Christmas in Baltimore

We are in Baltimore, spending Christmas with Andrew's brother and his family. Here are some pictures (video on next post) for family that can't be with us. We miss you!

It was hard to find the perfect role for Luke in our Christmas play. He ended up as a wise man because he liked to carry "gifts" (he brought baby Jesus a toy car).



Andrew helped the kids track Santa on Google. Here is Santa at the pyramids.

Here are the kids waiting to go downstairs and see their presents. I'm not sure why Christopher was crying but he had a cute sad face.

Luke knows how to open gifts this year....he is much better at it than last year.


I haven't been able to get Luke to stand still for many pictures. This was the best I could get, and unfortunately he had just dumped a water bottle all over his pants (yeah...Luke needs a haircut).

The Destruction of a Goal

Last New Years Eve, I made a goal to do a triathlon in the year 2009.

• In March, I joined the YMCA so I could train no matter how hot or cold it got. One week later, the main road to get there closed for construction until October, doubling the already long driving time. I probably went 3 times all summer.

• In September, I realized that I wouldn't be ready in time to do an organized triathlon that wasn't on a Sunday, so I decided I would have to do a solo triathlon.
  

• In October, I got in the pool for the first time and started swimming laps. This was also the month that Luke decided to freak out every time I took him to the daycare. After a few instances of being interrupted by a crying baby as soon as I got in the pool, I decided to cut out the swimming. The triathlon became a biathlon.
  

• Also in October, Andrew started his surgery rotations and became crazy busy. This made my schedule crazy busy and training was put on hold for a while.

• In November, a friend asked me how my goal was going and I secretly wished I had never told anyone. She asked if I was doing a full or sprint triathlon (biathlon). Quickly decided to do sprint (5K run, 18 mile bike).

• In December, I tried to take Luke to the daycare again...Failed.

• Last week, I thought maybe I'd train for a week (at least as much as I could fit in before the daycare came to find me with a crying Luke in tow). Luke got strep. Training went out the window.

• Tonight, I had to wait until Luke went to sleep because Andrew's studying for a big test. I hurried to the Y and began the big event. The run went fine, but a few miles into the bike, I realized that I wouldn't finish 18 miles before the place closed. Made the executive decision to bike 15 miles and call it good.

• At about mile 10 I wished that I had biked more than once to get ready.

My triathlon goal (10K run, 28 mile bike, and 1 mile swim) became a solo 5K run and 15 mile bike at the YMCA.

And that, folks, is how you slowly destroy a goal. But I'm still counting it.

He's Back in Business

And making up for lost time...

[Seriously, when did he do this?? I don't even think I left the room!]

Christmas Chillin'

This is usually the time during the holiday season that I remember that I need to chill out and remember the wise words of President Monson:

For many people, "overdoing it" is especially common at this time of year. We may take on too much for the time and energy we have...Often our efforts at Christmastime result in feeling stressed out, wrung out, and worn out during a time when instead we should feel the simple joys of commemorating the birth of the Babe in Bethlehem.

Usually, however, the special spirit of the season somehow finds its way into our hearts and into our lives despite the difficulties an distractions which may occupy our time and energy.

I actually really like the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. Usually it doesn't distract me from the real reason for the celebration. But at the peak of the craziness, I'll admit, I sometimes lose sight of what I'm celebrating. This year, Luke helped me slow down by coming down with a bad case of strep. He woke up with a 104 degree fever on Tuesday night and has been on round-the-clock Tylenol ever since.

Now that I'm forced to leave hyper-drive mode and put the errands on hold, I'm enjoying finding other ways to get into the Christmas spirit. Even though I'm sad that Luke feels terrible, there's nothing better than chilling with him on the couch with some pedialyte and chicken nuggets (I'll feed him ANYTHING that he will eat at this point). I've watched the same two Baby Einstein DVD's about 20 times (one of them is starting to skip and unfortunately its the one I like better). He's so out of it, he can even sit still for a little scripture study.

Warning to the family, your packages may not make it on time for Christmas. But you have still been greatly thought about and we've had fun putting your gifts together.

Only the most comfortable clothes for lounging on the couch.

No smiles today...so sad (but he does get little pockets of energy occassionally...like last night when he was rolling all over my bed, laughing, trying to escape me from putting him in his crib. Kids are great).

classics?

Sorry for the autostart music. I hope I didn't blow your cover at work or something.

Andrew told me the other day that he thinks of this as "our song" [he cracks me up]

What can I say? We like the classics.

*i turned autostart off but you can still listen to the first song on the playlist*

What we've been up to...

Luke has been creating his own little nooks lately. He likes to crawl underneath his crib, hide underneath the sink.... he even likes me to pull out the couch from against the wall so he can hang out back there. Little dude has a good imagination.

We had our first little snowfall this week (okay it was hardly snow... you would have to look really close). But we thought it was a good excuse to put on some snow clothes and introduce Luke to winter. I think he is going to be tougher than his Mom.

I accidentally left a glade plugin on our desk and the liquid leaked out and took off the finish. It figures that the ONE piece of furniture in my house that I had no desire to refinish...now needs to be refinished. If anyone has any suggestions that don't involve stripping the whole thing and restaining it, I'm all ears. I would use "Restore a Finish" but I'm not sure how to redo the lacquer finish.

Last year, while watching the Christmas devotional online, Luke laughed for the first time. So when the Christmas devotional rolled around this year, we thought we would make him laugh again for memories sake (which isn't hard to do ... he's a giggly little kid and EXTREMELY ticklish)



p.s. if you scroll down Luke's playlist there are some Christmas tunes

a good cause

I don't know how many of you heard about the med student who died in Nutty Putty Caves just before Thanksgiving. You can read the story here . I don't know the family, but the story reminded me of how quickly life can change...and it can happen to anyone. A friend of ours actually does know the family and provided information on how people can donate to a memorial fund to help his wife, daughter, and baby on the way. Here is a link to the family's blog and here is where you can donate to the fund.

How much fun can you have with a Ziploc bag?

Apparently, a lot.

I put Luke down for a late nap at 4:30pm yesterday. He didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning!

Yup, that's 14 hours!

I probably checked on him every few hours, convinced he was comatose. Lets just say Mom didn't get 14 hours of sleep. I took him to the doctor yesterday for an ear infection and the doctor put all kinds of weird medications down his ears (our doctor is crazy...I'm in the market for a new one if you have any suggestions). But whatever he did, knocked Luke out cold.

14 hours of sleep = a REALLY happy boy who can even have fun with a ziploc bag