The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back

This post is going to be deep, very deep.  Take for example that there is a double meaning in the title . . . let me explain . . .

As I mentioned before, Kate and I are joining Dave for a business trip down to Las Vegas.  As much as I wish we could have flown, we drove.  I'm not sure I've mentioned how much Kate hates the car.  Let me rephrase . . . she LOATHES the car.  She has from the moment we put her in the car to take her home when she was two days old.  Apparently she holds grudges, because she still really hates it - a year later.

Our plan was to leave early this morning . . . unfortunately, due to some unforseen happenings, we didn't get to pack yesterday at all, so this morning was insane.  Dave was getting the car ready, I was throwing things in the suitcase like a crazy person, and Kate was taking them out even faster than I could put them in.  Let's just say that we didn't get out the door quite when we had planned.  (A word to wise parents - pack while your kids are asleep, if at all possible!)

I must say, though - Kate did much better than I expected.  We've made this trip, from Salt Lake to Vegas several other times, and they were nothing but miserable.  Today was a much different story.  She was pretty happy the first half hour, then we gave her a bottle and she went to sleep for almost 2 hours!!!  It was a beautiful thing, and a miracle, to say the least.  When she woke up we stopped for lunch.  When we hit the road she was happy for an hour, then took another nap, for another hour.  Unfortunately, she woke up a little before we reached Mesquite.  And that last hour, well, that was rough.  I had emptied out the entire diaper bag, given her my iphone, our water bottles, let her suck on my wedding ring (while it was still on my finger), and well - you can see we were getting desperate!  Needless to say, that last hour was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Once we reached the hotel, Kate was infused with energy.  I thought she'd want to go to bed early (Vegas time is an hour earlier), but instead she wanted to stay up and play, play, play.  Guess she needed to get out all of those wiggles she had to hold in during the road trip.  We took her down to dinner, and our sweet waitress brought Kate her own cup and straw.

After about three tries . . .

Way to go Kate - a not even a year old!

Decision Through Indecision

I've been approaching one of the largest dilemmas a parent will face:

What to do for the first birthday party.

Image from pro-party.com

Do I do just a family party?

A party with neighborhood friends?

How about Kate's other friends?

One big combined party?

And, well, you can see the pressure I'm under.

So let me explain the long and extenuating circumstances under which I made my decision.

Days kept on going and going and going by, and I realized I still hadn't sent out invitations.

And then, Dave told me he was going on a business trip and asked me if Kate and I wanted to join him.

I said yes.

And voila!  The decision was made.

We don't get home until Friday night, and Kate's birthday is on Saturday - the day of Kate's family party.

So the decision is:

Only a family party this year and not a friend party.

Maybe I'm a bad mom, but I figure that Kate won't remember anyway . . . I'd rather do a fun friend party when she's two or three when she'll be more aware and more likely to remember.

Oh, the pressure of being a mother.

:)

The moral of the story is: if you put off making a decision, you won't have to make one at all.

Simple Things

I love the simple things that kids entertained.  

Kate played with and in this storage box for an hour yesterday.

Up and Up

Symptoms:

- Sleeping excessive amounts

- Eating excessive amounts

- Growing excessive amounts

Conclusion:

Kate is undergoing a growth spurt.

Now I know that Kate sleeps more than most babies, I think that's a given.  She likes to go to bed between 6 and 6:30 (yes, that's pm), and she becomes very cranky if she's kept up past that time.  But the last few days she's been sleeping even more than normal.  Take Tuesday night for example - she went to bed at 6:15 pm, woke up at 5 am for a bottle, and then didn't wake up until 9 am!  Just in case you were wondering - that's 15 hours (!!!), not including naps.  I'm not complaining - that meant I got to sleep in until 9 am too!

Then, I went to lunch the other day and had to order Kate her own kid's meal - and she ate the whole thing!

And Dave and I could swear that she's taller every morning.  Very scientific, I know.  We'll find out whether that's true at her 1 year appointment next week.

So what am I to conclude?  Growth spurts are a very real thing.  I know that kids and especially babies are always growing, but growth spurts are a time when they do so at an accelerated rate - which is why they need more food and sleep.

Oh well, this growth spurt won't hurt Kate - at her 9 month appointment she was in the 5th percentile - hopefully this growth spurt will help to bump her up a little!

One Line a Day

 Image from ohsocherished.co.uk

I just wanted to show you one of my favorite Christmas presents!  It's called, "Mom's One Line a Day: A Five-Year Memory Book" and I absolutely love it!

Here's how it works.  Each page holds space for 5 entries - one for that particular date for the next five years. So next year, when I write on the page for January 1st, I can remember that Kate took her first steps!

Why I love it:  

1 - I love how you can compare what happens on that same date over the 5-year period.  

2 - I especially love how it really is just one line a day!  I'm someone who would love to be a good journal writer, but I'm just too intimidated by trying to write down every single detail.  This forces me to condense, to keep it simple, and to highlight only the most important moments, quotes, or events.  It's perfect for me.  

3 - Plus, I know that our kids are going to love looking through it when they're older!

Anything special that you got for Christmas?  Please share!

A New Year's Twist

Breathe.  Whew, the holidays this year have been completely insane!  And that is my excuse for the two-week hiatus I took from the blog, so please excuse me.  I'll catch up on all of that soon, but first I just wanted to share our New Year's celebration.

You know those days where nothing goes as planned?  Well, that was yesterday for us (thank goodness it was the last day of 2010 and not the first day of 2011!).  I won't go into details, but to make a long story short, I ended up in tears, we didn't end up attending the party we'd been planning to go to, and we did some last minute improvising.

If there's one thing I've learned as a mom, it's that sometimes things don't go as planned - and you have to be on your toes and ready to come up with an alternative solution.  And be happy about it.  Our improvising included an old movie from the 1940s that I got for Christmas, some takeout Thai food, and a candlelight picnic on our living room floor.  It was just me and Dave ushering in the new year.

But, sometimes you've just got to be flexible.  We had a great time, and the perfect finishing touch was dessert from a dessert cafe called, "The Chocolate."  You can see why it was perfect, just from the title. 

I'm not sure if this is a sign that in 2011 I'm going to have to be flexible, but I guess we'll see!  Happy 2011!

Sigh of Relief

Whew.  I'm done.  With all the goodies for family, friends, and neighbors.  I've been making chocolates this year - quite an undertaking - and I'm SO RELIEVED to be done.  Dave was a good sport last night in helping me out quite a bit, and I finally finished around midnight.  Now I'm hoping that I can really just enjoy the rest of the week as Christmas quickly approaches.

While I dipped chocolates, I watched one of my favorite Christmas movies -

Such a feel-good film.  It just makes you happy to be alive!

It's so hard to pick favorites.  But this next one is definitely one of them:

The "Sisters" song (sung by Bing and Danny Kaye) has to be my favorite.  Sigh.  I just love the two of them.

I also love this one

Such a wonderful story.  And the sequel, Timepiece, is also a favorite.

I must admit, although I hear it quoted every year, I've never seen

Maybe I'll have to actually watch it this year.

This is a must:

Not to mention all the classic kid movies.

What are your holiday movie favorites?

Santa's Getting Stingy

A few days ago, Kate and I went with Jenny and Henry, to see Santa at the mall.  Let's just say that we didn't exactly get what we expected.

Jenny called ahead and asked if we could take our own pictures with Santa instead of paying for the ones they provide.  The answer was yes.

So we showed up, all full of the Christmas spirit, and excited for another "first" with our little ones - a picture on Santa's lap.  Except for some reason the lady at the entry is saying that we can't take our own pictures.  "But we called ahead and asked," we protest, "and we were told that we could."

"Oh," the lady says smugly, "well you can take your own pictures.  Just so long as you're outside the perimeter of the Santa setup."  Oh, perfect.  You mean we can take pictures between the fence, the 6-foot-tall presents, and then 30 foot Christmas tree?  Excellent.  Let me leave my less-than-a-year-old baby girl on a strange man's lap while I run around to the outside and jump to get my 5 foot 2 inch frame above those presents!  I'll be right back.  Yeah, right.

We were pretty angry, and understandably so.  The lady tried to sell us on one of their package deals - the cheapest one was $10 for one photograph with Santa, and we wouldn't even get the copyright.  No thank you.

As we walked away, we made ourselves feel better by admitting that he was an "ugly" Santa anyway - honestly, he was - his beard was yellowish and not very long, and he had a very big shiny forehead - and no hat!

So I'm just wondering . . . has property tax gone up in the North Pole?  Has reindeer feed gotten more expensive?  Are elves charging more per hour?  Or is Santa's sleigh just a gas guzzler?  Because the Santa I know would let us put our children up on his knee, give them a candy cane, and let us snap one measly picture without charging us ten dollars.  But that's just the Santa I knew growing up.

Jenny and I stopped by Krispy Kreme on the way home and ate delicious Peppermint Bark Doughnuts to console ourselves over the Santa failure.  It was so good that it somewhat restored my belief in holiday magic.

Maybe next year Kate and I will completely skip the whole visiting Santa thing and just go straight for a Krispy Kreme . . .

When to Clean Your High Chair

I do it whenever Kate's backside looks like this.

Just a tip.

Newest Edition(s)

No, we're not pregnant.  

I'm actually talking about this:

Santa came a little early and brought our family gift - a new entertainment center and huge television.  Dave was ready - our old TV was about as boxy as they come, and had lines on the top third of the screen.  I'm happy to report that it has now gone the way of all the earth.

The T.V. was mostly for Dave - he's in love with it.  The entertainment center is what makes me happy.  And Kate?  Well, she's very pleased with the new cupboards that are full of surprises and haven't yet been baby-proofed.  Yet being the key word - sorry Kate!

We also did a gift exchange with Dave's parents, who are going to be out of the country over Christmas.  Here is what they got me - a beautiful new nativity!  I love the colors - especially since so many of mine are so neutral.  

I love the wise men -their robes each depict part of the story - one shows them on camels as they journey to see the Savior, there are angels singing on another, and (my favorite) the Star given as the sign of the Savior's birth on the third.

I also love the outline of Bethlehem in the background.

And my very very favorite is the perfect baby Jesus.

Insert sigh of contentment here.