Christmas Hangover.

Little Packer backer, and our little Packer binny pig.

We've been continuing to go at a million miles an hour after all of our holiday fun. On the 26th we had two different groups of friends over during the day, and on the 27th Becca and Brian arrived for post-Christmas, New Years Eve fun, and it has been VERY fun. A little crazy, a little loud, but very fun. Ellie is sad that Becca is not sleeping in her room with her, but we decided that since they are married grown ups, they can sleep in the queen bed in the nursery. And since Adam is refusing to sleep through the night, he is in the Fun Cage in our bedroom for part of the night, and for the second half of the night, we move his cage into the bathroom. We've been keeping the fan running the whole time as white noise to try to keep our sanity. Overall, I am very, very tired. He has not slept through the night in over two months - first it was teething, then it was crawling, and now he's refusing to nap sometimes because he will get himself over to the side of the crib and get up on his knees, weeping and demanding to be released. He has officially pulled himself up to standing once using my legs, which sort of makes up for the fact that he's been wiping boogers on me for days on end in his attempts to be upright.

Yesterday we went up to LA to the California Science Center, where Ellie really enjoyed the 3D movie about the flight of the monarchs. She was so cute sitting next to her dad with her 3D glasses on (until the end, when she took them off and just watched a blurry movie.) Adam slept off and on in the ergo all day, poor tired thing. We also saw the space shuttle again, which was still just as amazing, and then as the place got more crowded, we headed over to Phillipe's for a late lunch of french dip sandwiches - they're the original! By then it was nearly 3 and Ellie was about at the end of her rope (as was I) and she cried when her cheese fell on the floor so I finally told her just to eat it and be done with it, and then she wept because her nose dripped onto her bread, and she ate that too. Keeping her immune system strong. Then last night Adam was awake every two hours, and Ellie woke up after an accident. Brian and Becca are never going to want to have kids at this rate. Please, enjoy this horror show! Thank goodness Gigi has also taken the kids for an evening so we could go out and have an adult dinner with adult beverages. They have been very much required as of late.

First Christmas as a Family of Four.

Christmas is in the books, and we are all very tired, and very very happy. Ellie is such a fun age because she's excited about Santa but also doesn't quite get it, and that is hilarious. She is also so enthralled by every little thing that it makes it hard not to spoil her, just to see her delighted reaction to each object. "Oh, I LOVE my new socks! Look, a NAIL POLISH! It's a BOOK!" We have all really enjoyed the fact that all she wants from Santa is a candy cane - she doesn't understand that she could request a pony or a diamond necklace or the ability to fly or whatever other weird things kids demand.

We put out milk and cookies for Santa last night, and I let Tim drink the milk even though 1) there was some dust in the cup when I took it out of the cabinet (I rinsed it) and 2) Lulu stuck her face AND her paw into the milk. I also ate the larger of the cookies for Santa. 

Santa brought Ellie a little Sterilite three drawer dresser, and filled it with art supplies, coloring books and play doh items. It was front and center on the fireplace this morning with a bow and a candy cane, but when I asked her if Santa had come, she kept going "I don't know!" She was so delightfully oblivious. She checked to see if Santa had eaten the cookies, and wandered around a bit, and then finally engaged in her new items. Which, she loved all of them and immediately started coloring. Adam got some teethers and a couple of books, because he is a stinky little baby. He was delighted to chew on all the things, and immediately tried to eat a page of of Ellie's coloring book. That was not well received.

We got everyone in their holiday finery and shortly thereafter, our family and friends started showing up for brunch. We once again made croque madames (thanks to Grizz for his egg frying skills) and had an edible centerpiece and fancy champagne and fancy egg nog. ONLY THE BEST! It was a full house, which I absolutely love. Ellie opened her presents from Mimi and Pa and was THRILLED with her new fairy princess ballet outfits for her and Bitty Baby. 

As you can see, she is really into the over exuberant "CHEESE" smile. Sorry Mimi - these are the best pictures I have.

And then brunch ended as any good Christmas party does - with a DANCE PARTY!

Then it was nap time for everyone. Including me. My poor friend Lauren ended up staying to hang out and snuggle with Adam, and manages to still be friends with me, even when I peace out to sleep for an hour.

Tonight was the party with all of our wonderful family. Ellie came in her fairy princess costume (after getting up from her nap to put her tights and ballet shoes on to sleep in) and despite his continuing exhaustion, Adam was his usual sweet self. Did I mention he's 9 whole months today?

Ellie and her little cousins were thick as thieves all night, I ate myself almost into a coma, and Ellie wore another set of new pajamas home in delight. And then I was getting her ready for bed she told me I was "the best mama ever." I couldn't ask for anything more. Except for a long winters nap, obviously (maybe nine months will be when Adam goes back to sleep 10 hours straight!)

Christmas Eve

Santa has been by our house already, and eaten some cookies after a long day. Our brunch food is ready to go and I'm ready for another full day of family and fun. We've had a busy weekend, celebrating with the Parmodsens and then tonight with my parents, and tomorrow is going to be another long and fun one.

Here's some pictures.

Our little elf on the shelf, in her new jammies

The kiddos with Santa at the Parmordsen party on the 22nd. Yes, Ellie wore that dress last year. Yes, Tim wore that outfit in 1980.

A huge pile of kiddos!

Our sweet boy, trying to find something new and devious to ingest during present opening tonight

A brief interlude for a new book. Ellie was so delighted with each present and wanted to play with everything and read all her books and just generally enjoy her toys. Adam just wanted to chew things and cuddle.

ELLIE AND HER SWEET NEW BIG WHEEL. Even though she's tall for her age, she just barely reaches the peddles.

I'm really glad that we were able to talk to most of our Midwestern family members via Skype and Facetime while opening presents tonight. It was like we were all celebrating together! The funniest part was when Ellie was opening her presents from Auntie B. First she opened a little box with a charm for her charm bracelet, but the best present in the box was the "rabbit fur" that Aunt B sent her. She kept screaming with delight over a hunk of cotton batting, and that is why three year olds are hilarious. Then when she opened up her new purple tutu, she immediately ripped her skirt off so she could wear it. It's a full show for everyone.

Goodnight, and Merry Christmas!

Moving Right Along.

Adam is changing so fast, I can hardly believe it. It seems like every day he's up to something new, and something naughty. His crawling is no longer halting and rocking back and forth. He is EVERYWHERE. He'll take off down the hall to find one of us, or leave and wander into Ellie's bedroom to chew the plastic food strewn all over her tent (where picnics happen.) I feel bad for him, because he will sometimes crawl after me while I'm trying to get ready in the morning, and as soon as he finds me in one location, I'm moving to the next, and I can't hold him because I need both hands to put on pants or tart myself up with liquid eyeliner. Me getting dressed is a grumpy time for him, for sure.

We are going to have to switch him out of his bucket seat any day now, as he's getting too long. You've been a good seat, little pink car seat. I am glad mom forced me to go to Target in a bathing suit cover up while hugely pregnant to buy you. Now off to the trash can.

Adam's a champion sitter-upper now, and can get from his hands and knees back onto his bottom, which is always helpful. The next step is pulling up, which I fear. He has crawled over to me and pushed himself up to his feet while keeping his hands planted on my stomach or leg, and tonight at Gigi's house he climbed over to the step out of the family room and stood at the step for awhile. But he hasn't really reached UP and started to pull himself on anything, and if you stand him all the way up next to a table or chair, he can't hold himself for very long.

Eating continues to go well. We usually give him a small snack that he can feed himself while we eat, and then when I have a chance, I spoon in some fruits and veggies while eating my own dinner. He likes string cheese, cheerios and most bread products. This week I gave him some scraps of chicken sausage, which he enjoyed, and I enjoyed watching him try to chew it with only four teeth.

Tonight was a big night for him - as an early Christmas present, I told Gigi she could give him his first taste of ice cream. And lo, another ice cream monster was born. He made the funniest, most incredulous face for the first bite, but soon enough was crying in between spoonfuls because he was mad that Gigi was feeding herself. Meanwhile, Grizz had Ellie in his lap, doing their usual Friday night ice cream routine. You can't beat it.

Lastly, here is a video playing the bead garland he ripped off Gigi's tree and has claimed as his own. He is a loud mouth (surprise) and getting into the whole talking thing. Lots of babblings, some dadadas and mamamas, though I wouldn't say he's actually calling us mama and dada yet.

The only reason he's allowed to play with the garland unimpeded is because Ellie was napping at the time. Once she's awake, she insists on trying to turn him into a pony.

"Here Adam, put on your reins."

Hey Mr. DJ

You know that cliche of the teenaged kid, sullenly sitting in the back seat of the car, listening to an iPod and ignoring their mom? I AM LIVING FOR THAT RIGHT NOW. HOW MANY YEARS UNTIL I GET THAT?

I guess I shouldn't complain too much - before Ellie was even here, Tim and I talked often of how we wanted to expose her to lots of different kinds of music, and how much fun it was going to be to introduce her to our favorite songs and our favorite bands. And it has been! I love seeing what catches her attention and what she asks to hear on repeat.

What I don't love is being constantly asked to play songs for her in the car. I especially don't like when she throws out a request as I'm entering the freeway, and then cries when I tell her to give me a minute or two.

Our current list of favorites includes:
-Sara Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin
-Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair by Florence Henderson (yeah Mrs Brady!)
-Mamma Mia by ABBA, or as she calls it "my favorite Mamma Mia!"
-Sons of Westwood and/or the Mighty Bruins (bonus factoid: Tim is featured playing saxophone on the recording I have. Band dorks, what what!)
-Jesus Is Born by the Oak Ridge Boys (a family favorite)

And lately, every day, every time we get in the car

 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And not only that, but she starts singing and then yells "mama, sing the parts!" meaning the "like a light bulb" additions to the song. And then we start again. I cannot wait until she's old enough to figure out how to work the iPod herself. I will buy her one, if it means I can listen to something of my choosing once in awhile.

It's a Zoo Out There!

Man, if Tim and I aren't sound asleep by 10pm tonight to end our weekend, I will be surprised. It has been a fun and exciting and more than a little exhausting one.

Friday night was his company holiday party. Mimi and Pa came over to babysit, and we left in a rush, drove forever to get to the hotel, and then drank and ate and danced and talked and had a wonderful time, and ended the evening with me singing "Once Upon a Dream" while walking barefoot back to our car.

When we got home Ellie was asleep, and Adam was asleep in Mimi's arms, after having a bit of an upset tummy and puking all over her. He was fine - we've all been suffering from runny noses this weekend, and I wouldn't be surprised if being off of his game and having bad congestion just made for an urpy stomach. Adam will take a sippy of milk under duress, but basically he eats his vegetables for dinner and then holds out, knowing that I'll be back and able to dream feed him in the wee smalls, which I did.

And then I fed him several more times in the middle of the night. I AM NEVER GOING TO GET TO SLEEP FOR EIGHT HOURS AGAIN YOU GUYS. That kid is killing me. KILLING ME. I spent all day Saturday just wanting to lay on the floor and take a nap. It didn't help that Adam not only was up several times during the night, but in the morning it took me an hour to get him to settle down for a nap (usually it takes between zero and fifteen minutes.)

Meanwhile, Ellie and I went over to the skating rink to watch Sara and the Hawks play floor hockey. Ellie thought it was pretty great - she liked being able to run around and cheer for Sara, and we finally found a good storage device for her.

After nap time (where I finally got a nap!) we went over to Mimi and Pa's for a joint birthday celebration for Don and Tim, and a little bit of Christmas cheer, since Jake and Dawn will be out of town over Christmas. So we're standing in the kitchen, eating appetizers, catching up, when someone notices that there's water on the floor of the kitchen. Eileen opens the freezer (which is a drawer on the bottom of their new fridge) and water just POURS OUT onto the kitchen floor. A flood of icy water. Thank goodness the boys were there, because it took all of their muscle (and Don going to get a shovel for leverage) to get the fridge moved out of the way and the floor mopped up. Meanwhile, Don had scraped his knuckles and was bleeding all over the place, Ellie is trying to butt her way in with the towel and everyone is sort of low-grade freaking out (I was personally freaking out because I really like ice water, and the ice maker was broken!)

Thankfully, the damage wasn't too terrible, and we were able to clean up and move on to the dinner portion of the evening - delicious chili and corn bread made by Dawn, and while that was cooking, I threw in a sticky toffee pie to bake and started the sauce bubbling on the stove. When it was time to serve, my sauce was burnt to a disgusting crisp, which I found odd because I'd just made the recipe a few weeks before and it was great! Jake and Tim had been talking up the cake for hours and it was a complete and utter failure, and I was humiliated in my inability to deliver. As we were driving home, I remembered the three cups of heavy cream that I had neglected to add to the sauce. No wonder it scorched.

Add to that, at the end of the night Ellie was sitting with Mimi and looking at her new magnetic letter board from Jake and Dawn, and flailed, cracking Mimi right under the eye with the corner of the plastic. It looked like a pretty definite shiner, but apparently is not too bad today. Basically, a comedy of errors. MERRY CHRISTMAS, FOCKERS.

The kids went to sleep late, I crawled into bed praying for some rest, and then got up FOUR times to feed Adam. Every two hours, like a newborn. And Ellie was awake at 6:30, crawling in to bed with us and announcing that she had "ten boogers." Please, please do come over here and rub your snotty face all over my fancy pillow case, my dear!

Our big plan for the day (because no rest for the weary) was to go to the San Diego Safari Park. In the spring there had been a Living Social deal for half price admission plus a tram ride, so Kristen and I each bought one... and then promptly forgot about it until the very last day it was valid (in all fairness, I have been to the Safari Park in the summer and it is not the place to be. Very, very hot, and so we hadn't really planned to take the girls until closer to their third birthdays.)

We gathered all the gear required for a trip to the zoo, met up with our friends, and despite Tim's navigation and detours, made it there without trouble. The basic plan was to see how far we could get, and see what we could do before one of the kids started losing his or her mind. Lexi and Judd had also had a busy weekend short on naps, and the park was crowded with other people trying to use their Living Social deals, so I was anticipating we'd maybe stay a couple of hours at most.

Thankfully, we ended up having a really, really nice day. We had a good lunch right after our arrival and then looked at some of the smaller animals on our wander down to the African Safari Tram, including the bat house.

Dun na na na na na na na, dun na na na na na na na, BAT GIRLS!

We also went in to feed the lorakeets. I got these two to hop over to the fence near me, and Ellie kept asking what their names were. OBVIOUSLY, their names were Lexi and Ellie.

I got one of them to jump on my arm finally (not sure if it was Lexi or Ellie) but of course, the girls did not want to come over and see. Adam, as you can see, was unconcerned about bird time.

From there, it was off to the tram, which is probably the best part of the Safari Park. They have acres and acres of animals in huge enclosures that more naturally mimic the wild. We saw all sorts of animals:

(that's the male lion and his two ladies, just laying around.)

When we were done, it was almost time for the 3:30 Cheetah Run. They have this one female cheetah who is basically trained to do the 100 yard dash for visitors. She walks on a leash, and then gets released to chase after this toy on a zip line, after her best friend (who is a dog) does the 100 yard dash before her to get her revved up and excited for sprinting. The first time they did it, the crowd was so thick that I couldn't see, but the second time most people had already seen it and left, so we got a better look, and it's pretty amazing. Though I must admit, I found the cheetah walking on the leash more impressive.

We went to see the elephants, and then wandered back to the main part of the zoo for a little ice cream treat for everyone. There was this big bird sitting near us, who honestly looked so odd that we'd thought he'd escaped from aviary.

Here you can see him hoping to steal some of Ellie's ice cream.

We walked back through some of the exhibits that we'd seen earlier in the day, and this time the little fennec fox was out in his enclosure. He was absolutely adorable, and Ellie declared that he was her favorite animal.

She stood and looked at him for quite awhile, and made little squealy noises and talked to him like he was a cat, and then informed us that his "full name" was "Focky the Fox." Not Foxy, Focky.

Our last fun of the day was going to the carousel for a trip around. And thank goodness, THEY HAD A BUNNY! (And Lexi isn't as obsessed with bunnies as Ellie is, so we didn't have to negotiate with them, as we often do.)

By then it was nearly five and the park was closing, so we headed out into a beautiful evening.

I am really proud of how well the kids did, considering that none of them were exactly fresh and rested when we started off. I think going with friends really helped us - even though Ellie and Lexi LOVE to tattle tale on each other, they are so funny and happy together. They spent a lot of waiting time dancing together, and Ellie announced that they were ballerinas (even though she's a ballet school drop out. I guess Lexi is still willing to teach her the moves.)

Lexi was asleep in her stroller before we even made it to the cars. Ellie ate a peanut butter sandwich and was asleep by the time we hit the freeway, and it was nice to just enjoy the peace and quiet of sleeping kids for awhile. Let's hope that pattern continues through the night. Though, I am not holding my breath. Instead, I get my sweater and slippers ready to throw on when I have to drag myself out of bed and into Adam's room. He's lucky he's cute.

Holiday Program

Last night Tim celebrated his 34th birthday by going to a holiday concert put on by Ellie's preschool class. She's been practicing the songs around the house for weeks now, and I was getting ready for some serious cuteness. We were not disappointed, at all.

First off, I can remember being a kid and being in singing programs and my mom telling me that over all the other kids, she heard my voice. I thought this was some sort of mom lie that they tell you in mom school, but it's TOTALLY TRUE. When Ellie finally stopped standing and looking confused/frightened and started singing, I could recognize her little Muppet voice over all the din.

She is the cutest little friend ever. She mostly stood and twirled her hair during the songs, but when they put on Feliz Navidad as the last song, she immediately busted out her sweet dance moves.

My other favorite part was during a break between songs she looked at me and screamed "mommy, we made you a present!" Way to spoil the surprise, kid. They did in fact, make us very sweet ornaments with our kiddos faces on them.

She also announced to Tim yesterday morning "I brought you a present! It's pajamas!"

Stocking Stuffers.

They are even better than finding an orange in the toe. I think even Gigi would agree with me on that.

The kids are dressed up because we went to the Gardening Angels holiday party, even though we do not garden, nor are we angels. We are just Granny Janny's adopted kiddos (the other angels sometimes get confused as to whom the kids belong. One year, one of the other ladies gave Jan a giant teddy bear for her granddaughter, after Ellie spent the entire holiday party demanding that Jan let her look at her necklace.) The party was great - Ellie once again followed Jan around, and ate about forty five caramels when I wasn't in her line of sight. Another lady had brought caramels too, so we had a caramel-off, but narrowly avoided a fist fight. Though she is also from Minnesota, her recipe is an ancient family one, not one cut out of a 1982 copy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Adam got passed around by the ladies, which he is always happy to do.

That suspenders and bow tie onesie is the first thing I bought for him when I was pregnant. I had already spent a lot of time despondently looking at outfits in the boys section at Target, bemoaning the fact that I didn't to dress my baby in brown, orange, trucks or monkeys, and then I saw this dapper young gentleman outfit, and thought to myself "yes, you will dress this boy as a little goofy gentleman at all times." I'm sad because today is clearly the last time it's going to fit. The good news is his Buddy the Juddy can probably get some holiday use out of it.

Just Randoms.

Things that I love: Ellie has started really singing along to songs now in the car. Her little face as she sings just kills me. We've also returned to our music classes with Miss Elena for three weeks of holiday fun. Ellie is all about Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer (meanwhile, during class Kristen and I were cracking each other up by being the only moms singing the "like a lightbulb" "like George Washington" portions of the song, because we are immature.)

Another thing I love: we went out for Mexican food tonight for an early birthday celebration for Tim. I brought some mashed up fruits and vegetables and a spoon for Adam, but then when my delicious plate of carnitas arrived, I offered him some rice and beans, which he quite enjoyed. And then I offered him some carnitas and he absolutely gobbled it. That's right, fat little baby. Carnitas is the very best kind of pork, and pork is the most delicious of animals. Learn it now! Meanwhile, Ellie ordered her very own quesadilla from the waiter - she is more and more grown up every day. Sometimes I can't believe how big she is, and how mature she is. Today when she wanted to play with her Playdoh, she grabbed her stool, put it next to the counter and grabbed a can, and got herself all set up at the dining room table. She makes me laugh so hard.

Yesterday after nap time she wanted to go to the park, so we bundled up (you know, because it's in the 50s here, which is actually below freezing) and strolled down to play on the swings.

Who needs an elf on your shelf when you have these two?

Last One In Is A Rotten Egg!

This Friday night Ellie got to go to Mimi and Pa's house for a winter wonderland party in their neighborhood, and a sleep over. She loved all of the winter stuff - the sledding, the snowball fights, the petting zoo that was off in a corner, not in the snow (even though she got pecked by a duck.) Then in the morning, she got to have Pa's special pancakes. We were asking her about her experience on Saturday afternoon, and she very vigorously informed us that Pa used rotten eggs in the pancakes. She mentioned it several times, and even when we said "do you mean raw eggs?" she said no, she definitely meant rotten. She couldn't eat the batter because Pa said the eggs were rotten.

Upon further review, the adults in the situation said that it was indeed raw eggs that he was trying to steer her from eating, but you know, it's a he said, she said situation. Just goes to show again, that you can never trust a three year old!

There's a Certain Slant of Light

Both of them, once they could crawl, love to crawl over and look at the books. It makes me proud.

The Christmas Train

It's that time of holly jolly year again! Time for our family to head out to the Irvine Park Railroad to visit Santa and chuckle to ourselves while Ellie sobs in Santa's lap. Now with bonus second child!

It was a really nice night. Last year we met up with Lexi and Whitney by chance - this year we all had an early dinner and caravaned over for maximum fun (and then met up with Jonathan and Nathan by chance!) We arrived closer to 7, which meant almost no waiting in lines. We got on the train quickly, had our ride through all of the trees adorned with twinkle lights and then were right in line to meet the big guy. Ellie had been saying all day that she was excited to see Santa, and she was going to sit with him, and she was going to ask him for a candy cane, and when the time came, she watched Lexi and Buddy the Juddy (as she calls Judd) hop up and talk to Santa and then... SHE DID IT! SHE SAT NICELY WITH SANTA!

As you can see, it definitely took her a minute. And she did not touch the big red man, but then she was happy to chat with him. All she wanted was a candy cane and in that bag next to the arm chair was a whole pile of them for her to pick from. PERFECT.

The girls had a great night - they had plenty of time to chase each other around in circles (which they love) and this also helped keep them warm, since it was pretty chilly in the canyons. Especially for Ellie, since I assumed her fleece hoodie was in the car, but it got left at school today (thankfully, Lexi had a hoodie that Ellie squeezed into.) And see Adam's cute socks? Neither of them made it back to the car, somehow. Thankfully, despite all the warnings about the cold, we survived and the Christmas Train did not turn into the Donner Party. Obviously we would have eaten Adam first, as he is helpless and probably not as gamey as Ellie.

After our ride back to the station, we went and had refreshments. Ellie had her first ever hot chocolate, which, SURPRISE SURPRISE, she loved. Everyone got to bed late, which I feel like is the theme of the holidays. Poor Adam was so tired that he fell asleep in the car, and since Tim was picking up our second vehicle, I just shut the garage door and let Adam continue to snooze while I got Ellie into bed.

The kids' cute matching outfits were a present from Mimi, and we love them. They have horses on them, which means that they can be used for days to come, after Christmas has passed. I think the kids look so cute - we may end up doing matching outfits every day from her on out.

All he Wants for Christmas.

Yup, those are some legit fangs!

A badly lit video of Grizz with his Pal. Though the sound is the best part.

Cat Lady.

Our poor sweet Rocky - Ellie wrapped him up like a burrito the other day and he remained in that pink blanket for a good half hour. Rocky is the sweetest of cats - he is very into Adam, which is funny to me. If Adam is on the play mat, Rocky likes to come check him out. The other day Adam was on his stomach and grabbed ahold of Rocky's tail. Rocky got nervous and tried to pull away and just ended up pulling Adam across the floor a bit. Poor kitten tail!

And here she is with her baby boy Thory. Please note - Thor came into the room and I reached out to pet him and he pulled back, scared (like an idiot.) Ellie then came down the hallway and basically sat on him, and he just snuggled up with her and started purring. It's probably because she has learned how to get out the bag of cat treats and get him one.

This is un-cat related. Last Wednesday, my college roommate Monique came down and was my hot date to see Justin Timberlake at the Pond. It was an amazing show. Please enjoy Ellie trying to get herself an invite.