Holiday Photos

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Twas the Day After Christmas...

Okay, so I know it looks like we went overboard this Christmas.  But honestly, we just bought a lot of small things.  Organizing and finding a place for everything has become a true challenge.  The toys are taking over.  

We are still celebrating Christmas and visiting different family members over the next couple of days.  Once we've seen everyone, I promise a great post/synopsis.

Will has been thrilled with seeing family members and opening all of his gifts.  The only disappointment that I can recall was with the Optimus Prime slippers that Bill bent-over-backwards to find.  Will thought that slippers were soft shoes that allowed you to 'slip' (or skate really) all over the floors in our house.  After wearing them for about five seconds, he concluded that they 'didn't work' and he hasn't touched them since.  As for Liam, we recycled a lot of Will's old toys from when he was a baby.  We just unpacked them and wrapped them up.   Neither Will nor Liam seemed to mind.  We thought Will might notice, but he was just way too busy opening his own gifts to care.  

Hope you had a great Christmas!

Three Christmas Miracles

(Between Christmas shopping, Christmas cookies, Christmas cards, Christmas parties, Christmas decorating, and Christmas art "pwojects", there hasn't been much time for posting new entries.  I have lots of pictures of various holiday events, however I'm saving them for a slideshow after Christmas.)

So back to this post...

A miracle is defined as an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment.  So here's a quick post regarding three recent miracles at our house.

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1:  Liam's Four Month Well Visit

Liam's recent well visit went well.  He's around the 50th percentile for height and weight and everything is going smoothly.  (I misplaced the sheet of paper on which I wrote his exact stats, so I'll have to come back and update this later.)  At the beginning of the visit, the doctor was asking me about milestones and whether Liam was rolling over yet.  I told him that although he is doing better on his tummy and holding his head up for longer periods of time, he hasn't rolled over yet.  Then, as I was backing away from the table so the doctor could start the exam, Liam decided to roll... nearly right off the table.  Dr. Lipp, who was closer, actually made the grab.  

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2:  Cara's Cookie Exchange

With teachers assigning final tests and quizzes before the upcoming holidays, my tutoring schedule has been very busy.  I had eight appointments last week and was out of the house on four different evenings.  I had committed to a holiday cookie exchange with some friends for Thursday morning.  Liam, who hasn't been napping much during the day, made it nearly impossible for me to bake during the day-- so I knew that I would have to wait until evening.  Since I was tutoring every night, I figured Wednesday would be as good as any other for the "big bake off".  Did I mention that besides Pilsbury pre-made cookie dough, I have never baked a cookie in my life?  I did manage to find a semi-homeade recipe, but I also needed to make 9 dozen cookies.  I started baking at about 10:30 pm and finished cleaning and packing everything up at about 3 am.  Yes, better time management is on my long, long list of new year's resolutions.

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3.  Will's Christmas Gift

Jinkies!  We got the last one!  There was only one set of Scooby Doo action figures left on the shelf at Toys R Us.  We were there at the right time and grabbed it, along with the Mystery Machine.  Will, who has always been facinated with 'spooky' things, can't get enough Scooby Doo-- and I really don't mind, because unlike Transformers or Max & Ruby, it's a show I actually enjoy watching.  Although we Santa got him a ton of gifts this year, I know that he's going to be so excited about this one.  

So how about you... any Christmas miracles at your house?

Expecting the Unexpected

Last week, the weather here was just horrible.  Rainy, windy, cold, then warm, then cold again.  We spent the entire week indoors.  Finally, on Friday, the sun came out and despite the cold, it was a beautiful day.  I had (or so I thought) a great idea.  

We hadn't walked to or from school in over a week.  (The photo at left shows our walk on a nice day in September.) Every morning, Will would ask if we could walk and I would have to console him as I explained why we couldn't.  On Friday, I bundled up Liam and we headed to school to surprise Will with a walk home.  As I entered Will's classroom, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor, reading and waiting for me.  He jumped up and gave me a hug as Will's little friends circled Liam in his carrier.  (Liam is like a rockstar at Will's school.)  Will said goodbye to everyone as we put on his coat and headed outside.

"Where's the caaaaarrrrr?", he whined, as he saw the stroller parked next to the door.

"There's no car.  We're walking home, honey."  I could sense the impending drama.  Here it comes.

"Nooooooooooooo.  I don't want toooooo."

He spent the rest of the walk whining and complaining and begging me to pick him up and carry him.  I continued to push the stroller home, as fast as I could, all the while planning the fastest way to get Will into bed for a much needed nap.  Much needed... for me that is.

Fortunately, the "unexpected" works both ways.

In the past, I've always recruited Bill to accompany us for Christmas pictures.  From getting Will washed and dressed, to getting his cowlicks glued down, to getting him to smile and cooperate... I always thought about 'safety in numbers' and two against one is always safe, right?  This year, once again, it was two against one, but this time the odds were not in my favor.  Rather than wait two weeks for an evening appointment, I scheduled the photos for a morning when Bill was at work.  

I expected Will to be uncooperative and Liam to be fussy.  I expected Will to refuse to wear the sweater and I expected Liam to cry or spit up on his outfit.  I expected Will to make silly faces or break a prop and I expected that Liam would need a bottle or a diaper change as soon as it was time for our appointment to begin.  What I got was, of course, the unexpected.  Will was great.  He was completely agreeable (before, during and after) and the photographer commented on how wonderful he was.  Liam was happy and he delivered smile after smile, completely on cue.  For weeks, the anxiety of this appointment had been building and ultimately, it went off without a hitch.  Here are some of the photos... 

These days are filled with highs and lows, successes and failures... and almost always, the unexpected.

Photos from Will's Trip to NYC