The Best Christmas Presents Ever!

I'll be posting lots of blogs relating to Christmas, but thought I'd start with showing off the 'big gifts' that Chelsea received from her grandparents!  Both sets of grandparents spoiled the heck out of the kids with lots of presents.  I'm going to show off Chelsea's favorite two gifts :)

She received a basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa Fisher.  She loves playing with it and Ben is very happy to have something more active to do with her inside the house.  She likes to put the ball in the hoop, but really likes to throw me the ball, I will shoot it and then she'll chase after it and start the process all over again.  It's great for wearing her out before nap time.  She took a 2 hour nap yesterday after we had been playing with it. 

Here is a cute video of Chelsea playing with the hoop.  It starts out pretty mellow, but then Molly comes in and Chelsea starts shouting at her to get out.  It's really funny!

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wo3ESURNo&feature=share&list=UUimF4e_pZMtWAKhW_guZCyQ

 

Picture of the hoop!

Grandma and Grandpa Loveland gave her an art easel!  Chelsea has already colored several sheets and created two painting masterpieces :-)  It's so fun to see how much she is enjoying her art projects and I love helping her.  Another added bonus is that she wants to learn her colors while she draws.  Below is a video of her using her easel for the first time and showing me her different colors :)

video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ffdsHliR0&feature=share&list=UUimF4e_pZMtWAKhW_guZCyQ

 

We've rearranged the basement into a very kid friendly zone!  The ping pong table has been folded up into the corner, but can still easily be used. I've also added a diaper changing area in our guestroom and have all the  necessities stored away to hang out downstairs with the kids easily.  We are hoping to spend a lot of time downstairs and hopefully keep a lot of the clutter away from the upstairs.  

Videos and pictures

I've recently realized that we've taken so many videos of Chelsea and none of Tyler!  Tyler isn't too active yet, but will most definitely want to see video of him at every age later on.   I took a short video of Tyler during tummy time and Chelsea interacting with him.  She is such a gentle, loving big sister.  She is so incredibly good / sensitive with her little brother that if he is crying she'll sometimes join in :(

Video

http://youtu.be/Dcf0rloMox8

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Uncle Steve came to visit us last night.  Ben, Steve and Chelsea are heading down to Humbodlt Iowa to celebrate Christmas with the Sandvigs at Grandma Del's house.  We originally were NOT going to attend because of Tyler being so young.  The four hour drive wouldn't be easy with the two of them and Tyler is waking up at all hours so it would make the stay tough on everyone.   With that said, we made a last minute decision that Ben would bring Chelsea down and I'd stay here with Tyler.  That way Ben could see some family this holiday season, Grandma Del could spend some time with Chelsea and I can handle Tyler easily on my own back home.  I'm very bummed to miss the Christmas Celebration because it's always so much fun, but it's not in the cards this year. Tyler and I will hang out at home and maybe get some projects done :)

We made spaghetti last night for dinner and Chelsea started blowing raspberries and drooling while eating!  It was incredibly gross, yet funny!  We cleaned her up and she decided that she wanted to keep doing it.  I should have grabbed the camera earlier, but caught some of her goofiness on film.  She was in a great mood after spaghetti night :)

Video
http://youtu.be/PICnFl4mAzA

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Uncle Steve with Tyler!

 

Trying to make Tyler sleepy enough for bed!

 

Wide eyed!  Tyler did not want to go to bed last night!

 

My parents came by last week for a day / night to help me with the kiddos. 

Girlfriends!

I host a Girls' Christmas Party for some friends every year.  It's a great excuse to get together to 'catch up', have some cocktails and to play a little gift giving game.  I don't get too much girl time as of late so I really cherish the time that I DO get.  It was so nice that everyone was willing to drive out to my house because I'm not sure I would've had the energy to make it out anywhere else.

Since I was still recovering from surgery and have very little free time my friends all stepped up to help out.  Everyone brought some sort of food item or beverage to share.  Usually I provide everything but knew that would be next to impossible this year.  I am VERY blessed with this group of girlfriends.

Another big help was that my friend Josie (lives in Colorado) flew in Saturday morning to stay with us.  She brought her 3 month old, Brady, with but seemed to have endless energy to both take care of him and to help us out around the house.  Josie vacuumed the basement, helped set everything up for the party, baked brownies and took care of odds and ends around the house.  She was a lifesaver!

I dont' get to see Josie too often, but when we do get together it's like no time has passed.  Having a friend who you instantly feel a connection with and can relax and be yourself around is such a blessing.  It's too bad she lives several states away :(  

Here are some pictures from this past weekend!

Josie and Tyler

 

Tyler (3 weeks) and Brady (3 months)

 

Setting up for the girls Christmas Party!  

 

Ben took some random pictures for us

 

Katie, Chelsea and Val.  Nice pose Chelsea!

 

Brooke, Steph and Lauren.  Steph was 39 weeks pregnant here and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy less than two days after this picture was taken!

 

Brady hanging with the girls

 

Rita, Amanda, Renee, Kjirsten

 

Val and I

 

Chelsea hanging with the girls

 



 

Sunday Morning.  Chelsea loved Brady

Ben cooked us all a hot breakfast!

 

Ben and Brady

 

What a gorgeous baby!

 

Chelsea was trying to cheer up Brady with tickles... it didn't work

 

Daddy and Daughter play time!



Tyler is 1 Month Old!

I can not believe that Tyler is now 1 month old!  We took him in for his check up today and he passed with flying colors.  He gained almost 2.5 pounds in the past three weeks and is now 10 pounds 7 ounces (75%).  He has also grown to 21 3/4 inches tall (50-75%)!  This explains why I've already had to store away three target bags worth of clothes that he has grown out of.  thank goodness all the clothes were hand me downs and gifts. 

Tyler is a very snuggly baby.  He prefers to sleep in my arms and it is SOMETIMES tough to get him to sleep anywhere else.  He does like his big swing to nap in and sleeps in his pack n play at night.  We don't have him in the nursery yet.  I gave a feeble attempt at transferring him from the pack and play that is in the living room (which is right outside of our bedroom) to the crib in the nursery with no avail.  He would wake up within ten minutes of me laying him in the crib so I would try again and he would wake up again.  I did this a couple times and then realized that I couldn't focus all my attention on getting him in there since I do have a toddler running around the house as well.  Back in the pack and play he went!  Maybe we'll try again in a couple weeks. 

Tyler is drinking between 3 and 4 ounces of formula at a time!  He is definitely a growing boy.  He is sleeping pretty 'normal' for a newborn and waking up every 2-3 hours overnight.  He prefers to be swaddled in a sleep sack while he sleeps.  Chelsea never took to the swaddling. Ben and I are a little frusterated by how much he is awake at night, but have been reassured by the doctor that it is normal.  We were VERY spoiled with Chelsea because she was such a good little sleeper.

 I feel like I'm in a constant fog, constantly cranky and am barely keeping my head above water at this time.  I love the advice "sleep when the baby sleeps" but that only works for people with only the baby in the house unfortunately.  When Tyler sleeps I still have a very energetic toddler running around the house.  IF (which is abnormal) they both happen to be napping at the same time it is very difficult to take a nap because my mind is spinning with what else I need to get done.  I only have a 1.5 hour span during the day that chelsea is not running around the house and use it to shower, eat something, try and clean a bit, care for Tyler in peace if he is awake or sit on the couch and catch my breath.

 Needless to say, i am in bed as early as possible every night in hopes to get atleast 6 hours of broken sleep.  Thank goodness we have had a little bit of help here and there.  Ben was home for almost 3 weeks, my parents have come into town on a couple of occasions to watch the kiddos while I run some errands / take care of stuff around the house and Chelsea goes to daycare every Wednesday.  We are playing with the idea of sending Chelsea to more daycare, but it is very expensive to do so. 

There isn't too much else to report because 1 month olds don't hit too many milestones :)  Below are some pictures I took this morning!

Some floor playtime this morning

 

Birthday bath to smell pretty

 

Time for 1 month pictures!  Thanks to Lauren for giving me the month stickers to put on his onsie!

 

The morning activities really wore Tyler out!