Christmas Eve Eve

On Christmas Eve Eve, we always pack up our gifts, put on our pj's, pick up Arni's pizza and have Christmas at my mom & step-dad's, where I grew up. 

Things have changed so much since our Christmas mornings growing up, but we've adapted to our new traditions and are enjoying making memories with my boys. Christmas will never be the same after the loss of my brother, but we are so thankful for Christian & Gavin. They help us all focus on happier things...and to watch their eyes light up helps us to fill that huge void that will always be a part of our family. Still, I miss him so much and I would give anything for the boys to be able to know their Uncle Cory. Christmas might not ever be the same, but we are making the best of it any way we can. Arni's pizza helps. And Cory wouldn't want us to be sad during the holiday season, as he so loved Christmas. I will take the boys to visit him at cemetery, drop off a picture that Christian colored for him, have one of those good & long ugly cries, and then do what he would want-enjoy our Christmas Eve & Christmas morning with family. 

Back on track though, we attempted family photos...and there were no meltdowns, so I won't complain. Of course, Gavin isn't smiling and Christian looks terrified. And Gehrid has the flu, so he had to stay quarantined away from us. No flu here, please!

Opening gifts with my mom is always entertaining, because she cries everytime. This year was not a let down! Christian passed out our gifts and was very good about being patient and waiting his turn to open presents.

He got a robot dino and was terrified of it at first. Once he warmed up to it, he loved it, but then wanted to hide it from Gavin. Pesky little brothers.

Mimi became Gavin's best friend when she shared her cookie with him. He also became the cookie monster and could spot one from across the room. He's no dummy!

We got home and I had fun putting away all of my new goodies. Momma always gets me the best stuff, and this year was no exception. All kinds of home decor, white dishes, a very nice bottle of bourbon for the hubby and a Home Goods gift card. I cannot wait to use these bad boys!

Christian & daddy playing his new Paw Patrol game...he loves it!

And because I'm sure I've received all of the cards we are going to get this year, my Christmas card door...I LOVE getting Christmas cards, so thank you everyone!

My new white dessert stand with my mom's famous cookies on top. 

And then there's this. Let me just tell you about this. Christian has been asking everyone and everything for a Batman robot. I don't know where this obsession came from, but he just needs a Batman robot or he'll die. Well, they make a Batman robot, but apparently it's the gift this year. No one has had it since black friday. And since we are new to this whole parenting thing, we had no idea that when the gift of the year is gone, it's gone. And the only way to get it, is to hope and pray one becomes available at the last minute, or pay double or triple the cost online because people are price gouging. So Dustin has been watching all day, every day for one to become available. We bought him a bunch of other Batman stuff in case we couldn't find this toy, but we knew it was the robot he would be waiting for come Christmas morning. Well over the weekend, Dustin found one. Hallelujah! However, we aren't sure when it's going to get here....so we're praying & hoping & crossing our fingers and toes that it shows up tomorrow. We'll see. If not, hopefully there are enough other toys to distract him from the one thing he really wants. And we learned a valuable parent lesson...buy the toy of the year early!

And that's been our Christmas Eve Eve. Tomorrow is a pretty calm day with just a few last minute errands, but then a jam-packed evening. We have Dustin's family Christmas, my dad's family Christmas and then Dustin and I do our Christmas after the boys go to sleep. 

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and if you're spending it missing special loved ones like us, here's a big internet (((hug))) from our family to yours.

Thanks for reading!

Lights, Presents, Family & Friends!

Whew, what a whirlwind week it has been! I can't believe all the things going on right now, but I absolutely love all the hustle and bustle. But it's important to take some time for yourself during naps & preschool to sit down and unwind...and devour a freshly glazed donut. I may or may not have also devoured a blueberry cake donut. I'm a sucker for the donut shop in our town, what can I say?!

We picked up big brother from school on Thursday and went home to set up our train around the boys' Christmas tree. They loved it at first, but then Christian couldn't stand it when Gavin would try to knock it over. He decided he would rather not play with it when "bad baby Gavin" was around. 

We started our weekend off with a trip to the underground MegaCavern to see Lights Under Louisville. This is absolutely one of our favorite things to do during the Holiday season. I grabbed the boys from their carseats (no worries, folks...you drive 2.5mph in an assembly line of cars) and let the oohing & aahing being. Despite Gavin's distracted and terrified faces, he loved it. He danced to all of the music and cracked up at some of the lights. Christian had a ball...he got to "drive" the car, which was the most exciting part of all for him. 

After the lights, we went to the roadhouse, where once again he devoured the rolls and begged for more.

On Friday, we went to C's preschool Christmas party. We decorated cookies, made an angel, played a guessing game with his teacher and chased after Gavin as he explored the classroom. He was like a little puppy dog...all of the kids kept following him around and petting his head.

After the party, we finished up our homemade ornaments and hung them on the tree. This is a tradition I started with Christian and can hopefully keep up with until they're mean teenagers who are too busy for their mom. Cue sad, crying face.

We played down in the basement, so I attempted to feed Gavin his lunch in the bumbo. This was a huge fail, as everytime I tried to give him a bite, he would throw his head back and forth and I would get sweet potatoes all over the place. He thought it was a fun game though!

After he was finished bathing in his lunch, he decided stealing brother's lunch would be a good idea. Christian didn't agree.

Mmm, toes!

Saturday morning snuggles with dad are always a big hit around here.

Saturday evening we had our Christmas with my mom's family. We always cook way to much food, open gifts from each other, play a $5 white elephant gift exchange and have one too many inappropriate conversations...AKA we have a great time. ;)

We also discovered Gavin LOVES pickles...FINALLY! Someone else in the house who can share my obsession.

My mom got a selfie stick for her white elephant gift...which was a total blast to play with!

After the Christmas party, we headed to our friend's birthday party where we got to visit with our friend who has been stationed in the army for the past 3 years. He is on leave now for Christmas and the birth of sweet baby Gemma, who is due any day now. We are beyond thrilled to have them both back in the states for a short time, and we're probably going to go into a depression when they leave again. Cue more sad, crying faces.

And we finished our weekend off with my dad's side of the family's Christmas...the Thomas'. I'm not going to lie, the attempt to get all of the great-grandkids in the picture cracked me up. Luckily, they cooperated for all of the other pictures!

And that was our festive weekend! We are so excited about the next couple days...there is so much going on right now, it's crazy! But good crazy, so we are ready! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and gets everything they wished for!

'Tis The Season!

Well, you could definitely say the Wilson family is in the Christmas spirit! We've been holiday-ing it up around here, and we still have so much more to do before the 25th! Just a little recap of our past week...

I took some pictures of the boys for Christmas card photos, and here are just a few of my favorites.

We had lots of pouts, painted ornaments at preschool, watched Rudolph, Mickey's Christmas & Frosty more times than we can count, and are eating almost every meal with reindeer or moose ears.

We visited Santa at Bass Pro Shop...both of the boys did so well! Gavin fussed at first, but then Santa started talking to him and he calmed right now & stared at him like he had 3 heads.

Carousel rides!

We had lunch at Texas Roadhouse, where Gavin has officially been initiated into our roll-loving-family. He probably ate more rolls than all of us combined.

I ordered & mailed out our Christmas cards...the pre-addressed envelopes were free with my order...win!

I finally (after years of wanting to do so) started my snow globe collection. I've always loved them & can't wait to pick out a new one each year!

I took a picture of some of my favorite ornaments...I mean, of course they are of the boys!

We had our first Christmas with the Wilson family. Gavin opened his first ever Christmas present! And yes, of course he cared more about the paper than the actual toy.

We went to Christmas at the Galt House...and we we're pretty disappointed. We went a few years ago and there was a huge Christmas display of lights and blow up figurines that Christian loved. This year, it was based off of A Christmas Carol, so the entire display took maybe 30 seconds to walk through and Christian hid his face from the creepy music and ghosts. It wasn't at all what we expected, but the tickets were free through Dustin's work, so we couldn't complain too much.

They also have a little Christmas town set-up after the lights display which Christian enjoyed, so it wasn't a complete fail. Plus, Santa! Christian's new BFF.

AND Gavin has been in the best mood ever today...which needs to be praised, documented and shouted from the rooftops! I also got a bunch of new Norwex cleaning supplies from my party last week, so I plan on spending the rest of the day cleaning, organizing and getting the house Christmas ready!

And that's been our week o' Christmas fun! Hope you all are enjoying this holiday season! 

Happy 9 Months, Gavin Lee!

Well our awful, terrible, adorable youngest has turned 9 months old. With Christian, 9 months started my absolute favorite age. They are learning so much, doing new things every day, developing their unique personality....however, I would be lying if I said I was loving every minute with my fiesty 9 month old. He is a handful. And that's an understatement. Let me see if I can think of the words to describe our littlest ginger....Cranky. Fussy. Whiney. Hilarious. Hot-tempered. Loving. Stubborn. Stingy. Mommy-attached. Rotten. Freaking adorable. I love him to the moon and back, but he is definitely keeping this family on it's toes!

His milestones this month include: crawling on all 4's (although he still army crawls when he needs to get somewhere quick), pulling up on everything, climbing stairs (oh joy), throwing a tantrum by throwing himself backwards and becoming ridiculously attached to me.

I'm not sure if it's just his personality or because I'm exclusively breastfeeding him for longer than I did with Christian, but he generally will not let anyone else hold him but me. If I'm in eyesight, he's crying for me to pick him up. He tends to spend his days following me around the house crying for me to hold him or literally crawling up my leg. It's definitely a daily struggle because I have another child that needs my attention as well, and every now and then, things like laundry, dishes and bathroom breaks need to occur! 

Sometimes, he doesn't cry. Sometimes. And on those days he plays with his toys, explores the house, puts anything & everything in his mouth (screams when I take it out), LOVES big brother's room, and goes crazy in his bouncer. 

He hates having his picture taken. LOVES food. He will eat table food, two containers of baby food, puffs, crackers and still be asking for more...which he can sign with his hands!
He has 4 teeth, working on 5. Sleeps from 7:30pm-6am, nurses and then goes back to sleep until 8ish. I can't complain about sleep, he's finally a good sleeper! I am still breastfeeding, and although I tossed around the idea of switching to bottles for the sake of possibly breaking his attachment to me just a bit, I decided I really enjoy not buying formula and the extra 500 calories a day I'm burning. Onward we go!

He weighs in at 18 pounds even (21st %ile) and is 28.5 inches long (58th %ile). He only had to have one shot at his check-up, and cried for 5 seconds...he was showing off for the doctor today. ;) He is still in size 3 diapers and wears 12 months clothing.

I know it seems like I'm complaining a lot, but I promise there are still things I love about him! He gives the sweetest snuggles and is so funny. He loves to play peek-a-boo and chase Toby around the house. He LOVES music...turn it on and he immediately starts shaking his little butt. 

Life might be crazy hectic right now, but we're powering through and trying to making the best of everyday. Soon these days of baby tears will be gone, and I'll give anything to have them little again.

Happy 9 Months, little bad ginger baby!