Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Tim's dad and step-mom came to visit for a few days before Christmas. We had a great time with them. When we went down to visit them over the summer Will was enthralled with the wind chimes they had in their yard so they bought him some of his own to hang in his room. Such a sweet idea! He loves them. They left the day before Christmas Eve and we spent Christmas Eve hanging out at home. Will and I made cookies for Santa. Then we went to my Grandma Rita's house that evening. Will had a great time running around and playing with my cousins and my cousins' kids.

We woke up Christmas morning and Will was so excited about the train table that Santa brought him he didn't hardly want to open any other presents. He LOVES it! Mommy and Daddy have no idea where it's going to live in the house at this point, though. Right now it's taking up the entirety of the open space in the family room. I think it's time for a play room...

We went to my parents' house to open presents and visit with them for awhile. Will and Charlie both got lots of fun toys there. Munew and PawPaw gave Will and Uncle Mike a joint present of a little guitar (actual a bass ukalele) so that they can play together.

Then we went to pick up GG from the airport, and Will has been playing with her non-stop ever since.

Will and Charlie were completely spoiled with presents through it all, and it was very nice to spend some time with family.

The day after Christmas we went to brunch with my running girl buddies at one of their new houses. What a fun weekend!

Also, it's a Christmas miracle: I was able to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans this weekend. Yipee!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Opening presents from Buddy and E



















Will dressed up on Christmas Eve



















Playing with his train table Christmas morning




















Charlie Christmas morning (you can tell he has a cold, poor little guy)



















Will got a tractor from PawPaw
















Will and Mike playing the guitar
















Charlie in the "Mukaluks" from Munew (inside joke)















Playing choo-choo's with GG

Charlie Talking

He has the sweetest little voice.

The poor little thing only made it 9 weeks without his first cold. He started with a stuffy/runny nose this morning. I guess that's what happens with your 2 year old big brother is in preschool :-( It's manageable now. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse, especially in time for Christmas.

Charlie's 2 Month Appointment

11 pounds 5 1/2 oz (50th percentile)

23 3/4 inches (85th percentile)

Long and skinny!

Lots of shots today (3) as well as a toe prick to check his iron levels (which were good). He was REALLY fussy this afternoon after the shots. Poor little thing had a rough day.

Because of the holidays coming the doctor wanted to see him before he was actually 2 months. He's only 7 weeks (versus Will went when he was 9 weeks). Anyway, at this checkup Will was 1 pound heavier and 3/4 of an inch shorter. I definitely get the feeling Charlie's going to be the taller of the two of them.

Here's a sweet smile pic from this morning before all of the icky shots.

Christmas Fun

We had a fun day today! We went to see the Christmas display at Krohn Conservatory, which was trains this year so Will was in heaven. Then we went to the Macy's downtown to see Santa. This was Will's first visit to see Santa, and he did really well. He didn't cry at all, but wasn't too sure about the whole thing. He sat on Santa's lap OK, but wouldn't get any closer than absolutely necessary. He told Santa that he wanted a tractor and Thomas boots. As usual, Will absolutely refused to smile in any of the pictures... even when I tried to bribe him with a penny to throw in the fountain.

Here's some pics at Krohn:

What Liz is thinking: "I'm so happy to be here with my cute little guy!"
What Will is thinking: "I'm so over this, Mom. Just let me go see the damn trains already."

Watching the trains

Here comes Thomas!



Sidenote: These people who have the licensing rights to Thomas the Tank Engine must have more money than God.

Visiting Santa:

Charlie cried the whole time and Will focused on putting as much distance between himself and Santa as possible without technically leaving his lap.

Eventful Week

1. Will had his first day of preschool. I found a local church that has a 2 year old program in their preschool. It also happens, incidentally, to be the same place that I went to kindergarten, which is fun. It's also less than a mile up the road. He's been pretty bored and starving for other kid interaction the past month when he's been home with me, so I thought this would be good for him. It will also afford me some alone time with Charlie, time to get work done, time to work out, etc. And it's relatively inexpensive. Win for everyone.
I wasn't overly worried about him going since he was used to being away from me for much longer periods at daycare. This is a new place, though, and he hasn't been away from me for over a month. He did cry a lot when I left, but the teacher said he only cried for about 5 minutes and then went to play cars with the other kids like he'd been there for weeks. When I asked him later in the day if he wanted to go back to that school he told me yes.

2. Charlie turned 6 weeks. Not sure why this is a milestone, but it's just another step in him

growing up. There's definitely some drawbacks to being a 2nd child. Poor Charlie definitely does not get the amount of attention that Will did, but I think it probably is nicer for him that the second time around I'm less high-strung, more confident, and can just enjoy him more since I'm not so worried about what I'm doing wrong. Also, now that I've experienced how quickly they grow up, I feel like I'm savoring him being little more than I did when Will was. I always wanted Will to get onto the next thing. (When is he going to roll over? I wish he would hurry up and crawl. Etc.) This time I'm just enjoying each stage for what it is.

3. Charlie turning 6 weeks means that I'm not allowed to start running again. Yay!!! I do have to confess that I did some run-walking with the boys in their stroller a few days this week before the official 6 week mark. (I also did an arms & shoulders P90X video and am now feeling like I'm finally on the right track for getting myself back into shape.) I went for my first official run with my running girls yesterday morning. It was AWESOME! It felt like I had been let out of prison. Don't get me wrong, I love being home with the boys, but getting out and getting back to my normal me-time activities is a huge thing for me. It was a beautiful morning. A bit chilly, but nice for running. We determined that it was the first time all 5 of us had run together since when we were training for the Pig back in April. That's a long time! It was also the first time I've run since July or August. I did keep in decent shape at the end of the pregnancy (elliptical, walking, spinning, yoga, etc.) but haven't done much at all the last 6 weeks except for a few walks simply because it's been hard to get out (boys not cooperating, weather, etc.) I did better than I had expected, though. We did about 2.5 miles. I have no idea how long it took because I forgot to start my watch at one of the lights. I did have to walk for a few minutes in the middle, but ran the beginning and the end and managed to go over a mile without having to walk at all. Now I have about 6 weeks to get myself to a point where I can comfortably run 3 or 4 miles so I'm ready for Pig training.

Next up: the Jingle Bell Run 5k next weekend. I'm toying with the idea of taking Will and pushing him in the stroller. It might be a horrid idea because: 1) doing my first 5k back to running while PUSHING 40+ pounds might just kill me and 2) Will doesn't always do well with staying in his stroller for a long time. I don't want him to freak out and start throwing a fit amongst hundreds of other people while I'm 2 miles from the finish. On the other hand, it may be a great idea because 1) he might really enjoy it. There's always lots of people dressed up with bells on that he might get a kick out of. 2) It would give Tim a break from having BOTH kids while I'm running and 3) if I get really tired and ask nicely I might be able to get some of more able-body running buddies to take over pushing him for awhile.

Finally, we put up our Christmas tree today. It was a lot of fun because Will was really into it. He's in awe of it, really enjoyed seeing all the ornaments, and wanted to help. Of course, he tried to put all ornaments in one spot of the tree and spent more time taking them off than putting them on. It was still fun, though.

Here are some pics of Will helping to decorate the tree: