December 10

When Caleb and Daisy woke up this morning, they were pretty unimpressed to find their little Christmas trees in the house.

Then I put lights on the trees, and the kids were fascinated. 

They had so much fun decorating their little trees! Each child has special ornaments, and I supplemented those with tiny, colorful, shatterproof ornaments (especially since Daisy hasn't accrued very many special ornaments during her 19 months of life!).

Caleb was very focused on decorating his tree. He made sure to put his extra-special ornaments up high, "So Daisy can't get to them!"

Daisy was more focused on un-decorating her tree. Her specific desire was a little blown-glass kitten playing with a ball of yarn that her Auntie Grace sent last year.

Why, yes. Daisy does have a shirt wrapped around her waist. It's a nice look, isn't it? She opened her closet door, found the basket of too small/out of season clothes, and picked this shirt to wear. She managed to get it around her waist, despite the fact that it involved several buttons, then fought mightily anytime I tried to remove it.

I eventually won the wardrobe battle.

Caleb explained all of his ornaments to me as he hung them. The clusters of shatterproof balls are actually intentional; he thought they looked like birthday balloons, and Christmas is Jesus' birthday, after all.

"Ball."

Caleb's tree.

(He happened to make a clothespin angel yesterday at church that was a perfect fit for the top of his tree!"

Daisy's "as straight as it's gonna get" tree.

Not perfect, but fun, fun, FUN!

December 9

I've been lazy about blogging for the past week, but I'll make up for it today, I promise! Today was my family's annual Christmas tree hunt, so you'd better believe I have a gazillion photos.

Things didn't work out quite as well as we had hoped today; the plan was church, brunch at my parents' house, then kids nap in the car while we drove to the Christmas tree farm. Any guesses which part didn't happen? Yep. Naps. Daisy fell asleep fifteen minutes before we arrived, so the poor girl was pretty touchy the whole time. Caleb was in great spirits, though!

He sat down and had a chat with Santa right away, and asked for the same things he wanted last week: a microphone and a green tractor with a yellow trailer.

Daisy refused to see Santa, and shrieked any time he was in her line of sight.

It looked a lot like this picture, taken at our church last week:

Do you see how clearly the (very talented) photographer captured Daisy's agony? Same thing with Santa.

Caleb was excited to see how much he grew, so Daisy followed suit.

Clearly, her skepticism even applies to cartoon Santas.

The only person who could console Daisy was Ryan, and he seemed to relish his task. It's nice being a baby's favorite person!

Oh, my. Aren't they cute? I definitely bribed Daisy with one or two candy canes during the trip. Anything to stop the fussing.

Sometimes, though, even candy canes don't work. Can you see her fussing and squirming? This is why naptime is sacred in our house.

She smeared that candy cane all over her face until she looked like she was bleeding.

Aren't they cute?

The whole family! I'm so glad the Christmas tree farm finally wised up and gave us a photo opp spot that is outdoors, instead of just indoors. The light is so much better!

(Max missed his nap, too, hence his face buried in Emily's shoulder.)

The tractor ride out to the trees is always a favorite!

Caleb entertained Chris with stories.

Emily and her boys!

Caleb was so sad that he couldn't have a saw, too. I tried to explain to him that the saws were heavy and big, and that he could have one if there were only Caleb-sized saws, but it was no consolation. Then he grabbed a stick, declared it a saw, and the problem was solved. Why didn't I think of that?

Daisy explored,

While the boys cut down our tree.

Max forgot his mittens, so he rocked Daisy's hot pink ones. He's cool like that.

These two insisted I take a picture of the trees they hunted and killed. They are very manly.

After we had all hunted trees, we went back to the barn for hot cocoa.

And maybe a family picture, too. 

And it's possible that I insisted on a bag of kettle corn, even though it is in no way appropriate for our diet.

If you've waded through all of these pictures, then you get to see the best ones of all. Some version of these will likely end up on our Christmas card.

Here's us with our trees:

We purchased an artificial tree a few years ago, and since then it's been our tradition to buy a tree the size of each child for Christmas. So Caleb gets a Caleb-sized tree, Daisy gets a Daisy-sized tree... and then there's that little twig I'm holding...

Confused?

Daisy would like to clarify.

Are you imagining her shouting, "BABY"?

Yep! We bought a tiny tree for Baby #3, who is due in July!

Hooray!

December 6

Hmm. Somehow I didn't take any pictures of Caleb or Daisy yesterday or today. I'll blame it on busy-ness. I did take a picture of their St. Nicholas Day gifts, though. Since we can't have candy or sweet treats, we bent the tradition a little bit. Caleb and Daisy woke up to find these outside their bedroom doors:

Each one got a new pair of slippers and some Christmas jammies.

Practical, and still fun! 

I didn't get to see them discover their goodies, but when I woke up both kiddos were happily running around in their new slippers. Throughout the day today, Caleb would say, "My feet are cold!" and run to get his funny monster slippers. Daisy's look like Muppet feet, and are really funny.

In other news, I did Daisy's two-month GAPS diet weigh-in today. It's actually two days shy of two months, but I had a chance so I took it.

On October 8, my bathroom scale said she weighed 18.6 pounds.

On November 8, it said she weighed 19.4 pounds.

On December 6, she weighed 19.8 pounds.

Not too shabby! I mean, it's not the dramatic weight gain we saw last month, but it's better than nothing! As long as this GAPS diet has her gaining weight, we'll keep it up. But I have to say... 

I miss bread. 

I miss potatoes. 

I miss "normal" food.

I miss easy food. 

Nothing about this is easy.

I'm almost anxious for the diet to run its course and stop being helpful, or for Daisy to reach the point where she's healthy and normal and has no more healing to do, so that we can drop this diet. But right now, it's working. That makes it worth all of the effort and the learning curve and the not being able to eat what everyone else is eating.

Except that I really miss bread.

December 4

Daisy is 19 months old today!

That means she's officially closer to two than she is to one. Today I asked her if she was my big girl, and at first she agreed. Then she realized what she had said and corrected me, "Baby!"

So she's still a baby. But not for long.

The kids took short naps today, so I gave them each a hair cut (Caleb's turned out a bit shorter than I had hoped in the front, and Daisy's was just a little mullet trim) and then asked if I could take some Christmas pictures of them. You know, since it's December 4 and all and I should probably have a Christmas card to send out...

Ever the negotiator, Caleb replied, "Can I paint?"

I responded, "Yes, but after we take pictures."

Caleb: "How about I paint first, then we take pictures?"

Since I knew that he'd be grouchy and uncooperative if I didn't let him win this time, I caved.

He really enjoyed his painting.

Then, Daisy practiced her picture smile. 

I know I just showed you this yesterday, but this face never gets old.

And girl is so happy when she makes silly faces!

Then, because I'm a suuuppper nice mommy, I let Caleb play with the "Toddler Lock" app on my phone. It's a kid-friendly painting app that makes noises and shapes and prevents them from accessing any other part of the phone.

And then we took pictures.

Did you think I would show them to you? Nope. We got some good ones, but I'm holding out until our family's Christmas tree hunt this Sunday to see if we get any keepers then. In the meantime, you'll just have to wait.

December 3

It was something like 75 degrees today - just plain insane for December. We had an errand to run this morning, and it happened to take us near a fun new park. Of course I couldn't resist, and we had a fun time playing and exploring. Daisy was a little shoeless ragamuffin (she just wouldn't keep them on, so I quit trying), but she rocked the slides - even the big kid ones! - and wowed me with her ability to walk up stairs with just one hand on a hand rail. What a big girl!

I was smart enough to bring a lunch, so I was convinced that the fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and 25-minute drive home would be the perfect combination for the kids to fall asleep in the car and take nice, long naps.

Wrong.

Both kids were wide awake when we got home; Daisy only took a ninety-minute nap (compared to her normal three hours), and Caleb didn't nap at all. BOO.

Of course, we had to spend more time outside in the afternoon, and then I finally took some pictures. (After our trip to see Santa on Saturday, I have decided I'm no longer willing to lug around the big ol' diaper bag and big ol' camera unless I have a really good reason. Playtime at the park was super-cute, and several times I wished I had my camera, but I'm still much too lazy to lug it around.)

Caleb has a newfound interest in hockey. Chris says he's actually pretty good. However, my child will never (NEVER) play ice hockey. This mama is too neurotic and cares too much about his precious face and teeth and brain. (Not that ice hockey damaged my wonderful husband's face or teeth or brain, but still...)

I still can't get over this girl walking around like it's no big deal. She was a non-walker for so long that it still gives me a little thrill every time I see it. (And no, the helmet is not for just walking around. I'm not that neurotic. Close - see above - but not quite. She was riding her bicycle.) Also, I'm in love with her new dress. It was a hand-me-down from another MOPS mama, and it is so sweet!

Then Daisy realized I was taking pictures of her, and she flashed me a grin.

Then, her trademark silly face. This one always reminds me of that funny old black and white picture of the old man pulling his lower lip over his nose... do you remember it? I spent much too long Googling to find a picture of it for you, but it seems to not exist on the internet. But trust me - it looks like this.

Then I showed Daisy the picture of her silly face, and she was quite pleased.

December 1

It was a Christmas-y day for us. The hospital where my mom works hosted a visit from Santa today, so I took both kids out to see Santa while Chris waited for Plumber Pete to come fix our kitchen drain. Santa was due to arrive by helicopter at 9:30 sharp, so imagine my dismay when I saw the helicopter landing as we were waiting to park. Luckily, we had a front-row view. And as I saw the reactions of the people outside, I realized that we were in the best possible place for Caleb. The wind and the noise of the helicopter would have been way too much for him.

We did get to look in the helicopter after it landed, but clearly Caleb was interested in other things.

Daisy was interested in Ryan. I love that even though Ryan is fourteen and *really* cool, he's not too cool to snuggle with his cousin who adores him.

Caleb chose to wear his Cardinals Santa hat for the occasion, along with his "Happy Birthday, America!" shirt and his newly christened "Visit with Santa" sweater.

Daisy loves Mimi. I'm pretty sure the only time she smiled all morning was when Mimi was holding her. (Girl was up babbling to herself at 4 this morning. Yikes. Daisy, that is, not Mimi.)

All four cousins, together with Santa. 

The whole time we waited in line (about an hour), Daisy was thrilled with Santa. She'd smile about him and coo, "Tan-ta!!" But once we got close... Can you see the suspicion on Daisy's face? It only got worse from there.

As soon as I put her near Santa, the shrieking began. Daisy didn't just cry - she was terrified. Hysterical. Santa and I were cracking up at Daisy's antics.

Despite Daisy's dramatic reaction, Caleb mustered a super-fake smile for Santa.

After our turn was up, Caleb realized that in all of the hubbub surrounding Daisy, he had forgotten to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. So all by himself, he went back. He gave Santa a handshake and informed him that he wanted a microphone and a green tractor with a yellow trailer.

What a big boy I have!

Then, craft time. More specifically, Caleb and Max made crafts while Daisy pouted about her traumatic experience with Santa.

Caleb was pretty focused and diligent about his gingerbread man ornament. Do you see those little green and white dots on the gingerbread man's feet? Caleb asked me if they were "pain". At first I was confused, but then I got it and had a nice little chuckle. You see, earlier this week, Caleb and I were reading the newspaper together over breakfast. He noticed an advertisement for a chiropractor that featured the silhouette of a man with dots on common pain points. Caleb asked about the dots, and I explained that they were pain.

So of course when I handed him dots to put on his man, he assumed we were applying pain. Funny boy!

Don't you just want to kiss him? Or is that just me?