas gift purchases and I'm so excited to get them! The girls who will be receiving them are not yet old enough to read my blog, so I feel safe posting this! 1 3/4 gifts down . . . a bajillion more to go. There's a good chance that many of you who receive gifts from me will receive etsy gifts this year. So if you see something you like out there, send me the link! I'm compiling a list of my favorite sellers items to share a little bit closer to Thanksgiving for those of you looking to give awesome, handmade gifts this year.

CLEAN. Last Thursday and Friday, Kyle picked up and cleaned the entire house. This meant more to me than anyone could imagine. He knows that I function much better in a clean house than I do in a messy one and I was just not in the frame of mind to get it done! I am so grateful for how he takes care of me.

FOUR HUNDRED. I hit 400 sales on Monday. I'm thrilled! I'm seriously questioning whether or not Kyle and I will send out a Christmas card this year. Ironically enough, I have no one to take a family picture. Joy took a few when she was here, but . . . well, let's just say that I wasn't looking my best. Also, I don't know when I'll have time to design one. There are a lot of designs in my shop that I would send from us, but when you work with them every day they all start to get kind of old. You know what I mean? So I'd want something that I don't do every day . . . but every time I design something new, I like it so much that post it in my shop. It's a vicious cycle.

That's all my time . . . don't forget to tip your waitress.

Fa la la la laaaa . . .

First, thanks to everyone who let me know comments weren't working yesterday. I have no idea what the issue was . . . but it seems to be resolved. Right? I hope so.

Second . . . I know, I know. I have a Christmas banner up. In October. I've explained to you all before thatI start Christmas a little earlier than many people do.

I think it's a bit of a coping mechanism for helping me deal with the cold weather. I can handle the cold if I concentrate on Christmas coming soon. Also, Christmas music is too good to only last for three or four weeks. And, I've started to fill Christmas card orders, so I'm full of all sorts of Christmas cheer.

I've struggled constantly for the last year to find a 3-column look that I like. So, instead of working on things that I should be working on tonight, I figured it out. I think I'll be keeping this for a while. I think.

In conclusion, yes, I have a Christmas banner up. And I hope you can enjoy it instead of scorning me for bringing Christmas stuff out too soon. Oh, and if you like the banner, check out my shop for the card design that inspired it!

Forced Family Fun

You've heard me mention "Lukeapalooza" in a couple of posts. It's the name I have given to the time when the Luke side of the family all gathers together in one of the lodges at camp for several days and nights of what Kyle's cousin Jason refers to as, "Forced Family Fun." I'm not sure many people know that I call it that. To be honest, there's nothing forced about it. We all really enjoy spending that time together and enjoying each other's company. There are very few families left that still get together regularly after this long and can stand to spend that many days with each other. Having come from a close family myself, I feel fortunate to have married into a close family.

This year was the first time in a while that the lake had frozen over enough for skating. So, the guys cleared an area and created a rink for skating. Remember my previous post in which I promised to fill you in on why the paramedics were called? Here it goes . . .


I wasn't there, so I'm relying on Kyle's account of the story. The guys decided to play a game of hockey. Stacy helped uncle Don get his skates on and before they knew it, his skates had come out from under him and he was lying on the ice. How fortunate we all were that someone was taking pictures.


But he was knocked out cold. He came to within a couple of seconds and seemed to be ok. So, everyone gathered for a family picture.

It was during the family picture that he started asking things like, "Who put my skates on?" and "Did I fall?" Kyle's dad called the ambulance. Everything turned out ok and thankfully he was fine, but the group picture that was taken in the midst of it all is priceless.


It's hard to see because of the low resolution, but he's pretty dazed and glassy eyed.

Catching up

A few highlights from the last week:

• Jack and I are both sick . . . again. Actually, we're both finally starting to get over the cold that we've had for the last few days, but it was miserable while it lasted. Being sick during Lukeapalooza is never fun.
  
  
• Lukeapalooza was entertaining. It included a visit from the paramedics . . . I'll write more about this when I get the picture that goes along with the story.
  
  
• Jack is crawling on his hands and knees now. He's still a little shaky, but at least there's no more army crawl. The army crawl wasn't bad, but he ended up with a shirt full of dog hair when he was done.
  
  He also pulls himself up on whatever he can get a hold of . . . whether it's sturdy enough or not. Needless to say, there have been a lot of tumbles. Kyle went in after his nap yesterday and he was standing in his crib smiling at him.
  
  
• Jack slept for FIVE! HOURS! yesterday. Not all at once, but all of his naps combined equaled five hours. This might be the third or fourth time this has ever happened. Though, he's been sleeping almost an hour right now.
  

• I'm ready for Christmas break to be over. It used to be that the craziness at camp started in mid-April as the summer approached. But now, it starts immediately following Christmas break. Family camp info has to be out by February 1. Our first winter retreat is January 28 (or is it the 27th?). The summer youth camp brochure needs to be out in the next few weeks. The web site and other brochures all need to be updated. Our summer curriculum and schedules need to be finalized.
  
  There's a lot to be done and a lot less time than there was before Jack was here. Grandma Luke always says, "Don't you wonder what you did with all of your time before Jack was born?" No, I don't wonder that. I did all of the stuff that doesn't get done now.

I'm gonna go take down all of the Christmas decorations! Happy New Year!

Under the tree . . .

My house is a disaster. It looks a little bit like Fisher Price and Playskool had a baby, and then that baby threw up all over my carpet. There are so many toys! Don't get me wrong . . . I'm not complaining! We're so grateful for all of them and I didn't realize how few age-appropriate toys Jack had until we let him play with the more challenging ones. He's a lucky kid to have grandparents, aunts and uncles as generous and loving as he does. We've decided to put all the toys in the basement (eventually . . . they're all sitting in piles in our front entry) and bring one new one out a week and maybe rotate some in and out. Otherwise, we'll be overwhelmed with PLAY!

Jack got quite a few clothes too! This was a lot less thrilling for him than it was for me. I'm so grateful that he now has enough clothes of the right size that I don't have to do laundry nearly as much as I have been. Yay! Not to mention that they're all adorable! He's becoming such a little man!

I got a lot of great stuff for Christmas, too! Kyle got me a new flash for my camera and a sweater that is the most beautiful shade of green (and you know how I love green) and some other miscellaneous items. I also got a sewing machine, some clothes from Old Navy, the Love and Logic early childhood pack, a Magic Bullet blender, a portable ipod dock, gift cards, and much, much more! I'm so thankful and overwhelmed by the generosity of my family!

I think my favorite part of Christmas day was Kyle opening his gift! We had decided that this year we wouldn't do gifts for each other . . . just stockings like we've done the last two years. When we really need something, we buy it and we can't really afford to buy a whole lot of "wants" so the stocking thing works out well. BUT, I really wanted to get him something special this year because he always sacrifices things so that I can have what I want (I need to write a post about that sometime).

A week or two ago, I let him know that I was getting him something because I knew he'd feel bad if I blindsided him with a gift and he didn't have anything to give me. I explained to him that I didn't want him to spend much on me because I was buying his gift under "special circumstances." The mystery created suspense and I think the suspense about killed him.

Anyway, he has wanted an ipod touch since the day they were released. He also knew there was absolutely no way that we could ever afford one, so he never really asked for one. A few weeks before Christmas, I combined a Sam's club gift card that I had been saving along with the gift giving efforts of several family members that I knew were wanting to buy gifts for him and was able to purchase one! He was so excited and I was thrilled! I was just thankful that my family was willing to go in on this with me, because there's no other way we ever would have been able to afford one. He definitely deserves it!

All is calm . . .

All in all, Christmas was insane. So many places to be, so much to do . . . it wasn't anyone's fault, it was just crazy. I guess it was kind of my fault for thinking we could do it all. I kept saying to myself, "Something has to change for next year or I will never enjoy Christmas again." One blog that I read regularly talks about the "Christmas tacos" tradition that she and her husband initiated this year to make Christmas less about the busy-ness and more about spending time together. This has started me thinking about what kinds of things we can (and should) scale down in order to make the holidays less stressful for everyone involved. I think the main thing that will make it less stressful for me next year is not having to worry about having a cranky baby if he misses a nap. Honestly, he did so well for the hours we were keeping but today he was his happy self since he got a full night of rest.

I'm feeling slightly more relaxed today, but I'm spent. Jack just went to sleep, so I should too. Lukapalooza* starts tomorrow, so I'll need my energy!

---

*Lukapalooza is the name I gave to the Luke family gathering . . . which lasts five days and four nights. It's at camp, so Kyle, Jack and I sleep at home and go there during the day.

Merry Christmas!

Not what I expected

About a year ago, every started telling me about how much fun this Christmas would be . . . you know, with a baby. In my head, I always scoffed at this because of course Christmas would be fun. Christmas is always fun.

But I'm here to tell you that Christmas is decidedly LESS FUN with a baby. I don't think I've ever had a Christmas as un-fun as today. And it's only 9:42 AM.

The un-fun-ness started yesterday when he missed his afternoon nap because of a Christmas party. It continued when he didn't get to bed until 11 PM last night. We knew we'd pay for it and we were right because he didn't sleep well last night and woke up at 5:30 this morning and had no intention of going back to sleep. We rushed around trying to feed him breakfast and get the car packed for our trip to my parents his afternoon, and, well . . . to make a long story short I came home from Kyle's parents house so that Jack can get his full nap. We put his nap off this morning until we couldn't anymore and he was past the point of going to sleep easy so I knew he wouldn't sleep in a house full of people. And now I'm sitting at home alone. On Christmas morning. Eating leftover pizza because my stomach was going to eat itself if I went any longer without food. I'm pretty sure that all of this is worsened by my ongoing recession. Should I add a "Bah humbug!" right here?

This is not how I pictured Jack's first Christmas.

Better luck next year, I guess.

The night before the night before . . .

It's 8:40 PM and we're just getting dinner in the oven. It's that busy, busy time of year. Didn't someone say it was the "most wonderful" time? I'm sure I'll feel that way in a day or two.

We are headed to Dexter tomorrow to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. We're making a few stops along the way, though.

I wasn't too set on having Jack's picture taken with Santa . . . it wasn't that important to me. It's not that we are anti-Santa or anything, but it just isn't something I had really thought about. However, I was shopping in Ann Arbor on Thursday (after my horrendous Jackson shopping experience on Wednesday . . . more on that later) and saw a baby sitting on Santa's lap getting her picture taken. She was SCREAMING but it seriously was one of the cutest pictures ever taken. They have a great set-up there (at Briarwood) and it's not as cheap looking as some of the "meet Santa" backdrops that I've seen.

So, we're thinking about stopping there to have his picture taken tomorrow. The only thing that's making me think twice is the fact that it will cost $15.

PLUS, we're stopping by U of M hospital to see our friends who just had triplets! They're doing great and we're so excited to see the girls in person! Honestly, I'm excited about our family celebration tomorrow (in fact, I'm going to write a post about that tradition sometime), but this is probably the part of the day that I'm most excited about!

Jack has no fear. He'll now crawl AYWHERE! I'll leave you with a few pictures of him exploring the kitchen:




This is the bell that Murphy rings when she needs to go out. Jack discovered it and it's become a new favorite toy.