Happy New Year, blog world! I am so excited that 2013 is finally here because I am that much closer to being with my love again. As quickly as time is passing now, it really can't go fast enough! But thanks to the holidays, these days have been flying by. Boy, was I busy! As promised, this blog entry is all about Christmas, but with an extra bonus of New Year's Eve and some random photos of my babies. Can't have enough of those!
So our Christmas adventure began the day after Thanksgiving when Myshie came over to help us decorate the house and put up the tree. It is tradition that Myshie decorates with us and then takes a family picture of us in front of the tree. Last year was the only year since Joshua and I were together that we were unable to follow through with our tradition because we were in California. It was so nice to have her with us again!
The boys also got to decorate their own tree for their bedroom!
The boys ended up getting an early Christmas gift this year. They got a new swing set from Nonna and Papah three weeks before Christmas! They absolutely love it, and it has helped me out so much. Now when I make them go outside to play, they don't stand by the door asking if they can come back inside. LOL
My kiddies did get to sit on Santa's lap again this year. Last year's picture was quite memorable with Beckham flashing a devious smile and Everett bright red from screaming. Well, this year was not much different aside from my precious Marigny joining in. Curious as to what Beckham asked Santa for this year? GUM! Yes, gum. We have a strict rule in which gum is only allowed on holidays so the boys are always eagerly awaiting a holiday just for that reason.
We ran into my brother Jason aka Uncle Jay Jay at the mall when we went take a picture with Santa!
The boys and I made a gingerbread house! Well, mostly Beckham did. I put the house together and Beckham decorated it. Everett did a little bit in the beginning but he loses interest with things rather quickly. He just wanted to eat the candy, but I told them that if they used all the decorating candy for the house then they would get a treat. They earned their treat and the house came out great. Everett did secretly lick the peppermints on the roof over the month that the house was up though. lol
I also had the boys make a few cards for some people that were in need of some Christmas cheer. The boys enjoyed making them, and I hope the families enjoyed receiving them.
A couple of my friends came over one day and helped me make some Christmas ornaments with the kids. They turned out great! We even sent some to Joshua!
Every year since Joshua and I got together, we bought a family Christmas ornament for the tree. This year I had to pick it out without him, but Beckham was with me and he helped me choose.
My mom had a big Christmas party at her house in which we celebrated with my Paw Paw (we celebrate Christmas Eve with my Maw Maw). There was a lot of great food and everyone had fun. My mom's house is like a child's dream with her daycare, trampoline and swing set so the kids had the time of their lives.
Frank, Tasha and Isaac came in town just before Christmas! It was so great to see them again, and all of the boys were sooooooo happy to be reunited! My boys had their little buddy back.
The morning of Christmas Eve, we were able to skype with Joshua! It was the second time the kids saw their daddy since he arrived in Afghanistan which was about four months earlier. They were so happy to see him! After we skyped with him, Gene and Donna were able to as well which is the second photo.
That day I brought the kids to Joshua's grandparents' house. It was a
beautiful evening and we were able to get a lot of cute group shots (I
bribed the kids with peppermints to get them to keep sitting for the
photos!).
After leaving Joshua's family, I took the kids to my dad's house for a big Christmas party with my mom's side of the family. There are a ton of tiny tots on that side of the family since my siblings and I all popped out seven babies within a few years so the boys always have a blast there playing with their cousins. Santa even came and handed out toys! Of course, Everett refused to sit on Santa's lap, but Beckham ran right up, sat and took a picture. Marigny took a picture too, but unfortunately I don't have any photos of either of them. Annnnnnd we got to skype with Joshua AGAIN while we were there! He couldn't hear us that well but everyone stood around the camera taking turns waving and telling him hello. lol He looks so cute in his uniform.
I ended up getting home that night around 10:30 or 11pm. And then I had to get all the kids to bed and prepare for Santa. I was a little nervous going into this by myself because I worried that there would be something I wouldn't be able to put together, but I did it with no problems. It wasn't the same as having Joshua there though. There was no excitement and it was pretty bleh... just getting the job done. I'm sure it was harder for Joshua though.
Christmas morning came and the boys were actually a pain in the butt! Beckham decided that he wanted to through a fit as soon as he woke up which he NEVER does in the morning, and Everett refused to walk down the hall so I could video record it. It took a good while of me convincing them to go see what Santa had brought them.
The rest of Christmas day was incredibly insane for me. After a night of very little sleep, I took all three kids to four different houses! Plus, I had to take a trip home in the middle to empty out the van because it was completely packed down with gifts, and there was no way we could fit anything else in there. The weather was HOT and rainy, and I was sweating to death as I helped the kids open all of their gifts and then took a million trips dragging everything out to the van. I have to admit that I reached a breaking point half way through the day as I was walking down the street in the rain carrying out loads of toys for the millionth and one time. I actually had tears as I felt a bit overwhelmed during that moment. I let myself feel sad for a minute, and then I pushed it all out of my mind and didn't allow myself to think about it any longer. I still had TWO more houses to go to. I knew that I could do it all alone, but I really needed Joshua there. I don't think anyone could possibly understand how difficult that day was for me. It was intensely exhausting and indescribably lonely. I actually had a very bad week leading up to Christmas. Marigny was very sick and not sleep
at all so I was already feeling like I never wanted to leave the house again. Buuuut I did it. It's done. And this was the first year of my life that I was happy that Christmas was over. Well, I wasn't very happy about saying goodbye to my Christmas decorations!
And guess what... Beckham got his gum!!
Ah, the day after Christmas was so nice... I stayed home ALL day! I
enjoyed watching my boys play with all of their new things and they
enjoyed playing while I watched. The were utterly exhausted by the end
of the day! They certainly had a fun and successful Christmas. :)
Other than Santa, there was someone else who played a big part in our Christmas this year... our new elf friend, Fritz! I'm going to make a separate post soon with all of the pics and details of what Fritz was up to.
This was our Christmas card picture that I took this year. It was a simple card that read "Peace On Earth".
I was still so exhausted from Christmas that I wasn't wanting to leave the house for New Year's Eve, but then the boys ended up spending a night at Gene and Donna's which bought me some new energy from a decent night's rest so I ended up being up to it. We spent the evening at their house with Frank and Tasha, and Joshua's aunts, uncles and cousins. I had a lot of fun but we ended up getting home a couple hours before midnight.
We went back over there for New Years Day, and the boys had a blast
playing with Isaac and some sparklers (for the first time ever!). When
we left that evening, we said our farewells to Frank, Tasha and Isaac
who were heading back to Cali the next day.
So now here we are in the middle of January. Before the deployment, I wondered how I was going to make it through the holidays without my Joshie. And now it's done. I got past all of the major events and now I'm just waiting to be in his arms again. Luckily, I have six little arms to hold me until then. :)
My Minnie Moo is 7 1/2 months old!! I can't believe that we are quickly
approaching her first birthday. It'll be here soon! By the way, I
forgot to mention this before or so I think I did, but when Marigny was
only a couple of weeks old, we all began calling her Minnie. We get to
thank Evie for her sweet little nickname because it came about from him
pronouncing her name as Min-nin-nee.
Minnie now has two teeth and finally got to start on fruits yesterday!
She had her first taste of bananas and would have leaped with joy if she
could have. Her new year's resolution much have been to become more
independent because only two days into the year, she decided to start
holding her bottle all by herself! Yay for Mommy! And she now says
"buh buh" in addition to "dada".
Something else that I had forgotten to mention before was that there has
been some concern about Marigny's legs. I noticed when she was a few
weeks old that she wasn't putting any weight on her legs unlike my boys
who loved to tighten their legs and stand. When I lifted her up, she
would immediately bend her knees. I mentioned it to her doctor and he
too was a little concerned. She was three months old at this
appointment, and he felt like she should have been putting more weight
on her legs than she was so he had her see a bone specialist. She had
an xray of her hips and everything turned out just fine. However, she
just saw the doctor again at seven months and although he says that she
is physically fine, he is concerned again because she is not trying to
move herself around, so now he is sending her to physical therapy. She
hasn't rolled over in months, she doesn't try to scoot or crawl nor does
she try to pull herself up. She just really enjoys sitting and playing
with her toys, and if she's not doing that then she's in my arms, her
exersaucer or her jumper. I'm not so concerned this time because I
think this stuff is probably why she isn't moving around. I don't
really give her much opportunity like I used to with the boys when I had
more time. I'm definitely going to go ahead with the physical therapy
because I think it will be helpful and also give me some one on one time
(along with the therapist) to spend with her on the floor.
I didn't fix up Marigny's nursery when we were in CA because we were
moving back to NOLA, but I have been having fun finally getting to do a
PINK nursery since I've been back. She has two antique dressers in room
that I absolutely love. One is from her great grandmother and the
other is from her great great grandmother. Donna and her sister Karen
painted them both for me and they are just beautiful. We did one in
antique white with an antique finish and pink crystal knobs, and the
other in pink with an antique finish and white crystal knobs. Also,
above her crib hangs a gorgeous wreath that Karen made for her. She
kind of has a shabby chic theme going in her room, and she loves playing
in there.
My boys have doing really well. They have mostly gotten over their colds and have been playing really well together. Today I was listening to them play "Hide and Seek" and they were being so cute! Everett ran in the room and said "Beckham, I found you!" and then Beckham replied "See, I knew you could do it!". Then they went into another room where Beckham was counting with his eyes closed, and when he opened them Everett yelled "I found you!" and then Beckham said "No, I found you!". Haha! Beckham is always kissing his brother and saying sweet things like "I'm so proud of you". They are so precious.
Of course, they can't get enough of their baby sister! And she is totally mesmerized by them. <3 class="goog-spellcheck-word" data-blogger-escaped-="data-blogger-escaped-" span="span" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;">br
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Everett falls asleep ANYWHERE! Check it out:
And of course, my favorite - BATH PICS! Especially baby bath pics ;)
saw it!
