DIR (December in Review)

The beginning of December was kind of hectic with Daniel going back to work full time and working on a side job that he had picked up along the way. I am sure that Grant was a lot of help.

Then, we got a package in the mail from MawMaw for Miles. A belated birthday gift… I am not sure which kid liked it the most. All of sudden, Grant was asking to take baths with Miles. Do you think the bath tub gifts from MawMaw had anything to do with it?

The following weekend we went to see Santa! Daniel woke up early Saturday morning very sick – stomach virus. We had tickets to go to Breakfast with Santa. I met Shelly and Cole with the boys. Grant told Santa what he wanted…. Miles was not impressed with Santa and asked that Santa to not visit our house.

Shelly and Cole came over our house to play afterwards… The smell of sickness was on us as soon as I walked in to the house. Uck.. I knew that I would have to get to cleaning to keep Grant from getting the month long stomach virus as he previously gotten earlier that year.

Miles tried to hang with the big kids. After Cole and Shelly left, Miles proceeded to join the sickness ranks and vomit on the unsick side of the house (the place I was trying to quarantine Grant). He got over it pretty fast thank God… Daniel did not. We were afraid at one point he might have to make a trip to ER. After I spent 4-5 hours scrubbing the house with bleach, I put Daniel and Miles to bed upstairs. Grant and I went to sleep in the apartment and made extra prayers that night to take care of Miles and Daniel and to spare us the virus. GOD is Awesome… we were spared…. too bad I was tired from dealing.

The next weekend, we went to Daniel’s work for his Christmas party. It was nice although Miles is getting more and more difficult to deal with in public. He is a full blown toddler…. who does things his way and only his way. He will not sit still and no one is going to make him. If he doesn’t like some food, he will throw it down. He still refuses to talk and when he can not convey what he wants, he falls down to give a full blown tantrum. I am trying to deal the best way I can. This is all new to me and I probably need some advice on how to handle it. Right now if we are in public, he gets what he wants. I know this is a horrible idea but I am trying to not make a scene. Like I said, I would love some words of advice.

During one of Miles’ got get the hell out of here now and explore, I got about a dozen of great pictures (with the phone) of him appreciating the view from Daniel’s office. Of course, I took them as fast as I can and never did line up for the shot… this kid is always on the run. This sweater brings back memories of Reese, Grant, and Luke. They were all this little once.

Later that night, Grant and Daniel went on to enjoy a Hawk’s game courtesy of Mikey… Thanks Mikey! Grant loved his first professional basketball game.

A couple nights later, Grant went to spend the night with friends. We haven’t seen the Vrazels in several months. It was fun seeing the toddlers play. The following night, Lucy came over to spend the night at our house. It was her first real sleepover. She was really excited. I decided to take off the whole week before Christmas. So what does a working mother do when she has some time off?….. She invites the neighbor kids over to decorate cookies!

Lucy was sure to tell Grant exactly how to decorate cookies…. She is the only girl out of 5 boys and is learning very quickly how to become “mom”. The babies had a blast decorating and licking icing. Francesca (not sure of the spelling) did a wonderful job decorating her cookies. Lots of fun.. I may have to do it yearly!

While we were decorating cookies, a big package arrived. The driver appreciated us giving him a couple cookies. Once the party was cleaned up and the neighbors went home, I let Grant and Miles open the Christmas packages from MawMaw and Papa with a beard! Grant was very excited to get a telescope and informed me that that is exactly what he wanted… first time I have heard about it. He also got a lightsaber. Also, currently my house is a science lab growing crystals! Both boys loved it and played very well together with it. Thank you MawMaw and Papa with a beard!

Off to Mobile we went! Before Christmas, we went to the Explorium and to the park in Nan’s neighborhood. Miles had his first run in with Geese and he was not impressed.

How does this work???

And then Christmas came…

And so did Miles’ fever… poor baby!

Grant seemed to be very thankful for everything. Santa even knew he wanted some aquafresh toothpaste! He couldn’t believe it. He was happy to get some Bey Blades! I am even impressed with how much he is playing it although as you will find out further in this post that he might be done with it. Even Wurstig got what he wanted! Although, it only lasted about 4 hours!

Back to Atlanta we went, where we missed seeing the White Christmas. We were there a night and Miles only got sicker. Off to the doctor we went. He had a sinus infection. Daniel and I went a whole week getting up hourly for him. He just couldn’t settle. The most I slept was on Christmas night, I slept in the crib with him about an hour and a half!

Papa from NC and Granna showed up with more gifts… Good grief my house is busting! Miles got a new toy to ride and Grant got some walkie talkies! He and the neighbor boys will enjoy playing with that for some time.

Papa and Granna surprised Daniel and I with a Wii console. I am trying to figure out what I did to get such a gift. Grant totally flipped out when we got it. So far, all my fears about the Wii is turning out to be true. He hasn’t wanted to play any other board games or his legos. Even though I am limiting his time on the Wii, he told me that he doesn’t want to play with his other toys because “I will have to clean them up before I play Wii and I don’t want to have to spend the time doing it.” All day yesterday, he asked me “is it later and can I play Wii now?” He also walked around saying that he wanted to do something and he was bored. He didn’t want to mess up the playroom because he knew he would have to clean it up for that coveted hour on Wii. One thing I am grateful for is that he is not arguing about the Wii.. So far I haven’t heard “you never let me play Wii.” I was very afraid that would happen. But he is treading very lightly on the Wii thing.. he knows I will put it up in the attic as soon as he goes overboard on it. He is actually trying to be good with it, at least around me. With Daniel, I think it is a different story. Daniel has actually played with him and has created his own Mii. I won’t even stay in the room when the Wii is on and have no desire to ever play. In fact, I have never played. I am sure I have more than enough stuff to do than to start playing video games. The only saving grace the last couple days… is that he and Daniel have been creating crystals from the kit that MawMaw sent him. I hope that he starts playing with his legos again as soon as the Wii has lost it’s luster.

Reese and Luke came over to play! Grant and Miles were very happy to see them! Look at all the boys!!! So cute!

Yesterday was my type of day! All of us (including the dogs), went to the park to play. It was such a beautiful day! There were still tons of leaves to play in the park. Wurstig got to chase his ball. What a wonderful way to spend the last day of the year.

From Collages

We ended December last night by going out for a family dinner. I wore for the first time skinny jeans (don’t know what I did to get the nerve) and a pair of boots that I scored from Dillards. It was the only pair left. They were orginally $350 dollars and were on sale for $99. I was looking for a pair boots. After looking everywhere I ended up here (mom told me to go there first.. of course, I had to try it my way first and go everywhere else). I had them on about an hour before I decided to buy them. Actually, I decided to buy them when several other women would ask for a pair in their size. I had the only pair on which were the display shoes – which is why I got such a good deal on them. One woman with a beautiful English accent threatened to buy them for me if I did not buy them myself. My attire must have read “poor” and then the whole indecisiveness probably screamed it. I quickly bought them so not to have to explain that poor wasn't my issue but cheap was. Here is a picture of Grant modeling them!

I went to bed on New Year’s Eve at 10ish. Of course, Miles had different plans and wanted to bring it on awake. So I was up shortly after midnight to deal with a toddler who refused to sleep and a dog who so scared of the fireworks that he was trying to dig his way under me and would not stop panting. Poor Wurstig! He was scared to death. We all settled in sometime after three!

Happy New Year’s!