December 21

I'm not going to lie: today was a rough day. 

Awful, in fact. 

I've been getting up obscenely early and going to the gym before 6:00 each morning, so the days seem a whole lot longer to me. That's hard enough. But then I had to deal with two nose bleeds on two separate children before 8 am, both due to blunt force to the nose.

I think this was before Eli fell off my bed and bonked his nose, causing Nose Bleed #2.

We had a babywearing meeting today, and usually the kids do a great job of hanging out and entertaining themselves for 2 hours while I help moms with their baby carriers. Not today. Eli cried 50% of the whole time, but refused to be worn unless I was nursing him. 

He allowed me to wear him in Partita Allegro for about 30 seconds before insisting that I put him down. See how he's blurry? It's because he was trying to escape. But hey - I look cute!

Lily screamed 25% of the time, and spent another 25% running circles around the store that hosts our meeting. I told her to stop running several times, but finally I laid down the law and told her it needed to stop. She shouted, "NO" and ran off... and immediately tripped a mom with a baby on her back. The mom fell, and her baby was an inch or two from hitting her head on the concrete floor. Thankfully, everyone was safe, so I took that as a sign to quit while I was ahead and we left. I had to carry two screaming children out of the store, but it was for the best.

At home, I fed the kids lunch, put the little two down for naps, and crawled into my bed. Eventually Caleb and Daisy realized they were unsupervised and joined me in bed, where I turned on PBS kids and let them watch TV for two hours while I napped off the stress of the morning. It's technically Christmas break, and PBS Kids is kind of educational, right? No home schooling happened today.

Chris and I had been planning to take the kids to the festivities on Main Street, but I was done. Luckily, Chris' enthusiasm for the event buoyed us along, and we went.

It is 4 days before Christmas, and it was 50 degrees out. The place was packed, but we had so much fun. I'm glad we went.

Those are four happy kiddos eating kettle corn and drinking hot cocoa.

Sorry for the demon flash eyes. But aside from that, aren't they cute?

We are pretty cute, too. 14.5 years of marriage, and he is still my favorite. I just wish we had more time to be grown ups together! (As I type this, we are technically being grownups together: I at my computer and he at his laptop, each working away instead of sleeping. I suppose I really mean I wish we had time to go on fun adventures together without our children, but I'm sure that day will come again.)