Happy Holidays!!

Reporting to you from snowy Salmon Arm. We had the best drive we've had in a long time, on Saturday morning, and arrived to a pile of snow in Salmon Arm. It is beautiful!!!
Hard to believe that Christmas Eve and morning have already happened. Now life has slowed to peaceful lull. We have been eating, sledding and playing games. Very relaxing. Greg and I are staying over at my parents place while they are down at the coast, giving us our own space and quiet at night time. We took Liam over last night with us, and he slept in til 8:30am. So we are getting lots of needed rest.
Christmas was really fun. We went to the morning Sunday service and later the Christmas Eve service with the live nativity, drama and candlelight.



Greg and I set our alarms and arrived at the house before 7am to wake up Riley and tell him that Santa had arrived and it was time to open presents. Then we all spent the rest of the morning opening our stockings and presents. I was so happy to have Greg open his new ipod I got him, and he spoiled me with clothes and a new lens for portraits!! I put it on yesterday, and though Ava was wiggling, you can see the sweet DOF (or depth of field) with lots of fuzzing on the sides.

I'm sure I'll be having lots of fun with that new lens!!
The boys are enjoying the extra attention and new things to play with.
Hope everyone is having just as much fun, family time and rest as we are.

Needing a holiday

I won't lie. Things have been really really stressful around here. Just life. Nothing extraordinary. I have 2 very busy, very strong-willed, very loud, competitive boys. The chocolate and sugar around here isn't helping. I also just pulled Liam off the soother, so he isn't sleeping as well as he used to. I am pregnant. Tired. I don't have a lot of patience or extra energy. I need my family to seriously wear my boys out for me over the holidays. I also need to find some new strategies to get them to behave!! I never thought it would be so hard every single day. I know I'm not alone in this. Being a mom is the hardest job ever.
I haven't finished packing yet. I have been doing a bunch of wrapping and laundry though...so I guess that's something. I can't wait to just be there and put my feet up. Yay for holidays!!
And in case I didn't tell you, we're also planning a trip to Maui in January!! More on that later. And in case I don't update before I leave...HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Ditching the beloved soo-soo

Yes, it was time. Just like with nursing, my boys don't slowly wean themselves off...they wanted to nurse or suck the soother forever. Just before Riley turned 3, we mailed his soother to Santa in exchange for an immediate present. He took a few nights to get settled, but did fine. I knew that time had come for Liam. He is a few months younger than 3 still, but I really didn't want him being the big baby over Christmas with the ugly soother in his mouth. On Sunday evening we asked him if he was ready to send his soother to Santa in exchange for a gift. He immediately agreed and so we gave him a new fancy flashlight thing to hold in his bed at night.
As expected, that night he didn't settle until we went to bed...close to 11pm. He slept til 8am no problems though, and only mentioned the soother once all day. Where is my soo-soo, mom?! It's at Santa's house, remember? He's going to give it to a little baby. Oh ya.
He wouldn't nap this afternoon, even though he had had a late night, but I didn't really expect him to. Then tonight we had our work party for the families hosted at ChuckECheese, and the poor kid had had it by 7pm. He fell asleep on the way home and woke up to ask for his flashlight and blanket and thankfully fell back asleep on his own again. Phew! I think it's over! The soother is history! There's one more thing to check off my list. I still have yet to get this kid potty-trained. We'll tackle that one in the New Year again. I'm praying that Liam will end up napping still, once he gets used to falling asleep without his plug. He still needs his naps, as do I!

Some pics from our Christmas Pageant

My good friend Lisa decided it was high time our kids got to take part in a traditional Christmas pageant. Our church is small and hasn't taken on the task in a few years. I think the last one was when Riley was a baby, and it was such a huge stressful production that no one wanted to tackle it since. Lisa basically narrated the entire Christmas story while the kids just acted out the parts as she read. It went really smoothly, and was so nice to see our kids up there. There were "special numbers" as well, including Greg on his trombone.

Homemade stable by Andrew (playing violin)!! (good job!)

I did up these letters so the kids could tell what each letter stands for. C is for Christ child...etc. I'm up there holding the mic...Riley on the left.

I think having the kids act out and see the entire story of Jesus' birth will help them to remember and understand the true meaning of Christmas. That made it special for us parents.

Last week to shop!!

I actually really love Christmas shopping. I wish it wasn't so hard to entertain 2 boys while doing so. We have friends coming over tonight to watch the boys so we can hopefully finish our last few gifts. I had to stand in a line at Walmart for 40 min. this week. It wasn't so bad cuz a friend I hadn't seen in months ended up behind me, and we chatted it up the whole time, but I was 15 min. late picking up Riley from Awana. Yup, guilty momma. As if I was going to jump out of a line I had been standing in for half an hour with a cart full of presents I had pain-stakenly sp? chosen one by one.
This year we've done a draw with the Davidson family. We even picked a theme of "games/entertainment" in hopes that we'll all get to share in the joy of each present! and just to keep it easier. I like it. Should work well. And then it's always fun buying for kids...especially buying for the littlest Davidson, a girl, my niece Ava.
Right after Christmas is Rileys' 5th birthday!! I'm actually considering getting him a drum set. I know, crazy. But our boys are musical and going to make a band someday, so we gotta start early. There is this drum set on half price at Canadian Tire, so I'm going to check that out today as well. Greg brought out his trombone this week as he's playing for the Christmas program at church, and you should see Liam play it!! So cute, it's on tape...I'll upload it soon.
Hope you're almost done and having fun!!! See you Salmon Armites soon!!

Remembering a great icon

(this is a cute forward...)
:)

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications, from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

Tests

Uggh. Had to go in for a routine pap test and internal exam today. Don't we all love those!? I always wonder what it must be like to have a job like that where you have to deal with various types of muffs during the day.
I wanted to ask you about the urine test though. Have you ever actually followed the correct directions to attain a "proper urine sample" ? How do you actually hold yourself and the cup over the toilet while catching an uninterrupted stream of urine midway through its course?? I don't get it. It goes along with those ultrasound tech's who tell you ...Go ahead and pee just a few ounces of the 8cups that you had to drink 2 hours ago which is totally bursting your bladder. How do you let out a few ounces?? Once I start, it's coming.
Ahh...being a woman. Actually Greg has an ultrasound story I'm sure he won't mind me sharing with you, would you honey? (Just so you men folk don't feel left out here.) A few years ago Greg had to go in for an ultrasound to look at some organs...I don't even remember what. Anyway, he did his duty of drinking the recommended amount of water before his appointment. As soon as his ultrasound tech turned on her little machine and took one look, out loud she was like...OH MY GOODNESS! and Greg was freaked out! What is wrong with my organs?! And the lady was like, I have never in my life seen such a full bladder!! Oh. poor guy. He thought he was dying and she was just surprised at how much water he can intake. I'm not. He can drink like a camel.
Anyway. There's my doctor stories for the week.
I'd love to hear yours.

16 weeks

I promised a picture, so here we are.
I'm really pushing it out for your viewing pleasure.
I think my butt has gotten even flatter, now that I look at it.
At 16 weeks, the baby is about "five and a half inches tall and six ounces in weight. The child can grasp with his hands, kick, or even somersault".

(no this is not MY baby...but it is 16 weeks)

Set up the tree

Here's the boys in front of our short and wide little charlie brown tree. They enjoyed decorating it, and it makes the house look more like Christmas.

More photo fun

I'm feeling like I'm coming out of the haze I've been in the last few days. I had a super bad sinus headache and was really sick because of it. Not fun. The headache is slowly easing off, but I still have clogged nose and ear problems. Anyway...life goes on. Today I had another photoshoot for a church friend. Here's her little guy...






I'm really lucky to have such a cool hobby. I think it's so great to go visit with people in their home and just chill out while taking pictures of their cutesy babies.

Tis the season...

...to be sickly,
cough cough cough cough gag, sneeze, barf and ache.
We would like to get a break now,
cough cough cough cough gag, sneeze, barf and ache.
Liam still has a fever,
you would think the tylenol is his friend.
Riley is hacking but doing better,
but now me the mommy has a nasty throat.

Ya. Still sickies around here. Liam and I went in to the doc today. I'm having such a hard time swallowing that I figured I should go be sure I don't have strept. I nearly barfed, and did gag like crazy during the throat swab...man, I hate those things! The doc says Liam looks ok, but if we want to rule out anything more serious because of his re-occurring fevers, then we'd need to do a urine sample and blood work for him. Have you ever been through that with a 2 year old?? It is absolute torture. We did that with Riley when he was two, and it was really traumatic for all of us and the results came up with nothing. We're willing to risk that he's just catching bug after bug and leave it for now. We managed to avoid all sorts of bugs during the fall, but are making up for it now. Praying we'll be over it before Christmas.

Baby update

Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that there is another little life in our family of four, who will be here to meet us in only 5 months!! I am at 15 weeks now.

...Baby Development
Your baby weighs about 1.75 ounces and is about 4 to 4.5 inches in length. His or her heart is growing strong and, even though it is little, it is pumping between 20 and 25 quarts of blood every 24 hours.

I finally feel like I am getting enough sleep, even without an afternoon nap! I love having my energy back and am trying to make the most of it while I've got it!! I am feeling the sweet little taps from the inside as well. I still haven't gained weight, but my belly seems to be protruding out from under my ribs already, so I have been scrounging through my basement to bring up my old maternity clothes...sort of wanting to wear them but thinking I should wait as long as possible!
I would take a picture, but seriously, I still look like I've just got bloat. I think I will start doing official photos starting next week and carrying on every 2 weeks. I'm one of those unfortunate types who tends to go from just kinda square looking at 6 months to mammoth basketball by 8 months...which brings on many a stretch mark :( Oh well. War wounds, right? I totally need to post some pics of myself at 9months with Liam.

In other news...the boys are doing better. Riley climbed out of bed on Saturday morning with a smile on his face, which I hadn't seen since the previous Saturday. He had been SO sick and missed all but one day of school. Liam came down with something again on Thursday night, and had a massive fever again on Friday and Saturday. They both are snotty and sneezy, but we didn't let it keep us in the house all weekend though, and went bed shopping on Saturday. I was so happy to get out of the house finally!! We found Riley a much needed bed. He hasn't had one since Liam took over the car bed, which has been a few months already! Here he is...it's his second night in it and he keeps telling us how much he LoVeS his new bed.

(you can sorta tell Riley still has a stuffed head by his puffy eyes!)
Cute bed, though, hey?! We found it at Jysk.

Snappy Sugar-Socks

A big sigh of relief...the birthday is over and Christmas is on its way!! I am really hoping to get our tree this weekend and decorate a little. We've been gone 7 of our 8 Christmas' together, Greg and I...home to be with the family. We don't often go too crazy with decorating as we aren't home to enjoy it much. Next year will be different, HOORAY!
My boys are both sick now...yes, Liam has his fever back again, 2 weeks later. My life as a hermit has officially begun. I'm just relieved it's the weekend and Greg will not be working this one, so maybe I'll get a chance to get out of the house.
But back to the happy, I am so looking forward to Christmas which is coming up fast. We'll be driving out in 3 short weeks. To get us all in the spirit...here's a site to find your Elf name!!

Christmas Elf Name My Christmas Elf Name is Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

Also a special congratulations to my childhood friend Jen who had her 4th baby, a gorgeous girl she named Cara Ryanne. Hugs to your busy family!! You're probably getting less sleep than I, so my thoughts and prayers are with you!!