Christmas 2013

This Christmas season went by faster than any year before, which is of course terrible, but it was a good one and I'm happy to be starting a new year. 

Jude made this Christmas pretty awesome.  He loved Santa, "Chismus tees", his stocking made by Grandma, the jingle bell I hang from the doorknob, the lights, the whole kit and caboodle.  I also loved Graham's first Christmas; he is a duplicate of Jude at this age so I walked down memory lane a lot to Jude's first Christmas, plus Graham always plops a big dollop of jolly wherever he is. 

Jeff and I had our 6th annual Christmas shopping trip.  I love this.  It's become especially fun since having kids because Jeff can't even help himself.  He wants to get the kids eh-ver-ee-thing and I thoroughly enjoy being the voice of reason and prudence :).  I didn't even think Graham needed any presents; he already has 5 times more toys to plow through than Jude did at his age, and 10-month-olds only care about eating wrapping paper.  But skipping Graham presents was out of the question for Jeff, which was sweet. 

Jude has been really into Duplos, and he got some from us, my parents, and Jeff's parents, so he's hooked up.  I love watching him concocting all the time.  He also got a basketball hoop.  He always makes baskets when he's got his back to the hoop and is standing at a bad angle. 

They both got some books, candy in their stockings, we totally spaced the oranges we had in the fridge, and trucks and cars.  I got Jude a sweater but it's too small (very recent growth spurt) so today Grahamsky wore it.  It fits.

Anyway here are some of my favorite little bites of the season:

• There was a delightful pile of "hallmark channel" type Christmas movies on hulu plus and Netflix so we watched a few after the kiddie bops went to bed.  Jeff always predicted the end, details included, like "She's going to be wearing a Santa hat during the last scene" and was always right.
• We took the boys to see Santa at Crystal Court at South Coast Plaza.  No line, they gave us a coupon for a free train ride going on a couple floors up, and neither of the boys had stranger danger.
• On the 22nd, Graham got the stomach flu.  Projectile all over moi.  Jude got it on the 23rd ("I don't like it, mommy, I don't like it!"), and I got it that night and into the morning of Christmas Eve.  I did my usual Stomach Flu Shtick and slept on the couch downstairs with a bowl right next to me, with Christmas movies and Parks and Recreation reruns as my vomiting companions.  The next morning I'll never forget the wonder and awe glowing in my heart as Jude tugged on my leg begging for juice while I barfed in the sink.  After that I stumbled upstairs, mumbled something vaguely intelligible to Jeff about Graham wanting to be held and their diapers had been changed, collapsed in bed, and I got 2 hours of delicious, restorative napping in before Jeff had to got to work.  Since I still felt really wobbly in my stomach and fairly blitzed energy-wise, I hired a lovely babysitter so I could run the last minute Yuletide errands that always seem to appear no matter how much you've tried to get it all done beforehand.
• Santa brought us a leak in the kitchen sink and a dead kitchen faucet, so Santa also summoned a plumber to replace it all.  Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas, and thank goodness we were under budget on presents!
• Bummer: because of the stomach flu that raged across the western United States, and the Eatons, our Christmas Eve celebrations were cancelled.  We sang Christmas songs, put the kids down, watched Four Christmases while wrapping presents, and went to sleep.  It was fun, but weird to be missing more family. 
• Christmas morning we opened most of the presents just the 4 of us, Jude always brought Graham a present to open too before opening his own (cute), and then my parents, Cameron, Katelyn, Sarah, Harry, and Baby Row came down for more partying. The flu threw some wrenches, but we were happy.

 

• The 26th we flew to Utah, and partied on.  Family pictures, Duplos, all the grape juice Jude could ever drink, cousins galore (Jude would jump for joy when one of them approached), Litza's pizza, homemade ice cream, strolls in the snow, church, and Jude has been asking when we will see Grandma and Grandpa again. 
• Back home for New Year's Eve, more stomach flu for me (I got the CA and the UT strain because I'm greedy like that), and now we're in 2014!

Pretty awesome.  Christmas, I love you. 

Graham's Blessing

On March 31 (Easter Sunday), Jeff blessed Graham.

We were so tickled to have all 4 grandparents, Gigi Hayes, Aunt Erica/Uncle Robert + brood, Aunt Michelle/Uncle Mark + L, and Aunt Sarah/Uncle Harry join us.  Obviously we had a great weekend.

This child of mine is cozy with his Grandma.

After the blessing we ate the big old Easter dinner with ham and lots of potatoes.  And here's a nice random pic of my mom, Amber, and Jude and Violet.

Erica and Sarah were interrupted by moi for this picture -- 2 classy beauties right here.

My friend Courtney met most of the family but was asking who the people on the couch were.  I sufficiently blew her mind when I said, "Ok so Harry is married to my sister Sarah, and then next to him is Robert, my sister-in-law Erica's husband, and guess what.  Harry...and Robert...are brothers."  "Brothers-in-law?"  "No, like, they are brothers.  They have the same mom and dad."  "Whaaaa?"

On Saturday we went to a San Clemente beach.  The weather forecast had been shutting this idea down all week with the promise of rain, which would've been sad for our visitors, but the sun championed through!  And hey!  I was there!

I love my effervescent Jude.  Not much is "not a big deal" to him.

Talking shop or something like that.

Cousin E is a devoted and attentive friend to all cousins, but the smaller ones especially.  

Be still my heart!

Grandpa and Jude checking out the playground

Cousin J clearly negotiating with Erica.  He is such a crack-up.  Before the beach, we swooped into the drive-thru at a favorite little spot, A's Big Ace.  Apparently in J's car, everyone was trying to decide what to eat and he goes, "Aw let's just order burgers and be done with it!"

Love

Gigi worked her magic with Graham.  

A brother's love is a brother's love.

Hey!  Let's go bless a baby!

Jeff gave Graham a wonderful blessing.

Papa and Graham. Side note: My dad has always been called "Grandpa" by Elizabeth's kids, but now Jude calls him "Papa".  This sort of simplifies things.  Mimi and Papa are my parents, and Grandma and Grandpa are Jeff's parents.

I majorly scored on this blessing outfit.  I had a store credit for $20 at baby gap and this was on sale for like $20.14.  He looked so cute in it I almost had an ulcer.

The day after, when everyone but Grandma, Grandpa and Gigi had departed, we took them to the San Juan Capistrano Missions.  I somehow made it through the Irvine Unified School District without ever field tripping there, so this was my first time, but Graham was uncharacteristically fussy and I missed most of it.  Now I'll just wait till Jude is matriculated and has his school field trip there, and I'll go help out :).

Graham and Grandma making eyes at each other

Graham brings unending joy to our family.  It was wonderful to be together to bless this beautiful boy, celebrate Easter Sunday, and see each other.  Hip Hip Hooray (x3).

Not pictured: The Easter Egg hunt on Saturday.  It happened, the kids got a lot of eggs, and I ate way too much candy while stuffing said eggs.  Nice.

Mother's Day 2013

Another good one.  It included sleeping in, Jeff made me a fruit plate for breakfast, he and "the kids" gave me a cute skirt, and my parents, Sarah, and Harry came over for dinner.  At church we were given mini Dreyer's ice creams (I chose cookie dough).

This was my 3rd Mother's Day, and each year Jude has done something out of the ordinary to celebrate.  When he was still in his fussy infant phase, he gave me the gift of a Relief Society lesson by snoozing like the dead on my lap.  The next year when he was a tireless 1-year-old, he slept in till 9:30.  And this year, he sat on my lap for 90% of Sacrament Meeting and, in the middle of it, for no apparent reason other than he loves me, he gave me a tight, prolonged hug around my neck and a big kiss on the cheek. He always pulls through on my special day :).

We all know I love being a mom, but lately I've been feeling especially grateful to have my own Mother and Mother-in-Law.

My Mom knows how to crochet, knit, embroider, sew everything from a slip cover to a wedding dress, reupholsters furniture, paints the interior and exterior of her house, can nourish a dying flower back to life, remembers all the poetry from her English Lit classes in college (and thus was able to help me over the phone with mine), cooks healthy, and even somehow makes eating chocolate appear healthy (since she does it a lot and has never gained weight in the 30 years I've been on this beautiful Earth).  She is tactful and gracious, and I've decided she's figured out how to be a "positive realist".  She was a little hard on me in my teen years about things like curfew and boyfriends, but now that I'm a mom, I understand she couldn't NOT worry, and a vigilant parent is better than an AWOL parent.  But most importantly, she's a toasty blanket of love and the sound of encouragement and calm.  Bad day, good day, she always improves a day.  When she can, she takes a half-day off to down to hang out with me and my boys, and those days are so delicious.  We talk, we laugh, we eat a treat, and she'll always claim to have a "little bit of a headache" coming on and therefore needs sips of my Diet Coke.  Lately, Sarah joins us too.  "Mimi" is the Jude whisperer, and he's kind of obsessed with her.  She gave him a toy car, which he calls "my Mimi car!" and must take it with him everywhere.  He panics if I try to put him down for a nap without it.  Anyway, she's a blessing we all appreciate.

My Mother-in-Law gave me a hug the first time I met her when Jeff and I were dating.  She was one of the only people who encouraged me to sleep train Jude, which was a very important thing for me to do (another blog post for another day).  She goes out of her way to help me with the boys, and they love her because she's awesome but also because I know they feel so much love from her.  She also sews, arranges flowers, crochets, and has embroidered blankets for Jude and Graham, and makes Christmas jammies every year.  She's classy, honest, smart, and nurturing.  Charissa has a great sense of humor and whenever we get together we all stay up late laughing and talktalktalking.  I often crave sitting in their family room with some Steven's Hot Chocolate or a Diet Pepsi, watching TV and talking.  One of the biggest reasons why I'll love her forever is without her, and alllllll that she put into raising Jeff, I wouldn't be a wife and mother.   I hope I can also raise Jude and Graham to be clever hunks that will make a girl want to sign up for a lifetime AND eternity together like I do with my Jeff.  I can't wait for my in-laws to quit working already so they can come visit us more.

In short, I hit the jackpot on Moms, and don't think I deserve them.  As it is, however, they're stuck with me.

Happy Mother's Day to all, and to all a goodnight!

Christmas 2012

Christmas, how I love thee. 

Here we go.

Christmas, to me, really started the night before we left for Utah.  We got Jude a picnic table and (evil) tricycle that we couldn't bring along, but wanted to have assembled and waiting for him when we got home.  I was so excited to do this; staying up late with your loverboy putting together your child's Christmas gifts?!  It seemed like classic memories waiting to happen.  But now I know why you hear so many parents talk of this in exasperated tones -- these things are so hard to get together!  The trike was a beast and to make it even worse, Jude's legs aren't quite long enough to pedal it, so it is sitting in our garage right now and has been used once.  The picnic table was easy.  Anyway, we stayed up too late putting together the tricycle, and as I mentioned before, we (I) woke up at 2:45 in the morning (at my command) to get on the road.  I am sort of resentful toward that stupid trike and probably will continue to feel that way until Jude is long enough to get some entertainment out of it.

At a pit stop I sprinted through the cold to the restroom while Jeff changed Juju's diaper.  When I got back I found Jude in his own personal brand of heaven: rocking out in the driver's seat, no pants on.  

We made it to Utah.  At Grandma's suggestion, the boys went out to make a snowman.  Way too cute and I didn't have to go outside.  This was Boys' Club time.

Jude saw me taking pics at the window and ran over to say hi.  I love this person. 

Voila!  I named him Herb, and he lived a glorious 12ish hours before the wind decapitated him and stole his scarf.  

Jude took no time at all warming up to people this trip, and the hugs, kisses, and snuggles were sold or donated in bulk.  Jude slept in the office right by his grandparents' bedroom, and every morning they'd get up with him and play for a good long time before we'd venture up or they'd come to get us.  A true and generous Christmas present for this tired mom!

We met up with some aunts, uncles, and cousins for bowling; Jude may have enjoyed himself a little.   

CHRISTMAS MORNING DAWNS.  Jude and his cousin L got to open one present each, and then we waited for the Lewis family to arrive a few hours later before opening any others.  At Black Friday my lone purchase was a remote control truck that was 55% off.  I thought, "Sure, why not."  He was OBSESSED with it.  He probably exclaimed "Truck!" 350 times in an hour.  I was sick of hearing the word, but it was so lovable to see him so thrilled.  And here he is, clutching my Tums, sitting by his prized possession.  Sidenote: It has already broken so the remote control aspect is out, but he doesn't care, still plays with it every day, and exclaims "Truck!" only about 30 times an hour.  

Here he is waiting (a little impatiently now that he knows those boxes hold items as cool as trucks) for the rest of the family to arrive.  He plunked himself down on a present that was fortunately in a very sturdy box.  Milk, of course, in tow.

After cousins came, presents were opened, wrapping paper folded up for next year or thrown away, and the orgy of greed concluded, Jude was clearly auditioning for the title role in an as-yet undeveloped reality show called The Almost 2 Year Old and Too Much Christmas.  With a viewing of Cars 2 with cousins, snuggled next to Dad, he mellowed.

The mandatory (and joyful!) trip to Litza's Pizza.  Jude gets his very own Root Beer every time.

He and Aunt Michelle have always, always been good pals.

We also were able this time to drop in on some friends, and the Jexies (although not much because they were sick).  President Eyering spoke in church on Sunday and I loved every minute.  It was great to be in Utah.

Then upon arriving back home, we had a little belated Christmas celebration with all the Eatons save Elizabeth's family.  

A little back up for Jeff's present: we are not gamers.  I have never planned to bring video games into the house.  I get a little nervous about where it could lead; all those awful games out there.  Also, isn't it a magnificent time drain??  At the mall the Microsoft store (something we also don't really "get into") has a huge set up right where people can play Xbox 360 games (mainly the dance and fitness games) for all to see.  Jeff mentioned a couple of months ago it looked fun; I thought it looked like something that, once purchased, is used thrice and then left to collect dust.  That was all that was really said about it.  

Then Black Friday came.  It turns out Jeff had told his sister Erica to pick up an Xbox if there was one for a crazy deal.  Medium length story cut short: Erica picked up an Xbox for us.  The next day Jeff said as we drove to his parents' house, "Do you have your checkbook with you?  We have to pay Erica back for something she picked up for us last night."  And then he immediately started massaging my shoulder.  Hmmmm.  When I found out what it was I started laughing but believed we'd probably sell it on Craigslist for a profit (it really had been marked down quite a bit).  Then as the Christmas season went on I realized, "Hey, this is something Jeff actually WANTS!"  It's so rare he wants to spend any money on himself, and he didn't want to play Halo until the wee hours of the morning, he wanted to get the dance game so we could have us some good old family times.  So I decided to be a kind wifely soul and got him the dance game and the Kinect thingy.  I felt like a traitor entering into the Microsoft store, but I must give them credit where credit is due.  The game has been a lot of fun, and I can only imagine I'll enjoy it more when I quit this bowling ball attached to my torso.

Anyway, we played the game for a while when my family was having our Christmas, and Sarah and Harry probably win the award for most skillful novice performances.

Cameron and Katelyn playing the game meant they had to stop staring deeply into each others' eyes for a few minutes.  I am kidding, kidding.

Typical.

M'boys.

Mimi, Grandpa, and Jude doing what he does best: guzzling.

Is this really the only picture of the 2 of us?  Terrible.  I need to hand my camera over to other people more often.

I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life to celebrate my favorite holiday with.  Really, I'm grateful!  Christmas has always been wonderful, and it's gaining in awesomeness as the years go by!!!

Good news people: the next Christmas season begins in approximately 9 months :).

A Little Belated Christmas Tidbit

Ok so I was a ninny and forgot my camera at home, but don't worry, Michelle wasn't a ninny and remembered hers. I'll have some good shots of our holiday soon enough.

We got home in a flurry late last night because Jude was getting sick fast.  The poor boy was miserable.  The 3 of us were first at the doc's this morning and he's on some good old fashioned anti-biotics now.  We are getting the house put back together, Jude is taking a record-long sick nap, and I am uploading some of the tester pics I hastily took this afternoon with my splendid, new 50 mm lens!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I had to post these pictures of Jude and one of his presents we didn't haul to Utah:

The infamous Costco 53" plush bear.  So cheap, so the dream for a little child.  Baby brother may have one waiting in his nursery too.  He was giggling when we pulled it out and gave it a multitude of hugs. 

Look at that face fighting to enjoy life through the illness.  At least the green crusties are no longer completely bombarding his face.  Conjunctivitis and an ear infection had made this one so glassy and sad, but today he was being such a stud.  He has so much zest packed into his frame, he can't help but ham it up.  I never knew I could love a little boy so much.