Christmas ~ Part II

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at my sister's house. It was so much fun getting the cousins together... there is never a dull moment, that's for sure! Jacob was glued to the Christmas tree, looking for presents that had J-A-C-O-B on them. He found pure entertainment in hunting for the presents that were his, even if he couldn't open them yet.

Just like his big brother, Gavin is absolutely enamored with his cousin Maddie.


This is my great-grandma, who we call Tutu.
Gavin towing Travis on his new Tow-Mater bike
This was too funny! Jacob found Maddie's "Hula Girl" movie and was begging me to play it for him. Once I put it in, he and Gavin were completely glued to the screen from start to finish!
This trampoline was by far, the biggest hit of the night. It was really funny to watch them grab onto the handlebars and jump super high. They would even pull out some interesting gymnast moves in between jumps. Jacob was trying to count how many jumps he could do. He got to 100 before we we told him that it was time to give his cousin a turn. As he jumped off the trampoline he exclaimed, "That's A LOT of jumps!" All four cousins were lined up, sweat beaded on their forehead, waiting anxiously for their turn. Seriously, how can you beat good exercise, entertainment, and a good night sleep all wrapped into one toy?!

My sister taught me a lot of things about Santa Claus, so I could be better prepared next year.

Rule #1 - Always wait until your kids are sleeping to wrap the presents.
Rule #2 - Wrap the Santa presents with different wrapping paper than your other presents.
Rule #3 - You also have to use different stickers that say who the present is for. (Maddie just discovered that this year. "Look Mommy! Santa uses the same stickers that we do!")
Rule #4 - Disguise your handwriting on those stickers.
Oh, and her kids really like it if Santa leaves a special note for them...

Christmas ~ Part I

Since Adam had to fly on Christmas Day this year, he wanted to have an early family Christmas together. We've never spent Christmas at our house, so it was fun to make up our own traditions as we went. After Jacob and Gavin came down the stairs, we immediately discovered a huge difference in the way they opened their presents. Jacob tears through each one, hardly even looking to see what it is before sprinting to the next one. Gavin carefully opens each present, wants us to get the object free from all of the plastic and twisted wires, and becomes immersed in playing with his new toy. We could hardly tear him away to open another one!

The sweetest part was how concerned Jacob was with Mommy and Daddy getting presents too. He noticed our empty stockings and started filling them with his already opened stocking stuffers. Then, he ran upstairs shouting, "Mommy! I have a present for you!" And he would come downstairs with a Christmas bag filled with random things he found while he was up there. You should've seen the look of pride on his face as I opened my "present". Like I said before, I'm learning so much about Christmas with a four-year old. The lesson I learned is that Jacob would like to pick out a present for Mommy and Daddy too. Oh, and that Gavin's favorite toy of all was a $1 slinky.

Four years old

Jacob loved Jungle Playland so much this summer, he kept telling me that he wanted to have his birthday party there. The only problem was, Jungle Playland is two hours away. However, all his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents live up there so it would be a lot closer for them. I decided that since we would be up there for Christmas anyway, why not? I invited a few friends who lived in the area (whose kids are Jacob and Gavin's age) and it couldn't have been better. Not only was it super fun for the kids, but I got to see friends that I hadn't talked to for a long time. And I loved seeing their kids... they were so grown up. It was cute how well they all played together, as if they had been best friends their entire life.

Jacob helped me make the cupcakes (I mean, lick the frosting)
I made it into the Tiger's mouth!
These soft cushions are perfect for climbing toddlers!
Gavin didn't waste a minute of exploring...
... and going down the big slide
We spent a lot of time playing in the balls...
...and throwing them at each other :)
Time to blow out the candles!
Mommy has a picture of us together when we were babies
Thanks for coming to my party everybody!

Four years ago...

... I was almost two weeks overdue. Thankfully, I wasn't too miserable, just very anxious to meet my first baby and be a new mommy. My midwife told me that once I was ten days late, they would induce me. So December 19th rolled around and we called St. Joe's first thing that morning. Unfortunately, they were super busy and told us we had to wait until they called us back. It took FOREVER. What do you do when a simple phone call determines when you have your baby? You wait nervously by the phone, jumping everytime it rings. We kept double-checking to make sure everything was packed, made phone calls to relatives and close friends, and waited some more. Finally at 4:00, we got the call from St. Joe's. We screamed in excitement, jumped in the car, and away we drove to the hospital.

Once we got there, I was given a pill to start the contractions. The crazy part was that we were given permission to go for a walk (it would aid the contractions) outside of the hospital. So what did we do? We walked down to the spaghetti factory, where all of our friends and family were having dinner! Knowing it would be my last meal for quite some time, I ate bread, salad, spaghetti, the works. Then I could feel my contractions begin. Surprisingly stronger than I thought. We decided to walk back to the hospital which, if you know where the Spaghetti Factory is in relation to St. Joe's, is a steep uphill walk the entire way. So here I am, in labor, walking up this crazy big hill, stopping every few minutes to breathe through a contraction. I remember Adam giving directions his friend on the phone and I was like, "ARE YOU CRAZY? I'M IN LABOR! GET ME UP THIS FREAKING HILL!"

We made it back to the hospital and I was dilated to a four already. My midwife decided to give me another pill. After taking that pill, I was immediately thrown into incredibly intense contractions. Adam always tells me that our lamaze classes were a waste because with the pain I was in, there would be no trying ANY birthing techniques. And I most definitely was NOT getting into the jacuzzi that my midwife was trying to coax me into. All I could do was curl up in a little ball and beg for an epidural. Adam kept telling the midwife that I had no desire to make it through any part of labor naturally, but she didn't think it was time yet. Finally, after Adam told her several times that I wanted an epidural NOW, she checked me and found that I was dilated to almost a 6.

I was so happy to see the anesthesiologist come into my room. There's something about being in that much pain and slowly feeling it go away. It was the biggest sense of relief in my entire life. And after that? Well, I was ready to bring on movies, games, have everyone come in for a party! But that feeling didn't last long. The baby's heartbeat started going down. On the machine, you could see a red line that the heartbeat was not supposed to go under. When it went below that line, I completely panicked and could barely breathe. They placed me in several different positions and gave me an oxygen mask. Nothing seemed to help.

I remember seeing my midwife leave the room and come back a few minutes later in scrubs. It was horrible. I never thought I would end up having a C-section and was not prepared at all. I thought about all that food I'd eaten just hours before. I was trying to be brave and even cracked some jokes about how hot Adam looked in scrubs. But I was so scared, scared about the surgery and scared for my baby. I remember my family coming into see me before I was wheeled into surgery. My sister telling me that she was so glad I was having a C-section so we didn't have to worry about the baby. My mom trying to give me words of hope and encouragement, but I could see tears lingering in her eyes.

During the C-section, I focused on Adam and clutched onto his hand with all of my strength. I'll never forget staring into each other eyes, as if we were communicating all the love we felt for each other in a single look. Then Jacob was born and I looked into his little eyes... and I knew my heart will be filled with love for him forever. My beautiful baby, a beautiful miracle from God.

A proud moment

I had one of my proudest moments as a mom tonight. There's just something about your first child and their first Christmas program. Sure I've seen more Christmas programs than I can count and they're pretty darn cute everytime. But when it's YOUR kid up there... it's a whole new world. My heart was melting over him. I just wanted to say to anyone who would listen, "See him? That's my son up there. Isn't he so cute?!"

Unfortunately, I didn't realize you have to get to the Christmas program at least an hour early to get a good seat. Seriously? I was there 30 minutes early and thought I would be in the front row. No such luck. Everyone was draping their coats and purses across entire rows to save seats. It was crazy.

Luckily, my videocamera zooms in really far and I had a perfect shot of Jacob. He was so proud that his cousin Maddie was there to watch him so as soon as he got on stage, his arms were waving madly. "HI MADDIE! MAAA-DDDDIIIEEE! HI MADDIE!" The funniest part was that he couldn't see us, so he was actually waving at a random girl that he thought was Maddie.

As soon as the songs began, Jacob was ready with his singing voice and arm motions. Three year-olds are so funny! One was singing SO LOUD, one was a few words ahead, one a few words behind, one was spinning, they were all shaking their bells at different times. Pure cuteness. I loved every second and couldn't have been prouder to scoop Jakey from the stage and smother him with kisses when it was over. It was the first time I have ever watched him perform and I will always remember how sweet it was.

My Dream

I had this dream last night. I've had dreams like it before... the kind where you wake up startled, trying desperately to remember every detail. The kind where you know it has some kind of significance. And I really think this dream did.

It started out with people everywhere, all carrying their luggage. Only it wasn't just any luggage. For me, it was all I had in the world. My money, my clothes, the things I cherished the most. I did recognize one person, but most of the crowd was unfamiliar to me. I noticed quickly that there were kind people who took the time to stop and talk with me. There were also people who seemed to be in a big hurry. There were short with me, and I could tell that they didn't have time to help or answer my questions. I was placed in a group and given a number. We had tasks to accomplish, and each step was somehow getting us closer to a goal. Nobody knew what the end result would be, but we were definitely in some kind of race.

Being a competitive person, I remember caring a lot about how far I was in the race. We were given a number partway through to tell us how close we were to the end. I remember being number six and feeling on top of the world. Like I was accomplishing this huge feat.

All of a sudden, my world as I knew it came crashing down. Just as I seemed to be winning the race, I got on the wrong elevator and lost my team. Suddenly, the team I ended up with was no longer winning. I remember feeling devastated, desperate to find my team. Then I looked down and realized that all of my worldly treasures were gone. My purse, money, those items that were special to me... everything I had. I completely panicked and ran from person to person, asking if they knew where my luggage was. Nobody seemed to care or wanted to help. They were all so focused on the race that they didn't have the time.

Defeated and withdrawn, I continued the race by myself. Finally, I entered this big room filled with chairs. I had this feeling that I had made it to the final step of the race. Now we all had to wait. While I was waiting, someone really kind came to comfort me. They knew all about this race and told me not to worry, but to persevere. That my things were taken from me for a reason. Then the wait was over and it was my time to go. I walked into this little room and somebody showed me all of the treasures I had attained. My suitcase was there, but it seemed insignificant now. The treasures there were far greater than my little suitcase. I was filled with a sense of beauty and happiness that I had never felt before. I had finished the race.

The person in the room with me pointed to the window. Outside the window, I saw elevators everywhere. All of them were dropping, but some stopped at a sudden halt. Some never stopped, they just continued to drop endlessly downward. In front of the window, there was a girl and someone was asking her questions. She was talking about her life and the sinful acts she had committed. The important part though, the only thing that seemed to matter, was if she felt repentant for how she was living. Seeming to laugh in the face of the interviewer, you could clearly tell that she did not. The person in my room pointed toward the elevator that this girl was assigned to. I watched somberly as it dropped endlessly.

I woke up with my heart pounding. The memories from the dream came rushing back to me and I couldn't help but feel that there was great meaning in this dream. That I was in a race. That it didn't matter if I came in first place. That I needed to slow down and help other people, instead of worrying how far I was getting. That my worldly possessions would be taken away, so I shouldn't be clutching onto them so tightly. That this race will have an end and I will have questions to answer. Questions about my life, but more importantly, about having faith in Jesus and being repentant of the things I have done wrong. And at the end, there will be two very different destinations... I just don't know if elevators will take us there.

I had a new rejuvenating feeling to continue the race.

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Christmas shopping

We were shopping the other day and Gavin found one of those Christmas CD displays, where you can push a button and listen to the different samples of music. Once he realized that he could reach the buttons and change the music himself, his face burst into joyful smile. Then he slowly broke out with his little toddler dance. People started stopping to watch as he pushed a button, listened to the song, and either bounced up and down if it was fast or swayed back and forth if it was slow. I could've watched him all day. With all the Christmas hustle and bustle, you just have to stop and enjoy a precious moment every now and then.

Speaking of shopping, I fully admit to not having this Santa thing down yet. I have always been able to Christmas shop with my kids under the assumption that they will soon forget what I put in the cart. This still works with Gavin, but for Jacob... those days are over. A few months ago, I picked out some movies at Costco and Jacob STILL talks about them. "Mommy, where'd you put those movies? You hid them for Christmas?!" See what I mean? Not so good at the Santa thing. Now when we are at the store Jacob will say, "Mommy, I like Lucky Ducks for Christmas. Just buy Lucky Ducks and hide it." Smart kid. He's got it all figured out. Did I mention that I'm also not the best at hiding the presents? He finds them. "Mommy! Is this my present? Are you hiding it for Christmas?" Hmmm... so Christmas might not be much of a surprise this year. Maybe I'll have it figured out for next year.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree~

I love getting our Christmas tree. It's one of my favorite family outings all year. We've kind of made a tradition out of riding the little train, cutting down our tree, getting an eggnog latte, watching National Lampoon's Christmas vacation while we decorate, and ending the night with each of us opening a small gift.

This year, everything didn't go as smoothly... kind of like the movie. First, we cut down a tree that was too big for our tree stand. So Adam had to cut a huge chunk off the bottom, just so it could fit. Only we don't have a chainsaw, so it took him almost an hour to cut it with our rusty saw. Then once we finally got it to fit inside our stand, the stand completely broke and the tree crashed. So after a trip to Home Depot for a new one, we finally finished decorating around midnight. Even after all of that, there's nothing like collapsing on the couch and staring at your decorated tree in the dark. It was almost worth all of the craziness...

Ho Ho Ho!

When Adam and I were shopping a few years ago, we came across this singing Santa Claus. The Holmes family is always buying practical joke presents for Christmas, so we just couldn't pass up buying it. Ironically, it has been one of the best purchases we have ever made. We can't wait to get out the Santa each year and see the stages our kids go through as they react to him. The first year, Jacob was only one and absolutely loved it. He couldn't get enough of pushing Santa's button and dancing with him. When Jacob was two, he thought Santa was the scariest thing ever and wouldn't go anywhere NEAR him. Last year, Jacob started out the same but eventually came around to at least pushing the button before running away. This year was the best yet for sure. Gavin was at the dancing and loving Santa stage and, well, if Gavin wasn't scared... Jacob might as well dance and sing along too.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family. My Dad and stepmom are leaving for Hawaii soon, so we had an early Christmas together as well.


We reserved a room at my step-grandma's retirement center to open presents. It happened to be a game room, so the cousins could watch a movie...
Play a little soccer...
And shoot some pool. ;)

Conversations with Jacob

1. Jacob and I were watching Shrek the Third yesterday. With Fiona being pregnant, everyone was congratulating her.

J: "Gradulations Momma!" Pause. Look of confusion. "What gradulations is? Gradulations means there's a baby in your tummy?!"

2. We were reading a Christmas Countdown book and on each page there was a mommy, daddy, and three children. The older two looked about Jacob and Gavin's age, so I pointed to one as Jacob and the other as Gavin.

J: "Daddy, Mommy, Jacob, and Gavin. That's Gavin, Momma? That's Gavin when he's a girl?" (OK, so the child I chose as Gavin did look a little girlish)

3. Jacob is very much into his little routines at night. Although he has a super comfy bed in his room, he only wants to sleep on his futon cushion on the floor. He calls it Grammy's bed because that's where Grammy sleeps when she comes over. This futon cushion used to only have a comforter and pillow on it. However, Jacob has slowly added a book or stuffed animal each night to comfort him while he goes to sleep. (He used to be scared of his stuffed animals at night, so we thought this was a good thing.) Except now we are up to seven stuffed animals, five books, and an elephant flashlight. The masses have completely taken over his bed to the point where he looks swallowed up in-between them all. Yet, he insists that he needs each one to have happy dreams. Every animal and book is in its special place, and his pug stuffed animal must be covered up by the other animals. (I think it's because he's scared of Sy coming in his room at night) Here was our conversation last night, when Jacob noticed that his pillowcase was different.

J: "This is a black pillow mommy. Where's my pillow?"
M: "This is your pillow. I just put a new pillowcase on it."
J: "My pillow is in the wash-it machine?"
M: "No, this IS your pillow. It just has a new cover."
J: "No, this is NOT my pillow. I have a blue pillow. I don't like the black pillow! It's too monster-y!"

A few minutes later... Gavin is crying and Jacob assesses the situation.
J: "Mommy! Gavin is cry-ing! He needs more mii-lk."
J: "Mommy! Gavin likes a new dia-per please!"
J: "Mommy, Gavin wants to brush his tee-eth!"
M: "He's OK Jacob. He just wanted a little hug goodnight."
J: "Mommy, tell Gavin not to be scared of the monsters."

Jacob's bestest girl

Kailey and Jacob met when they had just turned one and have been inseparable ever since. Jacob talks about Kailey all day long and refers to her as his "bestest girl." Her mom and I took some pictures of them on the playground together and are saving them... just in case we need them for a wedding day or something. ;)

We're in trouble now!

Wuv you!

Gavin has had some funny responses to discipline lately. He'll be doing something he isn't supposed to be doing, so we will say, "No Gavin." If he continues the behavior, Adam slaps his little hand. Some of his favorite ways to get in trouble are: opening the refrigerator and trying to pull out food, climbing a chair to bang on Adam's laptop, pulling out dishes onto the floor, banging his fork on the kitchen table, dumping Jacob's puzzle pieces everywhere... Anyway, so Gavin was banging on the laptop and saw Adam coming. The funniest thing was he could predict what was going to happen, so he did it to himself. We heard him say, "No, NO Gabin." And proceed to slap himself on the hand. Hey, self-discipline. Gotta love it. ;)

The past few days have been even funnier. He is making the progression of stopping when we ask him to stop. So that's a step in the right direction. The cutest part is that when he stops, he smiles his sweetest smile, and says in a loving little voice, "Wuv you." This happens everytime. He'll be turning on the faucet to spray water. We say, "No Gavin." He stops and says, "WUV YOU MAMA!" He even says "Wuv you mama" to daddy. So now we've officially entered the manipulation stage. Since I melt over all that sweet love stuff, I'd say it's working so far. Little stinker.

Crazy good memory

Jacob has this unbelievable memory that leaves me in awe. Out of the blue, he will say things that happened months (if not more than a year) ago. At age three. Crazy.

First of all, he knows exactly where we are driving at all times. If we drive by a friend's house, Little Gym, Red Robin, church... he immediately tells us. The crazy part is that we aren't close enough to actually see these places, he can just tell if we are in the general vicinity. He recently has taken on the concept of right and left as well. EVERY TIME we turn. "Mommy, you're going left?!" "We're driving by preschool?" These are the comments and questions that fill our entire car ride.

Last year, our small group (and kids) were cleaning up leaves at Emerald Ridge as a service project. As Jacob crunched on the leaves (in this exact place) on the way to church, he said, "Mommy, member when we picked up the leaves?"

We were talking about our old house the other day and wondered if Jacob remembered it. He said that he did. We've been in our new house for eighteen months now, so I really didn't think it was possible. I put him to the test and asked what color the walls were. He immediately answered green.

My sister and I were having coffee and chocolate chip cookies at McDonald's one night while our kids played on the play equipment. This wasn't a typical McDonald's play area. There were tubes and slides everywhere to the point where your child could climb up and literally get lost inside. Jacob had just started potty training and I could hear his panicked little voice from high up inside. "Mommy! I'm stuck. Uh oh. MOMMY, help clean it!" I looked at my sister thinking... he did not just do what I think he did. I tend to panic in these situations, so my sister was the hero of the day. She climbed up those tubes like superwoman and came down with Jacob in her arms. Now THAT's auntie love. I didn't have any spare clothes with me (and let me tell you, we needed spare clothes), so the best thing I could think of was borrowing his cousin's underwear. The funniest thing was that when his cousin handed over her underwear, they were totally wet! My sister and I were cracking up as we carried our practically naked kids out to the car. Seriously, they need to have potties in that play equipment! Anyway, we were in the car yesterday and Jacob said, "Mommy, member when I went poo-poo at McDonald's? Member?" Seriously. At least eight months ago.

Good thing he didn't inherit my terrible memory!

The Holmes Family Singers

Since we are on the topic of singing (#6 on my last post), I thought I would share how Jacob and Gavin are adding to the entertainment in this category.

Gavin's first song is Old MacDonald, or as Gavin refers to it, the "E-I-E-I-O" song. We will be sitting at dinner or something and he just blasts it out with his cheesiest smile. "EEE-I-EEE-I-OOOHHH!!!" Apparently, that is our cue to sing a verse for him. Then he can do the animal sounds that go with the verse. Moo moo here, quack quack there, oink oink here, baa baa there(his favorite) and so on. He loves it.

More recently, Gavin is learning how to help clean up. A skill he could have mastered a long time ago, but just decided it was fun a few weeks ago. As we were cleaning up Jacob's puzzle pieces that he spilled, I hear this little voice softly singing "Clee uh clee uh". It took me a while to realize he was singing the clean up song that Jacob and I sing together. It goes, "Clean up, clean up... everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up... come on Jacob do your share." So Gavin sang, "Clee uh, clee uh... eehbod" and that was all he knew. So cute.

Jacob sings all the time, but I couldn't help but laugh at his version of Mary Had a Little Lamb. It went like this. "Jesus loves his little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was fried as snow." I totally get how he would add Jesus to the song, because most of the songs we sing have Jesus in them. I have to get especially creative with the songs at night now. A few weeks ago we were reading about Zaccheaus, so I taught him the Zaccheaus was a wee little man song. Now, he thinks every bible story has a song that goes with it. After I read to him, he asks in excitement, "What song goes with that story Mommy?!?!" I actually know a lot of songs that match bible stories from my camp counselor days, but sometimes I just have to make one up so he isn't disappointed.

So Jacob made up his first song for me in the car the other day. "Mommy, I sing the throw up song for you." Greeaat. So, to the tune of Are You Sleeping, Jacob presents the throw up song. "Mmmm. Blah. Mmmm. Blah. I throw up. I throw up. In the night." Whisper. Giggle. And repeat. Maybe it will be a hit someday. ;)

Seven Things...

Alright, so I better get to those seven things about myself. This one's for you Melynie!

1. I am really bad with directions. For real, so embarrassingly bad. I could have been to somebody's house several times and still have no idea how to get there. I also really dread trying to follow directions while I'm driving (I need a fancy GPS to tell me where I'm going, I guess ;) Then once I get to the place I'm going, I can't follow the directions backwards to save my life. I have to take the freeway everywhere because I would be completely lost on back roads. From what I hear, I come from a long line of people who are directionally challenged. That makes me feel a little better.

2. To make up for this shortcoming, I was blessed with book smarts. Getting good grades came easily to me and I was one A- away from being Valedictorian in high school. (Not that I wanted to be Valedictorian) So I was that annoying person who set the curve in your class. 3.9 GPA in high school and college. And yes, mean kids called me a Dexter. I hated that.

3. I have a really bad habit of biting my fingernails. I have had this habit since I was in the fourth grade. I've tried everything from that gross tasting polish to french tips. At this point, I've pretty much given up. My mom and sister bite their nails too, but they can at least go through stages of growing them out. I've never been able to.

4. I LOVE mini things. I don't know what it is about things that are miniature, but I think they are the cutest things ever. Newborn clothes, puppies, vanilla wafers, Ben-N-Jerry's ice cream,toothpaste... whatever I find, I am positively giddy about.

5. I love to dance. If people are dancing, I'm right there with them. If Adam is there, I make him dance with me too. ;) Slow dancing, swing dancing, line dancing (the electric slide is the best!), random dancing, I love it all. When I was a camp counselor, I choreographed dances with my campers for the talent show. I even demonstrated one for Adam when we first met. Now, as a mommy, I dance with Jacob and Gavin all the time.

6. I like to sing too, but have a terrible voice. Thankfully, my first graders don't mind since I sing all the time in class. Adam has one of those seriously amazing singing voices. The kind that gives your arm goosebumps and your heart butterflies at the same time. He doesn't sing for me very often, but when he does... I want time to stop somehow. So it must be especially hard for him to endure my singing. But I sing nonetheless... usually at the top of my lungs.

7. I was really into leadership in high school. ASB treasurer as a Freshman, ASB secretary as a sophomore, and ASB Vice-President as a Junior and Senior. I was going to run as ASB President as a Senior, but my best friend decided to run. So after all that, I'm definitely not afraid to speak in front of people. (Isn't that supposedly one of life's greatest fears?)