Turn that frown upside down

Sorry folks. My last post was kind of sad and lame. Mostly lame because all I did was complain. I don't like to complain because then I end up feeling sorry for myself and where does that get me? No where folks. Happy stories are better. Like the fact that Lucy is pretty much potty trained. Yes, we have to run the shower to get her to do a number two, but hey that is better than dirty panties. And that my brother Peder is coming home from his two year mission TONIGHT! He is coming home to snow. May not be a culture shock, but it sure will be a temperature shock. I hear Cape Verde is quite toasty.

Plus I said I would talk about some other fun things. The first snow. Well, this should not be news to any of you on the east coast. We have got snow, and a decent amount of it. Lucy is much more capable of playing in the snow this year, though today was little difficult because a previous snowfall topped with today's snow made it a little deep for her. We went sledding. Every time we got to the bottom Lucy sang "can we do it AGAIN?" Did I mention she loved it?! And in case you are wondering, I did put gloves on her initially.

Also, we gave Sam his first solids. I waited a little longer than we did with Lucy. I wanted to go all the way to six months before introducing solids, but we are going to be a cruise and this kid was having a serious hunkering for a taste what we are eating.  Not that we fed him that. He got oatmeal with breast milk mixed in. He wasn't super impressed, but also not really resistant. I hope he is like Lucy and learns to love food, all food. I am glad we waited to almost six months, I feel like he is a little more willing. Lucy did okay early on, but it was not like it made her sleep any better. All it did was make her diaper more stinky.

And lastly, the grand finale of optimism, Jesus' cupcakes. To make sure that Lucy understood the meaning of Christmas Jimmy and I repeatedly told her that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday. Because we were talking birthdays she would quickly question "can we make him cupcakes?" Because that, my friends, is what we do for birthdays. And I was all for it. 

For a while she wanted to make pink cupcakes, but on the day I finally decided to make them right before she climbed in her bed for her nap she told me she wanted blue cupcakes instead. I had no problem with either color. So during her nap I made the cupcakes and the frosting and left the decorating to Lucy. She did a lovely job.

That evening we had the missionaries over for dinner. Lucy was so excited about the cupcakes that we finished the dinner with said cupcakes, one that had a candle with the number 1 (for 1 year older), and sang "happy birthday!" to Jesus. I felt like this was a good parenting moment for us. Now if you ask what we celebrate on Christmas Lucy so eagerly says "It's Jesus' birthday, and we are going to have cupcakes for him!" Maybe she is a little swayed by the potential of cupcakes, but hey, I give myself a high five anyways!

Well, that was much better. Just writing it made me feel a whole lot better. Here are some cute kid pictures: (the first one shows that Sam does in fact has some hair!)

Teething...bleh

Let's talk teeth shall we. Sam doesn't have any, but he sure wants them. It is enough that he doesn't really sleep at night. Okay, so he sleeps...a little. Like last night, he went to bed at 7 pm, woke up at 9:30 pm, screamed in daddy's arms until 11ish pm, slept until 2 am, didn't fall asleep until 2:30 am, woke up at 4 am, didn't go sleep until 4:50ish, slept until 6:30 am and was up. Yeah, there is some sleeping going on in there, I even felt like it was a better night. Sheesh...it is exhausting.  It makes me pretty grumpy actually. I am not mad at Sam, just at the process is all. Jimmy and I have tried a lot of things. Two naps instead of three, earlier bedtime, swaddling again (he is too strong for the swaddle). I even bought a wool diaper so he wouldn't soak his clothes every night (Jimmy doesn't really believe in that system). I know eventually it will get better, and someday when he is 20 I will sleep full 8 hour chunks, but for right now, I am exhausted.

For those of you that like to cuddle your baby all night long, that is awesome. I am impressed. I wish that I felt rested after doing that, but I don't. And then I am short with Lucy all day long. And it isn't her fault. That girl sleeps like a rock and wakes up full energy. She is quite an imp, but not really a malicious imp, so I feel bad being so grumpy with her.

So this is my plea to who ever controls the rate of teething, please oh please let Sam's teeth come through. And then let him sleep a little more soundly or at least fall back asleep more easily. Maybe Santa knows someone who could help a mom (and dad) out. Perhaps we should change the song to "all I want for Christmas is Sam's two bottom front teeth..."

For another time, the first REAL snow, oatmeal for breakfast and Jesus' blue cupcakes. I like to build up the anticipation....

Feeling Christmas spirit!

You know, even though Lucy was hitting me today and Sam is still not really sleeping very consistently during the night, I feel very blessed. Christmas is a good time of year!