I finally took Daniel in for his 18 month check-up this past month...exactly 2 months too late. Hey, it could be worse! I know, 2 months late isn't really that bad, but I felt rushed to get him in because I kept forgetting to schedule his appointment and he was in need of some vaccines..they're given a couple at 18 months, and I'm very pro-vaccination, so I like my kids to be up-to-date of all of their shots. Anyway, We got him in and got him all checked out, and he's doing very well. He's had a growth spurt...height-wise. He went from the 30-something-th percentile for his height, up to the 77th percentile for his height. His weight is still in the 9th percentile. So, his height-to-weight percentile is...one. ONE. First percentile. Weird, right? I have a beanpole for a son. He gets that from me..well, from when I was a kid. I was a skinny little pole, clothes never fit right until I became a teen...my mom even had to buy me boy pants at one point in elementary school because I wasn't curvy enough to fit into the girl pants. I definitely don't a problem with that now. But hey, at least I know my kid is healthy. He eats non-stop and moves twice as much. He's a crazy little boy!
My crazy son
While he was there, they did a blood panel on him to check for anemia/iron levels, which means they had to do a finger prick and squeeze the crap out of his finger. Oddly enough, he didn't even flinch when the nurse stabbed his finger (twice! The first time didn't produce a heavy enough blood flow) and squeezed for about 5 minutes (literally) in order to get enough blood. He watched everything she did and seemed awfully fascinated by it all. Right after she got his blood, she gave him his vaccines, and I thought, he did so well with his blood draw, he'll do just fine with his vaccines. HAHAHAHA! Yeah right. He screamed the instant that first needle hit his skin. But, he was good once she stuck the band-aid on and told him she was all done. Apparently shots hurt WAY more than having your finger stabbed, twice, and having someone SQUEEZE the life out of it. I would have thought it was the other way around, but, you know..guess I was wrong!
Trying to put on his own socks.
Earlier in the month, we decided to take the kids to go see "Frozen", because I thought it looked cute and we figured Diana would enjoy it. SUCCESS! Both kids LOVED IT!! And it was SUCH a cute movie! Definitely a Disney movie, filled with lots of music. It was adorable, I loved it! Diana has asked several times since to go see it again. It definitely will be one we buy when it comes out on video.
Mike received the honor of "Employee of the Year" at his work Christmas party! I am SO PROUD of him and DEFINITELY believe he deserves it! He felt totally honored and shocked that he got it, but said the owner of the company told him that he and all the other higher-ups made the decision unanimously that Mike was the man that should receive the honor. It was so awesome to see that they really DO notice all his hard work and truly appreciate him! Good work, Mike!
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Yay, Mike!!
I made an advent calendar with my mom (started on it last year, finished it this year), based on one she made about 40 years ago. I was excited to actually use it for the first time, and it was a huge success with the kids! I filled it with a different activity we had to do each day, and the kids were super excited to see what new activity they had waiting for them each day. We did things like make salt dough and cinnamon ornaments, make gifts for their grandparents and for Diana's preschool teacher, sing Christmas songs, go look at Christmas lights, make cookies, etc. It was a lot of fun, and it make the month of December more memorable and it helped us have the Christmas Spirit around our home the whole month, rather than just have Christmas creep up on us at the last minute.
One of our Advent Calendar Activities
Seeing the lights @ the Cactus Garden outside Ethel M. Chocolate Factory
Once Christmas got here, we had a whole week of extended family activities. Mike had the week off of work, but spent the 23rd and 24th at the library studying, so it was like he was working for us. The rest of the week, we shared him with his family as we did family activities. Christmas Eve, early morning, Diana woke up several times crying and squeaking as she coughed and talked. That morning when she woke up for the day, she seemed fine, so we went along with our plans. By the end of that day, full of visiting both families and opening our own gifts at home, Diana was showing signs of being sick again, and I was feeling discourgaed. Sure enough, she woke up Christmas morning, hoarsely coughing and crying as she told me "Mommy, I'm sick." Not something someone wants to hear Christmas morning. Luckily, we had a chill morning planned, so she got to relax most of the morning. *We do our gifts on Christmas Eve and Stockings on Christmas morning (it's like getting TWICE the gifts! I love it...I've done it with my family all my life and would NEVER do gifts Christmas morning).* Mike's parents came by that morning to visit and see what presents the kids got, and Diana was excited to show them all the pretty things Santa brought her in her stocking (she LOVES LOVES LOVES girly things). She got earrings (Mike went and bought her a TON the night before because the ones we had ordered for her over two weeks earlier never showed up..He's SUCH a good Daddy! I told him we'd just give her the earrings when they showed up, but he couldn't bear the thought that his little girl wake up Christmas morning to no earrings, especially since she'd been wanting some new ones SO BADLY.), some necklaces and a bracelet (homemade), nail polish, nail stickers, a huge pack of Disney Princess chapstick, a mini-Ariel barbie doll, and a few other little things, like fruit snacks, tic tacs, gum, etc. She was jazzed about everything she got. And boy, did she and Daniel get SPOILED!! I went a little overboard this year and bought them both TONS of stuff, though a lot of it was stuff they needed, like clothes and bed sheets, so then I didn't feel too bad about all the stuff I got. But, by the time they got all the gifts from Grandparents and Aunts & Uncles, too, they had more stuff than they knew what to do with. They're definitely a couple of lucky little bugs! One of the gifts Diana got from my mom was a baby doll, and wow, I didn't realize she was back into baby dolls. She faded out of the baby-doll thing a while back when she discovered Disney Princesses, so we put her other baby dolls away. But, then she got his doll, along with some bottles for it, from my mom and she was SO EXCITED. It even sleeps with her most nights now. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that she's SO EXCITED for her new baby sister to get here in a couple of months (in exactly 2 months from today!!). Both kids adored all their gifts and definitely enjoyed their Christmas.
The day after Christmas, Mike's brother, sister-in-law, and niece came into town from Utah to spend a long weekend with us and the rest of Mike's family! It was fun...though Diana and I missed out on some of it, as I came down with Diana's horrible, nasty cold the Day after Christmas. It was a bad cold. I haven't felt so run down like that in a long time, though I HAVE had worse colds in the past...but, being sick while pregnant is HARD! Especially when it's more than just the sniffles. Daniel developed a new level of love/clingy-ness for Mike over that week, as one of the days he and Daniel went and did things with his family while Diana and I stayed home and took 4 hour (Diana) and 2 hour (Me) naps...we were both having a really hard day that day. But, it was cute to see Daniel the rest of the week and beyond, actually want Mike over me at times. It made me sad, as I love to be wanted exclusively by my kids, but it was good to see him develop that relationship with Mike, and to have hope that Daniel may not have TOO hard of a time when the baby is born...we're worried he's going to have a bit of a meltdown when he's no longer the baby, as he's been really clingy the past month or two. But anyway, we had a fun week, even while sick! And, we're grateful we didn't spread the cold to the rest of his family (SO grateful!).
My sweet, sick princess, in the middle of her 4-hour nap.
By the time New Year's Eve rolled around, we were pretty partied and family-ed out, so we invited my sister and her little family over to hang out and we just chilled at my house until the kids got tired, and then she headed home and we all put our kids to bed. Mike and I stayed up "late" that night, going to bed around 10:30, and then were woken up so kindly at Midnight to loud, celebrating neighbors. I didn't get back to sleep because of all the noise until 1 am. It was a rough night for me, but luckily the kids slept well (Thank you, noise machines and humidifiers that drown out exterior noise!).
And, that was our month in a sorta-nutshell. :)
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