Holiday Bucket-Listing 2012

Another holiday season has come and nearly gone and we've been hard at work trying to make the most of it. 

I love the magic and spirit of Christmastime and always have. I have such happy memories and traditions from my childhood that mean so much to me now. I remember very few of the actual gifts that I ever received (save a few really awesome ones like the homemade Cabbage Patch doll that my sweet mama so lovingly made me and the awesome purple leg warmers that I wanted SO badly in the late 80's), but I remember clearly the magic that my mom always created within our home and the traditions that my parents established for our family. I desperately want my kids to have the same emotions and happiness attached to our memories and traditions and not to things. 

And that is precisely why I love our annual holiday bucket list tradition.

We didn't finish every last item.... but we still accomplished our goal of having a happy and fun holiday season making memories and being together!

:: here's a little sampling of #holidaybucketlisting2012 ::

{Trim the Tree & Deck the Halls}
with Christmas playlists blaring
The start of it all and arguably my favorite part of the holiday season. I'm one of those people that usually puts our tree up and decorates before Thanksgiving, (usually the Saturday before). I like as much time as possible to enjoy the spirit that it all brings into our home and I never want to waste one minute of the Christmas season without all the twinkling lights and decorations up!

{Christmas Countdown Chain}

Probably Leah's favorite part of each day this past month. 

She was giddy to take "one more off" every day and every time we asked her what would happen when we got to the top, she will loudly proclaim "Merry Christmas Tree" in her adorable two year old voice.

{Grandma's Cookie Bake}

One of my very favorite holiday traditions that was started by my Grandma Leah! My mom has carried on the tradition and finally simplified it this year and limited it to just the little ones again...12 and under. It was a much smaller scale and she was able to really enjoy sharing this amazing family tradition with the newcomers!

{Quaint and Charming Christmas Street}

Although I don't think it's as amazing and over the top as it once was... it was magical perfection for a two year old's wondering eyes.

{Jolleys Old Saint Nick}

Our annual visit to see the fat jolly guy. We actually got stood-up at our original appointment and had to re-schedule, which was not awesome. We had been talking about it and prepping for weeks and in theory, Leah was very excited. I think she was a little confused and sad when we left our first visit to "Santa's House" without seeing him and without the treat I had promised he'd give her in hand.

It did, however, give us another couple of days to prep... but in the end, it still wasn't enough. She took one look at him and froze solid. It was like she had lead in her shoes. She didn't want to make eye contact with him and she most certainly did NOT want to sit on his lap. 

 A family portrait with me holding her was our only option and her face says it all... stone cold sober!

 {A Night in Bethlehem}

Our second year doing this... with many more to come. It's quickly become one of my new favorite traditions.

Candlelight, yummy finger foods, blankets on the floor, Nativity Story, Christ centered playlist playing and people that we love! What's not to love? (though Charlie certainly doesn't seem impressed or sold on the idea yet)

{Snow Day}

Build a Snowman * Throw Snowballs * Make Snow Angels

Though ours was easily in the running for the world's tiniest snowman, it counts and Leah LOVED him! Christmas time is one of the only times that I really love the snow! It was perfect to have Daddy around a little more and we enjoyed some very fun snow days!

{New Christmas PJs}

yes... Charlie is busting out of his new 6-12m jammies. And yes Leah's 24m are falling down.

 {Write Letters to Santa}

Leah loved coloring and "writing" her letter and helped with Charlie's as well. She was so proud of her "official" letters and we had lots of fun leaving our special letters along with some yummy treats for Santa on Christmas Eve. In addition to the Candy Cane Joe-Joes we left him, we decided to leave him a special dairy/soy free brownie as well...

and I'm pretty sure "he" appreciated it!!

{Downtown Date Night}

I love downtown this time of year. I love the addition of City Creek. I love, love, love that the candy windows are back.  And most of all... I love my three sweet, amazing dates.

***

All in all... our Christmas was as perfect and happy and chaotic and magical as it should be with wee little ones.

And that's just exactly what we were going for!

(Stay tuned for all the details of Leah's awesome Christmas gift and some huge props to her Daddy Clause. He killed it this year!)

two months.

Holy cow do we love this boy! 

As hard as he has been these first several weeks, he has us so firmly and tightly wrapped around his little chubby, dimpled finger!! We have seen some real measurable improvements this past month since adjusting his dose of reflux medicine and eliminating all dairy and soy in any form from our(my) diet. For that we are so thankful, but it has been hard. oh so very hard. It turns out that dairy and/or soy are in everything, literally everything. Even deli meat... seriously! Most vegan substitutes and alternatives for things like butter, etc still contain soy... so eliminating both has been a challenge and a huge learning curve for me. The good news is that I have not yet starved to death. whew. As hard and frustrating as it has been.... he's worth it, more than worth it. I would literally move mountains for this little piece of my heart. I feel like these last couple of weeks, we have started to see glimpses of who he really is and it's not just a fussy, inconsolable baby. He has a smile that can light up a room and melt your heart into a huge giant puddle. His cheeks and chins are as kissable as they come. And those dimples? Oh my goodness, those dimples!! Those smiley dimples make me think I may be able to live without cheese and butter forever. maybe.

He is finally sleeping some longer more "normal" newborn stretches. On a good night, we will get at least one 4+ hour stretch in addition to some slightly shorter stretches and we are praying that now that he is feeling a bit better... those stretches will continue to improve, getting longer and a bit more consistent.

Leah has come around a lot this last month and I am pretty sure that we haven't ruined her life after all. For the most part she dotes on him and smothers him with love and sweet attention, though I do have to keep my eye on her, seeing how sometimes she literally smothers him. or sits on him. or swats at him. Surprisingly, he tolerates her well... though he may just be calculating his revenge, knowing that he will likely be bigger than her within another few months time.

Honestly this kid is packing on the lbs like it's his job (I guess it kind of is). At two months, he is already solidly wearing 6+ month clothes. I just exchanged both his Christmas outfit and his blessing outfit for the 6-12 month size, because the 3-6 size is already getting way too snug on him. By contrast, Leah can still fit into many of her 12-18 month clothes, especially the pants... so they should be able to share clothes by Spring! His size 2 diapers are already seeming too small and I think the next case we buy will be a size 3. Within another few months.... I should only need to buy one size diaper (and unfortunately I don't think it will be because Leah is potty-trained).

2 month stats:

14 lbs 5 oz (98th percentile)

24.25 inches (95th percentile)

16.14 inch head circumference (75th percentile)

Definitely not petite, but so ridiculously lovable that I can hardly stand it!

Happy Two Months!

Family Pictures 2012

In hindsight, it may have been a tad bit over-zealous to think that it was a good idea is schedule Charlie's newborn pictures, Leah's 2 year pictures and our annual family pictures just three days after giving birth and the day after coming home from the hospital with a new stranger to introduce to a barely two year old.

Yes, over-zealous, indeed!

It was Leah's actual birthday, we were totally sleep-deprived, still adjusting to being a family of four, and Leah was totally and completely out of sorts in every way. Mommy and Daddy had been gone for three days... she was a bit sleep-deprived herself and her world was freshly rocked to the very core with this new little brother.

Over-zealous or not, we just had to go with it...

We literally have an entire disk of pictures that look like this... 

more or less...

After 2.5 hours of trying, we did finally get one (literally just ONE) picture where no one was crying and everyone was at least looking at the camera. Not perfect, but we'll take it!

***

This was as close as we got to a smile from Leah the entire day... as she was showing us the actions to "wheels on the bus"

I LOVE HER!

However, the more that I look at these pictures, there is a certain sweetness to her very evident sourness. These pictures all capture a real "event" in her life and I kind of love them.

In the midst of the mayhem that was our life, she was able to capture some very sweet and priceless pictures of our sweet baby Charlie. For that I am thankful...

And lastly, the one and only picture in which she acknowledged the "new kid"... 

{candy corns may or may not have been used in the bribing/staging of this photo}
{not sure he's too thrilled with his lot in life yet either}

Although so ridiculously far from perfect, these pictures capture a literal moment in time for our little growing family and I love them more and more all the time!

 ♥

one month

{oh dear... this post has been sitting in my drafts folder for nearly a month now, waiting to be finished and fine tuned. turns out, he's now only a handful of days away from being TWO months now. oh well, such is life these days...a bit behind. the good news is that we have in fact seen some good improvements since I started avoiding dairy and soy. kind of a good news/bad news deal... but more on that later. Just know that difficult or not...we are in fact totally and completely 100% smitten with him and we're totally keeping him}

Once again, I am in awe of the complexities of time. How quickly this first month has zipped by and yet, how long it has seemed. My chunky littleman is already a month old.

I'm not going to lie... it's been a hard month. He's been a hard baby. It's been a hard adjustment. Two kids under two is hard. Getting little to no sleep every night is hard. 

The good news is that his delivery was nearly perfect in every way, so different than with Leah. My recovery has been smooth and quick, which is something to be thankful for.

Although my recovery with LJ was awful, she was such an easy baby... very content, decent sleeper from the get-go and mostly happy....

Charlie is not yet any of those things. The poor little guy seems sad and uncomfortable most of the time. It seems as though he rarely sleeps more than about 40 minutes at a time and cries much of the time he is awake. So sad! We suspect reflux, based on many of the symptoms he has exhibited and started him on medication about 2 weeks ago. It has definitely helped a little, but has not been the magic solution we hoped for.

We had his one month appointment today and Dr Suzy suspects that he may also have some food intolerances and suggested that I start an elimination diet... beginning with dairy and soy to see if it helps. Turns out dairy and/or soy are pretty much in everything and most of the good things in life stem from butter, cream and cheese. Wish me luck... especially now that the holidays are upon us! Looks like Chris and I won't have to fight over all the Halloween candy that Leah scored last night after all. :(

In better news.... this kid is growing like a weed and packing on the lbs like it's his job. 

one month stats:

11 lbs 4 oz

22 inches long

And the best news of all is that he's ridiculously adorable. 

Seriously, he's as cute as they come... chubby cheeks, dimples to die for and a yummy double chin!

At least he's got that going for him.

{tie and sweater vest. dapper little fellow}

A little sampling of some of his newborn pics...

(more to come)

Daddy is likely not gonna be happy about me posting this last picture, but it shows how we feel right now.

Although he too is one totally dapper, handsome dude... those are definitely some tired eyes!!

I know that they don't stay tiny like this for long, but I'm realizing it might be because you couldn't do it for long.

Happy One Month Little Fellow

We made it!

♥

Concession Stand

Our first Halloween as a family of four. Life feels a bit like a circus these days, so our costumes were perfectly fitting. My amazingly talented friend Jess once again helped me pull it off. She made the insanely awesome and adorable felt popcorn bag cover for my bjorn as well as Leah's cute red M&M costume.  

Presenting...

The C*K*J Carnie Concession Stand

Leah loved that Daddy took the day off to be with us this year. Trick or treating with Daddy was a awesome!

Although we still haven't found our new "normal" yet.... we did our best to make Halloween fun and festive this year. We dressed up for Kindermusik and even brought Charlie along for his first taste of it!

We opted not to carve pumpkins this year, mostly because mommy and daddy felt too sleep deprived to safely handle knives... but luckily painting our home grown harvest was just as fun!

Seriously... we grew these! 

In the end, it was a fun and successful holiday and these two sweet and salty little treats were about as cute as they get!!

::Happy Halloween 2012::

Pajamas & Pancakes

Although nearly a month late... we finally celebrated 

Littlemiss Leah's Pajamas & Pancakes Party!

The party that had to be delayed due to the early arrival of little brother.

all business early in the morning! thank goodness we got to stay in our pjs

We celebrated with loved ones, both family and friends, feasting on pancakes, fruit and other simple breakfast treats!

Daddy's Girl

It wouldn't be a party with out candles, dessert and some kind of poor rendition of "Happy Birthday"!

We opted for Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting... perfect for a mid morning splurge... and we made enough for our guests to enjoy too...

 I tell you what....this little girl is hands down one of the greatest joys of my life. She is sweet, funny, happy, loving, curious, creative and melts my heart on a near daily basis. I am so lucky I get to be her mama!! 

She is definitely worth celebrating and the party was definitely worth the wait!!

"I'll drink to that"

Happy Happy Birthday Sweet Leah!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Oh how I love and adore you my sweet baby girl.

Life is a bit out of sorts right now... it wasn't the super, special birthday that I would have loved for you, but I hope you always know how much I love you and how much I love being your mama.

Two years ago this very day, you made all of my fondest dreams come true. I don't remember who I was before you came along... and that's perfectly fine with me. I know for certain, my life is better with you in it!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

I love you to the moon.... and back!

♥ mama

Introducing...

{making room}

It is hard to believe that we are now just hours away from welcoming a sweet, new baby boy into our family. My emotions are running a bit high this weekend as I take it all in and try to prepare for all that is about to happen. We have attempted to stay busy by attending birthday parties, going out for ice cream, lots of loves and snuggles and enjoying a much needed pedi with a few of my besties. The other big item on the agenda was finishing off his nursery with the final special pieces and a few last tweaks!

When I decorated Leah's nursery, I never in a million years anticipated that we would have another baby on the way and she would get booted less than 2 years later.... but alas, that's exactly where we luckily have found ourselves!! I ended up being very, very glad that the first time around we A) went with a basic, neutral paint color and didn't paint crazy purple stripes or anything B) picked basic white furniture C) went with a neutral colored glider and D) had lots of gender neutral nursery accessories. It made it very easy to strip down and re-decorate.  I’m pretty sure CJ was equally glad, since when I start to scheme all he sees is $$$!

My only significant expense and purchase was the bedding. I had originally intended to re-use the grey geometric crib skirt from the littlemiss’ bedding set and just get new sheets… but lucky for me, Serena & Lily’s private sale email came around and I scored a full set for nearly half it's regular price. (Turns out it does occasionally pay off to be on all those email lists!) The sheet has a tiny stripe of brown in it, which helped me to tie in all the leftover accessory elements from Leah’s nursery. The chocolate brown rug, barrel shade, hamper, storage bins and changing pad covers all stayed and didn’t need to be replaced.

I struggled a bit with decorating for a little boy… it seemed that all the fluff and cutesy accessories were overkill and unnecessary. There were a few fun items from littlemiss’ original nursery that I kept in there, but since I was on a budget, I opted for super practical and inexpensive décor items to fill in the blanks….mostly toys and books. I picked up some fun wooden toys that I know he will love playing with someday soon, along with a few vintage items we had around and finally some of my favorite little boy books. And just like that, the decorating was essentially done!

In addition to his custom Petite Lemon Alphabet Chart that my friend created for him, the only other projects in the room were a monogram shadow box and his mobile. The “C” monogram came together in less than an hour and for less than $15….nothing more than an inexpensive wooden letter from Hobby Lobby with fabric (or scrapbook paper) mod-podged to it, attached to a fun sheet of scrapbook paper and inserted into an inexpensive 12x12 shadow box frame. Cheap, easy and cute is a great combination in my world! I also used a $3 can of white spray paint to re-freshen an old black mirror that we were no longer using to hang above the crib.

For the mobile, I knew I wanted something fun. I felt that littlemiss’ amazing mobile made her whole room…. So I enlisted the help of an amazingly talented and creative friend who literally “creates” for a living. She made the simple, adorable felt ball mobile that hangs above his crib and will lull him to sleep each night. It turned out to be the perfect final touch for little man’s new room! You can check out her amazing creations both here and here.

Although I didn't do much or spend much, his nursery is perfectly classic and simple and that’s what I love most about it. I love that so many of the items that make it special will be things that I hope he will one day play with and love and cherish. I love that there are so many items that I carefully selected when I first got the opportunity to create a nursery for a sweet new baby that still have a home in there. But mostly I love that very soon it will be home to a sweet baby boy….

my baby boy!

Welcome Baby Charlie!

We can't wait to meet you. I hope you love it here.

xox 

mama