Christmas - Always full of Surprises

On Christmas morning the mini woke up and immediately wanted something to eat, as always. Of course, wanting to remember this Christmas through pictures, DH and I had planned to distract her long enough that he could get downstairs to turn on the video camera so that we could get her reaction to the presents under the tree when she came down to the den. Little did we know that she would sit down at the top of the stairs with no interest in coming down until she had been assured multiple times that Santa Clause was no longer in the house and she didn't have to see him. We thought it was pretty funny that the child who sat on Santa's lap just a couple of weeks ago and laughed and talked to him would be so unnerved at the thought that he might be in the house! Of course, once she got downstairs and understood the nature of presents, she was a little tornado of ripping paper off gifts, then admiring each one for a moment or two before putting it aside with cries of "I open another present!" Once again she got absolutely everything she could have wanted, plus several things she didn't know she wanted. Her favorite things include her new baby doll, whom she has lovingly christened "Elizabeth," her new princess dress-up set, including tiara, magic wand, slippers and appropriate jewelry, her castle play set and her doctor kit. I guess this means she will grow up to be the royal pediatrician in a magic kingdom? Sounds like a pretty good job to me!

Kiss My Atkins

We've been trying to monitor the mini's diet for a while because she has an allergy to milk and dairy products. At first it was difficult because we had to train ourselves to read labels on absolutely everything to make sure that she wasn't getting any milk or milk products in her food. Well, we just got back from the allergist's office where we had her allergy tested (and anyone can tell you that was just a joyous occasion!). Guess what else we need to completely erase from her diet? Eggs. No more pasta, no more cookies and cakes, no more bagels, no more pancakes or waffles. This adds a whole new level of difficulty to our shopping and meal menus. That pretty much leaves meat and vegetables, and although the mini thankfully loves all forms of meat and chiken and several vegetables, I am reeling from the concept that my baking skills will probably deteriorate into nothingness (not that they were far from there to begin with). However, I have decided to look at this as a challenge - "To Be Atkins or Not To Be Atkins, That Is The Question!" In an effort to see what foods can be salvaged, I have done a little research and it looks like there are egg substitutes out there that can be used in recipes calling for eggs. So maybe she'll be able to have a cake for her birthday after all! And maybe we won't have to forego all of the carbohydrates that we love so much. Wish me luck at the health food store!

The Toes Have It!

Don't you just love the quirks your kids have? Mine, for instance, has this thing where she is constitutionally incapable of keeping her shoes and/or socks on her feet in the car. It doesn't seem to matter if we are going on a long trip out of town or just a quick jaunt to the grocery store. If we are in the car for more than two minutes, off they come! The first few times she did this it was cute, however, I think you can understand when I say that the cuteness has worn thin and I'm mostly irritated by this, chiefly because it adds 5 or more minutes to my schedule for any day - and it's not like this is a once-per-day occurance, either. We can be in and out of the car twenty times in a day and the shoes/socks will ALWAYS be off. I think maybe she is obsessed with her toes - or at least the pretty pink nail polish I put on her yesterday. Yes, that would be me, the Mom who complains about a certain behavior while at the same time enabling and arguably encouraging it (sigh). At least I had the camera with me today and actually got a picture of it!

Funny Girl

So we were in a mad rush to run errands this morning and the mini was being somewhat difficult, per usual. I was beginning to lose my cool and as I was trying to get her in her car seat after leaving Target, I said to her "You are driving me insane!" She promptly shook her finger at me and said, "No, Mommy. I drive you crazy." I love the comic relief. It helped me to de-stress. At that point I decided that if we were late getting her to gymnastics it didn't really matter that much. Here's hoping that everyone else gets a little laugh from their child(ren) right when they need it most!

The pictures I've added are from a few weeks ago - Meredith during one of her more artistic afternoons and at the state fair "driving" a car. I'm not sure I'm ready to see her driving yet! Hope you enjoy!

Life is like a bowl of cherries....

okay, so the only fun thing that I experienced today was getting an unexpected present from the UPS man. Otherwise, the day was filled with errands and hearing funny/scary noises from my car, which is now in the shop getting a look-see from the mechanics. I really hope they figure out what is going on - I don't like driving around with a 3-year-old and a car that I'm not sure I can trust. Of course, this means that until I get it back, we are a one-car family. That's okay, though, it can be worked around.

We were given a story about teaching our children the true meaning of Christmas this Sunday at church, complete with descriptions of the the true meanings behind the iconic images we associate with Christmas. I agree with the concept of teaching our children not to forget about Jesus and what the season truly represents, but at the same time, I find it hard to balance today's commercialism within that historical and religious context. I get so caught up in the rush to "do" Christmas myself that I hope I don't gloss anything over for the mini. Of course, at not quite 3 years old, she doesn't really understand anything beyond the pretty lights and Santa Clause, but we're trying to get the message across. It's really fun to hear her talk about Christmas as if it were a possession rather than an event "I want Christmas, Mommy" is or "Christmas is so beautiful, Mommy" are daily sayings whenever she sees a decorated tree or a blow-up Santa. I only hope that the rest of her life can be filled with the same wonder and excitement.

I'd Rather Be Blogging

So I have TONS of laundry to do, the dishwasher to empty, presents to wrap, Christmas cards to take care of, dinner to plan and my entire house needs to be cleaned from top to bottom. However, since I really don't feel like Martha Stewart today, I decided to write on this blog again. Of course, I did put wrapping paper on the front door in an effort to cheer up the outside of the house and invite Christmas to really stop over this year, but I don't think that counts as actual housework.

The mini and I met DH for lunch at Chili's today. Being the prissy child she is, she totally freaked out when she realized it was snowing. For the first three seconds, she said "I love the snow!" Then she realized it was cold and wet. At that point it no longer held any fascination for her. All she wanted was to go inside the restaurant. I don't know how I got a beach child (she loves the beach) when both DH and I are cold-weather people.

The picture here is from Halloween - Meredith had a lot of fun helping Daddy carve the pumpkin, but she sure didn't like getting a little pumpkin seed mush on her arm!

Why Am I Awake Today?

How is it that some days you get out of bed raring to go and wide awake, then other days you find yourself typing gibberish on the computer at 9:00 in the morning instead of real words and then have to go back and correct everything? Of course, the fact that we didn't get the mini into bed (and asleep) until 10:30 last night, and then WE didn't go to bed until 12:30 this morning gives me very little room for complaint. She didn't even wake up until 8:30, so I guess I should count myself lucky. In any case, I'm pretty sure today is going to be a challenge for all involved and we haven't even gotten out of our pj's yet. This calls for a venti Starbucks.....!

We decorated the Christmas tree last night. For the first time we decided that we should actually HANG the stockings on the fireplace rather than just putting them under the tree with everything else. Strange how hammering nails into a wood mantle can be so therapeutic! But they look really nice there, so we're happy. We think we got a couple of good shots of Meredith trying to hang ornaments that we might try to use as a Christmas card picture. We're going to attempt a trip downtown to see all the Christmas lights this weekend and get a few more pictures as candidates for our cards and then hopefully get them out next week. How did this season get away from me already? Isn't Christmas supposed to be, like, in two or three months? Wasn't it just Halloween!?!