December 31

Happy New Year's Eve!

We had lots of fun today, starting with a trip to the Butterfly House. Since it was just me with all three kiddos, it was crazy crowded, and I let Lily walk most of the time, I don't have any pictures from our visit. Highlights included Daisy freaking out and not wanting to go into the actual butterfly area, Daisy begging to leave the whole time, a butterfly landing on Caleb's shoulder and Caleb freaking out, and a butterfly landing on Daisy's dress and Daisy freaking out. More reasons why I didn't take any pictures. Still, we had fun, and the kids' favorite part was when I let them each get two bags of popcorn. We lived it up! (The popcorn was free.)

After naps all around, I got out some leftover New Year crowns and noise makers. The kids were so excited! 

Okay, maybe Lily wasn't so excited about having her picture taken. But she was loving the festive accessories.

Daisy and Caleb had a noisemaker battle. (I have no idea what the technical term is for these things. We called them "tooters" all afternoon.) 

After pictures, I began preparing for our special New Year's Eve dinner. For the past several years, we've celebrated with a fancy meal at home, but this time I upped the ante and we all put on fancy clothes, too. 

Daisy wanted to wear her dress-up princess gown, but couldn't find it. Instead, she wore her Princess Ariel slippers, her favorite dress from Aunt Jenny, a sparkly necklace of mine, and her crown. She felt so fancy and special!

Caleb was briefly disappointed at his lack of anything sparkly, but he ended up looking quite festive in his tie and fedora. I can always tell when Caleb feels good about the way he and Daisy look when he wants  to walk holding her hand or poses with his arm around her. It's the sweetest thing.

Lily dressed up, too, but spent most of the evening attempting to remove her clothes. She had a sparkly cardigan on, but that came off, and she removed her golden sandals at least three times. She also didn't want her picture taken. So it goes with a 17-month-old.

That might be the best photo I have of the three of them together, and Lily is preparing to bolt.

Daisy didn't mind having her picture taken, though!

(Since I'm 31 weeks pregnant today, none of my fancy, sparkly clothes fit. I had to make due with an ill-fitting dress and some sparkly jewelry.

Caleb was still chewing the remains of his filet mignon and crab legs, but he couldn't resist a photo op with his two favorite ladies. Chris had us all giggling with his ninja photography skills.

And Daisy snapped this one of Chris and me; we had been dating for 3 days when we celebrated our first New Year together on the eve of Y2K, which makes 16 New Year's Eves that we've celebrated together! (Is that right? My math may be fuzzy there. Maybe it's only 15.)

In honor of that, here's a throwback to when we first started dating. I don't think this was New Year's
Eve, but it was somewhere around then.

I wonder what 18-year-old us would think of 33-year-old us? I bet they'd be pretty happy. I know 33-year-old me is.

December 30

Guess who didn't nap today?

Yep. This stinker. Caleb and Daisy both napped, but Lily? Not so much.

Guess who is exhausted?

Nope, not this stinker. But her mama definitely is.

December 29

It's too bad I didn't have any pictures to share yesterday, because we had an awesome day. I suppose that's how it goes, though. We had a run of three nights in a row of enjoyable dinnertimes... sadly, tonight broke that run. Still, it was nice while it lasted and gives me hope for the future!

Today we sent Chris off to work for the first time in a week. We were all sad to see him go; it's so much nicer when he's here! If only we were independently wealthy, and he could stay home all the time. The kids and I had a good day, even if we didn't do much of anything. 

Today was a milestone of sorts: it marked the first time I put Lily down for a nap without nursing her, which is a big deal. With this new baby coming in just over two months (!), we realized that Christmas break was a good time to wean Lily of her one nursing session of the day. It hurts my heart to have to wean her at 17 months, but ever since my milk began disappearing when I was about 9 weeks pregnant, I knew this day was coming. It was the one reason I was sad to have Lily and Yoey so close together in age. And 17 months, while not what I had hoped for, is not too shabby! I guess the last time I nursed her was actually a week ago, but Chris has been handling nap times since then, so I haven't had to deal with telling her no to milk until today. At nap time I gave her a cup of raw cow's milk, read her two books, and put her on my shoulder so we could rock, snuggle, and sing. After about five minutes of snuggling, she realized something was up, sat bolt upright, and patted my breast to indicate that she wanted to nurse. I told her, "No. All done." and she was MAD for about five minutes. Then she got over it and went to sleep. Let's hope it continues this way!

Once the girls were down for their naps, it was my nap time. Caleb, however, was having none of it. He played quietly in his room for a while, and then came crawling into my bed, upset about some Lego fiasco. Eventually, he stopped fussing and fell asleep snuggled up next to me. It was lovely, until Lily woke up 30 minutes later. Boo. Daisy woke up not long after, but remarkably, Caleb stayed asleep. When he had napped for two hours, Lily and Daisy decided it was time to wake Caleb up. I put Lily on the bed, and she was the sweetest little alarm clock ever!

Normally Caleb is crabby when we have to wake him up, but can you see the smile on his face? Lily crawled right up to him and squawked at him, and he cracked up.

Then she gave him the sweetest hugs.

(See the blur that is Daisy's hand? She was not being sweet or gentle, and Caleb was kind of annoyed with her. Honestly, Lily seemed peeved with Daisy, too.)

But oh! Sweet sibling snuggles!

And then Lily gave Caleb kisses upon kisses upon kisses, which he gladly accepted.

I mean, really. Who could refuse this kissy face?

(Yes, that is her "I want to give you a kiss" face. We see it every nap time and bedtime, when she gives us milky kisses and shouts, "BAH!" as she waves goodnight to us. I love this sweet girl!)

December 27

Chris' sister Sally gave the kids a Wizard of Oz picture book for Christmas, and they have really liked it. I mentioned this morning that the book was actually a movie, and Caleb looked at me with serious distrust. I'm pretty sure he was shocked that I could have withheld such important information from him. They desperately wanted to see the movie, and, as luck would have it, a copy had just been returned to our branch of the library. Hooray! Chris and the kids went off to the library, and returned an hour later with The Wizard of Oz and a stack of books.

The kids and I immediately sat down to watch the movie, and Daisy kept her copy of the book in her lap for easy reference. As the movie progressed, she followed along in her book. It was darling.  Even though she knew how the story ended, Daisy was still pretty scared during a few parts, so I definitely had to sit and watch with the kids the whole time. We also had to break up our viewing with lunch and nap time, but Caleb and Daisy (and even Lily, surprisingly!) were very engaged. During the beginning tornado scene, Daisy had lots of really good advice for Dorothy: "SHE NEEDS TO GET INSIDE! SHE NEEDS TO GO IN HER HOUSE AND GET UNDER A TABLE OR A CHAIR!!!!!" That little girl of mine is pretty smart!

After we finished the movie, Caleb and Daisy snuggled up on the couch and enjoyed the other spoils of their library trip: a giant stack of books.

This just melts my heart.

Of course, my heart would be even meltier if they were reading classic literature, instead of "Sponge Bob Square Pants Gets Sick", but still. I'll take it.

December 26

Today was supposed to be the quiet after the storm that was Christmas, but it wasn't.

Daisy and Lily had to go back to the doctor's office for a re-check of their ears after they both ruptured their left eardrums two weeks ago. Daisy's ears are on the mend, though they still aren't healthy and normal due to her persistent congestion. Stupid winter and incessant colds. Lily's left ear - the one that ruptured - looked fine, but her right one was problematic. Our doc couldn't see all of it, but it was clear that the top was perforated and it was pretty nasty. Poor baby. No wonder she hasn't been sleeping well lately! Luckily, her next re-check will coincide with her 18-month checkup, so I don't have to pay for another doctor appointment. 

We left the doctor and headed home to eat lunch before I took Caleb and Daisy to a birthday party for one of Daisy's preschool classmates. I will never understand why people schedule children's birthday parties during nap time. Perhaps the birthday boy - who turned 4 - no longer naps, but my 3 and a half year old definitely felt the missed nap. Still, Caleb and Daisy had lots of fun, and since the party happened to be at a party spot in a mall, we were able to pick up a few things while we were there. As a reward for their good behavior, we went up and down the escalator. I love that my children are still impressed by things like escalators.

Some completely unrelated pictures:

This is a terrible picture of Daisy, but I have to share it because she is so. darn. happy. My mom gave Daisy her own Lego Duplos for Christmas, and Daisy is so excited to have Legos of her own to build with! She is a building machine, and is so proud of her work. Daisy's face looks so weird here because she is quite literally bursting with pride at her tower creation. (Also, my sister gave Daisy some super-soft fleece pants - with pockets! - and they are now Daisy's favorite thing ever.) 

After dinner, Daisy tried on her new leotard and silly dance shoes. She was so excited!

Chris played DJ and chose dancing tunes while Daisy took advantage of our still-empty room as a dance floor.

Lily joined in the fun, too, using a cloth napkin as a dancing prop.

Sadly, the dance party ended before I could get very many pictures because Daisy's dancing shoes are too big and one fell off and then she completely melted down. (No nap, remember?) I was actually trying to take a video when she flipped out, so here is first-hand footage of how volatile 3-year-olds can be when they are overtired:

I suppose we'll have to try again another time, and in the meantime I'm going to try to sew her slippers so that they aren't quite so big.

December 25

After several busy, busy days, I was craving some quiet time at home with my loveys today. Happily, I got my Christmas wish! My kids are remarkably immune to the "let's-wake-up-at-the-crack-of-dawn-and-be-obnoxious-until-it's-time-to-open-gifts" thing so far. I'm sure it will come some day, but for now, we are loving slow Christmas mornings!

Chris got up with the kids at 7:30, and Lily and I both slept until 8:30. We ate a leisurely breakfast, took some pictures in front of the tree, and eventually got around to opening gifts.

I couldn't get Lily to look at the camera, but at least the other two kiddos are happy. No, you can't see my baby bump, but can you tell that there's barely room for Caleb in my lap because of it? Also, please note that Daisy is still wearing her Elsa hat. Girl loves that thing.

I love these happy kids! I also love the small assortment of gifts behind them. I really wasn't feeling Christmas this year, and funds are tight for us as we save up to buy a minivan. Each kid got maybe four small, thoughtful gifts, and it was perfect. 

Even with the small amount of gifts, Lily got distracted. We caught her taking a break to play with the Little People nativity scene.

Even funnier, though, was her little perch so that she could access the toys. She was determined, and climbed up there all by herself! Funny girl!

Lily was thrilled with the gift I made for her - her very own superhero cape, just like Caleb and Daisy have!

Caleb was excited to get his very own copy of the Lego Star Wars game for the Wii.

And Daisy was delighted with her new skirted leotard and princess ballet slippers. 

(You can't see her face, but you can see the little dimple that indicates that she's smiling!)

We hung out and played all day, took long naps, and Chris took the kids over to his parents' house for a little while. Daisy was so excited to wear her new night gown that she put it on before dinner!

The girl has never had a nightgown before, and only recently realized they were a thing. Once she discovered them, she wanted one desperately. Lucky girl - both grandmas each got her a nightgown!  Three things I love about this picture: how happy Daisy is, her bunny slippers, and Lily's excited expression as she pets the soft fleece night gown. Too cute!

Since Christmas is officially over, I suppose I should also post our official Christmas Card photos for the year:

 

I was really happy with how well our last-minute pictures turned out!

And I just spent way too much time making this collage of Christmases past and present, but it's so much fun that I don't even mind how long it took.

 We are so thankful for the peace and joy we have because God chose to send his Son to die for our sins. Merry Christmas, indeed!

December 24

It's been busy few days around here, and I'm slowly working my way through a backlog of pictures to edit and process. In addition to the pictures, there were a few last-minute gifts to sew, a million gifts to wrap, food to prepare, and celebrations to be had. 

Today Grace came over to play for a little bit before she heads back to Texas tomorrow, then we had early naps, then church, then went to my parents' house to celebrate Christmas #2. We had a low-key Christmas there, with gifts just for the little ones, and it was perfect.

I wanted to get a picture of all of the grandkids in front of the tree. Remarkably, the oldest one was the least cooperative. And then of course my children were also uncooperative. I have no explanation for why Caleb looks the way he does, except that he is a goof. But aren't Jace and Max cute? It is so much fun that all of the kiddos are so close in age. Ryan is almost 17, but then Caleb is 5 and a half, Max is 4 and a half, Daisy is 3 and a half, and Jace and Lily are both 17 months old. They're all at the perfect age for playing together right now!

My mom found this Elsa baseball cap with a long blonde braid attached, and knew Daisy had to have it. (Actually, Mom really wanted one for herself, too, but apparently they don't come in grown-up sizes. Instead, she's living vicariously through Daisy.) It immediately became Daisy's favorite gift, and she has barely taken it off her head since this moment.

My dad bought The Book With No Pictures for the kids, and they love it. Love, love, love it. Caleb laughs so hard when we read it, and it is the best sound in the world. I highly recommend this book, just because it's so silly and fun.

We gave Max a Ninja Turtles underoos set, and he immediately put on the muscle shirt and ran around like a turtle. I think he looks pretty legit!

Emily gave Lily this Noisy Farm book, and Lily thought it was the best thing ever.

Daisy tickled Grandpa with her braid,

and Jace ran around in the Ninja Turtles eye mask that came with Max's underoos.

Then my mom got out the Santa hats, and even more fun was had.

Lily loved the hat, but didn't want to be photographed in it. 

Jace also loved the hat!

Right before we headed out the door, I tried to get a picture of my parents with all of their grandbabies. The kids were so tired! Daisy was completely uncooperative, until I promised her chocolate. Then I got this smile out of her.

She's definitely my child.

Our kiddos didn't get to bed until nearly 10:00, which is seriously past their bedtime. It was a long, fun day!

December 22

Because Chris' sister and her husband have to head back to Texas on Christmas day, we celebrated Christmas with Chris' family tonight. We had so much fun!

After a delicious dinner, Grace and the kids had an impromptu dance party. I wish I had thought to switch my camera to video, because they were really getting down! You can kind of tell how excited Lily was to be dancing.

The kids also spent a lot of time playing with all of the awesome toys in Grandmother's basement. Lily had fun stacking and knocking over these cardboard bricks.

Finally, it was present time. Caleb and Daisy were amazed at all of the presents around the tree!

Daisy's favorite gift of the night was this piggy bank from Grandmother. She's been asking for a purple piggy bank for months!

Grandmother even gave her a box of coins and some dollars to put in the bank, and Daisy got started right away.

The whole family, minus me! I totally had to bribe the kids with candy to get them to sit still and smile for the camera, but it sure worked well. 

Merry Christas (early)!