No sleep, allergies, teeth, criminal activity- how's that for a Friday post?

• Bullet-style because that's how we're rolling today. 

 

Hot dogs and macaroni because these kids are living the dream. (Also, completely entertained by barn cats out the window)

• Thank y'all for the support on my post about Steve getting back on active duty. It has been challenging for us in many ways, but I am glad to finally have some forward movement and a plan, however ramshackle it may be.
• Will still refuses to sleep through the night. The night before last, he was up from 2-5am screaming. He was given water, a banana, some ibuprofen for teething, and shushed and patted and tucked in numerous times. (I still laugh-sob at Jenn from 2015 who thought that I just had to make it 4-6 months on broken sleep before I was home free (based off of my experiences with Sam and Molly). At this point I am just planning on not sleeping for the next 12 years because that seems less depressing than counting on sleep in the near future and never getting it.) Yesterday I recommitted my entire life to his nap schedule. One nap a day, after lunch, otherwise we'll be doing something, ANYTHING to keep him awake so he will sleep more at night. Well. Pride goes before the fall and my pride has just gone to take an early morning nap at 8:30 so I suspect I'll be falling down the stairs come 3am tomorrow morning fetching a baby a banana. He has the worst allergies right now with gunk in his eyes and snot pouring down his nose and he seemed pretty pissed that I was not letting him take a nap. He stood in the living room, stared at the wall, and screamed as loudly as he could, for as long as possible. I finally stared at him like, wtf man? WHAT DO YOU WANT. And his eyes were so swollen from allergies that I couldn't bear to keep him awake any longer. Ugh. 

 

I have no fewer than 100 pictures just like this on my phone, and multiple 20 minute slo-mo videos of Will toddling everywhere and slapping the screen. I am actually torn over deleting them or not.

• Steve has allergies now too. Steve actually always has something. Who else needs a friggin root canal two weeks before the Army would give him one for free? I can't blame Steve for his shitty teeth's terrible timing, as he spends more time on his oral hygiene than anyone I've ever known, but good lord. I can only hope and wish and pray that he did not pass on these terrible genetics to his lookalike offspring. But we are going to get dental insurance anyway, just to be safe. I foresee extensive (and expensive) orthodontics work in our future.
• The kids had their parent teacher conferences last week and I was very interested to hear what they had to say. I had been to conferences at their school in NY this past fall and the reviews were downright glowing. I wondered if they had managed to charm their teachers in rural MN the same way in the four months we've been here. The verdict? Meh. While the conferences in NY focused more on who Sam and Molly were and what they brought to the table in a classroom setting (e.g., "Sam's energy and enthusiasm motivates his classmates!" "Molly listens so well and plays so sweetly with her friends.") (also touching on the skills they are proficient in), the conferences in MN were very fact-based and included lots of papers with statistics, not mentioning much of their personalities at all. Not bad, just different. We'll see what the DoD schools are like next year...

 

He was so confused by the gum - why did she give this to me? What am I supposed to do with it? This is terrible, I'm throwing it away, is that ok? I hope she'll give me smarties the next time I get 100%. I don't like gum.

• So remember how someone stole mine and Molly's clothes from the locker room at the pool? Well whoever did it was really stupid because you have to sign in to use the pool and they also have cameras and they saw that a little girl entered the locker room wearing one outfit and left wearing Molly's outfit. So they called the "adult" who was with the child and she tricked them into believing this was all just "one big accident" and she didn't think those looked like her daughter's clothes and she would check and see if somehow, some way, my clothes were "accidentally" scooped up and put in their bags as well. Can you just imagine the optometry bill I am going to have after this much eye rolling? I am practically spraining all of my eye tendons. Anyway, the criminals finally returned our clothes to the fitness center, and since the pool is in the next town over, Steve stopped by while he was passing through to pick it up. Upon checking the contents of the bag though, only my old ratty shirt and leggings were returned- they kept my bra, NEW PANTIES (I cannot even convey how rare it is that I purchase new underwear because it would probably skeeve you out), and nice wool socks! Bastards! I cannot believe the fitness center folks fell for this story that it was all an accident. They kept the only three things I really wanted back. Obviously I will boycott them for the next six weeks until we move. Monica thinks I should file a police report. I can imagine the raid now - cops (both of them) busting down the front door and having the panty-stealing family lie face down on the floor while they rip open dressers in search of my underwear and socks. 
• "Oh yes, I can see why you kept these- so hard to find a years-old, broken-in, black sports bra these days. And the panties are so soft! And look brand new! Obviously the socks have always been air dried- they have retained their shape so well. Ok folks, we understand why you did it, but that still doesn't make it right. I'm gonna have to confiscate these items and you will need to write an official apology letter to the victim because she is actually very offended." 

 

WTF indeed

• Also our neighbor was ranting the other day about her disgust over the cops in our town. (We have two.)
• "They don't walk the beat like cops used to do." 
• Walk the beat? Is that a thing in a town of 800 people? Steve asked if they each do a 12-hour shift, everyday, for their entire lives. 
• "No. I'm actually not sure of their hours at all."
• So... if there is an emergency? 
• "Well you can call their cell. And if they don't pick up, you can try calling their house." 
• And is 911 an answering machine? I can hear it now- "You have reached 9-1-1. We are unable to come to the phone right now. If you meant to call 4-1-1, you dialed the wrong number. If you have an actual emergency, you can try calling Bob on his home phone, or try calling back around 9:30 central time. Thank you. Beeeeeeeep"
• I was thinking we were the victims of a burglary the other night after one of the 2am banana feedings when I couldn't go back to sleep. We had gotten back from a grocery trip to Fargo a few days prior and I had purchased two totes that I planned on using for our move. (We always arrive to our destination and inevitably can't find which box the toilet paper/shower curtain/hand soap is in, so I was going to try and avoid that by putting it all in two totes and keeping it in the car.) Anyways, after Molly's party, I asked Steve where he had put the two totes with the items in them. They were unloaded from the car and placed in the kitchen, I put away the refrigerated items, and then I assumed Steve had put the totes in the basement or in the garage. Except when I asked him about it, he said that he thought I moved them. He looked in the basement and didn't see the totes anywhere. The more I laid awake and thought about it, the angrier I became. Who would steal hand soap? And three loofahs? And cheap shampoo? And plastic totes? Is this some kind of teenage prank? How can I file a police report if I can't remember what day we did any of this? And what will the officer say when I confess that my front door was knowingly left unlocked? RAGE. And then, I suddenly feel very unsafe. Once Steve leaves, everyone in town will know and maybe someone will come do something worse than steal plastic storage totes and loofahs. Then what? THEN WHAT?! 
• Fear not. We located the totes. In the basement. Underneath something else. Case closed.
• I am now officially 7 months pregnant. No one is more surprised by this than me. Most days I do not feel pregnant, although I am attributing my sudden craving for a Coke Zero in the afternoon to this baby (and Will, I guess since he is the cause of the needed caffeine boost). Steve and I take lots of walks now that the temps are above freezing, and I do feel as though I am on the verge of a waddle. Walking just feels VERY HARD. And prior to pregnancy I feel like walking is one of those things I can do all day (so long as the children strapped in the stroller are cooperative). But we got back from a walk yesterday and picked up the kids from the bus stop and I made a beeline for the couch because my feet needed to be UP. Steve was headed to the gym and suggested I just take the kids out for a bike ride. I looked at him with wide eyes - BUT I MIGHT DIE. We settled for some playing in the front yard while our friends came over. Will was finally allowed to crawl around, as our mud yard has somewhat hardened into regular ol' dirt yard and he was in heaven. Filthy as a pig, but so so happy. Nothing a bath before dinner couldn't fix. 

 

Partially frozen (still! Gah!) Detroit Lake

Happy birthday, Steve!

Steve turned 29 this past week, and despite it being a school/work day, we celebrated him as best we could!

Birthday waffle stack is a must

Every day, I try to remember to look on my Amazon photo app to see what happened "on this day" however many years ago. It is fun, sometimes hilarious, but usually makes me weepy because my babies are growing up so fast. Anyways, on THIS day, I saw all of Steve's birthday celebrations from 2010 on! And I thought it would be fun to do a little compilation.

Just a wee babe turning 22 in Auburn, AL

Sammy as a wee babe, as Steve turned 23 at our apartment near Ft Lee, VA.

Staring at the oddly-shaped ice cream cake I made him at Ft Campbell, KY, as he turns 24

I know I sent him a birthday box, but I have a feeling he didn't actually celebrate turning 25 in Afghanistan.

GAH THE CUTIES - South Korea, turning 26

One last birthday in Korea, turning 27

Turning 28 in PA with a sweet one month old Willie

Turning 29 in Minnesota

One thing is for sure- the man likes to travel. And by travel, I do mean move a lot. Luckily I do too. Looking forward to many MANY more birthday celebrations with this handsome 20-something!

Pajamas, bagels, curls, pool time

How this picture did not make it onto the last post is beyond me-

Will wears footie pajamas very often these days. Sometimes (ok, more often than not) as actual clothes. In my own pathetic self defense, socks will not stay up on his thick, muscular (hehe) calves and shoes fall off and pants ride up, exposing that sweet sweet baby skin to negative degree temps, so the all-in-one clothing option that footie pajamas offer is just too much to resist some days. Anyways, Molly has cute little penguin footie pajamas and every time she wears them, she goes on and on about how she has FEET and how warm she is, etc. Sam was feeling a little left out and mentioned how he wished he had footie pajamas like Will and Molly. Say no more, child. Thanks to Carters, I have the ability to match my children ranging from size 24 months to size 6 and beyond. Ten thumbs WAY up.

Molly slept til NINE THIRTY one morning. Magical pajamas, for sure. Well, for Molly at least. Will was up at his usual 5am. *yawn*

Bedtime seems to be well documented lately as it is my MOST favorite time of day. Sometimes the little ones need some convincing though. Or to be carried to their beds.

The Korea stick is finally up! Slowly but surely we are putting nails in the walls.

-25* and a two hour school delay. The kids were excited. I made waffles but used the wrong recipe. They were well received but didn't fluff up like they usually do. I need to get my "winner" recipes off Pinterest and write them down on recipe cards like any normal person from 1990 would do.

Sweet little church in a nearby town. It's on the corner of the main street and once I googled, I saw that it was being sold for $29k and suggested to tear it down and build a new storefront! Great location! Makes me wanna cry. Obviously it would cost and arm and a leg or four to restore but who in good conscience can tear this down?! Am I the only one who thinks that front door/window combo is worth about $29k? Bueller?

We were at this neighboring town to meet Steve for lunch at Subway (you know it's been a minute since you've been out to eat when you get genuinely excited for some Subway) because he had just been offered a job with a local company! He is starting Wednesday and while I'm excited for him (he is definitely well suited for this job, based on the description), I am sad to be losing him around the house with me. Parenting is way more fun when you get to do it together.

Will tearing up a ham and cheese sandwich

We had a belated Christmas gift exchange with Rick's dad and wife. When I heard that our kids were included in this exchange, I was worried- what would we exchange with them?! These people have everything. They raise their own beef and chickens, can their own fruits and veggies, and just generally have what they need! I don't know them well enough to get them a gag gift, so I did what needed to be done. I made some bagels.

And I tried to make a brown paper bag and red twine look like some sort of country chic packaging. lolz

Steve and the big kids made a run to the hardware store in a neighboring town so once Willie woke up from his nap, we (I) got a little bored and I decided his curls needed some proper documentation.

His sweet little neck- I could just plant 1,000 kisses on it

A rare cheese shot from the one person who cannot be coerced into smiling for me.

THOSE EYES

As much as I lament about how my children look nothing like me, I look at their big blue eyes and beautiful red hair and can't be mad. Not even a little bit. I do believe I added some of the chub to their cheeks though.

And the curls. I claim the curls 100%.

Eyelashes are 100% Steve though. Sometimes he complains to me that they're so long that they impede his vision. WOE IS HE. Molly sure is benefiting from his troubles.

Chubby fingers and big cheeks and baby blues *swoon*

deep in thought

Probably wondering how he can get me to put more goldfish on his tray

Times like those are when I wish I had put him in real clothes. Then we go have our belated Christmas exchange and he starts fake-chugging root beer like Bubba Brown and the camo pajamas seem much more appropriate.

Each child received a gift and a stocking full of fun little prizes. Everyone is very anxious for the outdoors to thaw out a bit so they can use their squirt guns.

Sam took his squirt gun to church apparently but informed us afterwards that he left it in his pocket the entire time. Way to go with that super concealed carry, I guess? Our first visit to church was as great as I envisioned it to be. The purple haired lady who massacred Steve's head just a week before sat directly in front of us, we met a neighbor, the neighbor's sister who works at the grocery store, Mrs Mary Lou who just moved to town after 60 years of living on the farm, and at least a dozen other people who seemed to know more about us than we knew about them. The priest gave them all lollipops and they are still being fought over today. Sunday school starts next week and I'm curious to see what they think about it.

Later that afternoon we visited the community center in a nearby town. They have an indoor walking track, fitness center, library, and pool. We were most interested in the pool, of course. Sam and Molly didn't hesitate to jump right in and I was so happy to see they are no longer terrified of water!!! Will tolerated it, although since it was his naptime, he wasn't particularly thrilled to be sitting in lukewarm water with a bunch of maniacs splashing water all around him.

Trying to psych each other up to jump in to no one

Will refused to look at me no matter how many ridiculous sounds I made.

Didn't seem to have any problems looking at himself though. HUH.

Two hours of nonstop swimming really wiped everyone out and we did a quick dinner and showers before chucking everyone in bed by 6:30. (Glorious!!!!)

This gave Steve and I so much time for activities!! Steve finished painting the washroom, I washed diapers, another load of clothes, tidied up the house, washed dinner dishes, and then decided we should celebrate Steve's job (and the early bedtime) with some brownies. I plopped some Nutella in them because why the hell not. Holiday weekend and all!

After I plopped it in there, I realized that I probably needed a smaller pan so the batter would be thicker and the Nutella plops could be covered. Rookie mistake! No matter! Nutella is bound to be good no matter how it makes its way into brownies.

TRULY unfortunate looking but oh my gestational diabetes. They were delicious. I rationalized eating one by arguing that if my body can process this, the orange koolaid would be no match for me in a few weeks. IT'S A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT, PEOPLE, OKAY. Just building up my tolerance for the sugar. Trust me, I'm a veteran, according to everyone at my OB's office. Not sure if they all meant that as a compliment or some sort of vaginal diss but it's out there.

Today was kinda slow. We hung out with some neighbor friends, played in the snow, observed The Most Holy And Sacred Nap Schedule, washed a lot of clothes, and got ready for the upcoming week.

Will has his own rituals to prepare for the start of the work week, I suppose.

Sam came home from school last week and asked if I knew Junior King. I scratched my head and assumed it must be some show his friends were talking about on the bus. He then proceeded to tell me that his teacher says Junior King was shot. He was shot dead. At this point, I was disturbed but still could not figure out what on earth he was talking about. He continued talking about it with Steve, who was also trying to decode this message. He eventually said, Marky Lube Junior King and Steve guessed it- Martin Luther King Jr. WHY ON EARTH the teacher felt the need to go any deeper than what he stood for and explain HOW HE DIED to KINDERGARTENERS is completely beyond me. But apparently that is the takeaway message most of them got from the lesson, as Monica called me that night and asked if I'd heard what the boys had learned in school that day. I told her I am a little too new in town to be calling up this teacher who's been teaching kindergarten for 40-something years and bless her out, but if Monica wants to do it, "I've got your back, girl." Tonight at dinner we were talking about why there was no school today. Sam knew it was MLK Day and I said, "You know, the reason we have a holiday is because of the things he stood for, right? Not the way he died." Sam replied that he knew that MLK wanted things to be fair and for people to not fight. He went on to explain in detail as to what MLK stood for and how we should follow his advice today. Seeing that up until this point, the only thing I'd heard from Sam's mouth was about his death, I was pleasantly surprised (and completely relieved) to hear that he had learned the important parts about why we honor today as a holiday. Hearing those things from such a young mouth made the message that much sweeter too.

On the 8th day of Christmas...

... I finally recapped Christmas.

Side note: So sad to see everyone taking down decorations already! EVERYONE WAS SO EAGER TO PUT THEM UP BEFORE THANKSGIVING. Christmas lasts until the Epiphany! You know the wise men were still men, right? Aka it took them a minute to figure out where Baby Jesus lay. They did not arrive the night He was born. Had a woman been in that little caravan, they would have likely gotten there sooner and maybe brought a little something for Mary as well - here girl, you look like you need a drink because you just gave birth in a stable and are dealing with postpartum messiness but instead, here are some expensive gifts for you to lug back home with you.

Anyways, now that I got that off my chest, let's move on to Christmas. We put up our dinky little Korea tree in NY, and then promptly took it down two weeks later when we moved out of our apartment. We were lucky enough to have the same movers that helped us move in, help us move out. They were quick and nice and efficient, and best of all, I did not have to actually move anything myself! A real Christmas gift, if I do say so myself. We thought we'd be outta there by the time we picked the kids up from school, but our timelines are always a little skewed, and of course we ended up not leaving until about 7:30. Our sweet landlord helped us move the final boxes out onto the truck and loaded kids in carseats as well. He and his wife have been texting ever since to check on us and make sure we got the mail they sent to us and asking about the kids. I really do miss them and hope to see them again someday soon! We took a very long and slow drive to PA that night since the moving truck could only seem to hit a top speed of 55mph....

On Saturday, we loaded the stuff we had stored in Steve's parents' basement during an ice storm; mostly holiday decorations and a deep freezer and a few other odds and ends, like 47 tubs of kids' clothes that I have meticulously washed and folded and bagged and labeled. I now know better than to part with kid clothes. THAT WAS DUMB, 2013 Jenn. Real dumb. The plan for the next day was to send Steve off to MN with the truck and the kids and I were going to drive down to VA to visit my sweet friend Sam and her kids that I haven't seen in ages, and a few other friends on the way back up. Well, the kids' immune systems had other plans. They were all hacking up a lung and sounding like chain smokers, so we canceled. I did not want to infect anyone and everyone right before Christmas. I was feeling kinda crummy too but then realized that maybe I could help Steve with the move.... We checked the return flight that we had booked months before and there were still seats (imagine that, Fargo to Philly wasn't sold out!) so we went downstairs and asked Steve's mom... Bless her heart, I don't think she had enough coffee in her system to realize exactly what was being asked of her. Because those three for five days equates to A LOT OF WORK. But she did not hesitate in saying yes. So we got to work throwing a bag together for me, writing out what Will's daily schedule/eating looks like, and giving the big kids a speech about how Santa hasn't come yet and we can still cancel this holiday if you don't act like damn saints for your grandmother while we're gone DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME. No one seemed terribly torn up over the fact that I would be absent for a few days and I think I was most sad to leave Will, as I've never been apart from him so long before. I'm actually not sure I've been apart from the other two that long either, but they talk a lot, so it takes away a bit of the sting. Hehe But my BABY. (tears)

Will was fine, of course. Turns out that someone other than me can keep him alive and well. Major blow to my ego. It was definitely nice to get away, even if it was super weird to not have any kids with us. We got about three hours away before we got a phone call that there had been "an incident."

It involved Molly using a handheld vacuum cleaner and sucking her hair up into it. As my MIL is telling me this, my only real concern was her hair. IS IT IN TACT?! She mentioned that she had to cut a small piece out but it wasn't noticeable. (And to be honest, I still haven't located the missing piece, so they did a great job with that.) I assumed that was all, but then she mentioned that the vacuum also hit her in the head and she had a cut. (This could seriously only happen to Molly.) So she sent me a picture of the cut and was inquiring with the neighbor doctor as to whether or not he thinks she needed stitches.

Well. My baby just can't have stitches! Not without me there! Coming on this roadtrip was such a mistake! I should be at home protecting Molly and her beautiful hair from vacuum cleaners! A threat I previously did not know existed!

My MIL took her to a children's hospital in Delaware. Steve was slightly offended that when he needed ten stitches under his eye as a child, that he was taken to the local hospital up the road, while Molly's tiny gash deserved a trip to a special hospital in Delaware. I mean, for real Steve, suck it up, it's just an eye. You have TWO, for cryin' out loud. Poor Molly only has one beautiful blemish-free forehead! It must be preserved!!

After speaking with my nurse friend and Steve and studying the picture we had, we decided that she did not need stitches, despite all of the people that were seeing this wound firsthand saying she did. It just looked so tiny! Stitches are so traumatic for someone who hates needles and doesn't have her mommy with her to comfort her. The ER doc was nice enough and agreed to wash it and apply steristrips, despite the fact that she thought she needed stitches. ("She's a girl. And it's her face." Yes. I see. She also has a personality and is notoriously clumsy and if she has a small scar, she can feel free to make up a cool story about how she got it when she's older.)

Anyways, spoiler alert, it has magically healed and even though I think it will fade away on its own, I still feel a small amount of guilt over whether she'll scar or not (and resent me for not going through with the stitches) so I ordered some Mederma cream to hopefully help it fade even more.

So Steve and I continued on with the trip.

I continued having complete thoughts and sitting in silence and having conversations with my husband and only feeding myself (and occasionally Steve because TEN AND TWO, safety first!) and it was so wonderful. Yes, we were going slower than molasses in the winter, but we were together and had so much time to just talk. It was wonderful. The first time in over six years that we've had that much time to ourselves without kids. If it hadn't been for all the not-sleeping and constant driving and heavy lifting and moving, it would have felt like a vacation! Maybe in another six years or so we'll get around to that.

The first night, we stopped short of Chicago, and it was frickin' freezin'! I got hotel coffee just to warm my hands up. I can't remember the last time I slept so hard. What is it about those king size hotel beds? They are so comfortable despite my germaphobic tendencies. The next night we had made it to MN. We stopped in a town about 45 minutes away because there are no hotels in the town we were headed to, and it just seemed like a good stopping point. We hit up McDonalds for a quick breakfast the next morning. As if Steve wasn't ready to fall in love with MN already, the decor in the McDonalds alone really sealed the deal for him.

Fish tables, camo-clad people everywhere, NICE people everywhere, American flags, etc. It's like he was born in the wrong state. After breakfast, we started on to our final destination.

Steve is pretending to be the pitchfork farmer from American Gothic, he's not actually mad. And I'm not actually drunk.

We met Rick's dad and wife at our new house and they were still finishing up some parts of it. (We were buying the house from them and they were renovating it before we arrived.) They had had quite a few farm-related catastrophes over the past couple weeks and were not as far along as they'd hoped they'd be when we arrived. Luckily there was plenty of space for us to move things in, and we also had to go buy a refrigerator in town. We stayed plenty busy. The next day we moved the rest of the stuff off the truck. I meant to take a picture of the empty truck, but apparently got excited and only took a picture of an almost-empty truck.

One last morning of sorting and putting things away and Rick's dad dropped us off at the Fargo airport. And look who we got to sit in front of!!

A layover in Chicago at Christmastime- I'm not even mad.

You know, traveling without children is actually VERY NICE. No one to worry about/feed/potty/entertain except yourself. A delay? Who cares? Let's go grab coffee and leisurely walk around the airport! I cannot express how easy and nice it was. SO NICE. VERY NICE. MUCH EASE.

See ya, Chicago! (in a few days. in a car. with a few kids.)

Once we were finally on the last leg home, my brain had time to think about The Next Thing. Not the baby growing in my uterus- that thought won't happen for a few more months at least. The next thing was Christmas! Three days away! Time to get in that jolly mode! Luckily I had gotten every gift off Amazon and had them shipped to my in-laws' house. Unfortunately for my family, I had not even started Christmas shopping. I like to think that they know and understand that I never have (and never will) have my shit together. Maybe one day. In about 19 years or so. We'll see.

Bright and early the next morning we had doctor's appointments! Yay.

Will's ONE YEAR well check (*sob*) where we found out that he is not so well. He had a double ear infection and the doc is concerned about hip dysplasia, so we will need to see an orthopedist in Fargo soon about that. He also still needs his 12 month shots since he could not get them due to being sick. We brought Molly along too because she could not seem to stop hacking up a lung.

She had pneumonia! Falalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

We managed to rally despite the circumstances and baked some ill-fated sugar cookies (seriously, sugar cookies are the WORST - to make, not to eat, obviously), decorate the tree, play some dreidel,  and write a letter to Santa.

Omg a crayon

Leave it to a box to entertain everyone

Snuggle time/football

Man, Sam was HOOKED on this game!

Time to "decoration those cookies" as Sam would say

Time to decoration that tree!

I asked Sam what he wanted to write to Santa. He said, "Dear Santa, I would like a remote controlled hovercraft. I would also like a new lego set. And-" Uh, son? It's Christmas Eve. This is not the letter where you ask for things. That ship/sleigh has sailed. This is more like a "thanks for dropping by, have a great night" sort of a note. Wanna say anything like that? "Oh."

What's that? Christmas Eve? Time to get started wrapping some gifts, I guess!

Cursive equals magical, right? Or maybe just illegible.

Sam caught me mid-chug with the milk. I sputtered at him to go back to bed and I don't think he noticed. Then Steve and I stood out on the front steps and chewed up and spit out all the carrots and apples so as to provide some evidence that the reindeer were here. Neighbors already know we are insane so why not.

Christmas breakfast

The kids were overjoyed with everything they received, despite not asking for anything. (And lest that sound holier than thou, they just kinda have no clue that you can ask for things, and they also don't have access to commercials so they have no idea what they should be asking for. I'm trying to keep it this way as long as possible because I'm a control freak, that's why.)

Sam got a nerf football, a karoake machine and a COLLECTION of Raffi CDs (apparently I really pissed off my mom?), a metal Hot Wheels carrying case (that he promptly loaded up with some cars that he lifted from my MIL's house), and a stocking full of winter gear! Yay. Santa brought the boring stuff this year. Luckily for the kids, my MIL stuck a Lego set in there too, and thanks to Dollar Tree, they each got about 10 Smartees, aka little kid sugar crack.
Molly received a little wooden horse stable with horses, a princess dress up set, some stuffed animals, and a stocking full of winter gear! The wool socks were a bigger hit than I anticipated, praise the lord.
Willie got a big ol' light-up music-playin' plastic walker, a soccer ball that also makes noise, and a car dashboard that - you guessed it - also makes noise! We are really lacking sounds at our house. My kids are just so calm and quiet at all times, we feel the need to inject sing-song nursery rhymes and whatnot to really help set the kid mood. Ha!

Trying out her new duds

Nice pic of Steve

Realized I can't handle decorating these things sober

I got to make Christmas dinner this year, and even though it consisted of really simple dishes, it was so tasty!

Last photo as an 11-month-old

No sooner had we wrapped up Christmas and it was time to start prepping for Will's first birthday. Luckily we had gotten some balloons from the Dollar Tree on the 23rd, so at least he'd have the requisite helium birthday balloons. We poorly wrapped his presents and I vowed to make him a cake when I had more energy tomorrow.

"Tomorrow" came darker and earlier than I'd hoped, and I started to realize that I don't really care about first birthdays. It's a great milestone, don't get me wrong. The first year has the biggest learning curve! But there is no real need to have a party. Baby doesn't care and Mama doesn't have the energy to put on some fancy show. So we gave him his gifts and he had a blast playing and soaking up the attention and then Steve and I went and picked out a $6 cake from the grocery store and called it good.

Ball pit was a solid $20 investment - an investment I highly recommend

I get points for remembering to buy a "1" candle though, right?

My sweet BABY!!!

The cake was terrible, as I fully expected, but honestly, this is the most elaborate first birthday party I've thrown yet. Sam ate a cupcake while Steve got called back into work and then promptly threw it up all over the living room rug (a mere six inches from the hardwood floor, I might add too). I bought a cupcake from Publix and split it three ways on Molly's first birthday because Steve was deployed and I was fresh out of shits to give. So a $6 CAKE (an entire miniature cake) and a group of people singing happy birthday is kind of a big deal, y'all.

The next morning, not-so-bright, but definitely very early (kids were up at 430 wtf), we set off for Minnesota. Or at least Illinois- as far as we could get in one day with three kids.

Happy birthdayyyyyyy we're gonna strap you in a carseat for 20 plus hours.

We ended up making it past Chicago and stopping at a hotel just outside of the Wisconsin state line for the night.

Dinner break

We made great time getting to our new home the next day despite some unexpected snow (or should we just always be expecting snow now?). When it came time for dinner, the kids asked where we'd be eating. Hahahahahahaha oh children. There is no restaurant in this town. Where will we be eating? Why the kitchen floor!

The enthusiasm is palpable, isn't it?

Will really knocked it out of the park and pooped at 4:40 the next morning, so that was fun.

And ever since then we've been getting back into our "normal" routine. We've been visiting with our friends and unpacking (furiously at first, but slower now that I'm feeling more put together and less energetic) and although today was supposed to be the first day of school, some overnight snow ended up cancelling school altogether! So we had a play date with our friends and shoveled snow and played outside. Even made a homemade pizza tonight. Freezing but really fun.