So Jamie and I have a few extra TMX Tickle Me Elmos (the 10th Anniversary Edition) and J. thought it would be cool to do a little contest on the blog here and give one away. I am trying to figure out a fun contest to do – we can’t just draw names out of a hat – we have to make you work for it somehow! Maybe something Christmas or kid-related. Hmmmm….
Leave a comment if you have any contest ideas. And stay tuned – I’ll post the contest and rules soon.
This is how Em and I spent our morning…trying to get Addie to sit in one spot so I could get a decent Christmas card pic.
Isn’t this the funniest picture? E. is such a great big sister when she wants to be. I had so much fun just letting them run around and chase each other while I snapped away. Now, I have 200 pics to go through and figure out if any of them will work. Gotta love digital cameras. One of them is just going to have to do. I’ll put up the leftover pics after I decide which one you’ll all be getting in your mailbox.
The Christmas attire did help with my grinch-y attitude, though. Tonight I’m going to finish calendars, I think that’ll help for sure.
I should state as a precursor to this post, I ADORE where we live. I really love our place, would in fact want to buy it – if we were given the opportunity. I really love our neighborhood, even in the crazy preparation for the Rose Bowl parade which literally marches through our front yard, it is an amazing part of Pasadena. I am even kinda (not totally, yet) in love with LA. And those of you who know me, also know that LA was never on my list of “hot spot places to live.” So that is a pretty big statement right there.
But, as we were sitting outside at lunch today, (yes, outside – it is December 5th and it was at least 70 degrees) and I have to admit it was pretty nice, I realized it is inconceivable that Christmas is only 20 days away! Maybe I really do need chilly days, snow-threatening clouds, even an occasional snow flurry for it to really feel like Christmas.
Then again, I think part of the problem is I am really missing our family and friends. This past weekend my Mom was hospitalized and it is really, really hard to not be able to hop in the truck and be there in a few hours. I know J. and I knew what we were getting into, and I know in my heart that we made the right decision for our “little” family by moving out here, but it is very hard to be so far away sometimes.
Plus, Christmas is about playing in the snow with the nieces and nephews or all of the neighborhood kids; going to visit the mall Santa with our friends Kim and Lauren and attempting (sometimes for days!) to take our “Christmas Card” picture; going to midnight mass in our tiny, country church with my parents and walking out to a blanket of snow afterwards. Those are the things I am really missing right now.
My mission this week, now that we are healthy and well again, is to find my Christmas spirit. Not just “retail” spirit, but that really fun Christmas feeling. I do realize that this is going to be an amazing Christmas with the girls – I mean they are really able to understand what is going on, what it is all about. I guess I just need to kick my butt spirit into gear, so I can enjoy it with them.
Any suggestions or help in doing so are always welcome!
Okay, I entered Addie into the Most Memorable Moments Baby Contest for LandsEnd. The prize is $$ for their clothing. (Not as great as the one for the BabyGap – a year’s worth of clothes, free! – but cash is cash and I’m sure we could find some clothing to spend it on!) Plus I figured I have a pretty cute baby on my hands here, what can it hurt? The catch is that it is based on public voting. It is basically a little popularity contest for babies. I know, it is all so very sad. But again, she is really cute and it didn’t really take any effort on my part. So if you all have a spare moment or two…go vote, pleeeease!
http://babycontest.landsend.com/
If you go to rate photos and click on the search button at the top and just enter Addison -it will bring up the three photos for this month. Yes, it is monthly, so I’m sure I’ll try to get you to do it again next month, too!
Today we took our second annual trip to see The Nutcracker ballet. Last year Em and I started this as “our” Christmas tradition and I hope to be able to share with her, and eventually Addie, too, for many years to come. This year my friend Michelle and her daughter Emma (Little Emma or Emma Louise, as we call her) came with us. We went to a Cuban cafe right near the theater and had a little dinner beforehand, and then went to see the ballet. It was so fun and I think Emma actually enjoyed our “date” as much as I did.
My favorite part of the evening is just sitting and watching the ballet through her eyes. She gets so lost in the whole production and looks so grown-up sitting in her velvet Christmas dress all lady-like. (Yes, it has been a common thread this week, my baby is growing up and I am forever nostalgic about it all.) This year was even more special since she just had her recital (see the last post!) and she actually told me the names of some of the positions and jumps that they were doing. She will be so intent and focused and then she’ll sort of lean over to me and say something about the dancers without ever taking her eyes off of the stage. Like she doesn’t want to miss a moment of it.
I kinda know the feeling. I don’t ever want to miss a moment, either.
She was perfect…of course. I was in tears…of course. The video is below (thanks to Daddy!) and the gorgeous pictures are to the right at our Flickr account (thanks to Uncle Jeff!). She was by far the most beautiful ballerina I have ever seen, if I do say so myself.
I am disappointed that the web quality of the video isn’t the best, and you can’t really hear the song (the ballerinas are Dorothys, dancing to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”) but I’ll continue to work on it and see if I can improve it. If nothing else I’ll burn DVDs for anyone who is interested in seeing the good quality version.
Enjoy!
P.S. NEVER again will I say a peep about your teary eyes, Nena. I completely understand the feeling now. 🙂
Okay, so this week’s favorite photos were easy, due to the plague on our house, the pickings were kind of slim in the photo department. But I love these 2 photos, and yes it is chilly enough in Southern Cal this week to wear cutie little hats! Happy December! Only 24 more days…
We are slowly digging ourselves out of the sickness hole we have been in this week. I feel fine, J. was fine as of 8am this morning, and both of the girls seem to be finally getting some color and easing up on all of the sick “outputs”. So, knock on wood, I think we are recovering.
Just in time, too. Em’s first dance recital is tomorrow evening. I missed the “dress rehearsal” on Tuesday but J. taped most of it so I could see it (and as insurance in case we all missed the real thing tomorrow!) and as I was watching her in her little costume looking all girly and sweet and doing the little routine, I got all teary-eyed.
What the *$#& ?!
I cannot blame it on hormones any longer – I’m way past being pg, post-partum, even nursing. I guess it was just seeing her in a different light. She has been the “big girl” for over a year now, but I still think of her as my baby. I mean, she’ll always be my “first baby” and that makes her a little special, right?
But as she was standing there, I saw not a baby, not a toddler, but just a sweet little girl. It made me proud – she looked adorable – but it also made me very sad at the same time. Just one more step towards the day she isn’t my little girl anymore. God help me the day she goes to preschool. You’ll all have to pick me up out of a puddle of my own tears.
10 icky diapers, 12 puke clean-ups, 20 loads of “sick” laundry, a stupid cat that eats until she pukes (make that 13 puke clean-ups!), and a near-fatal turtle accident.
Can you top that?
Addie’s diaper-changing antics and her crashing out while I’m carrying her were both the start to the lovely stomach flu. Why do kids always get sick at night?? We were up all Sunday night with icky diapers and very, very bad diaper rash because of them. (If anyone knows a good rememdy for clearing up poor, raw baby bottoms, please let me know!!) She seemed okay yesterday and ate, not a ton, but she did eat. A few more icky diapers, but she seemed fine. And then last night I got the “Worst Mother of the Year” award.
A. went to bed just fine and Emma actually woke up crying at 4am, so I went in to see what was going on and noticed a funny smell…but dead-to-the-world me, with no sleep the night before, figured that she had an icky diaper and after debating whether to wake her up or not, decided against waking her up for sweet, sweet sleep. A half an hour later Addie was up crying. The smell was partly diaper, partly vomit…ALL OVER the crib. And I think she had probably gotten sick earlier in the night. And being the great Mommy that I am, I let her lie in it. For who knows how long. Ugh. Quite possibly the worst parenting moment ever in my history.
But, I guess I got what was coming to me…I’ve been sick all day. I definitely would never be able to be pregnant again. I could not do 13 weeks of throwing up and trying to mind two young girls. Yeah, it is a very good thing we are done on the baby front. I hope the flu is done around here, too….