A Christmas to Remember

The week of Christmas I began busily preparing my recipes/shopping list etc for the big Christmas Eve dinner with John's side of the family - in total 13 people and 1 baby. I decided this year to make as many of my dishes casserole style so that I could easily prepare them ahead of time and keep warm before dinner. No big mess of pots & pans to clean up, and no special roast that could throw off my timing.

It was Christmas eve, I had nearly assembled my Yule Log, prepared all of my casseroles and had them waiting in the fridge to be baked, some cleaning around the house left to do, and other odds and ends (make the salad, set the table etc). John was summoned to pick up the lobsters simmered in tomato sauce at his customer's store in Saugus, I gave the go ahead to take off since I was pretty well set. And I was, until I started getting a nasty headache. I figured it was probably from all the stress of running around, so I figured I'd make myself a cup of coffee and relax for a little bit. It didn't get better, it got worse. And then I vomited. But, I felt better - for about 15 minutes, and then I felt worse, and again vomited. Not good. I had already had a stomach bug two weeks before and this felt just like another stomach bug. After trip #3 to the bathroom I told John we needed to call his family and ask what they wanted to do - the food was already in the oven. So our Christmas eve dinner was cut from 13 to 7, and I suffered through making the rest of the dinner and sat at the table while everyone ate. Angela, having taken an early nap and consequently tired from staying up too long, had to go to bed at 7:30 - there was no keeping her up late for the sake of watching her open presents.

So, the two nephews that were there opened their presents. I mentioned to John that he was going to be in charge of setting up Angela's kitchen set that hadn't been assembled yet. His brother offered to help, and they opened the box and started putting it together. It had a whopping 30+ steps and John's brother left around 9:30 and John's sister and her  family stayed till after 11. It still wasn't done and I was dying to just go to bed. I tried helping John but we were both just not in the mood to work on it anymore. By 1am we gave up and went to bed.

To add to the holiday joy, Angela woke up at 5am and had no desire to go back to sleep. I tried rocking and singing, and she'd just point to the door or downstairs. I'd try to say "it's still night-night time" and she'd look at me and laugh and then eventually started crying when she wasn't getting her way. We resigned ourselves to getting up, despite the fact that the downstairs was a disaster and we never really got to set up all the presents the way we wanted. So, at a very dark hour of the morning, we let Angela open up her presents. Being only 15 months old, this was a very time consuming process as she would open a toy and play with it, or seeing as some of her toys had already been set out (the kitchen set, her piano) she was also excited to play with them over and over again. This was all well and fine, except for the fact that we were both on the verge of passing out on the floor. I suggested that we should start opening up our gifts for one another in an attempt to wake up a bit. By 8:30 we were feeling much more alive than previously.

Since I was feeling physically much better and there were no signs that John or Angela were getting the same bug, we decided to go to Hingham for Christmas with my side of the family. That was very good, Angela enjoyed passing out presents, and it was nice to just sit on a couch and know that Angela was well occupied.

Link to Christmas photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=594149&id=595610491&l=cb25de27d8

Weaning etc

Well, we've official weaned. The writing was on the wall and I guess Angela knew it. It was all so lovely and cozy when she couldn't control her limbs, but then it turned into kicking and hair pulling and then demanding to sleep while nursing and me trying to find a way to keep her asleep while I pried my nipple out from between her newly sprouted lower AND upper teeth. And all of a sudden it just happened, one night I didn't feel well and John put Angela to bed without me - and without nursing. The next day she woke up, I got her and she didn't even make a motion - so I didn't offer. And that was the end of it. Now she falls asleep more easily during nap time, sleeps better, and goes back to sleep with rocking/singing (generally). I think knowing that she's not going to be nursed helps her sleep better on her own (thank God).

We also had our first stomach bug make its way through the house a couple weekends ago - starting with Angela vomiting all over John and then a couple times after that, and then John & I both got it... and finally my parents. How fun.

We had Angela's 15 month appointment this week - she's gained another inch (now 31 inches) and a whopping 3/4 of a pound to put her just under 20 lbs. She's a lean mean toddling machine. I mentioned to the doctor how she's not really using words much at all. Babbles constantly but doesn't really try to say or repeat what we say to her. However, since that appointment she now will occasionally say "meow" when we ask her what a cat says, and started saying "touch" CONSTANTLY.... I am big on .. "no touch" this and "no touch" that ... so now she touches everything and says "touch" - it's funny. She also said "dirt" today when I was potting some indoor bulbs - she saw the dirt and wanted to touch it and I told her it was dirt - this was apparently hilarious to her as she broke out in laughter everytime I said dirt and then said dirt a few times herself. Hey, whatever works.

We are super-excited for Christmas this Saturday and seeing her reaction to lots of presents under the tree - some unwrapped, some wrapped. It will be a long weekend, but hopefully many fun memorable pictures will be taken.

Holidays, Holidays, Holidays!

Where to start - it's been so long.

Angela is a walking, spinning, dancing, running away from you in a crowded store kind of girl.

Halloween was good, she didn't really want to walk outside in the dark on her own, but she was a big fan of having a basket of treats to play with. I made one mistake - introducing her to the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - I had to eat them all because she liked it so much that she would freak out if she saw an unopened one. She was even so bold as to "taunt" me with one, offering it to me and then as I'd reach for it, she whip her arm back and run away and laugh. How quickly they learn....

We've started a toddler gym class which she has really enjoyed - being around other kids, in a big open place where she can run around, it's a lot of fun - and it wears her out. But these days, with all her running, it's not so hard for her to work up the need to take a nap - now, if only she could take a long nap, especially now that she refuses to take a second nap despite how badly she needs it some days.

I myself, had a good 3 week period where I felt absolutely exhausted all day. It was rough. But it has passed now and I feel much better, still getting sick in the morning but that's no big deal compared to last time.

Also on the sleep front - Angela, we are proud to say, is sleeping though the night about 95% of the time, and falling aleep on her own without crying - such a blessing. It makes the whole parenting experience that much less stressful and more pleasant.

She understands a lot of what we say to her now, but for one reason or another, she feels little compulsion to try to say real words. She will babble nonstop at times, but no more of the "dog/bird/bye/cheese" that she was saying a few months ago. She loves to be out in the public though, she babbles even more - and louder and has recently been giving super-enthusiastic waves to anyone who will pay attention to her.

She's had her top two teeth coming in for over a month now, and I spotted some more coming in as well, which, along with experience eating solids, has made eating real food much easier for her. She's also become a pro at tearing the house apart, and it often looks like a bomb went off which is a lot of fun to clean up after putting her to bed.