Merry Christmas & "Oops!"

Hola to all! So sad Christmas is over!! For us, we have one more day as we're having my brother, future sis-in-law (Yes, y'all, Jay's being taken off the market on May 15th!!) and my mom over for Christmas dinner and gift exchange tomorrow night.

This a.m., Belle is at her other grandma's house so I've been doing laundry, taking Barbies out of boxes, putting away DVD's and Wii games, American Girl clothing, dolls, etc. Having kids on Xmas is great but finding homes for all their Xmas loot is definitely a challenge!

Yesterday was the best Christmas I've had in FOREVER. We weren't rushed rushed rushed FOR ONCE!!! We were able to spend a ton of time with Kurt's parents, which was soooo nice. They are always getting the short end of the stick on holidays because we'll eat with them, then have to rush out. I decided this is ridiculous and not happening any more!

Other than the one year when I lived out of state, I have always gone to my Grandma's house for Christmas, which is an hour away. This means an hour there, an hour back on Christmas Day, every Christmas Day of my entire life. If you read my other blog, you might know my beloved Gma passed away this Fall (R.I.P!). My mom and her sisters are still going to have holidays at my aunt's house, also an hour away. My aunts are awesome and I love to see them but now that I've moved even farther out of town, I decided I'm TIRED of spending our holidays and Belle's holidays in the car. It's not really fair for little kids. It's always been: get up, Belle opens presents, is overjoyed, throws them into a pile without being able to open them, rush her into the shower, get her into her Christmas best, get ourselves ready, run out the door to make it to my grandma's house by noon. I'm over it!!! SO! Starting this year and from now on, we are spending Christmas morning at our house, actually letting Belle (and next year, Baby Jake!) play with her things from us and from Santa, going to Kurt's parents house for lunch and the entire afternoon then sometimes going to the extended Dad's side family Christmas (if we and the kids feel up to it) and then calling it a night.

Christmas Eve we'll still go to my Dad and Patty's house. And we'll schedule something with my mom for a day other than C. Eve or C. Day since she will still be going to my aunt's house. I HATE to miss seeing my mom's side of the family but with having two little ones and living in the middle of nowhere, something has to give. Kurt's happy, too! :)

Anyway, that was a longish story to get to the main point of downsizing our Christmas activities so we can spend more time together having fun as a family.

Now, for my "oops!"

Note: Belle and I were both wearing our Uggs. It may sound like she was wearing tap shoes and I was wearing stilletos but no...we just really are that graceful.

So, we did go to my Dad's side extended Christmas this year. It happened to be at my cousin's house in a town only about 10 or so minutes from the farm, so we went. Plus, we always have it at a great time (6pm) so it's easier for everyone to work into their schedules. It had rained ALL DAY on Christmas Eve and hovered around 35. Then, yesterday, it dropped into the 20's and lightly snowed all day. This creates an icy mess, especially on sidestreets and sidewalks, covered with dusty, fluffy snow. As we were walking out of my cousin's house I yelled to Belle to not step into the street until we got there to help her. As soon as she hit the slope of the driveway, down she went! So Kurt had to let go of me to get her and help her into the truck. Of course, being 8, gloves are LOW PRIORITY so her hands hit the snow and were FREEZING!! So, she was crying. :( Poor bebe! That's when I decided to be cute and not wait for Kurt and carried some presents to the other side of the truck, where I slipped and (lightly) fell! I had presents and my huge handbag in my hands so I didn't catch myself at all. I just kind of slipped and landed sitting into a pile of snow. lol. So glad my parents paid for dance lessons for me to be soooo graceful!! Ha. I didn't get hurt at all but figured I should call my midwife to see what she wanted me to do. She was super sweet but basically said sorry for my luck and she'd call the hospital and let them know I needed to be monitored for awhile. She said normally they want to watch you until 3 hours have passed. Kurt and I took quick showers, grabbed our bags and headed out the door around 10:45 pm. So, I fell around 9:45 pm, checked in a little before 11:30 pm, and the non-stress test looked so good that the nurse let me go around 12:30 am. :) So while it was nice to make sure the baby was okay, both Kurt and I were super tired by the time we got home!

Anyway, so no Christmas baby for us!! :) We'll see what happens over the next few days... I'm predicting a Jan. 13th baby now. He seems to be beyond content just hanging out and getting tossed around into snow piles. I would think he'd start not trusting the person he's catching a ride with (me) and want to come out and let Kurt carry him around instead. :)

Much love!!!!!!
~Us