Pre-Christmas Fun

I really had a great time this holiday season. I'm not sure why, but I bet it has something to do with Matthew not destroying the tree. He's such a good little dude all-around. He has a whiney side that can drive me crazy in a matter of seconds, but over all he's very easy-going and compliant. I'm glad of that because it seems that we will be adding to the family some time next summer and I'm going to need all the easy-going toddler I can get. I have a feeling that things might be a bit different by then, but we're all very excited about the coming attraction (i.e. an enormous belly, I mean BABY)!This pregnancy is quite different than the first, with lots of nausea, pain, and fatigue that I wasn't prepared for. Things have ebbed somewhat in that department for now, and I'm looking forward to getting back into blogging and taking pictures of Matthew, two things that seem to slip my mind when I was so sick. There were lots of funny things to write about in the days leading up to Christmas, like the time that Matthew beheaded a flock of light-up, Christmas penguins at the Coast Guard holiday party, but I guess I haven't had it in my to share. I appreciate your patience and hope that I'll have some more to post in the coming weeks. For the first time in 5 years, the end of the holidays doesn't mark the end of the chaos. You'd think that a new baby coming would be enough the get used to for one family, but in the true style of my family we are stepping it up a notch on the transitions. In the spring, we'll be moving to Florida (We hope!) to start a new chapter in Jeff's career. We're so looking forward to being back in the south (sort of) and closer to family and friends. We are not looking forward to 10 hour plane rides with a 30+ pound 18 month old and a 6 month pregnant mama. Nor are we looking forward to the first few months after the new baby's arrival when we struggle to survive without the nearby help of close friends or family. Still, I like to think that we'll manage better this time. Won't we? Maybe the reason that I'm so into the holidays this year is that I know this marks the last few months of calm before the storm of planning, packing, shipping, travelling, searching, and settling begins. I knew that something was different when I thought to myself sometime early in December, "I should download some Christmas carols to listen to." Fifty-three carols, and countless hours of listening later, I still can't get enough. Poor Jeff and Matthew have had to endure this craziness, but they've also reaped the rewards in the form of homemade gingerbread, Christmas Eve melt-in-your-mouth pot roast, and brownies!

My favorite Christmas tradition is our tree. First of all, I love having a real Christmas tree, falling needles and all. I love the smell and the look and the ritual of picking it out. For ornaments, we only use handmade ornaments of things that can fly. Right now, we have 6 birds from our first Christmas together, a bi-plane and a flying fish from a couple of years ago, and a butterfly from this year. I can't remember when this tradition started, but I'm pretty sure that the theme comes from Jeff's love of flight. We have many ornament-designs in our heads that we haven't made yet (roaches, bees, kites, reindeer) and I can't wait until Matthew wants to make Superman for the tree. Above is a picture of the ornament he made this year. It involved markers, pipe cleaners and a cookie cutter. Isn't it cute?
So I guess that's about it for the few weeks before Christmas. Matthew is as cute as ever, though he has developed a very nasty habit of biting and hitting us when he doesn't like something we've asked him to do. Of course, he's also developed the very sweet habit of touching gently when he's saying he's sorry for letting his emotions get the best of him. And he likes to scream at the top of his lungs when his blood sugar spikes. That's a lot of fun when we're eating out. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Now I know what everyone is talking about when they say that Christmas is much more fun when seen through the eyes of your children. We had a great Christmas season, topped off by yesterday's toy-extravaganza. We got Matthew a small train set, which said it was appropriate for 3 year olds and older. Oh well. Matthew loves it; he's very into Thomas the Train, you know. And Jeff had more fun setting it up than I anticipated...

All the fancy toys around and all Matthew wanted to do yesterday was play with this wind-up Santa in an airplane. He's certifiably obsessed with airplanes, which comes as a big surprise to everyone, I'm sure. Jeff, of course, is trying to keep him mind off of them a bit since he knows how all-encompassing an obsession like that can be. Hence the train set, which is another favorite hobby.

Jeff really wanted Matthew to have a football because he's seen him at the park across the street chasing after them and being wowed by their unpredictability. Did you know that a new, regulation-sized football costs almost $100? Needless to say, that's not the one he got, but I do have some insight now into why pro-football tickets are so expensive.

This is a totally candid shot I took of Matthew who had thoughtfully surrounded himself with presents and then decided to sit still long enough for me to snap the picture. I tried to get him to actually look at the camera, but that made him want to stand up and walk away, so this is the best I could do. As you can see, he's STILL playing with the wind-up flying santa. Good work, Nana.

After all the presents were opened and Matthew was totally overwhelmed with newness, it was time to hit the park in our pajamas to play some football. Matthew wanted to wear the rain jacket his Banana (great-grandmother) sent. Isn't he adorable? After playing in the park, it was back home for some shrimp frittata that I whipped up. (After careful consideration of quite a few recipes.) So yummy and I made enough to feed an army, so we'll be eating frittata for a while...

Mele Kalikimaka, Everyone!

Hungry Hippos

At least once a week, we go to the zoo. These are pictures from such a morning. My favorite part of the zoo is the Siamang Gibbon exhibit. Once or twice a day, the gibbons start "calling" and it sounds like twelve different animals making distinctly different sounds, simultaneously. One of the calls even sounds like a woman screaming. It's really cool.

Matthew's favorite part of the zoo is that he gets to run and run and run. He does this funny thing that we call the "wind up". Every now and then, he'll just stop, head down, and contemplate the ground for a few seconds. Then, ZOOM, he's off. It's like he has his own stoplight in his head. Very cute.
Since it's now the rainy season, one of Matthew's favorite past times, outside the zoo or in, is puddle running. He could run through puddles for hours. Last night, we took him outside for the first time that day because it had been raining so hard. Dressed in his poncho and hat, he still thoroughly drenched himself by splashing in puddles for half an hour.

Sometimes, things work out with Jeff's schedule and he's able to come with us on our morning fun. He was especially fun this day at the zoo because he held Matthew up a lot so that he could see the animals. (I normally just tell him the exhibit is closed. Kidding, I'm kidding.)
Here's Matthew looking at the hippos. Did you know that hippos are disgusting? Really, really disgusting. We saw one of them poop, which was not the gross part. The gross part was when the poop, which had been floating in the water between the two hippos, "disappeared". There's a reason they call them Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Yuck.

Story Time

I just love this picture of Matthew lying on the floor at the library. He's listening intently to the library reading a really interesting book. Or maybe I just snapped this photo during the split second that he was in this pose and he immediately proceeded to pull all of the storytime books off of the table.

November was quite a month. I can't remember exactly what happened, but it must have been fun because I don't have any pictures or blog entries to show for it. I'll try to do better in December, but this vague "fun" might just last through the new year. I have been reading a lot, which is such a luxury, so I should at least be able to update the Alabama Book Worm blog!

We read to Matthew all the time. He loves picture books, rhyming books, c, anything with pages, really. And he likes to turn pages. Quickly. Before you can finish reciting from memory, I mean, reading what it says. Most of the time it's cute, but every now and then I just stop reading and he looks at me with these eyes that say, "What does it say, Mama? You don't expect me to read by myself, do you? I'm just a baby!" When I start reading aloud again, he goes back to turning the pages. *Sigh*