Another year gone.

As I sit here on the couch, thinking about how I should really be cleaning up for our guests tonight, rather than playing on the computer, I can't help but think back on this last year.

Last year on New Year's Eve, Daddy Mac and I fell asleep on the couch at eleven! We were woken up right before midnight courtesy of our neighbors shooting off fireworks, so we did get to "ring in" the New Year together. Monster Boy had been in bed LONG before midnight, and was our only child.

This year, we have TWO kids! Family friends are coming over, and I am sure Monster Boy is going to give it his best effort to stay up until midnight. Hopefully Miss Sunshine will be fast asleep by the time midnight rolls around.

Looking back on this last year, it's amazing how much our lives have changed. First with the arrival of Miss Sunshine. Then with the surprise of her cleft, and all that has entailed. Then with Daddy Mac starting a new job and me getting laid off from mine and becoming a stay at home mom. So many changes. It's amazing how much a second child adds to your life. I knew having two children would be radically different from having just one, but I had no idea how MUCH of a difference it would make. And here we are, facing down another New Year, with many more unknowns. Miss Sunshine's surgery is of course the biggest thing we face. Monster Boy will be starting school, it looks like either Daddy Mac will be looking for a new job, or I will be going back to work, depending on the decisions we make... It all goes by so fast. I wish I could freeze frame all these special moments in time, to have the memories forever. Instead, I'll just have to make the most of the time we have and enjoy it all!

Happy New Year to you and yours! May this coming year bring as much happiness to you as I am sure it will bring to us!

We survived...

the Christmas insanity! I am not even kidding you, this was the most insane Christmas ever!

And here is some photographic evidence! (the pictures don't really do it justice - I should explain that the rug they are sitting on is a 5X7 rug - and that all of the bags are full of clothes (I do mean full) and the boxes and laundry basket were loaded with toys as full as they could go as well...




My online Mom's Group did a Secret Santa exchange and Miss Sunshine scored some super cute stuff! However, her interest in actually OPENING the gifts was minimal - although she did like trying to eat them!

She wasn't really sure what to make of Santa, but Monster Boy thought he was the greatest thing ever.

Her first view of Santa

After getting her "treat" - still looking pretty suspicious...

Mommy taking Miss Sunshine up to get her gift

Monster Boy after he got his gift - he jumped up SO FAST and so excited I didn't have a chance to take the picture until he was sitting back down!

The group pic:

Bring it back!

Damn. Where is my rewind button for this last year?

Christmas is two days away! How did that happen? Where has all that time gone? I want it back!

Little Miss Sunshine spent all evening WALKING all over our living room. She was even bending down to pick things up off the floor, and then standing back up and continuing to walk. *Sniff* How did that happen? She's still a baby - she's not supposed to be walking yet!

Monster Boy is constantly astounding us with his intelligence. Yesterday he informs us - one more day until Tree is gone (Tree is our Elf on the Shelf). He'll be lost in the basement until next year when he will come out again. Hahahaha. Lost in the basement. This poor kid. His strong desire to BELIEVE is over-riding his natural skepticism. At least he still WANTS to believe. I know I don't have that many years left before he won't want to anymore.

His party was a HUGE success - he had SOOOOO much fun, and all the little boys in his class came. Five five year olds and children's interactive museum time is a bit of chaos. But at least it turned out well. I need to find the camera so I can upload some pics for you all. I have got to get better about that!

Well, I'd better get to bed. Chaos will reign for the next two days around here - and there is supposedly bad weather headed our way to add even more excitement. Wait, make that three days... Oh, no, FOUR. I would love Christmas if it was a nice, relaxing holiday for me, but it isn't. Maybe one year... in the meantime, I shall wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas and some good quality time with your loved ones.

I love giveaways!

Another giveaway for you guys to go check out! A friend of mine has started making wraps to sell, and as a promotion to kick off her new store, she is giving away a free wrap! It is SUPER cute - go check it out here: http://mercysmom.blogspot.com. Be sure to enter her giveaway - and follow her blog so you can see when her inventory goes on sale - in addition to the wraps, she will be selling sans pants and other great SAHM-made things! Woo Hoo!

Running out of Time...

Well, we had Monster Boy's Birthday party yesterday. It was a resounding success. But totally draining. Running around a children's museum after five five year old boys is draining. He had a blast, and scored a bunch of Transformers - so that is good! I just can't believe he is this big already! Where does the time go?

Miss Sunshine is slowly but surely starting to take more steps. We are just leaving it as it is for now. We did recently discover she LOVES Macaroni and Cheese. So we are hoping that will help fatten her up some. We are keeping our fingers crossed. I want her to gain as much weight as possible before her surgery - which is now only three weeks away! YIKES! I am so nervous for this. I just keep trying to forget that it is getting so close. If I can make it through the holidays, then all will be well.

Where does the time go?

As I sat at my dad's house tonight, watching Little Miss Sunshine stand (and stand, and stand...) I thought to myself, "Where does the time go?"

And then we got home and Monster Boy begged to watch "Home Alone" for the 27 Thousandth time in the last week, after much discussion about pizza and pudding and various other things. And he began negotiations - "Okay, Mom, if I do this, and we do this, then can we....?" I thought it again. OH. MY. GOD. My son will be FIVE in less than two weeks. And while I know that realistically five is SO young, it just doesn't seem possible that he can be FIVE! I mean, really. Where does the time go?

We had our first parent/teacher conference today. How is my son old enough for that? Things went well - he still needs to work on listening (big surprise there) and coping with frustration. But he has everything else mastered. His teacher even commented on how smart he is - how accelerated. Which does my heart good to hear. But at the same time - Where has the time gone? The school year is half over and soon it will be time for Kindergarten.

Has anyone figured out yet how to freeze-frame children? Because I want to. My daughter is nearly one. My son is five. I'm not ready for this yet!

See the pretty lights?

So, even though I have come down with (hopefully) the cold to beat all colds, we ventured out into the crisp winter air to look at Christmas lights tonight. Monster Boy kept trying to point out the lights to Miss Sunshine - nevermind that she couldn't see them out of her carseat! Oh well, it was sweet that he did it.

We also paid a visit to Santa. Monster Boy of course took wonderful pictures, as always. I swear the kid is a professional model. Miss Sunshine thankfully waited until AFTER the photographer took her picture to freak out at Santa - which surprise me. She is so stranger-shy that I fully expected her to freak out as soon as we handed her over and figured we'd have to make do with a screaming baby Santa picture this year. But, while she isn't smiling, she is looking at the camera and not wigging out, so it's all good.

And since I am battling the cold to beat all colds, I haven't wandered my way downstairs to scan copies of said Santa pictures for public consumption yet. However, we will hopefully have them up and ready to go tomorrow and I'll add them on here for you!

Mom, did you know?

Well, yesterday I bragged on Miss Sunshine walking...

So TODAY is Monster Boy's turn!

My child. He is SOOOO smart. Sometimes TOO smart. The things this kid comes up with. He retains things like a sponge. It is just unbelievable to me.

I mean, really, how many 4 year olds use words like "supposedly" and "apparently" on a regular basis in the correct context? He is learning sight words like crazy. I can barely keep up with him. It took him less than a week to learn both our address AND our phone number, he knows his full name, my full name, Daddy Mac's full name, Averie's full name, can spell his first name, and many other things. Daily he just astounds me.

So Friday's are library day at his preschool. Last Friday he brought home a small book about earth - describing the core, crust, magma, etc. So on the way home from school, he tells me that he is going to "read" it to me. I'm half listening to what he says when I hear this - "Hey, Mom, did you know that some people used to think that the earth was flat? Why would they think that? I mean, if the earth was flat, all the places would be squished." He informed me that Daddy told him people used to think the earth was flat. Who knows how long ago that was. The "squished" part he came up with all by himself...

My son is just so smart!

Milestones...

I nearly cried today.

Miss Sunshine walked. Like, real, full on walking. Seven or eight steps from Daddy to Mommy. By this evening we were pretty much able to get her to take four to five steps at any point before she'd give up and go back to crawling.

I can't believe my baby is getting so big. She's 10 months old now. Walking. Talking (well, as much as she can). She's not even really a baby anymore - she's a kid now. Personality out the wazoo.

How did this happen? Where did the time go? And who do I have to pay to rewind it?

I swear to you, it seems like just yesterday that we were heading to the hospital to have her. And now here we are, past most of her "first" holidays, and are on that rapid downhill slide to her turning one. This is one more milestone that is out of the way... or past. I don't want it to be time for her to be walking yet. *sniff*. Someone tell her to slow down, please?

Well, on the plus side, after her first tentative steps, I did manage to grab my phone and get the video feature going (I really need to get on buying some new tapes for my video camera so I can properly document these things...) so I have video of her first steps, which I am about to place here in internet posterity for you all...

So, without further adieu - I present to you : Little Miss Sunshine's very first steps... (and I apologize in advance for the shrill yelling that I do at the end of the video!)

Cindy Lou Who

So, I think I officially entered "Mean Mom" status the other day. I just couldn't resist. And there is photographic evidence to back me up...



Yes, those are pigtails on her head. Here is a good "rear" view:


We are also fans of BabyLegs here in the Mac household. When she was first born and I saw them, I thought they were just the most ridiculous things. But really, they are a WONDERFUL invention - keep baby's legs warm but don't have to mess with pulling down tights every time you go to do a diaper change! And they are just so freaking cute! She is rocking out the whale pattern in the above photos, and here she is in some stripey ones:



And here she is just looking darn adorable: (I know, I'm showing off tonight!)




And a few family pics for you all just because I figure you might be curious what Daddy Mac and I look like...

(Pardon the about 30 pounds I still need to lose and the fact that Daddy Mac JUST realized he is thinning out on top!)

Would someone tell my kid...

That standing an inch away from the television screen does NOT allow him to see the show better? He has developed this horrible habit in the last few weeks. We don't watch a lot of TV in our home, but when it is on, I swear he stands there with his nose touching the screen. I spend more time yelling at him to back off than he spends actually WATCHING the television! It is so incredibly frustrating.

Oh, and while you are at it, if you could inform Little Miss Sunshine that everything on the floor does NOT belong in her mouth, that would be appreciated as well. She either ate a sunflower seed or an unpopped popcorn kernel tonight, I'm not sure which. This is such a fun age, really.

Ah, the joys of parenthood...