Good Intentions

This is the first of a short series of posts to get all caught up on Christmas happenings.  I started the month off strong and had high hopes for all kinds of great Christmas-y plans this year.  But then something happened.  My pregnancy caught up to me.  A picture I almost snapped of Ben (but then he woke up right as I was about to click the camera) sums up perfectly how I felt this Christmas season.  In my rear view mirror one day I saw Ben fast asleep in his car seat clinging tightly to a half-eaten candy cane.  And that was me this last month.  I was clinging tightly to all of my well-laid plans to make this Christmas fun, magical, and meaningful for Ben, yet my body was screaming at me I'm tired, slow down, no more!  So I started to listen.  And guess what, everything turned out just wonderfully.  I had to keep listing to myself the things that we had done during the very fast Christmas season though to keep from feeling guilty at times.  I know it's not all about these things we do or think we need to do, but I didn't want to completely surpass all the fun traditions of the holiday.  So we did manage to...

get and decorate an extremely large real tree (almost eleven feet).  Despite the fact that it fell down on us twice- once after completely decorated- and took us nearly a week to go from purchasing to decorating the tree for the second and final time, every time I look at it I think to myself it is the most beautiful tree I've ever seen.

hang our new Etsy stockings with care on a "real" mantle.  I love our new stockings and loved to include our almost new addition Jackson in the mix.

decorate some fine smelling gingerbread people.  It was an intense endeavor for Ben as you can very well tell.

drove around looking at Christmas lights and found the mack daddy of all houses thanks to a tip from our neighbor, Sean.  A house we have named "the crazy house."  We heard their PG&E bill for the month of December is $5,000.  Crazy!  The best part was the house next door was completely devoid of all lights, except a light sign that said ditto with an arrow pointing to the crazy house.  Best part was that it is right in our development, so we got to stop and marvel over the crazy house many nights on our way home from various Christmas activities. 

and of course wait in line for the one, the only Santa Clause.  Ben was thrilled to tell Santa he wanted a Buzz Lightyear (I also had to convince him that he wanted an art easel, since I already purchased it.  And then just days before Christmas he saw Santa again with his Mimi and new baby cousin, and told him he wanted a t-Rex.  I told him it was too late to change things up on Santa, and luckily he was fine with it.  Phew! 

I'm An Auntie

Very early Monday morning, 12/12/2011 at 5:27 am I became a first time auntie, and my sister, a first time mommy.  I must have been subconsciously anticipating the arrival because I hardly slept all Sunday night (less than usual), and was already wide awake when my mom called me at about 4:30 am to tell me they were at the hospital and Katie was already 8 centimeters dilated.  I had Ben and I up and ready in ten minutes and we were on our way to witness the amazing miracle of birth (or so I thought).  Baby girl just couldn't wait for me and my mom called me a short thirty minutes later to tell me that she was here!  My sister labored mostly at home, and actually wasn't convinced it was the real-deal until morning.  So either she is a LOT tougher than we ever give her credit for when it comes to pain, or possibly it just wasn't all that bad . . . yet.  She finally woke up her husband and they headed to the hospital where he was timing her contractions at just two minutes apart.  Katie immediately started asking for an epidural upon arrival only soon to find out that it was too late and the baby was coming, now.  My brother-in-law said that Kate looked like a very scared child, looking up at the nurses with huge blue eyes, begging for the medicine. Can you believe it, just an hour and a half after entering the hospital doors and ten minutes of pushing, my niece had entered the world.  My sister got through it drug free, and without screaming according to my mom, but with lots of teeth grinding and holding her breath so much that Tim feared she would pass out apparently.  I was sad to have missed it, but loved every moment of the time I got to spend with baby Ashlynn Christine Wadkins on her very first day of life.  So proud of my sister.  I know if you can do it, I probably can too (I'm going to try my hardest to have a drug-free labor and delivery without having an absolute agenda to do so-- if that makes any sense).  Ashlynn is very healthy and eating and sleeping great so far.  Can't wait for her and her baby cousin to grow up together and experience many firsts together.

        

    

 

                    

Thankful

Since it is nearly Christmas already (this month is flying by), I thought that I better post about Thanksgiving.  It really was another great Thanksgiving this year.  For the first time in a long time I didn't go watch the husband at the annual Turkey Bowl (I told him my days doing that were over-- soon he'll have sons to go with him anyways).  And for the first time in an even longer time, James did not play in a football Turkey Bowl game, but rather a basketball Turkey Bowl-- it was too cold outside.  When James got home from the game we headed to my parents house.  Ben helped his Nana and Papa prep for their dinner, we took a few family pictures, and then left around two to Sausalito to Tom and Staci's house for dinner.

Holidays at the Reilly's house are always fun because of Tom's great family.  Plus all of James' siblings were home from college, so it was nice to all be together.  Dinner was yummy, although I should have eaten more- don't know why I didn't go back for seconds, : )  

                                 

After dinner little Dylan was extremely worn out so Staci asked the girls to give him a bath and get him ready for bed.  Of course Ben had to get in on the fun.  It was such a cute sight when I went upstairs and saw this.  Makes me really excited for Baby #2 and lots of fun times to come and seeing my two in a tub together!

I have so much to be grateful for this year: a baby growing away in my belly, a super funny and intelligent toddler, a driven husband who is a great provider for our family, a beautiful home that I am enjoying slowly decorating, and a growing extended family (a new brother-in-law and as of two days ago, my first niece!)

Christmas is coming way too quickly and I have lots to catch up on before then, so wish me luck.