christmas

December was a busy and exciting month this year and when it came to a close I was kinda sad. I’ll get to that later. Quick recap….just a couple of weeks late.

This year we bought tickets for the North Pole Express in Grapevine and it was magical. In all actuality, we could have waited another year for the boys to fully understand the whole concept. As an adult though, it was so sweet to see all the other children who were SO excited. Gramma Dee and Scott joined us on the adventure.

The North Pole Express starts at the Vintage Grapevine Railroad. There were concessions (corn dogs, hot chocolate, steak on a stake (har-har)) to snack on before loading as you need to be there 45-50 minutes prior to your boarding time. You can also pop into the Vetro Glass Blowing studio and watch them make really gorgeous pieces. They’ll even allow you to make your own glass ornament. Maybe we will do that in future years when the $30 ornament won’t be broken by one of the Nuggets about 4 seconds after hanging it on the tree.

We waited in line for about 15 minutes before they loaded us onto the train. The boys were interested in the actual “choo-choo” but once we were on the train, it wasn’t quite as interesting. This is why I think it’ll have more of a statement next year. The train moves east at a pretty slow pace for about 10-12 minutes and everyone is encouraged to sing Christmas carols with the friendly elves.

Mrs. Clause makes and appearance and hands out the silver bells for Christmas spirit.

After the train ride we walked through a beautiful forrest of Christmas trees while SNOW was pumped though the area. I didn’t get a picture because, although we were supposed to be walking, everyone else was stopping to get pictures and the bottleneck was throwing my anxiety into overdrive. We proceeded into a large tent with colorful lights and ~~patiently~~ waited for Santa. We were entertained with singing and dancing elves and finally Santa arrived. The overall excitement level rose 100% with all of the children (except mine) and it was very sweet. Afterwards everyone was given chocolate milk from Santa.

Although the boys weren’t totally understanding it all, it was worth it. I enjoyed myself (and the much needed margarita afterwards) and as usual, look forward to how the boys will grow each year.

Christmas Eve service was crowded (as always) but luckily The Hubs got us great seats and the boys could see the entire re-enactment that the children put on of Christmas night and the birth of Jesus. I teared up thinking of the Nuggets participating in the future.

Somehow, I managed to not take a single picture of us, or the boys in our Christmas best… #momfail. Afterwards, we joined good friends, who were in from out of town, for a tradition of making egg rolls. We went two years ago with the boys and they were only a couple of months old and everyone was just in awe as to much they’ve grown.

Christmas morning was abundant with blessings and waaaay too many toys (thanks Hubs).

Once we had all the present opening completed and cleaned up, we had a quick breakfast and loaded up to go to Gramma’s house. Again, minimal pictures (some photographer I am). A day filled with lots of family, more presents and tons of food was outstanding.

Christmas (actually the entire holiday season of 2015) seemed to fly by this year, faster than years in the past. I wasn’t ready to take down the decor (maybe because it took almost the whole month to get my house decorated in the first place). I wasn’t ready to pack up the Christmas attire or get rid of the tree. Alas, time keeps moving even if I’m not ready for it.

We enjoyed The Hubs being home from work for a solid week and we rang in the new year with great friends in their gorgeous new home.

2015 was a bit sad for me because I was hoping to get another Nugget in the oven and it didn’t happen. Infertility stands strong in this family and although we were hopeful that the first IVF process would “get things moving”, as Dr. Le put it, no such luck for us. God has a plan. God has a plan. God has a plan. It’s my manta. 2015 was an incredible year. We’ve slowly started to complete home improvement projects that we’ve been dreaming about for 2.5 years. I get to stay home with my Nuggets as a stay at home mama bear, something I never thought we would be able to do and our whole family is healthy. God is good.

XOXO

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While talking with my bestie yesterday she asked a few questions about how/what we did with the boys at “X” age. I couldn’t remember specifically and I thought I could go back through the blog to figure out when we did something. I had a similar conversation with myself here.

Well I’m at it again. I’m not posting/documenting enough these days.

So my babies are little toddlers. Like, real little toddlers. When Erin was over with Vivienne, who is two months, the Nuggets were S O big. I had to go back and look at videos from when they were that age and it seriously made me cry.

Awwwwww. Alas, there is no going backwards. But real quick…2014

Christmas 2014

So my Nuggets are two years and two months old and Christmas is going to RULE this year.

They love to ~~destroy~~ mess with our tree. In all fairness of “toddlerhood” they aren’t all that bad with the tree. Weston likes to pull the ornaments off (and throw it back at the tree to see if it’ll stick) and touch the lights. We’ve had several time-out sessions about trying to unplug/plug the lights in though. Corbin just touches for the most part. There are no presents under the tree because neither will leave them alone. #Understandable.

We visited Santa at the Parks of Arlington Mall and it was fantastic! Well I thought it was. The boys were kind of terrified of the sleigh ride experience. Yep, this little trip was totally worth it because we got to talk to Shrek and Donkey on the Skype -phone, take an interactive flight school, “fly a sleigh”, build a ginger bread cookie and THEN we met Santa. Totally worth the $11 for the picture.

At least they’re not sobbing.

Developmentally

They are finally talking! Like putting-multiple-words-together-in-a-sentence kind of talking. Weston hears everything we say and, like a little echo, says it back to us. They both try to say anything we ask them to repeat, although it doesn’t always sound like the words. They are trying though and that’s what is important. The refer to both of themselves and each other as Wey-wey and Cor-cor. Not always accurately.

Weston

After Thanksgiving, both boys came home with a cold. Weston’s turned into a sinus infection so we were at the doctor. He weighs 29 lbs and is 35.5″ tall. He wears a 2T/3T, depending on the store. West knows all of his colors and can almost count to five. He is developing his independence daily. Code for: he is in time out more often these days for not listening, hitting or throwing things. Weston eats okay. He isn’t into meat much unless it is ground (turkey/beef/chicken) and even then, it’s hit or miss. He love broccoli with cheese which is a win in my book. I still sneak veggies were ever I can and they both like almost all fruit. He loooooooooves snacks.

Weston is still sleeping well (except when sick) but is having a harder time falling asleep before nap/bedtime. He’s not crying or getting upset but he takes anywhere for 40 minutes to an hour. We’ve tried pushing bedtime back but he continues to need that wind down time. It’s been this way, on and off, for a while now. I’m not sure but I’m beginning to think that the (sacred) nap time might be too long.

We also cut the tail off Weston’s monkey last month. Have I already mentioned that? What does that mean exactly….? A friend of mine gave both boys a little monkey that holds on/attached to a lovey (tiny blanket). Corbin found his thumb early on but Weston discovered the monkey. He didn’t love on the lovey part but instead would suck on the tail. He’s done this since we stopped swaddling them. We would rotate the two monkeys and wash them as much as possible but it was still gross. Daddy decided it was time to cut it off and I was terrified we’d have a very upset boy. The Hubs told Weston that he bit it off. He was slightly confused and would still search for it but he held up pretty well. I also wonder if this is why he takes so much longer to go to sleep as we took away the way he soothes himself.

Corbin

Corbin did not have to go to the doctor so the scale at home says he weighs 27.8 pounds and he is approximately the same height as West, so I’m going with about 35″ tall. He could be the exact same height but it’s like herding cats to get them to stand still and/or next to one another so I don’t know for sure. Corbin is an even picker eater then I thought he could be. He has pretty much a total aversion to meat unless it’s a hot dog (ugh). He loves to dip things, is totally into snacks and is crazy about refried beans. He also looooooves carrots. So thats a plus.

Corbin is not quite as assertive as Weston but he still lets me know his dissatisfaction. Usually by sobbing his eyes out, whereas his brother hits/throws/screams. I have to tell myself constantly to be consistent because it’s SO much harder not to cave when he is SO sad. The Hubs can barely take it. He loses his mind a little bit when they get upset.

Corbin is obsessed with his blankie and sucks his thumb. I am starting to see the thumb taking a toll on his teeth. He sucks his left thumb, off to the side of his mouth and the left front too is starting to stick out. I also sucked my thumb as a kid and my teeth were terrible (I wore braces for 7 years). I have no idea how we would start to break him of this habit anytime soon. I think he’s still too little. He sleeps awesome, with the exception of the occasional bad dream. He will wake up crying but as soon as you go in, pat him on the back and reassure him that you are there, he goes right back to sleep.

This weekend we have tickets to ride the North Pole Express in Grapevine and I am beyond excited. The tickets go on sale in October and they are a hot commodity. You have to buy them EARLY. I barely got enough for all of us (Gramma Dee & Scott will be participating in the fun too). I think I should actually watch the Polar Express movie to know what the whole thing is based around but I know the Nuggets are going to be absolutely delighted that they get to ride a choo-choo.

This Christmas season we have already had so much fun crafting ornaments, ~~attempts~~ making a gingerbread house, ~~destroying~~ decorating the Christmas tree and shopping. Let’s not talk about how that last one goes.