Holiday Catch-Up

The Holidays seem like ages ago and here we are, smack dab in the middle of January and finally feeling like it with the cold temps. It was SO nice last week that mom was able to walk to and from preschool with Sam on a balmy, 54 degree day! Then, we got our first major snow of the season 2 days later which forced her to cancel her margarita night :( No snow days for us yet. I have had plenty of breaks already though with MLK day and "improvement" days at school.

So Christmas was a blast with the exception of Mom getting stomach flu the week before. She was laid up for 2 days but fortunately none of us got it. Sam had a great first Christmas. Nana and Papa came for Christmas eve. It was so nice we could grill steaks and open gifts with them. We headed North the next day and had fun at Grandma D's. I'd have to say my favorite gifts this year were my Squinkie accessories and things for my dollhouse. Zach got a bunch of Transformers and some train toys that he plays with a lot. Dad didn't seem too thrilled with boring car mats and an umbrella, but that's what happens when you get old, Dad! Mom mostly got stuff for the kitchen and treated herself to a few things as well. She was wishing for some Christmas sleep, but that didn't happen.

On December 30th, Mom decided enough was enough. Dad had been sleeping in Zach's room all of break and the week before it. Zach was in my room and this teeny, tiny little baby had single-handedly managed to disrupt our entire house, making everyone cranky and longing for their own beds. So Mom bought a small air mattress and decided to camp out with Sam in his room until he slept in his crib all night. Today is January 19th and she still ends up on that mattress most nights! He's doing much better though. Instead of waking up every hour to nurse he only wakes up every 3 or so now, but he doesn't get to nurse until morning. Mom struggles with it but she figures since he eats 3 giant meals a day of solids, he should be able make it 6 hours without nursing. So there is a lot of back rubbing and music going on to calm him down at night, but none of us hear it. Some nights he'll go 4-5 hour stretches which feels like heaven, other nights it's every hour or two! One night he slept for TEN HOURS, but he was fighting off a cold. Mom is just happy to start the night in her own bed, even if she ends up in the baby's room at 3 am. More importantly, the rest of the family is rested and happy that Sam is learning how to sleep. Mom misses the cuddles so much though. Was that too much info on that topic? Probably so, but since Mom can't even remember what she had for breakfast most days, she figured it should be documented to show him someday! Sam is almost sitting up independently now, rolling both ways and really trying to figure out how to crawl. He is such a happy baby and he loves nothing more than being around us kids and watching us. He really brings us so much joy and Mom loves that there are lots of hands to help out with him :) Helping out with Sam and being a big brother has done wonders for Zach and makes him feel so special.

New Year's Eve was very quiet around here. We had fondue and watched a movie, but we all went to bed early! Maybe next year we can live it up.

I have been doing great! My last report card was all A's and one stinky B from a bad quarter of math...three digit subtraction with all zeros on top is hard stuff! I'm really advancing with my piano and Girl Scouts is the highlight of my month. I'm selling cookies again, but Dad has done the bulk of the selling since all his coworkers must really like cookies. His job is still really busy but he likes it a lot and I think he has fun being the boss at work since he's not the boss at home ;) Dad has been such a big help, taking us to movies and activities on the weekends to help Mom and letting her sleep in on the weekends. Him and Sam are best buddies now.

Zach still does tumbling and preschool. He is SO excited for his birthday at the end of the month. He's counting down the days until his Transformer Party at the pool. It's hard to believe when I was his age (2 weeks before my 5th birthday), I was starting Kindergarten already! It's probably a good thing he has a January Birthday, he still isn't excited about going to school all day yet.

Mom is finally getting back to the gym on a regular basis and determined to shape up for her "dream trip" this fall to somewhere exotic. Dad says it's a "pipe dream" whatever that is. All I know is I think Mom would leave us home alone if that's what it takes to go, she's very determined! But she's also very sleep-deprived which may be fogging her version of reality right now.

That's our little update from here. More to come after Zach's birthday!

Ciao for now.