Christmas 2010

We started our Christmas celebration this year last weekend at my mom & Randy's house. We joined them, Susan, Will and his kids and my Grandma. It was a nice, casual evening with pizza and salad for dinner and then opening gifts. Hannah was oh, so excited for the gift opening! Nicholas on the other hand could really care less, but did enjoy eating the paper! He really preferred to play with the door stop, which is his favorite thing to do at Grandma's house these days!

Here was the attempt at their picture by the tree together.

Hannah's favorite gift was her Tangled Barbie - which plays a song when you push the button. Note to parents - this has an annoying factor of 10 because the song is only a few seconds long and when your child pushes the button so much in less than two days that the batteries wear out, well, you can understand where I'm going!!! But she loves it!

And Nicholas sure got a kick out of his dancing alligator!

And here are the kids with their Great-Grandma!

Then we just had a busy week getting ready for Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at home cleaning and doing last minute preparations. Hannah watched Taylor Swift's "Journey to Fearless" a few times. She absolutely LOVES Taylor Swift and I'm so happy that she does - she's a terrific role model! So anyway, she mostly loved to dance to the music.

But then she asked to let her hair down and wanted to play the guitar like Taylor. So she got Tony's guitar, which is way too big for her, but she loved to play along with Taylor. It was awesome!

So we're thinking about getting her a kid sized guitar for her birthday. She's been so into music lately so we'll probably enroll her in music lessons too - either panio or guitar, whichever she seems more interested in. She's been asking to learn, and the real interest with Taylor is a great motivator!

Then after naps, we got ready and I took both kids to Christmas Eve service at church. This was my first attempt to take Nicholas to church and it went pretty well. He only escaped toward the front once!!! I pretty much kept him busy with Cheerios and graham crackers. He loved to dance to the music! After church, we headed over to Dawn & Jack's for dinner and Christmas celebration. Here is our awesome family by their tree this year.

And since the Baker's all compete to see who can "make the blog", I'll include them all (in no particular order) since it's Christmas!!! Congratulations even though I'm pretty sure you're all making fun of me!

Here's Kendal with the kids

And Krista feeding Nicholas pumpkin pie!

This super-great picture of Hannah with Aunt Dawn.

And then this oh-so-cool and silly Uncle Jack in his snowboarding gear!!!

Sorry, John, I didn't really get a good picture of you doing anything cool?!?!

So Santa came to Aunt Dawn's right on schedule and brought some great things, Baby Alive being the one thing that was high on Hannah's list! She loved feeding her many times and going through diapers, which after the first one ended up becoming half a box of tissues with scotch tape!

Nicholas wasn't such a fan of Santa.

Oh, here's one of John with Santa.

And Hannah gave Santa some very grateful, loving hugs before he left.

We had to head back home to get ready for Santa to come to our house. Hannah left him a note with some milk & cookies and carrots for the reindeer. She left him and extra note to remind him to go to Columbus too because that's where Grandma & Grandpa Roberts were this year....she wanted to make sure they got presents too this year!

And then she went off to bed and I fell asleep on the couch and then Santa came to fill the empty space under the tree!

To my great surprise, I woke up around 8:00 on Christmas morning to hear Nicholas fussing. I let him fuss a while to wake Hannah up and while I was changing him, she got up and was so excited that it was Christmas morning!

We headed downstairs and started to open gifts. It was fun to watch Hannah's excitement and Nicholas having fun with all the paper and boxes! Hannah's favorites were here Leapster2 and her Tangled Dress, which she promptly put on and wore the rest of the day (and weekend). Her face was in that Leapster too the rest of the weekend, which made me realize it will need limits!

Nicholas enjoyed his new fire truck push/ride toy, but also liked playing with the train also.

Tony made me a calendar with pictures of the kids

And Tony once again had a Merry Kissmas!!

After gift opening, we had a special breakfast of waffles with strawberries and whipped cream - YUM!

Dad & Julia came over around noon and we hung out until Aunt Susan and Uncle Will got there around 2:00. We had dinner and then opened gifts yet again! Gee, so much stuff!!!

Hannah got the 2010 Holiday Barbie, but we'll be sorry if someday it's worth a million dollars in the box, because she's an almost 5 year old and wants to play with it!

Nicholas enjoyed his vibrating John Deere teething ring!!

Everyone headed home and we hung out playing a little while longer. Hannah and Nicholas sure enjoy being silly together!

They are the best gifts I could ever ask for! We have been so fortunate this year and got some really great things for Christmas, but our beautiful family is really all I needed this year - I'm so blessed and greatful!

Merry Christmas everyone!

10 month update

I thought Nicholas just turned 9 months, but low and behold, another month flew by and we've had another month of busy milestones and growing!

I think the biggest change this past month is that Nicholas is walking.....more than crawling, I noticed this past week. He still falls down a lot, but usually gets right back up and tries walking to where he's going again.

Another big change is that we're finishing up with baby food all together. He's had all sorts of new foods this month and since the week I was off with them, we've been trying more and more table food and now he's pretty much uninterested in baby food. He's had pancakes, yogurt, macaroni & cheese, spaghetti, all sorts of fruits and vegetables, pizza and this week, pot roast with the potatoes and carrots and broccoli & chicken casserole. He eats absolutely anything I give him and does very well with it. So far he hasn't seemed to have any allergic reactions to anything food related either, so that's a real load off. I'm still trying to be careful to give him new things slowly, but it's getting harder since he's eating pretty much whatever we're eating. I'm so very glad to be done with baby food and happy also to know I only have to buy formula for 2 more months! He still has trouble drinking from a cup, but we keep trying!

He doesn't have any new teeth, but I can see more coming - I think he's getting 4 more - the ones next to the 8 he already has, so I assume by next month, he'll have 12!

He's starting to get a little more vocal, like immitating stuff. He growls a lot still and has a growling-type laugh. I can't believe he doesn't say "no" yet since he hears it about 1000 times a day! He does say mama, dada, uh-oh, ka-ka and tries to say doggie. He waves bye-bye and knows where his nose is.

He's into absolutely EVERYTHING! And still puts everything in his mouth. He loves to have his binky and is now starting to like hanging onto a lovey (the terry cloth burp cloths). He gets a little angry when his bottles are finished and has displayed some very serious tantrums! He has a real funny personality too - likes to be silly and play peek-a-boo. Loves his sister still and loves to take a bath. He's still a pretty lousy sleeper, both for naps and at night. We've pretty much cut out his morning nap most days in hopes he takes a good afternoon nap. He hits a wall between 8:00 and 8:30 most nights and sleeps (not uninterrupted - boo!) until 7:00-7:30 most mornings.

I'm not sure how much he weighs right now, but he seems to be growing up more than out lately and he's finally got a neck!!! He's wearing 12 month clothes, but I'm sure soon we'll be moving to 18 months.

He's extremely hard to take a photo of, so this is about the best we could do this month.

Having a little boy sure is different, but it is great! He will definitely keep us busy!

Guess what we had for dinner?

So as I was sitting at lunch after my grandfather's funeral this afternoon, I remembered I forgot to put the pot roast in the crock pot this morning. OOPS! Guess I had other things on my mind today. Grandpa has had a long battle with Alzheimer's so he's essentially been gone for a few years now. I feel bad that I didn't go see him for probably at least two years, but it wasn't the grandpa residing in that nursing home that I used to know. None-the-less, I probably should have gone. Anyway, his health took a turn for the worse last week and he passed Thursday night. The funeral was fine. I sat next to my Grandma and comforted her, which that was the sad part. They had a nice life together, but she held up pretty well.

So anyway, back to my dinner dilemma. So I realized my menu planned dinner wasn't going to happen and I didn't want to go out, so I asked Hannah what she wanted and of course her answer was the same as any time you ask her to pick. Well, this was a new meal for Nicholas as we've been introducing him to more and more table food. I'm happy to say that I think I'm done buying baby food for him!!! He's been doing great with anything I've fed him so I think there's really no need for rice cereal and strained fruits and vegetables anymore (YAY!) and only 2 more months of formula too!!!!

So anyway, again, back to dinner. OK, I can't just tell you what we had for dinner, because the answer is much for fun to SEE!!!

YEP, spaghetti!!!

Hannah LOVES spaghetti, but only my spaghetti (prego out of a jar - not the "different" kind at a real Italian restaurant). She would have it 3 times a week if I'd let her!!!

And clearly, Nicholas likes it too! He shoveled in all that I gave him including a meatball! This kid is an eating machine!

And Hannah got a clean plate award too, as usual with this dinner.

Wow, how different dinner went tonight because I forgot to make the pot roast!

Portrait Pictures

I wanted to post our professional pictures of Nicholas at 9 months. He had just scratched his face in two spots the day we went, but none-the-less, this kid is cute!!!

And my Favorite!

And then here are Christmas pictures of my two beautiful children! I loved coordinating their outfits this year - so cute!

And I hate having to pick the right pictures on the spot, because I totally like these better!

And lastly, the kids went to see Santa yesterday at Petitti's. My friend Mike takes the pictures there and does a great job!

Hannah took their lists and made sure he knew what her little heart desires this year - and she told him it was OK if she didn't get all of the things on her list, maybe just a few!!!

She also discussed Nicholas' list too. She's always looking out for him!

So as a quick recap to the rest of my week. My NAWIC Holiday Social went really well. I guess it ended up being worth all of the work I put into it. I had to do a lot more speaking than I had realized, but it actually went really well. I got a lot of great feedback the next day from many of the ladies. I did a little more shopping Friday after delivering the food from the canned food drive and going into the office to interview a potential new boss. The kids came home Friday night and we just hung out. Saturday, we went to see Santa and then napped - a very long, much needed nap! Then headed out to dinner and stopped by the town square to look at all the lights. Hannah and I put up the Christmas tree and went to bed.

Hannah had a birthday party to go to today and I did a little more shopping while she was there. I'm just about done, maybe a few little odds and ends and then I've got to do all the wrapping!

So I go back to work tomorrow....not sure if I'm excited or sad about it. It was nice being home and having my mind sort of off work, but I've got a ton to go back to, so I guess "vacation" can't last forever!

Some Vacation?

OK, so I took a week off of work this week...some vacation when I feel busier than I do on a normal week. Like seriously, this time is flying by and I haven't really stopped to get any needed R&R.

Saturday, I had a Tastefully Simple Party. It was very small, but a good time. Then Tony and I played poker Saturday night. It was a night full of Christmas Ale for many there, so as the sober one, it was quite a scene!!! Tony did better than I did, but it was funny, we both went out on like the exact same hand....we had Ace/Six and our caller had King/Jack - we both lost by the caller catching a Jack....so annoying!

Sunday, I had some work to get done for my NAWIC Holiday Social (that's tomorrow) and then I had to get showered and dressed and I met a girl out in Stow for an interview for my open position at work. Then I picked up the kids and we had Chinese for dinner.

Monday started off a bit scary. By 9:12 am, the kids were driving me nuts! I was afraid of this being a REALLY LONG week! But since then, so far, it's been really great spending time with them at home! I had some work stuff to do and we played a little and then while they were napping, I made a grocery list. We went to the store after they woke up and then headed to gymnastics. We got home around 8:15 and I had to put groceries away and get the kids ready for bed, but what I hadn't bargained for was the voicemail that Tony left for me that he was taking himself to the ER for chest pains. So after I got the kids in bed, Laura came over to stay and I headed to the hospital. They were running a bunch of tests on Tony, but he was fine. They noticed some kidney stones that weren't loose, but otherwise said he seemed fine and it was either the kidney stones or a muscle spasm that have him his symptoms. I left around 10:30 when they told him they were keeping him for another 4 hours to run one more test. Laura and I chatted a while and then she left. Tony got home a little after 2 am - he seemed fine.

Tuesday, we got quite a bit of snow, so luckily, I didn't have to go anywhere. The kids and I played and Hannah made Christmas lists for her and Nicholas. We're going to see Santa Saturday.

We colored a bit and they took naps and I got a much needed shower!!!

Nicholas has eaten "real" food for lunch this week - bananas, carrots, macaroni & cheese and soup noodles (not all that at once). He does great feeding himself and loves to eat!!! He's quite messy though, but doing great!

I'm hoping to keep transitioning him to normal food and stop buying baby food! He's really got a funny personality! I'm noticing things he does and he's funny (must take after me!!!). He still makes funny faces and loves to play peek-a-boo by hiding behind a chair or table and then looking at you!

He's smart too! He does so big, patty-cake, waves bye-bye, knows where his nose is and is trying so hard to say doggie. He's walking more and more every day and doing much better, although Tony says he looks like an orangutan as he walks!!!! And oh, such a stinker! He's into EVERYTHING, like steps (and the stool) and cupboards.....whatever he can get his hands on. Oh, and I guess he likes dog food since he's eaten it more than once!

So, I've got a few minutes to myself right now while the kids are napping. I've been really busy this morning with Holiday Social crap - I'll be SO glad when this is over! Tonight I have Bible Study Holiday dinner and a little running around to do. Tomorrow, I've got to take the kids to my mom's and finish the running for Holiday Social and will spend most of my day there....wonder what the heck I'm going to wear and also need to write my speech....wonder when?

Friday morning, I've got to take our canned food from the Social to the food pantry and go into the office for a meeting with a prospective new boss. I hope not to stay long so I can try to get the last of my shopping done before going to pick up the kids.

Saturday, we're going to see Santa and Sunday, Hannah has a birthday party.....so yeah, some vacation this week has been! You know I've been busy because I haven't even had that much time to clean the house, which is usually something I'd spend a lot of time doing if I'm not at work! But the great thing about this week is that I'm spending a lot of time with the kids that I don't normally get. Hannah loves staying home and being in her jammies all day! I get to save daycare money and I get a much needed break from (most) of work!

One last picture of my rock star family!!! Hannah wasn't so happy because she ended up getting a blister on her hand from all her drumming! These kids really have music in their bones! Can't wait to see how it develops!