Merry Christmas to all!!

We had such a great Christmas!  We all got an obscene amount of things...in fact, I just got done doing a bit of online shopping to spend some of the gift cards I got!  It was great to spend so much time with the family, but I think it got to be a bit overwhelming for Harry.  Christmas Eve was spent with my Dad's family, then a 3 hour break to work (me) and to try to nap (Travis and Harry) except Harry didn't get the message and climbed out of the pack and play at Mom and Dad's house.  How did he do it?  No clue.  Then my Dad's sisters and their families came over that evening.  By the time we got home, Harry was so worn out that when we came inside the house he layed on the floor, sprawled out with his jacket and hood on and cried his little heart out. 

Janson, Harry, and Payton

Christmas Day was met with even more activities.  I worked at the hospital from 7am to 11:30am and met Travis and Harry at Granny's house for Christmas with Travis's family.  We then went back over to Mom and Dad's to open presents with them, and then we finally got back to our house around 8:30 that night to open presents from Santa.  Whew!  We finally got to give Harry his big present...a kitchen!  It has been a big hit!  He walked right up to it and started hitting buttons and cooking away like it had been in his playroom forever!  Some other big hits this year were a basketball goal (with both Harry and Daddy!), an Elmo guitar, Elmo and Backyardigans DVDs, play food, and a Tonka truck.  He also got some money for his 529 plan which is something Travis and I appreciate so much and he will benefit from greatly in the future.  The new little guy even scored a few gifts.  He got a couple of stuffed animals and some new outfits!  Thank you all again so much for the shower of gifts...they are all so appreciated!  We are too spoiled!

Too tired to open more gifts!

Speaking of Baby boy...we are 30 weeks along today!  Where ever has the time gone??  It is a bit daunting to think that in as little as 6 or 7 weeks from today, we could have another son!  I am now going to the doctor every 2 weeks, which for me makes the time go by that much faster. 

Yay, Santa is almost here!!

Wow, where has the year gone??  It's Christmas time again, and I can't believe that this will be Harry's second Christmas.  The shopping is done for the most part and the wrapping is done except for Harry's stocking.  I love it, I get quite kid-like too at this time of year except now it is for different reasons.  I can't wait for Harry and Travis and the rest of our family to get their gifts.  For the first time that I can think of since I have started working, I took some vacation days around the holidays.  I have been off since Wednesday and although I am working for a few hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it isn't interfering with any of our family get togethers (except for the time when most kids will get their gifts from Santa) and then I'm off for the rest of next week too!  That is a good enough Christmas gift in itself!

I can't be bothered, I've got some important calls to make!

Mother Nature has caused some difficulties for us already so far this year.  So far, I have been stuck in an ice storm north of where we live (it took me 7.5 hours to get home when it normally takes 2.5 hrs) and a few weeks ago we had 2 moderate snow storms which weren't that big of a deal but they both started during my commute to work.  Then last weekend was my weekend to work and of course, we were forecasted to get 14 inches of snow and ice Saturday night.  My son is now 20 months old and not a day has gone by where I haven't seen him, but Saturday I decided to stay at Mom's house so that I would be able to get to work Sunday.  It was hard, I couldn't decide whether to believe the weather reports or not.  It turns out we did get a good amount of ice, but instead of the 14 inches we got about 4 to 5 I believe.  Is that even possible to be that wrong??  I guess it is better to be safe than sorry and I am thankful that I have been able to do all my travelling safe and sound.  But enough of the bad weather already!  It's only December!!

Evenings are never boring around the MinivanFam household!

Harry turned 20 months old on Monday.  We got his Christmas pictures back last week and I really enjoy putting his new 8x10 in the frame and comparing the new picture to all of the old ones I keep in there.  From his 12 month picture to this picture taken when he was 19 months, the difference is absolutely amazing and forget about comparing them to the older ones.  He really is starting to look more like a little boy instead of a baby.  He looks so tall and lean now and his facial structure has changed so much.  It is positively mindblowing!  He still loves Elmo very much, and now he is really into the Backyardigans since he got one of their DVDs (Travis and I catch ourselves singing the songs quite frequently as well!).  He is such a funny kid and he loves to do things to make us laugh.  He likes to watch football with us and cheer us on while playing the Wii.  He has also recently picked up trying to sing (usually to the dogs or his reflection in the window) and he still mainly talks in super secret baby babble that we can't understand but he is steadily picking up new words.  Here's the cutest ones I can think of:  cookie, Sponge Bob (said 'Pon Bob!), football (foo-ball), ready, and snow (said 'no).

We wish all of you out there a Merry Christmas!  The Christmas message at our church was titled Alternate Endings, and man, is that ever the theme for our year.  I feel we chose to give our lives (and hopefully our children's lives) an alternate ending this year when we decided to change the path we were headed down and to follow God's plan instead.  That, along with my family, my husband and son, and my so-far healthy pregnancy definitely tops my list for what I am thankful for this year.  I can't wait to see what 2008 has in store for us!

We have been back from Thanksgiving vacation for a week and a half.  Our schedule has been pretty jam packed with work and other happenings, so sorry for the delay in postings for all the Harry fans out there!  We had a great time in Tennessee.  Harry was a peach for the travels down and back--thank the good Lord for Elmo and Backyardigans DVDs!  The first few days, we didn't do much besides play the Wii--I'm surprised that the thing didn't blow up!  Rob and Linda gave Travis Tiger Woods golf for his birthday so we spent a lot of time playing that.  Harry loves to watch the games on the tv too so it was a good activity for all.  We got a little more active outside later in the week and once again ventured out to Ikea in Atlanta.  Love that place!  We got Harry's new big boy bed and furniture for his room so I was excited for that. I was getting apprehensive about not really doing anything for the new little guy, but I keep telling myself, besides re-washing the newborn clothes and maybe getting a few more warmer outfits, there is really not much to do!  We are keeping the nursery the same, so as long as we get Harry's new room ready and get him to sleep in his new bed (really nervous about that one) sometime here in the next few months we should be golden.  I am 27 weeks today and I really can't believe it.  I think after Christmas is over, I will start to freak out over the reality of having more than one wild man to care for!

I took Harry to the doctor this morning for this weird rash/dermatalogic issue that keeps occuring on his face.  It started the week of Thanksgiving when he had a nasty cold so I thought it probably had something to do with that.  However, he got better but the rashes kept coming and going.  It would pop up on one area of his face, get better and come up on another area.  I had enough when I picked him up from Katrina's yesterday when he had 2 new places on his nose and one on his eyelid.  They got us in to the doctor this am and I think she was as perplexed as I am!  She gave us a prescription for a cream to try and if that doesn't work, we may have to go see a dermatologist.  I was glad to hear that it probably isn't anything contagious.  I was worried about the kiddos at daycare too!

Last Friday morning may have been one of my most challenging ones as a parent yet.  I had to work in the afternoon and Mom was going to watch him so he was coming with me.  We also had an appointment for Christmas pictures at 10am with our favorite hometown photographer.  Harry is usually in such a good mood in the mornings (except for when he has to put his pants on---he HATES that for some reason) but we were having none of that.  He cried from the time I got him up until the time we left the house including during breakfast for no reason that I could find out.  He had cried so much, he was left with a big, red, puffy bag under one of his eyes for his pictures.  Thank goodness we were able to get one (literally only one) good picture out of him.  It was such a frustrating time...that I couldn't figure out what was wrong, what I could do to fix it, that I was no comfort for him whatsoever.  I think we both could have used a couple extra hours of sleep that day!