Christmas in a nutshell

Christmas really began on the Saturday before Christmas.....after a looooooong day at work, I braved the mall and learned a great lesson. No matter how jam packed the mall is, it's still easier to navigate than when I drag both kids and the double stroller! I was in and out in a few minutes and really had a pleasant time of it. Anya was at home getting upset that Santa on the fire truck was avoiding our street like the plague. THis happens every year, which is weird because we have a TON of kidson our street, but George was able to satisfy her with some explanation.


Sunday was spent cooking and baking for Christmas day. ANya helped me with a few batches of cutout cookies and peanut butter blossoms and then I moved on to the other projects. I was super exhausted that night, but pleased with the amount I got done.

Christmas Eve was another looooong day. Work was busy but not too crazy and then the fun began. We went to Uncle Jerry's and had a really nice time. THe kids played well together and enjoyed meeting Santa (or Sousa as Baz calls him). Anya happily jumped up on his lap and told him she loved him, but Baz wasn't too sure so he stayed with George and I. Santa gave out Reindeer food to all the kids, so a very groggy Anya insisted on spreading it out on the yard to show the way for Santa's reindeer.

Santa didn't skimp on our kids at all- they completely enjoyed opening all of their gifts and seem to enjoy every single one! We had a great time with the rest of the family when they arrived later in the day.

Christmas part II was this weekend at my parents' house. Once again, they enjoyed opening the piles of presents and playing with the treasures inside. Anya and Isabella mostly played together great, but there were a few fights that got a tad crazy!

I'm eager to get back into our "usual" routine, whatever that may be. Anya has gotten used to staying up late so that needs to be fixed ASAP. Stay tuned to our other website for pics and videos from the holidays- I have a ton, but have to sort through them all!

Wow- it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Before I recount our holiday activities, I want to share some of Baz's cute things.

He's quickly moving into 2 and 3 word phrases.. "my turn" or "I fix it" are popular ones. This evening as I was rocking him, we both heard Anya crying in her room. He put down his sippy cup and put his arms out and asked "what happened?" He also proclaims "OK" whenever he falls down or knocks something over loudly. It makes my life a bit easier!

Anya's parties

THanks to this book and her birthday party, Anya has a deep interest in having parties now. TOday we had at least 3 of them! She makes up an invitation and delivers it.....once today, the doggy led me to the "mailbox" where the invite was! We then go to her room where the party is and dance or watch her show and eat some pretend food. She is also turning into quite the fish- she loves being in the tub and insisted on a "bonus" bath once Baz was in for a nap. Oh, what a nice life we'll have once we get a hot tub....we can spend all of our "free" time in it! (A girl can dream, right?)

Baz is talking!

He's been working on words here or there, most of which are missing the first consonant (ilk for milk, at for cat, etc), but now he's on to 2 or 3 word phrases. Today is was "are you?". He started the morning out looking for Sousa (ie Santa) and saying "sousa are you". It continued throughout the day....adorable! He's also begun chanting "Hi, Anya's kindergarten" as turn the corner to go past her future school.

His Star Wars fascination is also building. I don't think he has a favorite character yet, but he can clearly identify Luke, Han, Leia, Chewy, R2, 3PO, Boba Fett, Lando, Vader, Yoda, and maybe a few that I'm forgetting! He also LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (yay for me- I love it too!!!!) and Goofy (Oofy) is by far his favorite! I so hope he isn't too afraid of the characters when we go to Disney so he can enjoy his friends!

It seems that my blogging is pretty pathetic lately, so I'm going to try to do better!

Last week was tough since the sickies visited our house. After having a typical mild cough/cold for a week or so, Baz starting spiking high fevers (103-104) for a few days, so I finally took him to the peds to discover that he had bilat ear infections. His lungs were also junky, so in addition to abx, he was given nebulizer treatments. The first couple of treatments were tough until I realized that he just wanted to be asked to put the mask on his nose. Then it became a game!!! I even had to intervene so that he and Anya took fair turns with the nebs.

At the same time, Anya kept insisting that her ears were "counting to me". SHe never complained of pain, so I kind of wrote it off, but since Baz's got so bad I figured it was worth getting hers checked out. Bingo- her ears were in fact telling her that they were infected- baaaad mommy.

Anyway, the sickies have left our house for the time being- yippee!!!!!

First school pics

Here is Anya's first school pic: