We've gone to Seattle for Christmas to stay with my in-laws. It's really beautiful up here and, although it's rained every day we've been here, they're mostly just light showers that spruce everything up. The sky is perpetually gray, though, and I miss the sunshine. Looks like we're going to have a "wet Christmas" instead of a "white Christmas". Oh well.
Dylan flies in tonight, and I'm really excited for him to come. His parents just bought a beautiful house up here and we're having a great time with his sister's new twins (boy and girl). So, if I don't blog about this until we get back to Provo, then have a Merry Christmas!!
May the joy of the season surround you and yours.
Getting sick as a mommy stinks. It doesn't really matter to your toddler that you're sick, he still wants to play with you. My little guy is content watching Blues Clues or the Backyardigans for about 20 minutes, but then we have to do something--read books, play with trains, stack blocks... Luckily, I have a mommy who brings me juice and chicken noodle soup when I'm sick! Hooray for mommies!
Seamus did give me a great gift yesterday, though, he managed to take a 4 hour nap in which I joined him. I put him down at 11 am fully expecting him to be awake when Dylan got home for lunch, but I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up at 1:30 with no baby cries. I immediately went back to sleep and didn't wake up until I heard him talking in his crib at 3 pm. Amazing. He usually takes 2 hour naps, so this was a godsend. He still went to bed on time, too, at 7 pm. Merry Christmas, mommy!
We're trying to get ready for our Christmas trip to Seattle. I've misplaced my planner, which makes it harder for me to start my lists, but I'm sure it will turn up soon. Thankfully, the in-laws have a pack-n-play crib for Shay to sleep in, a carseat to use, and someplace for us to sleep. Yay! I'm going up there 4 days earlier than Dylan, who can't get off of work until the 22nd. The in-laws really want to see/spend time with Shay and I can't blame them. He's a pretty awesome kid and they hardly ever get to see him. I'm looking forward to the trip and to seeing how Dylan's side of the family celebrates Christmas.
Well, we've finally done it. We bought a gun tonight. Dylan has been wanting one since he saw the Bratt's guns, and so this is our major Christmas present to ourselves. We bought a Glock 19 (compensated) and a heavy duty gun safe at the same time. This was the only way a gun was going to be in our house. Seamus is just too curious to have it any other way. We're not taking the gun out at all when he's awake, so he hopefully won't even know we have it.
That being said, I'm pretty excited about the thing. The word "gun" always held such power and danger for me. We're told over and over not to play with guns, that guns kill...so naturally I imbued the object with an enormous amount of animosity. Even going to shoot guns over the last year with Dylan and others was fun, but when we left we would leave the gun behind in the shop. Now there's one in my house, and I have to say that it's still a little scary but much less impressive than I thought it would be. It's just a thing made out of metal, like my slow cooker. It's just a tool to be used by people for their protection. It's not the monster I always thought it would be. The thought of Seamus being around it still makes me nervous, but I think that as I use it and learn more about it I'll become more comfortable with it. Not complacent, because that can kill, but comfortable.
I recently rediscovered a forum that I belong to and it's made my month. Being stuck at home all day with Seamus and with no car can be nervewracking after awhile. You crave adult conversation about things other than Blues Clues and dealing with temper tantrums. This forum has been perfect because I can sit in my pjs and discuss deep and interesting topics. I already feel my mind stretching as I start with the little things and gradually work my way up with larger vocabulary words to the more intense topics.
Forums are interesting things. I probably know 5 people in real life that write for this forum, but I'm getting to know the other 90 registered users gradually. Some people post frequently and it's easy to flesh out their personalities. Some people are guarded in their posts, so you never quite know where they stand. It's a fun little mystery to fill up my cold winter days.
