A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

Despite being sick and our sleep troubles around here we had a fantastic Christmas.  We are so fortunate to have so much family around us to spend our time with. 

We spent Christmas Eve Morning with Charlie's mom and family at Steph's.  Had a delicious breakfast (even though I managed to burn the biscuits) and had lots of present opening.  Lydia wasn't really into the opening of gifts but it was fun to see the other two babies go to town. 

Christmas Eve night was spent with my mom and family at my aunts house. Natalia spent the night playing with Briana, Zach, and Kyle so I hardly saw her.  It's so fun to see her with Briana.  They are the same age distance apart that Briana and I are so it reminds me of when we were those ages and I was the one running around with a little Briana.  So cute.  Then we had to rush off to Derek's house to do presents with my mom.  The girls didn't get to bed until super late that night because of all the fun. 

Then Charlie was hard at work building Natalia's bike.  I pulled out all of the girls gifts that I had hidden along with the Santa gifts.  We ended up running out of time to make cookies for Santa and with the late night bed times I forgot to have Natalia set out anything else.  Next year for sure.  And rather then wait until Christmas Eve to bake we'll just aim for the 23rd to make sure we don't run out of time again.

The girls were up bright and early Christmas morning of course.  So we had plenty of time to do our own little Christmas before the rest of our days activities.  It was a great Christmas for us.  I "got" Charlie a new basketball hoop for the new house.  I say it that way because I couldn't decide between an in ground one or a portable one for the longest time.  Finally I printed a picture of both and wrapped it so he could just choose which way he'd rather go.  I think it was a nice little surprise.  Natalia had so much fun unwrapping presents and totally loved her Belle outfit from Santa.  She's worn it tons since and I'm glad she's happy.  Lydia actually attempted to open a little bit but we still had to help a lot. 

Then it was off to Charlie's dad's house to do Christmas with them.  They had their counter top filled with snacks and food for us to eat.  The kids love going over there and just running around because there is so much space.  One gift that he gave the girls I'm particularly excited for.  He got them a play kitchen!  I never had one as a kid so maybe that's why I'm so excited for it?  (I actually squealed in delight when I saw it ha!)  We can't build it here because it's a big one but I have the perfect spot in the new house picked out for it already.

We came home and got Lydia down for a nap.  Natalia's been going without naps to try to help make our bedtimes easier.  As of today (Friday) it's been a full week without naps.  The night before last and last night have actually gone a lot better so maybe it's starting to work.  =)  Anyway, we played with new toys and got the house ready for Christmas with my dad.  I attempted to make a ham and it was good, but a little dry.  Oops.  My dad came and we had dinner and opened presents with him.  We went in together and got him a black and white Nook.  He's a huge reader like me, I'm sure that's where I got it from.  I love my Nook so I hope he will too. 

All in all a very busy but great two days.  Not only were the girls spoiled but so were we.  Each time we were done with a family member I kept saying we could be done with presents and I'd be content.  Seriously.  Our family is very generous and giving.  But that's not what it's about of course.  I just love spending time with all of them!  Watching the girls play with their cousins makes me happy.  It's how I grew up spending holidays and it's all I want for them. 

There are a couple hundred pictures from the two days so I'm not going to attempt to post them here.  Just check out the Facebook album link.  (BTW if you don't have Facebook it should still let you see the pictures)

Back to Natalia's sleep issues.  We quickly stopped the sitting on the white chair habit and since she crashes so hard at the end of the day it wasn't too hard to break.  I'm still going to get a book from the library that talks about separation anxiety and sleep habits because I really thing that's what she is going through.  Especially because when she complains about being alone it's because she wants us in there not Lydia.  I'm glad she was finally able to name her Elf (Jingle) but we didn't get to do much with her the last few days because I had put her in Natalia's room to try and use that trick on her.  DOH!  We tried out quiet time yesterday (Thursday) and she only lasted about 3 minutes and then I caught her playing with the timer.  But, it was a good first attempt and we'll just gradually build up our time until I can get a good hour out of her playing in her room quietly. 

The last couple of days have been spent at the doctor for Lydia, playing with new toys and reading new books, playing in the snow, and just trying to rest so we can all start to feel better!  Oh and I also managed to box of up all the pictures frames going up and down our stairways.  IT JUST GOT REAL!  ;)  I hope to do a box a day for the next couple of weeks and then come mid January start packing for reals. 

Lastly, we're going to Texas to see family again!  We just booked a trip last night with Steph and family to go the first weekend in March.  It'll be Lydia's first time on a plane, which seems almost odd to me since Natalia had flown twice by the time she was this age.  But it'll be a good weekend and I'm glad we get to go down even if it's just for a couple of days.  =)