Post Christmas hangover

Whoa am I tired! The weekend leading up to Christmas was a busy one as CP was cooking most of Saturday and Sunday and I was wrangling two kids that were bouncing off the walls because it was almost Christmas and cold outside. Saturday I took the kids to a children's museum for about two hours of exploring. We stayed a bit too long because Wes had a tremendous meltdown as I tried to get him into the car to get home (it was my fault- he was really hungry).

Taking car of his dog at the vet station

Izzy listening to her bird's heart.

Drum banging

Face painting

"Mommy I need to put more paint on my face so that I can look prettier."

Sunday I took the kids to an inflatable bounce house open jump session where we met one of Izzy's friends from school. I would have thought that she would have been more tired from running/bouncing for 1.5 hours, but she didn't end up napping. Wes continued to stay my cautious child and for the most part, refused to bounce. Sunday night my parents came over for a Christmas Eve dinner of Swedish meatballs, broccoli, and salad which everyone (even the kids) devoured. Oddly enough, Izzy ended up eating two bowls of salad that night.

Ready for Santa!

We had Izzy put out a cookie and some milk for Santa and after the kids went to bed, played Cards Against Humanity. My mom, who I got an Urban Dictionary for a few years ago for Christmas because she is not up on slang, finished the game by playing a card about bukkake. We all refused to tell her what it was. LOL.

That night my parents got to sleep in Izzy's double bed with clean horse sheets and a Paw Patrol comforter. HA HA HA.

LOL

Izzy slept in our bed and between CP's snoring and Izzy sweating/hanging all over me, I went downstairs around 1am to sleep on the couch. That morning everyone was up by 8am and we opened a few gifts from Santa and from NH relatives with the magic of Facetime. We had a cinnamon roll to tie us over, opened more presents when my sister and her husband arrived from WI after seeing his family over the weekend, and then had a brunch of homemade crepes, CP's homemade bacon, and fruit salad. Everyone hung out in the afternoon, checking out their new things, taking my sister's dogs for a (cold) walk, napping, and then eating CP's dinner of ham, cheesy broccoli, au gratin potatoes, and green beans before leaving as many of us had work today.

The kids lounging on their new bean bag chairs

Wes loves his new tricycle!

Regal Izzy (I mean Queen Elsa) finally got her princess dress from Santa and wanted to wear it all day long (and tried to wear it to school today!)

Wes decided that he didn't want Christmas to end so as I was trying to sleep after the Eagles game last night (another win! 13-2!), he woke up and started crying. CP took the first shift and we honestly don't know what was wrong. He wasn't hungry or thirsty. Maybe he had some gas pains? Maybe he is cutting a new tooth? Either way he didn't want to go to bed for over an hour and when I got tagged into trying to get him to sleep I ended up reading him a few books and then laying down next to his crib in hopes of getting him to do the same thing. It worked, although I of course woke him up as I was trying to sneak out of his room...thankfully he quickly went back to sleep after just a few minutes of crying.

So, yeah. I'm at work today and I'm pretty exhausted from Wes' late night shenanigans. CP is home and hopefully purchasing supplies for the projects we are going to try to tackle the next three days while the kids are in school.

How was your Christmas?

Holiday pictures

Although it is now after Christmas, I forgot to share our Santa pictures....

As expected, Izzy was not overjoyed to see Santa, but took it in stride.

Serious but okay with hanging out with Santa

When Wes realized that we were next in line, he started gripping me like it was life or death. I know that experts say that if your kid is crying, you shouldn't force them to take a Santa picture, but I really do think that these are the funniest and if this is the only stressful thing about his life, then I think that he will be just fine. We tried to take the kids together, but Wes wasn't having it so we took separate pictures. I'm gonna be honest that I can't wait to show this picture to Wes in a few years because it is hilarious. 

Santa is thinking, "I don't get paid enough for this"

Izzy wrote a letter to Santa that contained just one thing (she also told him what she wanted)- a princess dress. We hadn't planned on getting Izzy one but it truly was the only thing that she asked for from Santa.

I'm so proud of her handwriting!

 Then on Thursday the kids had pajama day at school. My sister got everyone in the family PJs so I put the kids into them and thought I could take a nice picture. Turns out Wes does NOT like taking Christmas photos. LOL.

Izzy has a nice smile on....Wes not so much....

And then Wes bumped Izzy's head so both were crying. Maybe next year.

Pre-Christmas Bullets

Let's post about something other than a birthday, shall we? But because Christmas is only in a few days, I only have time for bullets.

• While TX was a fantastic experience and I'm really glad that I went, it totally screwed up my workout routine. I had been running 3 times a week and the weekend before I left ran 9.3 miles. I only had the opportunity to run twice while in TX and when I got back, I felt out of shape. I have run a couple of times, but have started up T25, a Beachbody workout that I forgot I bought the DVDs secondhand about a year ago. So far so good as the workouts are only 25 minutes long so I can do it in the morning, but with the dark mornings it sure is hard to get up. Plus....I have been having heel pain in my left foot for the past couple of months. I pushed through it but I definitely hobble when I get up in the morning, so I finally went to see a doctor about it. No break, but I likely have a deep tissue contusion, probably from the pounding from running (which has not been helped by the jumping/ high impact workouts from T25), so I have been ordered by the doctor to do low impact stuff for the next few weeks and wear heel cups to lessen the impact of walking. Fingers crossed my heel gets better soon!

• In the meantime, CP got some scary results of some bloodwork (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.) so he has been running three times a week on the treadmill at night after the kids are asleep. I am PSYCHED about this because he is doing great. He watches Narcos on tv and works out for 45 minutes. Hopefully this will help get his body in better shape.

• We also have changed our diet to eat more vegetarian meals. Here is what we put together:

1. Goals
   1. Eat healthy
   2. Lower food bills
   3. Faster prep during week
   4. Lose weight
2. Weekly Dinner Structure
   1. 3 day x vegetarian
   2. 1 day x egg or fish as protein
   3. 1 day x pasta
   4. 1 day x  eat out
   5. 1 day x no-rules day
3. Rules of the House
   1. Dinner should include:
      1.        Main
      2.        Veggie Side
      3.         Grain/ carb
      4.      Fruit dessert during the week
   2. No sugary sweets to be purchased
   3. No ice-cream purchased at grocery store
   4. Reduce cheese to < 8 oz/ week for house
   5. Use whole grains where practical
   6. Use  lean meats where practical

• So far I think that it is going well. I don't miss meat and usually end up having it on the day that we eat out and on Saturday, which is usually our "no rules" day. During the week for breakfast I have something with eggs and for lunch, I have been bringing veggies with usually some kind of soup from our freezer. CP has lost some weight between running and our new diet, I haven't seen a change so far...which leads me to the next bullet....

• I'm contemplating getting rid of my IUD. Sure it's nice to not have a period as often, but I have little to no interest in being with CP throughout most of the month and I have gained weight. Plus I keep seeing reports on birth control causing cancer. Why is it always on the woman to prevent pregnancy? After the New Year I am seriously considering sitting down CP and having a talk that he needs to get a vasectomy done. We know we don't want anymore kids and I want to feel normal again. I am not going through any more surgery, so it's time for him to step up. I don't think that the talk is going to go well, so wish me luck!

• Finally, with Christmas upon us I think that I am a little bit depressed to be in a dog-less home. We have ornaments on the tree with pictures of both Buster and Koda, a magnet of both dogs up in the house, and a picture we bring out every Christmas of the two dogs and my sister's first dog (still alive, but it is an amazing picture of all three dogs in front of the Christmas tree). I see dogs in our neighborhood, on tv, etc. and they just make me sad. Buster's death, most likely because he was so young, feels so....unfinished. :-(

• I think that I have said this before, but I do think that it is important to have a pet around when kids are young because they learn valuable skills like taking care of something other than themselves and for infants, learning "gentle" is key. CP and I have discussed possibly getting a cat because although I am not a huge fan of them (maybe I could be?), they are easier and less expensive to take care of (meaning they don't eat $100 worth of food a month and need to go to doggie daycare while we are at work). We'll see. I think that I am more ready to have another pet in our lives than CP right now because our house feels so empty. Maybe sometime this spring we can visit a shelter to see if there is a cat to bring into our family.

• Next week CP and I took off the week to work on some projects around the house while the kids are at daycare. Hopefully we are able to get a lot done!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it). This can often be a hard time of year for people, but hopefully it is full of fun, laughter, and great memories with people that you love. 

16 month AND 17 month update

I'm a terrible mother and was in TX when Wesley turned 16 months old so this is a two month update instead of just one!

Wesley's school picture- I miss his longer hair!

1 year, 4 months AND 1 year, 5 months old

Height- He was 2' 8.5" (88%) in late October, but hasn't been checked since then

Weight- 30 pounds (99%)- with clothes on at a doctor visit on December 9th

Diapers- Size 5 diapers during the day, Size 5 nighttime diapers

Wes really enjoyed playing in the leaves this fall

Milestones- Wes has been LOVING Sprinkles (our Elf). He helps Izzy find her every morning and will sometimes will find her before Izzy! Wes is running more, has been helping clean up messes, and loves to close cabinets/doors/etc. He wants to walk up and down stairs (while holding our hands of course) instead of crawling up/down these days- I assume because Izzy is doing it? He has been working on toddler puzzles both at school and at home.

Wes is also shaking his head no when he doesn't want something or doesn't want to do something. He seems to say "yeah" for yes or just smiles when he does want something or does want to do something.

Finding the insects in the book

Language- Words so far- "uh oh" when he drops something, "ah da" for all done, "ch ch" with a gutteral noise in the back of his throat for choo choo, and "duk" for "duck." He hasn’t been saying “dah” for dog or “ma ma” for milk recently. He has two new signs- "help" and “thank you.” He seems to be behind Izzy in language so far, but I’m not worried. He does have a lot of animal sounds down pat- monkey, elephant, cow, dog, bear, dinosaur, snake, fish, bird, horse- and I think that those technically count as words??

"Calling" someone using our tv remote

Favorite Toy- Izzy got the PAW Patroller toy for her birthday and whenever Wes gets the chance, he will move the truck back and forth over the carpet, making "vroom, vroom" noises. He is definitely more interactive with Izzy and will try to copy her in whatever she is doing so she has been interested in playing with him more nowadays.

Izzy got a building set for her birthday from her friends and I think that Wes is enjoying it more than her! He is getting pretty good at putting the small sticks into the hole.

I made him a flower and he "smelled" it

Favorite Book- Brown Bear, Brown Bear. The boy is obsessed.

Sleep- Wes is a great sleeper from about 7:30pm to 7 or 8am. He is down to one nap a day, generally starting around 12:30 and lasting for about two hours.

Clothes- Solidly in 2T clothing. Size 7 shoes.

My two little bears

Eating- Wes is getting better about using utensils and actually getting food on the fork/spoon and then into his mouth. He really wants to like cherry tomatoes and must think that they are something else that tastes better because he sees them on the counter, asks for one insistently and then makes a disgusted face and pulls out the tomato after biting into it. LOL. Depending on what we are having for dinner, he sometimes eats very little and waits for the fruit dessert; other times he earns the nickname Meatball!

Teeth- No new teeth this past month.

Illness- Poor Wes had an ear infection a few days before I came back from TX (CP noticed it when he saw dried blood coming out of Wes’ ear). He also hurt his foot at daycare and as it wasn’t getting better, had to get an X-ray to make sure he didn’t have a toddler fracture (it didn’t go well but thankfully no broken bone).

Misc- Wes' favorite thing is for people to read him books. He will grab a book off the shelf either downstairs or in his room, run it over to you, turn his back to you, and then plop down in your lap whether you are ready for him or not. It is super adorable.

He loves to wash his hands and as soon as we get into daycare every morning, he runs over to the sink to wash his hands. His other love is to hide from both his parents and his teachers. He thinks it's hilarious (he still thinks peek-a-boo is funny too). Silly boy.

Losing Buster was obviously tough on all of us, but Wes was pretty confused the first couple of days. He would throw food on the floor and wonder where his dog was to eat it off the floor? He would look over to where Buster's food and water bowls used to be and throw up his hands as if to ask, where are they? One day he woke up and wanted me to open up the blinds to his room; I think that it was to see if Buster was outside. He loved this dog and it's crazy to think that he has already been gone from our lives for over a month now.

Wes and Buster enjoying Michigan in late October