Safety first

There's no place like...

home for the holidays. Don't get me wrong, we love our families. I think both Tom and I missed spending time with them this Christmas, but being home was wonderful. No airports, no hotel rooms, no time changes, no rental cars. Just the four of us in our own house. Tom and I have traveled every Christmas since we began dating, mostly to see family, but also for our honeymoon to Hawaii. Staying home was a real treat. I got to do some baking and visiting with neighbors. It's going to be hard to convince me to leave home for Christmas ever again.

I'll get to the pictures in a minute, but first I want to give my husband some major praise. This morning there was a present in my stocking that was definitely a step above the underwear and See's candy Santa put in there - a little jewelry box containing a beautiful (BEAUTIFUL) pair of diamond earrings. It was just like a cheesy commercial. I even got a little teary-eyed because it was so completely unexpected. Tom told me I deserve them for being such a great mom to my kids. I'd love to say that I don't need any gifts to do such a fulfilling job, but seriously this is damn hard work. Emotionally and physically draining; not to mention the fact I don't get vacations (or even a full night's sleep). So a pair of earrings is an awesome way to acknowledge my hard work and I appreciate it more than I can ever tell him.

Okay, on to pictures. This is from last night. I let the kids open the gifts from each other. Leo got a set of four puzzles and Tom helped him put it together.
The presents under the tree waiting for a good little boy and girl.
Billie thinks she's a gift, but really she's a pain in the butt.
Helping daddy open one of his presents.
The only thing Leo asked for from Santa was a little battery-powered train named Percy. Every time we discussed Santa, Leo would talk about how the man in red was going to bring him Percy. We even wrote a letter to Santa specifying this request. Though he was thrilled with the other presents under the tree and in his stocking, take a look at his face after he opened Percy and Tom was getting it out of the box. Pure joy.

Showing off Percy and me helping Serafina open presents. She is too big to fit into the Christmas p.j.s Leo wore two years ago. My little fatty.
Playing with his fire truck from Santa and dump truck from Ito.
The aftermath...
Checking out his power tool set complete with safety goggles.
The goggles are a little on the tight side.
Checking out daddy's favorite present (the iPhone)
Munching on a homemade biscuit wearing his new snazzy vest from the Long Island Mirriones.
Nana comes tomorrow. There will be more presents and a whole lot of fun.

Baller

Leo received this awesome five-in-one sports set from the Oklahoma Mirriones. Clearly he needs to work on his skills, but he's having fun.



You may notice that Tom is moving around pretty well after his surgery. Maybe you noticed he's in a t-shirt in the bright California sunshine. Not a bad way to spend Christmas day. Sorry to everyone shoveling snow this holiday, but you are welcome to join us out here next year.

Merry Christmas!

Cute little Claus. Serafina as Santa...



Leo as Santa...

Serafina in the Xmas onesie...
And Leo...
Fun on Xmas eve
Well, not everyone is having fun.

Here comes Santa Claus

I can't believe Christmas is just days away. Yesterday, Tom had a routine knee surgery. He's been an excellent patient and seems to be recovering well. He has a post-op appointment tomorrow so we'll see what the doctor says. I got his Christmas gift early, an iPhone, and he's been playing with it while being stuck on the couch with an ice pack.

Leo enjoys all the aspects of Christmas so far - the tree, the carols, the presents (of course). He also likes Santa. Some kids don't. But Santa can be a little creepy sometimes.

Here are the kids with our local mall Santa this year. We went at the beginning of the month and it was Leo's first Santa encounter. I went right up to Santa and acted very happy to see him. He let me sit on his knee, and I told Leo we were old friends and I was going to let Santa hold the baby. He was willing to sit with Santa too and even gave a half smile.

For fun, here are the past two years of mall Santa pictures.

A few quick pictures

Got a baby on the boob, so just a quick post.

Trying out his Little Shaver Kit (a Xmas gift from Dougie).
Addison, Doug and Leo hanging out during the cookie swap party.
Dad and his kiddos.



Ready to ship in time for Xmas.

Working out with daddy

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. It's a busy time of year. Tomorrow I'm hosting my moms group's 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange.

Lunch with dad

Leo is going through a major daddy phase. He cries for daddy when he's upset in bed, he talks about him during the day and he asks to go to work with Tom in the morning. Yesterday, we got to go to lunch at daddy's work. It was as thrilling as being at restaurant for me and both kids were well behaved. I didn't embarrass Tom by whipping out the camera in the cafeteria, but I did snap one outside his building.

Daddy lay down

Tonight I asked Leo if he wanted mommy's milk or for daddy to lay down with him. He said, "daddy lay down." I mumbled, "are you sure?", gave him a good night kiss and went off to nurse the other baby. I've always said I would follow Leo's lead for weaning, but I guess I didn't figure it would happen so suddenly. Of course, it has only been two nights. He could easily change his mind tomorrow night. It's not like I'm going to loose my supply since baby girl eats...well, all the time. If this is the end, I know I'm going to be very sad. It is such a special time I share with him each night. Something no one else could do. I was the only one who saw him from that particular angle, held him in that particular way. He's such a busy little guy, sometimes that would be the only real chance I had to cuddle him. It's pretty amazing that from such a rough start, a long, successful, fulfilling breastfeeding relationship formed. I made it through the pain of thrush and nursing during pregnancy when my supply dried up to almost nothing. I gave him comfort when teething, after surgery and through various illnesses.

I can only hope Serafina and I share the same future because breastfeeding really is the most rewarding (and challenging) experience of my life.

Fire Truck!

Our local fire department held a toys for tots event today. Bring a toy, get a ride in the fire truck. Well, technically these are fire engines (truck have ladders). Of course we we're all over it.

Tom and Leo get in to ride shotgun.



They were relocated to the first engine in the line and a rear seat. Tom said is was still very cool.
Taking off in Engine 1. They headed out on a cruise around the neighborhood and were gone for about 10 minutes.
Back to the parking with lights and sirens on.
Getting out.

Trying out the old fashion truck.

This was his reaction when we had to leave.

Winter hat

Success

Leo has spent two nights and two naps in the big boy bed. He's working on his third night right now. Last night and tonight took some reassurance from dad, who spoke to him in soft tones and pointed out that the cool cars and truck sheets are on the big boy bed, not the crib. Tonight he wanted daddy to lay down with him and turned down nursing. Bedtime without mommy milk? Only has happened three times before and two of those nights I was in the hospital having Serafina. It's funny, recently I've been fighting the urge to ween him (at least until we're through cold and flu season), but when he said no I was sad.

Unfortunately, his time in the new bed hasn't been that restful because he still has a persistent cough left over from the last round of colds. Also, I don't have curtains in that room yet, so he's up early since it's bright in there. Needless to say, I'm solving that problem tomorrow.

Giggling girl

The guy in red

We visited Santa today. I'm proud to say, both kids did really well. Leo wasn't exactly thrilled, but he didn't cry. Just about every kid before and after him was in hysterics, so I'm pretty happy. Serafina was her adorable self in a very cute outfit from her Uncle Mike.
All our friends were there so we gathered around Santa for a group shot. Some of the girls are barely holding it together after total Santa freak outs.
We tried for a less traumatic picture outside. It's almost impossible to get five kids to all look at the camera at the same time.
From left: Doug, Leo, Addison, Katie and Sophia
Yes, Leo and Doug are wearing the same sweater in different colors. That happens a lot.
The kids were rewarded by a trip to the park.