Christmas in North Carolina

Being pregnant and all, I was totally against traveling anywhere for the holidays this year. So, my whole family decided to make the trek to our house for Christmas. Luckily, my Aunt and Uncle aren't moving back to Ohio until after New Year's Day, so they were able to house a few of our guests. The boys and their girlfriends stayed with Dini & Bill. My parents, Kathleen and nephew Noah stayed with us.

As tradition would have it, Dylan and I both ended up being sick the entire week everyone was here. Lucky for us all, Dylan was in pretty good spirits. Although, we did make a trip to Urgent Care on Christmas Eve. The child has been sick with a cold/cough for about two months and it seemed to get worse last week. Turns out he had ear infections in both ears. No wonder he'd been such a crab and sleeping like crap! We got him on some amoxicillin and hoped he would start to feel better. Unfortunately, that made him break out in hives. So, we called the Dr back up and got him on something else. Me? I just had a fun cold that made me miserable. We tried hard to not let our illness ruin the holiday, but I really didn't sleep good most of the time everyone was here.

My family's tradition is to celebrate on Christmas Eve. We had a yummy dinner (fried rice, several dips, chips, desserts, etc...we're into finger foods in this house), then my Dad gave a talk about the birth of the Savior and the reason why we celebrate this season, followed by some serious unwrapping of presents. The gift part can get a bit overwhelming and we were worried that Dylan would need to save some for the next morning. The kid, however, surprised us and just tore through his gifts. I feel like this was his first 'real' Christmas because he finally understood what was going on, so it was a lot of fun to watch him and hear all his little expressions as he opened each gift.

Christmas morning, my Mom made her amazing Caramel Rolls and Hot Chocolate. We spent the rest of the morning cooking a nice traditional dinner (ham, turkey, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin roll, etc). The rest of the day was spent watching football, lounging and just chatting. All in, we had a nice couple of days and everyone made out well with gifts.

No, my kid does not like to wear clothes. This was Dylan before all the festivities on Christmas Eve. He was totally ready to get started.

With 11 stockings to hang, the fireplace mantle was a little too small.

Just a glimpse of the amount of gifts. I had to take about 8 pictures to get them all.

Sweet cousins getting ready to open their presents. These two had a lot of fun together.

One of Dylan's favorite gifts is his new train table from Gram and Pa.

This was my mantle. Turned out pretty cute, thanks to my Mom. I started doing 'Elf on the Shelf' with Dylan this year. He had a great time finding 'Red' each day. I really do think it helped him behave himself the past few weeks.

I really wish I had taken some more pictures, but with being sick I just wasn't in the mood. The memories, however, will stay with me. Now I just have to figure out how to get Dylan to understand that it's going to be a long time before he gets to open presents again.

So Humbled

Dylan has been sick and in toddler mode the past 4 days. I have been on the verge of completely losing my mind; trying my hardest not to give his rear end a nice swat. Luckily Mike did not have to work this weekend and I was able to get away and shop with my Aunt for a few hours one day.

This morning, as I sat here in Mommy time out trying not to scream at Dylan for being annoying, I decided to catch up on my friend's little baby girl. I am not super close with this girl, but she is a super sweet, kind, and beautiful person. In September 2008, her 6 month old baby boy died of SIDS. I did not know her when this happened, but heard the story shortly after we moved into our house in January. I met her in February. In May, I found out that she was pregnant again. In July, I found out that her 20 week ultrasound showed some physical deformities. Her baby was born premature in October and they discovered that her situation was much worse than any ultrasound could have showed. This poor little baby has been a fighter and has already endured surgery. They were hoping to be able to bring her home by Christmas, but her situation has gotten worse. At this point in time, they are hoping for a miracle.

Upon finishing reading more about the baby this morning, I was truly humbled. I do not know why some people have to endure such trials in this life, but it surely made my current frustrations with my toddler seem inconsequential. Every time I think about my friend, my eyes well up with tears and I run to hug my perfect little Dylan. Then I take a moment to just sit and talk to my belly. I have been counting my blessings today. Any time a complaint starts to cross my mind, I remind myself that my life is awesome.

The Big '3'

Dylan celebrated his 3rd Birthday on November 30th. I still cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by. I feel like he was just a beautiful, colicky newborn who didn't sleep more than an hour at a time. No one could have prepared us for what a joy Dylan would be in our lives. We have our issues with him; he is a toddler and they all come with issues. But, this kid is so fun to have around. If you don't feel loved having a 3 year old in your house, the problem is most likely with you...not them. I can go from being so angry I can't see straight, to laughing hysterically in a split second.

Mike and I both love this little guy more than words can say. We look forward to what is going to come out of his mouth each day. We love his hugs and kisses. We enjoy seeing the pure delight on his face when we agree to play a game with him. Life truly does not get better than this.

My happy boy, ready to tackle the presents at his little party.

We decided to just do a big birthday bash every other year. This year, we were just going to have Aunt Dini and Uncle Bill over for dinner and presents, but Dylan insisted that his best friend David and his favorite Mommy "Nae Nae" (Renee) be there as well. Who am I to refuse my child his wishes?

David and his Daddy, David waited patiently for Dylan to open his presents.

Aunt Dini and Uncle Bill look on as Dylan opens the awesome game they got him.

Dylan opening his favorite new toy (ahem, his obsession).

His new red vaccuum! YAY! This gift was as much for me as it is for Dylan. Although I love my little cleaning helper, it is much easier to vaccuum when he has his own to push around.

Dylan also received his kitchen, some pj's, and some pieces to go with his Thomas the Train set. Now we just need to get him to understand that his Birthday only comes once a year!

Thanksgiving '09

I'm trying to play catch up a little this week. Things have been a little crazy around our house and I just haven't had as much time for the 'fun' stuff, like updating my blog.

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Elkington's. Because of the pregnancy, I just was not up for traveling this year. We told our families that we would be more than happy to have them come to us if they wanted to spend the holidays with us. So, the Elkington's made the trip from Delaware for Thanksgiving. My family will be making the trip for Christmas.

Our dinner was yummy, the company was good, we did a little shopping and had a little Christmas/Birthday celebration. I think Dylan especially enjoyed the last part because he loves 'pwesents'.
I just love this picture of Grandma and Dylan. He absolutely adores Grandma K because she will play with him non-stop. It is always a difficult adjustment back to reality once the company leaves and Dylan isn't getting that all day attention.

Grandpa and Grandma K got Dylan this awesome Pottery Barn Kids kitchen for his Birthday/Christmas present. It has already received hours and hours of playtime. Dylan loves helping me cook and bake, so I knew this would be the perfect gift for him. He loves to make pizza and serve it to us.

Grandpa and Aunt Ashley watching Dylan open his gifts.

Uncle Brett looks a little haggard after carrying in the big kitchen boxes.

Dylan is really into games now. Board games, puzzles, etc. You name it, he loves it and wants to play it ALL THE TIME! His favorite game right now is 'Kerplunk'. He calls it the 'plunk game'. I hear about this game at least 10 times each day. Aunt Jamie and Ashley were such good sports to sit and play it Dylan's way for a couple hours.