Christmas 2014

I think my favorite thing about parenting these days is the kids interacting with one other. Their worlds absolutely revolve around each other. Eleanor is a big fan of running around the big loop on our main floor and she'll come up to Bradley and enthusiastically say "run! run!" and he'll sweetly reply "okay Baby Ellnor" and they'll tear around the main floor. He runs a bit faster than her so understandably gets tired faster and tonight he was trying to rest on some blankets in the living room and she kept coming back up to him saying "run! run" and he'd sigh and say okay and get back up and jog around with her a little more. Finally I told him it was okay to tell her he needed a little break and he repeated back what I said word for word to Eleanor. She was displeased and spent some time patting his head trying to encourage him to get back up. He owes whatever athletic success he has in life to coach Eleanor.

Coach Eleanor says to eat good meals

Coach Eleanor says get good rest

And Coach Eleanor says to take care of yourself (testing out Daddy's new back massager)

We had our first snow of the season a few weeks ago. Bradley likes to smash snow and eat snow (not the best combination) and Eleanor likes to be carried around in the sled and not get her hands messy. She also likes to eat the snow.

They had a blast with grandparents over the holidays. We went to Union Station twice and saw Christmas light shows and went to museums and even ate out a bit.

Bradley was way more into the miniature Christmas train this year. We couldn't get Eleanor to sit still long enough to get her on it, we'll try again with her next year.

Here is Bradley dance/running for Grandma Colleen

Craft time!

Present time!

And the grandparents' favorite: cuddle time. 

 

Bradley had a tough time while Grandma Colleen and Kerry were here because he didn't nap on a couple of the days of their visit so that meant he was a tired tired boy for a lot of the time. We went out to eat at a fancy hibachi grill where they cook your food in front of you and put on a show and all he wanted to do was watch Bubble Guppies on our Kindle (it killed me to let him watch a show during dinner but he was such a mess otherwise). Bradley perked up considerably when the chef started tossing bits of food straight from the grill into people's mouths. He started laughing and cheering and then started to open his own mouth like a little bird so he could participate as well. Nathan helped catch some food the chef tossed his way and put in in Bradley's mouth so he could know much joy. Immediately following this display, Eleanor started acting funny about her food and we're fairly sure that we could have had an 18 month old participate in the fun food throwing game as well.

Also at this meal: the nice family that we sat next to during dinner asked Bradley how old he was. He immediately said "6!". He's been doing this for ages, no idea why. If you ask him how old you are, he'll say "5". The boy knows that 6 is better, he's no dummy. 

We went to a Christmas Eve service and Bradley probably would have been okay with no presents after that, he got all he had ever wanted in life when he was allowed to help hold candles during Silent Night. They also did a special singing of Away in a Manger during the service where the whole congregation sang the first time and then just the children sang the second. Bradley and Eleanor have an Away in a Manger book and had been sung that song every night for about two weeks straight so Bradley knew all the words to the song, but he waited until the very last word to join in and yelled out "hay!" We got a lot of smiles and Bradley was very proud of himself.

Christmas day was very nice, although it started with a bit of excitement since Eleanor got another nosebleed in the night despite having a humidifier in her room. We've been getting way too used to what I call "Tales from the Crypt" Eleanor. Face and hands covered in dried blood, not a delightful thing to become accustomed to. We got her cleaned up and managed to contain a very excited Bradley who could see from the top of the stairs that Santa had visited and needed to get down to see his new toys SO badly. Eleanor got a Little People princess castle from Santa and Bradley got an Imaginex Pirate Ship. I love this age, both kids enjoy playing with each other's toys and everything gets well and thoroughly played with by all parties involved.

However, I have little to no pictures of children playing with toys because of constant blurry movement. I have this. 

Eleanor stealing my hot chocolate gift

Eleanor not being quite sure about her new art bib

Opening presents took approximately two hours after we ate breakfast and got dressed. It takes a while to get the job done when you have to play with each present after you open it.

My parents came in the afternoon and got a week's worth of much needed grandchild time. They also noticed from time to time that Nathan and I existed, which was rather nice. To be fair, this seems to be a common grandparent trait. I was out of the house when Nathan's mom got here the weekend prior and Nathan said he opened the door for her and she walked right past him and held out her arms and said "my babies!" to the grandchildren while he was completely ignored. Ah grandparents.

I still got some cuddles while grandparents were here. Aww, I'm pretty crazy about these kids.

 

Bradley has been a bit of a maniac about his horsie rides ever since Grandpa was here.

 

Eleanor was quite pleased to get reliable help to touch forbidden Christmas ornaments

 

We had one nice day in the 50's while my parents were here so I got us all out to the park. I still can't believe that our house backs on this, it's so convenient and fun. 

My complaints about how hard it is to get things done at times because of how clingy Eleanor is was met with joy at the opportunity to steal some of these cuddles. 

Kids helping make some applesauce crumb squares. Bradley started saying "I making piles!" and we had to put a stop to the helping soon after that.

More helping, this time with sewing. 

Our Union Station trip. Grandparents love Union Station, the kids love Union Station, and I love Union Station. It's a win win win. 

 

 

 

 

 

 And don't worry, Mom made nerd books for the kids again so we have lots of photos of my children with Calculus and Physics books and TI-89 calculators.

Mom took a lot of jumping pictures of Bradley for his book. She was quite fortunate to have such a willing volunteer.

And we did a lot of other things. We kept very busy during our family visits!

Helping Grandpa with stickers.

Playing This Little Piggy

This photo perfectly sums up Eleanor at this point in her life. Boots, cat, messing with Mommy. Got it all covered!

Children helping Grandpa put the tree away

Eating out at Fritz's. The milk shakes were a hit!

Pretty sure all Eleanor ate for lunch was half her giant milk shake and some french fries. She says we can go back any time. 

Both children delighted both sets of grandparents we had visit with their desire to run around with no clothes except for a diaper while hollering "naked!" This is a cute trick to perform around grandparents but it was a little more embarrassing to explain to our teenage babysitter a couple weeks back when she told us that little Eleanor started shouting "naked! naked" at her while Eleanor was being changed into jammies. Whoops.
 
Bradley also started saying "doggonit!" about something at the dinner table while my parents were here and that is exactly what I say when I'm really frustrated about something around the house. My mommy swear, if you will. Good thing that's about as naughty as it gets around here these days.

One of my dad's favorite memories from the trip will surely be the time he was holding Eleanor and Bradley in his lap and reading a book to them before a nap. Eleanor insisted that she was dying of thirst so I handed her a rather full cup of water which she touched to her lips and then promptly dumped over Grandpa's and Bradley's laps. Bradley cried a little bit and Grandpa laughed a lot and both required clean clothes afterward. 

We also sold my wonderful CR-V and got a minivan over the holidays. I loved the CR-V and was very sad to see it go but my new Odyssey is absolutely amazing. It has automatic doors and Bradley can already climb in by himself. Eleanor probably could too if getting her to go where you wanted wasn't like herding cats. If I load her in without buckling her in her seat she immediately tries to climb into the front of the car so she can push all the buttons. I sat in our garage in the minivan with my mom and Eleanor at one point during their visit and Mom and I had a nice 20 min chat while Eleanor happily pushed ALL the buttons. This kid.

Eleanor and my dad say that the minivan passes the comfy snooze test

Post Christmas activities included a lot of snuggling up on the couch for books and shows. Again, I'm not sure who enjoyed this most.

This is what happens when I try to grab some "me" time in a common area. Bradley says Edgar Allan Poe is dark but he's okay with it.

And then I got Eleanor too.

 Nathan might be okay with Bradley's interest in his new comic books.

 

 

Snuggles with my sweetheart boy

Grandma made a highly popular decision to make cookies with the kids the morning before they left. Nothing that touched the kids' hands actually made it into the oven but a good time was had by all.

Eleanor discovering that this is food

I asked her where the cookie dough went so she showed me ...

Approximately half a second after Bradley joined the party. I wish you could see that he is holding a giant wad of cookie dough that entirely fills up both hands. Even Grandma thought it was a bit much to eat all at once and managed to get about half of it away from him. Don't worry, he still got a week's worth of sweets from sad grandparents on their last day here.

And here is a cute but very long video that probably only my mom will want to watch in full. It's worth skipping to the 4:20 mark to see Eleanor's imp face in action.

We promoted Eleanor to a big girl bed about a week before Christmas and she loves it and while we still have to go in to help her out here and there during the night she's doing so much better than when she was in the crib.

Helping Daddy build her new bed

Happily zonked out

Bradley helping Eleanor test out the new bed. He said he would sleep in it. We're hoping to have them start sharing a bed in the next few months so he may get the chance!

Here is our best family holiday picture.

 

And here is Nathan's favorite picture from the holidays. He has been hoping and dreaming for this moment ever since Eleanor was born. I'm not kidding. I've heard a lot about how family naps should be a thing.

In other news, I'm getting big and the baby boy is moving around a lot these days. Only a little over 3 months until the due date which is incredibly surreal. I've been talking to Nathan about how this is my third child and yet each time I've been pregnant it hasn't seemed real until I've actually given birth to the child. He thinks I should write letters to the child with my reaction to each being born. I doubt that's going to happen, here's a quick summery.

Bradley's Birth: Hey you ... um ... hi, stranger. Wow, there was an actual real person inside of me? How do I hold you and feed you? You're adorable yet terrifying.

Eleanor's Birth: Hey you ... wait - you look exactly like your brother. Can't I have a child that looks like me? Come here, little stranger. I don't know you yet but I know how to hold you and feed you.

Baby #3 - please look at least a little like me. If you have dimples you're going to be spoiled within an inch of your life (although to be fair you're probably going to be spoiled within an inch of your life regardless).