I don't know what it is about this Christmas, but I've been lacking a bit in the holiday spirit department. It could be because Alex has been gone a lot lately, the weather is sweatier than a jock strap, and my children have been sick for what feels like months on end. Seriously, how many times can the same kid have croup? And how many times can the Norovirus circle a family? This is beginning to feel cruel.

I normally have tinsel practically exploding from my ears, but this Christmas season has felt a lot more subdued for us. While I would typically be enjoying fun, festive activities with the beasties, I have been spending most of my month trying to keep everyone alive, breathing, and out of their own bodily fluids. 'Tis the season of motherhood, I guess. 

I have been trying hard to keep the magic of Christmas alive, and it hasn't been a complete bust. We have had lots of holiday cheer, too! We started off December by pulling out the storage boxes and decorating everything that would stand still. 

The kids had the best time a time picking out a Christmas tree. We decided to do our family pictures this year during tree selection at our local tree lot, and that was the moment that our children decided to stonewall our photographer completely and cry the entire time. Luckily, my parents were on hand to provide lots of laughs, so we managed to get a few usable shots! 

The real fun began afterward, when we put our tree up. I swear, that tree has caused more stress for me this year than anything else. I don't know what else I was expecting with two toddlers and a Christmas tree, but hot damn, I need medication after redecorating it 14x a day. I've finally just given up and decided to roll with the fact that the bottom-third of the tree looks like it's been molested by a pair of randy goats. 

If you're thinking that it's leaning a little to the left, then you'd be correct.

I used the tree clippings to make homemade wreaths for the front door, plus a couple for friends and family. It's such a good, inexpensive gift! Vivi had the most fun swimming in Christmas balls while I crafted, aside from the part where she and her brother pelted each other with ornaments, which erupted into an all-out brawl (and she won).

We broke out our Elf on the Shelf for his debut this year. Bobby named him Coco; we think he may be struggling with gender confusion, but we are accepting and love him no matter what. Bobby has watched the EotS movie and we read the book a lot, so he understands the concept in an abstract form, but not enough to care that Coco hasn't moved in four days because he also has the Norovirus. I'm mildly dreading next Christmas already because I know that's when I'll have to step up my game. 

We have been enjoying all of the Christmas classics that air on television; they love Elf, the Grinch, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Rudolph, and Charlie Brown. I'll be sad to delete those from the DVR. We've also been singing lots of Christmas Carols, especially focusing on Jingle Bells and The Little Drummer Boy. Vivi nails the pah-rum-pa-pum-pum every time :)

Other than that, we've been pretty low-key this Christmas season because the sickness keeps reoccurring and I can't really take them out and about. They break out of quarantine every now again to go play in our neighbor's yard, where they have a little playset that my kids are OBSESSED with.

But it's mainly been lots of tears, snuggles, and mismatched-jammies-all-day for the last month. 

Now we are wholeheartedly praying that our family can get well soon, if not to build our gingerbread house and decorate sugar cookies, then to at least spend a nice Christmas Day with our loved ones. 

Wishing you and yours a wonderfully merry Christmas week!

Eighteen Months

It's hard to believe that my baby is a year and a half old. Sometimes it feels like she's been with us forever, and other times it feels like she was just born. She is becoming a real girl now--a big, independent, sweet, sassy girl. 

We were a little concerned for a while that her feet may not ever grow, but she currently wears a size 5 shoe, and I think they are finally proportionate to the rest of her body now! She wears a size 5 diaper, although I put her in pull-ups sometimes because she has recently begun to remove her diaper inside her clothes like a ninja. She is wearing mostly 24 month clothing now, and she can even fit into some 2T shirts. Which, of course, means that she has been rocking the very small selection of Bobby's old t-shirts that are unisex and managed to escape death-by-orange juice (that leaves approximately 2 shirts). 

She typically sleeps a solid 12 hour stint from 8-8, with a good 1-2 hour afternoon nap. A huge difference between her and her brother is that she wakes up so pleasant and says "Hello!" when we walk in to retrieve her from her crib. (Let's just say Bobby is not a morning person). 

Her favorite toys are currently her toy kitchen, the Little People Cinderella Carriage, and the B. Squeeze Blocks. She spends so much of her time stacking those blocks and counting them, only to have Bobby come and knock them all down. She loves the Bubble Guppies with all of her heart, and I hear her singing the songs under her breath all day long. 

Viv is maturing so fast. She loves talking, and her favorite thing in the world to say is "meow." She is obsessed with kitties, so it's really cute. But we are beginning to wonder if she confuses "meow" with "awww," because anytime she hugs anybody, she will close her eyes and say "meowww." You can hand her anything (literally anything), and she will politely say "Thank you," which is the sweetest thing ever. Her other favorite things to say are the alphabet and her numbers. She can sing the entire ABC song--including the "now I know my abc's" part at the end--and she can count to 13, although sometimes she skips from 5 to 8. And she loves it. I swear I sing the ABC song in my sleep now from hearing it so much. 

We have hit the toddler phase of life full-throttle with Vivi over the last month. My little sweet girl is now a master of throwing herself on the ground to protest and manipulating the brother/sister dynamic in our house. They love each other lots and play really great together half the time, and then they fight and antagonize each other the other half. I guess that's just life with siblings who are close in age. 

Viv still loves to eat, and I'm praying we don't run into the eating nightmare that most toddlers go through. Her favorite foods are mac-n-cheese, pasta, cheese, strawberries, milk, and chicken. But luckily I am still enjoying one child who will eat pretty much anything. 

Her favorite activities are singing, eating, playing in dirt, eating dirt, meowing, going to school, playing on the playground, and annihilating the Christmas tree. 

She dislikes having her picture taken, wearing a diaper, being removed from her precious dirt, and being reprimanded from annihilating the Christmas tree. 

Her personality is really beginning to come in strong now, and I think the most stand-out quality that she displays is her fearlessness. The girl has no fear. She will play with older kids, climb on the highest jungle gym, jump off from high places, and hug all the dogs, even the biggest ones.

She's quick to catch on to things, and it seems like she's learning something new every day. 
It's a challenging age, but it's also so cute!