Christmas Morning!

Another Christmas is gone. Another great day with the kids. These holidays in the past were nice, but I really never enjoyed them until I had children in my life.
This year I was lucky enough to be off work. I was on-call which meant I could be called and I would have to deal with any issues that might come up, but at least I knoew I could be at home with the kiddos. My parents and sister came making a real family morning.

The kids enjoyed all their gifts. M was a real pro after just having his birthday. He didn't want to wake up at first...and in the end it was still M in my lap with every present opened, but his. He finally woke up enough to realize that there was a little mountain of unopened presents just for him...and we went to town.
After our Texas trip, I knew I wanted to get the family an iPad for Christmas. The twins LOVED it and I liked playing with it too. The plan was solidified a few weeks ago when I upgraded my phone to the iPhone and found how easy it was and how much fun it could be. Right up until a few days before the iPad purchase was for sure...well...then I started thinking. Since I got the iPhone, all three kids fought for it all the time. When I walked in the front door from work, the first thing they asked for was my phone. There was lots of fighting and lots of removing the phone completely from use. I began to see my future and thats when the plan changed. For Christmas, the twins each received an iPod Touch. It kind of stunk because that meant I wouldn't get to play with the iPad, but it illeviated the sharing issue. The only remaining problem, was that M felt very left out not having one of his own, and now my phone is always in his hands. And I must give Best Buy an special thank you for their sales which allow me to buy now...and pay later with a tax return without any addition fees :)

P*A*R*T*Y

Tonight was M's second birthday party. We had a great time. I was worried that people wouldn't come being so close to the holiday's but we had 17 kids there! I think everyone had a great time.
We did the Bubble Guppies theme, which is M's favorite TV show. I had someone make the cake decorations and we just color coordinated the plates and such because there is no 'commercial' items available...yet, I'm sure.
We even had an NFL player come to the party. Right now J is dating him and he came to play with the kids. The funniest part of that was the other parents reactions. Many of them were fans and made googly eyes at him, but no one would talk to him! It was too funny to see some grown men act that way.

A Baby is Two

How did that happen? I really feel like I just gave birth to him. I don't understand it, but I guess I need to accept it.

M is a toddler in every sense. He is high energy, risk taking, stubborn, feisty, independent and in charge of everything. He is more work than the twins were at that age. He is also funny, loving, empathetic and charming. He makes me laugh every day and can charm himself out of any situation. His speech is coming along very well. He was reevaluated a few weeks ago and he is actually on the low end of normal now.

We had his family birthday on his actual birthday - his party will be a few days later - but it was coincidentally on the same day as our twin club holiday party, which explains why they are still wearing those PJ's ;)

December Stuff

December around here is always busy. Of course Christmas always sends things into a tizzy, but now with the addition of a birthday party to plan, it's hard for my mind to settle down with one thought. I have found that in the last two years I have a hard time dealing with Christmas until M's birthday stuff is done. I need to get over that as once M's birthday is done, I only have a little over 2 weeks until Christmas.

Our first Christmas event was with the twin group. We had a great family holiday party. I was busy with kids, crafts, food and santa so I didn't need to worry about any weird or disconnected feelings I usually have with this group. The kids had a good time and even got to sit on Santa's lap. I don't have those pictures yet, as M fought Santa hard, so I had to help hold him down while a friend snapped a few shots. I look forward to seeing them.
The kids debuted their Christmas PJ's - and yes, my children are the only ones in PJ's but there is just something about a Santa picture with PJ's.
And just including this picture because, although blurry, shows K's beautiful blue eyes :)