A Visit with Daniel

A little over a month ago when I was visiting at my parents' house I was able to get a hold of Joan and meet up with her and Daniel at the park. I can't believe how much my little Daniel has grown!! The last time I saw him he was 9 months old, not talking and barely crawling. At the park he was running around and chatting with Oliver! It was great to get the two of them together again!

Plane vs. Plain

For lunch today I told Oliver he could have bread with peanut butter or plain bread. He got really excited about the plain bread, so I handed it to him, and he proceeded to fly it around...because I had given him PLANE bread!!

Sleep Update

Oy. So I was getting hopeful for a while there. For almost a whole week Oliver was putting himself down for naps and bedtime and even slept through the night 3 nights in a row.
I don't know what happened.
He won't go down for a nap by himself and if I don't hold his hand (which I've done once) he just skips his nap. At night he needs his hand held and even then he wakes up by midnight SCREAMING. Like he's scared. But he has a nightlight. He ends up in bed with us and sleeps well, but we don't.
And of course I had to open my big mouth and say that Lily was a good sleeper...right when Oliver started back up with his troubles, Lily has decided to get up 4 times a night. So I guess I should have been counting my blessings before!!
There are a few factors that I can think of that are contributing to Oliver's problems;
-He is potty training. I read that when they make advances in one aspect of life, they regress in others. (He's also making leaps and bounds in the language department, so sleep seems to be the one neglected)
-It's the holidays. Lots of visitors, lots of travelling, routines disturbed, theres a big interesting tree in the living room, lots more sweets around the house...
-He's skipping naps. Paradoxically, if he is overtired he doesn't sleep very well.

Hopefully its just a phase for both of them and soon we'll be back to a silent night household!

O Tanenenbaum

Last Saturday we got our FIRST Christmas tree and wreath. We went to DeMerritt Hill Farm for a whole program they have for getting the tree. You have to reserve it before Thanksgiving, and it is $85, but it was so worth it! We got to the store and Santa came in and said his greetings, they led the way to his tractor (this particular Santa was also wearing jeans, work boots and work gloves...obviously a working farm Santa:) ) and Mrs. Claus took a picture of us with Santa in front of it. Oliver did better with Santa this time because he never actually had to touch him! Santa then drove the tractor around the orchard and some nature trails while we rode in the cart in the back. They had some horse blankets but it was still cold cold cold!! Oliver sat on Shane's lap and just looked completely overwhelmed the whole time, Lily was in the Baby Bjorn and slept through the whole thing. When we got back to the store Mrs. Clause took us up to the old school house and read The Night Before Christmas to Oliver. He was so cute, he started off sitting on a bench, and kept inching his way closer until she asked if he wanted to stil on her lap, he nodded and started backing up into her lap. Too cute!! After she was done with the story (Shane and I were both surprised that he sat so patiently through it!) she gave him a candy cane and an apple ornament. We went back down to the store where Mrs. Claus brought out homemade donuts, cookies, and hot apple cider. She also gave us the picture she had take of us with Santa in a frame! Shane then went out and picked out our tree and wreath. When the kids get older we can do a cut-your-own, but it was too cold this year and they only have 12 footers left!
We had a great time decorating the tree and we've been spending the last week getting Oliver to stop trying to eat the ornaments (we have a Cheerio box ornament, a cookie ornament, and an apple ornament) First thing every morning he runs out to the living room and shouts "Dotty!??" Which is his word for lights, because he wants the Christmas tree lights on all the time! We've also been keeping an advent calendar that is a bunch of doors and there is a chocolate behind each day, so every morning at about 7 he starts shouting "Door! Door!" and by about 930 I relent and let him have his chocolate.

Getting ready for our tractor ride with Santa!

Thanks for the flattering shot, Santa...

Santa driving the tractorMrs. Claus reading The Night Before ChristmasOliver liked pointing out the kitty and doggy on each pageThe school house. Oliver got to pick an ornament off the tree!Lily waiting to decorate the treeOliver was beside himself with excitement! A tree! In our house! He just didn't know what to make of it!The wreath with my homemade bow. We hung it off of the porch, so you can see it from 155All the shots we took of the tree are blurry, but we love it! We couldn't put the tree topper on because the tree was too tall! We had to cut about 3 inches off just to make it fit! We put a wreath bow on top of the tree as a topper.s

Our Precious Plum

Just a little something to brighten your day!

Sleep Woes

I'm sure you think this is going to be a post about my almost 3 month old. But no. She only wakes up 1-2 times a night and has been down for a nap now for 2 hours. No, the culprit of my sleep woes is indeed my son. I don't know how many posts I have devoted to his sleep problems, but I guess they here's one more. For some reason he has decided that he doesn't like sleeping through the night anymore. For the past week at about 230 he wakes up crying and won't go back to sleep until he gets to sleep on the couch with mom. Not dad (who's supposed to have Oliver duty at night because I have Lily duty), but mom. And I can't just sleep next to his bed. We have to go out onto the couch. Ugh. And about an hour after he falls asleep (if I'm lucky) Lily wakes up for her feeding, so Shane and I have to trade places. I would bring Oliver into bed and be done with it, but he is WAY TOO LOUD and wakes up Lily every time.
I have noticed, though, that this week he has been taking 3 hour naps during the day (either from 1030-130 or 1130-230). So today I woke him up after 2 hours and I'm hoping that will make a difference.
Our trial with Oliver is definitely sleep. He is such a wonderful little boy in every other way, but he still takes a bottle (of water) to bed, needs his hand held to fall asleep, doesn't sleep through the night, and is up for the day at about 530.
He makes up for it, though, when he does things like he did today. He came running out of his room yelling "Mama! Way! Choo Choo! Way! Chugga Choo Choo! Way!" Now he has a lot of words, but most of them you can't figure out what he is saying until after the fact, so what he was saying didn't make a whole lot of sense until I followed him into his room. He had, in fact, put AWAY all of his trains and tracks into the train bucket! What a good little boy! He was so proud of himself for doing it too! I loved it so much!

Liberty Mutual Christmas Party

Saturday was Liberty Mutual's family Christmas Party. There was lots to see and do (and eat!) We really appreciate the effort the company put into the party to make the employees' families feel welcome!

Waiting in line to see Santa!!!

There were 3 balloon artists that made balloon creations while the kids were waiting in line... Ours started out with two hearts which made us wonder what he was making...

He kept telling Oliver not to smile...but he couldn't help himself!What is it?Lightning McQueen!!!
Now on to see the big man...Lily loved tugging on Santa's beard! When I told Santa my kid's names were Lily and Oliver, he asked if I was a Hannah Montana fan! What the heck, Santa, you're not supposed to know those stupid character's names! And for the record, no, I am not a fan, it is a coincidence, and besides, the HM Lilly spells it with 2 L's!

Oliver was not so much a fan...but it made for a classic "first time with Santa" picture!Oliver later recovered from his traumatic experience (He wouldn't let me put him down for 10 minutes!) in time to decorate a gingerbread man!A gum drop for the cookie, a gum drop for me...
After we decorated the cookie, we got some lunch, but by that time we were 2 hours past Oliver's nap time, so the rest of the party was a bit of a blur of chasing Oliver! It was still a good time, and I'm really glad we went!

And now some close ups of my beautiful children...

Baking

I am in the mood to bake today. Does anyone have a favorite Christmas treat that they want to share? I'd love some ideas!
And for you facebookers that asked for some of my Thanksgiving recipes, here are the links!
Peanut Butter Cup Pie
Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes
Pumpkin Streusel Bars

Happy Holiday Baking!