Christmas 2010

Once again, I am incredibly behind in sharing a holiday, my apologies....but I'm sure y'all are used to it by now.

This past Christmas was the first Christmas in twenty years that I did not have to switch houses at a particular time.  There was no traveling clear across the  state the Christmas afternoon for the first time in 7 years.  and I loved it.  Being able to be lazy whenever we wanted/as much as pepito would allow us to, was nothing short of the best time ever.

William obviously has no idea who Santa is or how Christmas "works" but he did absolutely love being surprised by a giant red plastic firetruck toddler bed at 6am Christmas morning.  He jumped out of my arms when we turned the corner into the dining room and Sam was already set up with the video camera.  he thinks it's one of the greatest things ever.  He climbed in and out of all morning long to just sit and bring his BoBo and Hilbert up there with him.

On a non-Christmas note - the transition to a toddler bed has gone amazingly smooth.  The first night he was upset about it but who wouldn't be?!  but since then, he sleeps like a baby (ha!) or sometimes wakes up once, which he would do in the crib as well, so no big change there.  And up until this morning, he stays in the crib until we come in to say Good Morning.  This morning, I found him with BoBo picking up books and talking, but usually he's a good boy and stays put.  I'm not sure if it's because we switched him over before he learned to "escape" or because his teachers have taught him to stay on his cot until naptime is over, but either way, I'm counting us lucky to have missed out on the nightmare transitions we've read about.

Back to Christmas.  After our little Rumer Christmas, we headed over to B&B's for the big Rumer Christmas.  We were there just before am which is a success all on its own.  I think B&B were surprised when I called at 7:40am saying we had just left the house...  We don't mess around when it comes to Christmas!  As soon as we got there, William immediately spotted a Santa gift and made a beeline for the riding Firetruck toy.  Too bad for him, it took three people and 7 minutes to undo the packaging so he could play with it.  He wasn't happy with that at all.  Oh well.  Patience is a learned behavior.

We ate breakfast and then it was time for Christmas.  He ran around like a crazy man, flitting between rooms and toys, and I chased after him.  I did his Christmas first and he was kind of in to it - when he was standing there...  He got a great "anywhere Chair" from Pottery Barn with his name on it that already loves.  He immediately grabbed the phone and went to sit in it.  So cute.  and that's mostly how Christmas went.  The extended family showed up a little later, and he ran around the house like a crazy mini person.

He (and the both of us) were completed exhausted and overwhelmed by the end of the day.  William went to bed early and Sam and I - in the interest of having the house look a little less like Toys R Us threw up in it - we took the Christmas tree and the decorations down.  A little sad that we took all the happiness down so soon but the state of disaster our house was in was making us crazy.  There was some rearranging of furniture that was fun - we decided to lose the coffee table and that gives William SO much more room to play.  Funny how priorities change with a kid running around the house....

So, yeah, Christmas was pretty low key.  It wasn't the same not seeing my family ON Christmas, even though we saw them the week before, but it was REALLY nice not having to rush to travel and get to be home all weekend.

In other William fun, because who knows when I'll find time to blog again (I'm typing this at work right now to copy onto the blog later), he is saying lots of words now.  Night Night, eye, nose, shoes, BoBo, Hilbert, mama, Da Dee, Pup Pup, Hi, Hey, Bye Bye, Ball, Truck, Car, Choo Choo, Balloon, and then the always fun jibberish.  We watch the Good Night Show on Sprout every night and he says Bye to the tv and waves.  Too too cute - and he's even started saying by to his teachers and friends when we leave school.  He plays very independently now, which is nice.  He LOVES to drag out the pots and lids to put his toys, food, sippy cup in and then put the lid on top.  We never know what we're going to find in the pot.  Right now it's a rubber ducky with a couple Scooby Doo cookie snacks....  he loves to laugh and loves to give hugs.  I hope that never changes.  I'm hoping he stays sweet like my little brother has.  Oh - and we've started a new bedtime routine that includes sitting in Daddy's lap to read a book.  The wondrous part is that he is finally sitting still through a book and loves pointing at the animals.  It's kind of like a light switch got turned and he like to let you read to him.  and he will put his arms up in the air to have you pick him up and then he'll sit and snuggle for a good amount of time.  I love it.  I hate to think that this will end at some point.....

Happy New Year!

Loves!

December Pics

I am much too tired to do a full on post.  The two people I back up at work are on vacation and everything has blown up in their absence.  Not even kidding - I didn't talk to any of my work friends until after lunch today - and I didn't walk out of the office until 7:05 pm last night.  So, it's fair to say I'm exhausted.  But I know that if I don't get atleast the pictures loaded from our early Christmas - it just won't happen.

Please please please be happy with just pictures.  And know that I enjoyed spending the day surrounded by all my brothers and sisters.  It takes a lot of coordination to get all five of us together and I treasure it.  And my parents, aunts, uncles, and grand-parents are pretty cool too.

Turns out we let Daddy take most of the Christmas pictures...so here are cute December pics...

Obviously not a huge fan of Santa this year

Hugging on Henry

More hugs

Crossing his legs to eat

Uh Oh!  Caught Ya!

First spaghetti dinner

Not quite sure what to do with a popsicle...

Early Christmas present from Mommy & Daddy!!!

First Bubble Bath!

Stuffing his face with cinnamon raisin bread before school

Merry Christmas!

Loves!

Christmas 2010

Family Frame Christmas Card

Shutterfly has classic, elegant Christmas invitations for your party.

View the entire collection of cards.

William Meets Santa

Gotta love honest moments....

Loves.

Oh Christmas Card, Our Christmas Card

I'll be the first to admit that, as a family - meaning Sam and I, do not have a great track record when it comes to sending out Christmas cards.  Somehow we always fall short.  We didn't send any when it was just the two of us - mostly because Sam didn't think anyone cared and they aren't as fun if you don't have cute kid pictures to put on them.  I wholly disagreed, but never actually picked any out, just dreamed and surfed and looked at all of the adorable designs everyone had.  And there are a million different sites you can choose from.  I can't possibly be the only one that immediately flips over the card/invitation to see where it came from!

Last year's Christmas Card picture that was given with gifts instead of mailed

I'm not so good at dragging a baby to the post office...oops!

So another part of our problem is how to pick just one!  Since learning Adobe InDesign - I always had an obsession with making our own - but it's not as easy as it sounds and then there's the problem of having them printed, making sure the formatting is right, and making it look professional.  And when you really add up all the time I spend (wasting...) trying to work it out it's really not worth it.

ENTER STAGE RIGHT:  SHUTTERFLY Christmas Cards

After reading several people's blog posts (and flipping over several dozens of cards) about Shutterfly - how could we not just make it THAT easy.  Now, of course, I still kinda went into panic mode for a little bit looking through literally hundreds of designs, but once I finally scrolled down and I saw it - we both just KNEW that it would be this year's Christmas Card.  (Because we FINALLY have a cute kid to put on a card!!)  And I'm not going to spoil the surprise, because it really is THAT cute - but it is perfect.  Just perfect.  We couldn't be more excited to be getting our tushes on top of things and mailing them out this year.

One of the many FUNNY faces I wanted to put on this year's Christmas card

Needless to say, Sam did not agree....

Now, to be honest, I do have a small ulterior motive to this post.  By blogging about Shutterfly, I'm hoping to win 50 free cards (but that doesn't mean that I don't mean what I say and say what I mean - thanks Dad for that one...ha!), which helps us in seventeen different ways, most importantly gives us that much unspent money to spend on presents for Santa to bring to the cute kid, but also - by going through Shutterfly and not doing it myself, I don't have to deal with any of the hassle or spend any time picking up the cards, searching for envelopes, buying stamps...well, I guess I still have to buy stamps, but you get my point.

This face would've been perfect, except the picture has way too much of our not so

awesome kitchen floor in it.  People would be distracted, it wouldn't be good.

We have ordered 4x6 prints from them and they always come out lovely, but the most fun was working on a photo book for my Daddy.  I mean, seriously, how cool are photo books.  All the niceness of photo albums but none of the worry about breaking the plastic while trying to wrestle the picture in.  Or is that just me that gets violent with albums....?  Ok - it's just me.  But you get my point.  And I love the little ones - can we say Grandparent's brag book anyone?  Fun fun.  I'd like to think that's what Daddy does with his - except that it's a year's worth of William's funny faces - but you can brag on a picture of a little boy razzing right?  I thought so.

I considered a family picture, but really no one cares about Sam and I.

We learned that very early on.  But I get it, William is MUCH cuter than us any day of the week.

Something else that caught my eye that they offer, and maybe this is just because one of my friends is a photographer, but they have the Canvas Pictures.  I know every time I went to her house, there was almost always an order ready to go out of one of these, but how nice would it be to just have a cute candid picture of the fam, or the place you got engaged, or just a really cool looking tree that owns itself hanging on a wall looking like a professional did it?!  I'm just saying.  And as a professional designer in another life - I'm thinking that a whole bunch of 12x12 ones would look really cool all hung perfectly in a hallway or up the stairs.  Just saying.

The always popular razz picture.  This was also a contender for the Christmas card.

But only because it makes me smile, most of you would probably think that my kid has a problem.

And he does - he's obsessed with razzing...!

And if we're talking about gifts, I need a calendar for my cube.  I am sadly sitting in a little gray cube in an area that doesn't have any windows and to be perfectly honest, it's a little sad.  So I told Sam that he should buy me a photo calendar.  I also need a calendar with the Julian Date on it (yeah, I didn't know that even existed until 6 weeks ago either!) but a photo one would make me so happy every day.  So - HINT HINT BIG HINT SAM!!!!!!!!  We'll see how that not so subtle suggestion works out...teehee.  Love my hubs.

He's so cute - I can't stand it - I seriously pulled aside almost 100 pictures to choose from.

How in the world I chose just one baffles me.

Since we're talking about presents, I really think I should follow up with the ever important Thank You Note. My parents taught me well.  You get a gift, you send a note.  Even if you opened the gift in front of the person who was nice enough to give you something.  And I absolutely plan on teaching that to William.  (Family - don't hate me for falling short on this in the recent past...I've been busy with a cute monster)  And what's even funnier, is that a lot of thank you notes get written and put in envelopes but then they sit in the secretary unmailed.  Forever.  But, if the thank you note could be as cute as the kid who is "writing" it, then I'd like to think that I would absolutely make the effort to dig out the un-updated address book and then buy the stamp and mail out the picture of my kid that also happens to say thank you on the inside.  It's like a double gift to the recipient of the card actually....  And - bonus - it could be in a coordinating theme as the Christmas Card. Oh lord, stop me now, I'm about to spend our savings at Shutterfly.  Though, I'm sure Shutterfly encourages it, and their entire marketing strategy is geared at people like me who die over stationery.

I die over and over again over this picture - it's so my kid.

And this would've been the picture on this year's card, 

except Sam thought that people would think we 

were crazy for putting a picture of an angry kid on a 

So - there you have it.  My shameless plug disguised as fun and cleverness.  And a not so subtle suggestion of gift list for my husband.  Forgive me - but my kid is cute and deserves to be on a Christmas Card that is almost as cute as him.  Just saying.  :)

Loves.

IT'S DECEMBER!!!

It's kinda funny.  Usually I wait ALL YEAR for it to be December.  To be able to finally break out all of the totes filled to the brim with delightful holiday decor.  We usually go all the way out for Christmas.  Lights, camera, action type stuff.  But this year, we're not quite feeling it.  Probably no good reason, but several mediocre ones, and the biggest of those being there is a certain 32" tornado constantly hitting Casa Rumer.

I am excited about Christmas cards though.  One - it's real mail not bills.  Two - cute pictures of cute families.  Three - I am determined to send one to everyone we know so they can enjoy my cute baby.  Last year, we didn't quite get them mailed out and I think only three friends and our families got them.  So I'm determined to get some out this year.  Nevermind that despite what I said on facebook, our card design is still yet to be determined, and it's already December 5.  Only twenty days to get my act together...good lord...help me now.

All ready for school with his pencil and paci

Anyhow.  Just because we're not up to our eyeballs in holiday cheer - does not mean that come December 1 William wasn't decked out in Mama Made Christmas outfits.  Oh yes.  I had anxiously been awaiting the first day of December to put him in an outfit I made in August...(what kind of crazy person buys Christmas tree fabric in August?  I guess the kind that finds it for $3/yd...!)

confirming that we were picking the best tree

He was so precious.  But he always is....  Ms. Carolyn did finally ask Sam a couple weeks ago if we had his clothes made because they always seemed a bit custom - makes me feel good, special, and a little nuts all at the same time.  And she very politely pointed out to me one evening that the frog shirt with buttons to make the face probably wasn't such a great idea with a class full of curious 1+somethings....  Good point.  Didn't even think of that - but I suppose it is a bit of a choking hazard and really cuts down on William being able to grab some personal space...  Oh well.  He'll have it on the weekends.

He never wants to take a picture with me...  Spoiled rotten little boy ;)

December also marked cold weather!  (well, it did get kinda mild at the end of the week but the highs are in the 40s this week!!!)  Poor little William had to put on a big puffer jacket to brave the cold.  And all I could think about was the little kid in The Christmas Story who couldn't move in his snowsuit.  William dropped his cinnamon raisin bread on the way out the door and was having a bit of a time trying to pick it up... haha.  Yeah, I let him go for just a minute because I was giggling so hard remembering the movie...  mmmm...childhood.  :)

Step stools are THE coolest!

Since we go out of town every year for Thanksgiving, we went this past weekend to get our tree.  We just went to Lowe's, nothing special but it's affordable and Sam MUST HAVE A FRASER FIR.  Period.  No ifs ands or buts about it.  So, I'm not sure William will ever get to have the fun of going to cut down a Christmas tree but I'm considering possibly making a fun weekend trip when he's older to North Carolina to pick one up.  Wouldn't that be fun?!  Or am I crazy and still a bit naive...  We shall see.  We have friends who went and cut theirs down with their son who is only 1.5 months older than William and said it was a blast.  Too bad it's a Leyland Cypress... my silly husband and his stubborn traditions.  Though I do love our tree.

I'd like to think that he noticed HIS frog ornament that we got him this year

It's 6 feet-ish, narrow and perfect.  We moved it to in front of our living room double window instead of by the porch french doors like last year, so we needed it to fit between our two armchairs.  The thing about it is though, we have an insane amount of ornaments and after putting up the first box realized we were going to have to start being choose-y because there was no way all three boxes were going to fit.  So, the super sentimental ones made it on and a lot of the really pretty ones too.

Choooooo Chooooooo

I have made the observation that I completely understand why people choose to go to fake trees.  You can get them pre-lit.  Now, we are 100% against fake trees, no offense to those of who have them (my Daddy has them...) but you can't beat the smell of real tree.  But seriously.  I. Hate. Putting. On. The. Lights.  Ugh.  If you could buy real trees pre-lit - I would be there.  Our little tree has hardly any lights on it at all because I just couldn't take it anymore.  Misery.  But we'll do it again next year....so I should probably start complaining.

Helping Daddy put the star on the tree

Since we decorated the tree while monster was asleep - we were really excited to see how he would react to a tree in the living room!  Yeah, he's hardly into it at all.  Which is actually good, we haven't had to fight him off of it...but I would've like some kind of OOOOOH moment.  He was more excited about the two step stool that we left out.  Climber.   We did wait to put the star on until he could help though - so that was sweet.

We may not be in the super holiday spirit - but we are definitely looking forward to the season with William.    He obviously has no idea who Santa is, and apparently could care less about a sparkling (well, sort of sparkling) tree, but we're hoping he atleast gets excited about presents.  We have one "big" (really it's medium to small) gift for him that we know he is going to love.  He kinda helped pick it out - thank goodness for short term memory!!  So, that'll be fun.  I just can't wait until the year we get woken up at 4am by him begging to see if Santa came!

Loves.