We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Sorry, there were no Christmas cards from our family this year, but we wish everyone a wonderful holiday season!

We had a great Christmas, and it started early. Macy must have been really excited because she woke up at 5:00am! Then Kennedy got up at 6:00, so we watched Sesame Street together before going downstairs to open presents. When Kennedy got to the living room, she was very disappointed not to see Santa, saying "I'm so sad that Santa's not here!" She didn't even notice the presents under the tree! I guess she didn't understand that Santa was just stopping by to drop off the gifts while she was sleeping. Luckily Kennedy didn't make a big deal about the peanut butter cookies that we've been talking about baking for weeks now to leave out for Santa. There just wasn't time to do it with the late naps and then Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma Lu's. Macy wasn't very excited about opening presents, but her big sister helped her out. Both girls got the much requested crocodiles and dinosaurs. Macy's was a pull-along crocodile toy and a dino book (When Dinosaurs Came with Everything) and Kennedy got a stuffed crocodile that she named "Chompy" and a T-Rex puzzle, a triceratops mini flashlight and a little bendable magnetic dinosaur. The best part was hearing Kennedy say, "I'm so excited. I got everything I wanted!"

Our next stop was at my parents' house for more presents and brunch. My mom, Jeff and Kathy tried to keep everything running smoothly while passing out gifts and working on the food. The grandparents opened packages out of turn and couldn't remember what they got or from whom. Macy resisted taking a nap, but finally gave up. Kennedy had a few meltdowns because she was overstimulated, tired and hungry. But honestly, it was a great day! The only thing that could have been better is having Andy and Meg there. After my grandparents were taken home I thought Kennedy would want to take a nap in her new sleeping bag, but no luck. We eventually resorted to putting her in the car while Jake drove home for a forgotten gift in order to get her to fall asleep - worked like a charm! After Kennedy woke up and we finished playing some games with my cousin, Jeff, we packed up and headed off for more.

At Grandma Sue's and Grandpa Brent's we celebrated with a smaller than usual crowd (missed you Kari, Rainier, Ben and McKenzie), but Kennedy loved spending time with her cousins. She was so excited for them to open the presents she chose. Then after a while she was done with it all, and just wanted to go play with the familiar toys in the playroom. Macy was a trooper and in her usual good mood.

I love Christmas, and having the kids just makes it even more fun! Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful, amazing and generous presents! We love you all.

Dear Santa

Kennedy's letter to Santa:

Dear Santa,

You'll bring some presents to me. Thank you very much. I want a crocodile and a dinosaur please. We're gonna leave those cookies out and some milk out. Macy wants a crocodile and a dinosaur just like me, right away. Thank you again, Santa.

From, Kennedy

These are her own words - with a little prompting from us (what else do you want to say to Santa?) Then, on Friday night she got the chance to ask him in person for her dinosaur and crocodile. She's been set on these two items since we very first asked what she wanted for Christmas! Santa was visiting the farm, so we went to see him and to go on the wagon ride to see the lights there. Even Macy sat on his lap, and Kennedy served as her spokesperson. No tears from either one of them!

Hmm...What should I wear?

The girl has a closet full of cute clothes, thanks to her cousin Eliza, and she chooses this to wear? A penguin tee, striped pants from Halloween, vintage bloomers (that go with a dress I wore in my youth) and Hello Kitty socks. And I've caught her a few times saying, "I wonder what I should wear today." She also likes to change her clothes several times a day. I think Kennedy is loving being able to get dressed all by herself. Most days I try not to intervene, but I do occasionally make suggestions, or say, "You pick the shirt and I'll pick the pants." Another one of her favorite things to do is choose Macy's outfit. If I select something before she gets the chance, Kennedy gets a really sad face and says, "but I thought I was going to pick her clothes!"

A Merry Toddler Christmas

The three toddler classes at Kennedy's school put on a holiday program this week. The families gathered in the gym, and when the kids came in all lined up, Kennedy ran straight for us and gave her dad a huge hug! She was so excited to be performing, but some of the other kids did not share her enthusiasm. There were several upset kids crying up on the stage. Each class sang two songs - Kennedy's did something about a dreidel and then a shortened version of Mr. Grinch. Then they all got out their bells and sang Jingle Bells together. They ended with a song that didn't seem to have a winter holiday theme, but it had lots of actions that the kids clearly loved doing - marching, spinning, and stretching. Kennedy was right in the front and did a great job. Afterwards we all enjoyed a nice potluck buffet lunch together at the school. Macy was fascinated and looked like she was very proud of her big sister!

ZooLights!

Monday we went to ZooLights. It was the perfect night for it - not too cold and not too crowded. Kennedy really wanted to call and invite her cousins, but we had to explain to her that it's harder for them to join us at the last minute now that they live farther away. We all bundled up to see the amazing animal-themed light displays.

We were also able to see a few of the live animals. The tiger cubs were quite active, and one was prowling the fence right in front of us. Kennedy and Jake rode the carousel all by themselves, and then Macy and I joined them when the ride was over for a quick photo opportunity.

More December birthday parties

We had another busy weekend. On Saturday Macy and I went to the annual Nelson women and girls' Christmas lunch and ornament exchange. This year we could choose to bring something other than ornaments, but I had supplies on hand to make 14 silver stars with gold bead loops. We had a nice lunch and a fun time visiting. Kennedy wasn't able to join us because she and her dad had a marathon play-date at the Little Gym. First was class and then her school friend Mae Mae's birthday party! They took a quick break in between to go to the toy store for a gift and come home for a snack. What a great day for all of us!

Sunday we went to the Cottonwood Club for my uncle Tim's birthday. The girls were so well behaved - as usual. I just wish they would have cooperated for a picture together. Kennedy really wanted to dress as twins, but they've outgrown the outfits she had in mind. I improvised and put them both in corduroy jumpers with flowers and leggings. It was the best I could do on such short notice, but Kennedy was satisfied.

Cutest girls ever?

We think so!

Macy stories

On Sunday I felt Macy's first tooth! And, she's not just getting one, it's two coming in on the bottom. I guess all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth, which is good because I don't think Santa will be bringing her anything besides some diapers and a few jars of baby food. Besides, her favorite thing to play with is my keys. When I get her out of the car, Macy eagerly reaches up for the dangling beaded snake key chain I have. I remember that Kennedy also loved it when she was a baby.

I gather from personal observations and grandparent reports that she's getting into a pretty good routine - awake around 6:30, breakfast, playtime, nap, playtime, lunch, nap, playtime, I pick her up (she has a smile that lights up her whole face, which she flashes at me when I come to get her after work), snooze in the car on the way home, playtime, dinner, bath (sometimes), family activity*, bed. Bedtime could be anywhere between 7:30 and 9:00pm, depending on how long and how late her naps were. If we try to put Macy down before she's ready, she cries quite a bit. If Kennedy is trying to fall asleep, she will say, "Take Macy out. She's too loud!" Kicked out of her own room by her own sister! *Some nights she sits in Jake's lap while he plays World of Warcraft and I get Kennedy ready for bed. Other nights she'll listen to us read books or explore whatever is in reach.

Macy is not crawling yet, nor is she really trying to. She will reach for things when she's sitting down and occasionally roll toward something she wants. Usually she is content to amuse herself with things she can grab and then let us know when she's ready to be picked up or brought some other toys. Who needs to crawl when you get this kind of service. Kennedy took her first steps at 8.5 months. I don't think Macy will be walking that early - good thing because we need to put the baby gates back up and be more vigilant with the baby proofing.

Kennedy stories

So after all the potty problems we were having a few weeks ago, I decided to read what the experts suggested. Apparently this isn't an uncommon issue, but basically I gathered that we were putting too much pressure on her. She was choosing to not to use the potty to exercise some degree of control over the whole process. So, the next day we didn't mention it at all. No asking if she needed to go. No reminding her to ask for help when she was ready. Nothing. And, it worked. We've not had a problem since adopting this new strategy. I guess the experts do know a thing or two. Now I need to read about how to keep her in bed.

Last night we put Kennedy to sleep at her usual time, around 8:00pm, and she must have come out of the room four times after that (that we know of). First she said that she needed to use the potty. Not likely since she had just used it five minutes earlier. I asked her if that's what it was, or if she needed something else. She changed her mind and said that she needed some lotion on her nose. The next time her CD had ended, so I changed it from Bingo to Dinosaurs. Then when she came out again I didn't ask what she needed, just took her right back to her room. I thought for sure that all the noise would wake Macy up. Finally Jake and I were downstairs watching a movie thinking that she'd finally gone to sleep, when I heard something. I looked, but didn't see her on the stairs. Then I noticed that the Christmas tree lights had been turned out (one of her favorite things to do to be helpful). I got up and found Kennedy behind the couch and hiding under the table. I asked her if she would please come out and then she said in a little, concerned voice, "Oh, there you are!" I could hear Jake trying not to burst out laughing.

Getting ready for Christmas

We're all getting in the holiday spirit! We bought some outdoor lights and managed to put them up before it got really cold. Our tree is trimmed and the decorations are out. Kennedy got an advent calendar from Aunt Kari and loves opening the windows each night to find a little chocolate treat. We've been out looking at neighborhood lights. There is a house near us that goes all out - it's a full light show, set to music that you listen to through the radio. And we've even started shopping, which is amazing. I always leave most of it until last minute, but our family theme this year seems to be simplify. That means fewer gifts and fewer stops on Christmas. One year we went to celebrate at six different locations (including our house) on Christmas day. Hopefully this year we can keep it to three or four.

Kennedy was sick over the weekend. She started feeling it on Friday, complaining of her throat hurting and saying over and over, "I don't feel good." and "Mama, I'm sorry I don't feel well, sweetie." So cute! She loves to get sympathy when she's sick, and she has heard me say many times, "I'm sorry you don't feel well, sweetie." She had a fever Saturday, so she missed Little Gym, a chance to get H1N1 flu shot #2 and Huck's birthday party. I had a holiday lunch with my book group, so Kennedy went to Grandma Sue's while Jake to Macy to get her shots. Later I got some chicken noodle soup (which is what Huck requested for dinner at the party), asparagus (one of her favorites) and a cake so Kennedy wouldn't feel too sad about missing it - Jake and Macy went without us. We had a nice night playing computer games on PBS Kids and watching Toy Story. Sunday she was feeling much better and no longer had a fever. We went to the Country Club for dinner to celebrate Mimi's birthday. While I was feeding Macy she flapped her arms just as I was giving her the spoonful of carrots - I got orange splatter all over my white sweater.

So much to be thankful for

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have many things to be thankful for - family, friends, a home, jobs, good health, education, the list could go on and on, so here are just a few more. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Two beautiful girls.

A quiet moment here and there.

Trips to the zoo to see how much the baby animals have grown.

Spending time together.

Wonderful hosts and a delicious meal.

Let's talk about...

Kennedy's favorite phrase right now is, "Let's talk about..." We have entire conversations based around this. "Let's talk about birthdays." So we do. "Now let's talk about our family." "Let's talk about not letting go of the panties (referencing the panties down the toilet incident)... Let's talk about rules." It goes on and on. Let's talk about school. Kennedy is loving school, and it sounds like her new teachers are really great. I miss seeing what's going on in the classroom because I don't do the drop off or pick up anymore. She brings home some beautiful art creations and has cute stories to tell about her friends Lucy and Mae Mae. Sometimes I have to hear the stories (or more details) from her grandparents. The other day she and Lucy got to school at the same time and they held hands and skipped down the hall together. The next day when Grandpa Brent was picking Kennedy up, she wanted to hold Lucy's hand again, but Lucy wasn't interested. Apparently that hurt Kennedy's feeling quite a bit, but luckily she doesn't hold a grudge. Now Kennedy is very excited for Mae Mae's upcoming birthday party at the Little Gym. She'll be able to show off all her tricks to her school friends.

The one thing that she asks to talk about over and over has been what Pamp's tracks would look like in the snow. When we got to my parents' house on Monday we saw some bunny tracks in the snow. Then Kennedy was looking at the difference between Woody's (cat) tracks, Grammie's tracks, my tracks, and her tracks. Then I asked her what Pamp's tracks would look like if he walked in the snow. He would have two small circles for the crutches and how many footprints? She figured out that he would only have one since he's just walking on one leg!

Let it snow!

Saturday we had our first good snowstorm. Luckily it started after we got home from our morning outings to the Little Gym and the grocery store. Kennedy was so excited to go outside with her dad and help shovel. Macy and I watched (and took pictures) from the warmth of the kitchen window, while those scoundrels threw snowballs at us.

Now it's back to sunny fall weather. Good thing because we still have lots of leaves to rake!

Potty training woes

We've been working with Kennedy on using the potty for about three weeks now. I thought she should be ready to move out of diapers when she turned two, but that was a mistake. So we waited until she showed signs of being ready - a much better idea. Some days she does a great job, and other days we go through lots of changes of clothes. She had been doing really well until the last week. For some reason she will now only pee in the potty, which means that we have lots of messy pants to clean. Last night she had another accident, so Jake made her take off her panties and swish them around in the toilet. He warned her to hold them tightly, but she didn't have a good grip... and they got flushed down the toilet. Kennedy was very surprised that this happened, and she kept saying, "I'm sorry my tinkerbell panties went down the toilet." Did she learn a lesson? No, we were back in there swishing out another pair a few hours later. The good news is that she does really well at night, and wakes up with dry underwear (except for the last two nights, when she had her first overnight accidents). Hopefully I have now learned a lesson, and next time I'll be more prepared to change sheets and jammies in the middle of the night - ideally without waking Macy up.

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Yesterday was a bad day (well, not all of it was bad). Jake had the day off for Veterans Day, so I took it off too. We took Kennedy to get some snacks to take as leader of the day and then we dropped her off at school. Then we went to get Jake's car inspected. It failed, which he was expecting because of the crack in the windshield, but they also found something else wrong. We took it to the dealership for repairs, where they found another part that needed replacing... $1,000 later we have an eleven-year-old car that runs like new.

The hardest part of the day was taking Macy in for some tests at the hospital. I knew it would be bad because I've been through this twice with Kennedy. Jake was along for the first time. She had an ultrasound, which went great. Then she had the VCUG, where she cried through the entire test. It was the saddest thing seeing her on the table trapped by the x-ray machine, pinned down by her dad, and her legs all bundled up. Macy kept looking up at us like she was saying, "I am miserable! Why don't you do something?" I think this must have been the worst day of her life, but she was happy again as soon as the catheter came out and she was free from her restraints. Everything appeared ok, but now we wait for the doctor's report.

We picked Kennedy up from my parents' house, where she was taking a nap. She then continued to sleep for another two hours, not even waking when we moved her from the bed to the car and then from the car to her own bed. We rounded the day out with some Chinese take-out, Jazz basketball on TV, and a yummy cranberry-pear upside down cake that I made. It was nearly impossible to get Kennedy to bed after that long late afternoon nap, and Macy woke up crying three times. I went in each time because I'm not quite ready to let her cry it out, especially with Kennedy in the same room. Just the other day a friend at work said something like, "Maybe tomorrow will be better - at least it will be different." Here's hoping!

Macy's 6-month checkup

Macy has hit the half year mark. To celebrate, we took her to the doctor's office! Not really - you can't call five shots and a catheter celebrating. She is doing very well with her development, which we already knew. She's 15 pounds 15 ounces and 26 inches long. That puts her at the 50th percentile for both (and for head circumference, too). No sign of teeth yet, but she is loving all the new foods she's tried: rice cereal, squash, sweet potato, applesauce, pear, and banana. We'll have to start introducing the green vegetables next. Kennedy has been saying lately that her favorite food is broccoli. Hopefully Macy will be as good an eater as her big sister. At the end of the appointment, Macy was very considerate and picked out a "Lightening-the-Queen" sticker, from the movie Cars, for Kennedy. She was so excited to get the sticker and kept telling Macy thank you!

Kennedy can pick out her own sticker when we go back in a few days for her H1N1 and flu shots. Playing with the doctor's kit is one of Kennedy's favorite games right now, but cute as it is, the plastic set just doesn't prepare you for the real poke of a needle. How big was Kennedy at 6-months? 26.25 inches (50th), 17 pounds 8 ounces (75th) and 43 cm head (65th).

More Halloween

Kennedy and Macy have both made good use out of their costumes. Friday they wore them to visit me at work for our potluck lunch. That night they wore them again to a carnival at Kennedy's school. We all had a great time - the kangaroo had her nose painted and then she and dad did the ring toss, went fishing, decorated a pumpkin and a cookie, and went through a spook alley (very short, but the darkness and fog machine still managed to scare her). A witch read Kennedy a story and then we all enjoyed a puppet show.

Saturday, Halloween, they dressed up again for the Little Gym class. That night we went trick-or-treating at Paul and Sara's new house - they just moved into our neighborhood. Kennedy was frightened when they opened the door in costumes (a nerd and a rapper), so we decided to head straight to the party at some friends of my parents. We had a nice time, but we didn't get the memo that costumes were supposed to have an Alfred Hitchcock theme. We dressed as some type of tourists on safari in the outback. We finished the night with a visit to Grandma Sue and Grandpa Brent's. When we got home we found that the bowl of candy we'd left out had hardly been touched!