Christmas in Review

Christmas is interesting as a parent. I never before appreciated just how difficult it was to find time to do the shopping, wrap all the presents etc. without your children finding you out. Granted, it is easy with Bailey only being one but we still tried to exercise some stealth to at least develop the habit. We are still in the enviable position of being able to talk about her gifts right in front of her without her getting wise.

In the end, Bailey had a good Christmas. We had breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, also Great Grandma Foneta was able to join us as well. We all got to talk to Jeff who is on his mission in El Salvador and a good time was had by all. Present opening began with a reading of the Christmas story in Luke Chapter 2 (Thanks mom and dad for starting that particular tradition). Then we opened presents. It is humorous to me the things that we do as parents.

Here's an example:

Bailey opens her first gift.

Bailey: Wow a new doll I love it! I want to play with it right now.
Parents: No, Bailey you can't you have to open more presents.
Bailey: But, I love the doll may I just play with it please.
Parents: No, presents first, then you can play.
Bailey: Okay [opens another gift]. Holy cow, a doll stroller! Wow! Thank you Santa! Now, I really want to play.
Parents: No, there are still presents to open.
Bailey: But, I'm happy with just this, can't I play?
Parents: No, because we bought you a lot of other stuff far beyond what you would be happy with and you need to stay here open them up and tell us how much you like them. This isn't about you.

Okay, so it wasn't exactly like that but Bailey would have been perfectly happy with just the two gifts. Why do we insist on making it so complicated? Another big highlight for her was a karaoke machine which Grandma Anderson picked out for her. Well you can see the pictures for yourself she loves it.

Grandma also bought the Wii Fit Plus board and game for us but I think that will be detailed in another post. I hope that you all had an enjoyable Christmas. May the Lord bless you in the coming new year.

Christmas Eve at The Men's Wearhouse 2403

My work has a neat Christmas tradition that has gotten completely carried away as the years have gone by. We do an annual draw for Secret Santa. It makes it easier on everyone as they only have to buy a gift for one other person. In years past people might bring in extra gifts for someone else that they thought the person would really enjoy. Innocent enough, however, recently some of the employees have decided that they would buy gifts for everyone. This trend has been catching on to the point where now, there is a mountain of gifts at the store. We bring them in throughout the month of December and they accumulate on our front counter until finally the 24th rolls around and we get to open presents.

The nice thing is that it is not expected for anyone to do this so there are no hard feelings. It is actually a pretty good time being able to just relax with your coworkers and have fun. Of course we are still open as we do this so we have to still work a little but the crowds are normally pretty light for Christmas Eve.

Big Girl Bed

Well Bailey has been upgraded from her crib to a big girl bed. This wasn't really a decision on the part of Jennifer or myself but rather was all Bailey. The Sunday before Christmas she decided no more cribs, this decision was vocalized by her screaming at the top of her lungs every time we tried to lay her in it. Even if we rocked her to sleep in our arms as soon as we would bend over to lay her down she would realize what was going on enough to work herself up into a frenzy. We could not figure out the problem until finally we just laid her down with us. She slept through the night even if we didn't. The next night we pulled her mattress out of the crib and just laid it on the floor which seemed to be acceptable to her.

Her grandpa Anderson had planned on making a bed for her so Monday night we called him to tell him that she was ready. Amazingly, he called us Wednesday morning to ask what color we wanted it as the bed was finished. Bailey seems to really like it though she does fall out on occasion which makes for some late night baby retrievals. Also, she has decided that she does not like to fall asleep on her own and requests that one of us lay with her while she falls asleep. Maybe it is something we should try to discourage but when she puts on her sad face and just pats her mattress in a mute request to have you lay down it is pretty darn irresistible. Although, Jenn has had to come in and get me a time or two as I've fallen asleep right along with her. Good thing it is a sturdy little bed.

Aspiring Big Sister

So we are setting things in motion to again start the adoption process. We had a meeting scheduled with our new case worker but that was unfortunately rescheduled for the Monday after Christmas. We did however, have our paperwork mailed to us so that we could get a head start on it. We are excited but reservedly so. From start to finish the process took three years with Bailey. Hopefully, it will move a little more quickly this time. Bailey would be such an incredible big sister and she really wants to be now. Our friends have a six month old named Abby, and Bailey just adores her. All week she has been saying, "Abby, Abby, Abby". Whenever Abby is around Bailey loves to look at her, pet her, feed her even care for her. When Bailey hears Abby cry she will stop whatever she is doing to come help. It normally involves Bailey trying to force Abby to take her pacifier though she has also brought her her blanket. I would love for Bailey to be able to have a younger sibling to care for.

That being said there is a ton of paperwork that we will need to do and no telling how long it will take but I hope that it will be soon.

A UNR Family

Well now that Matthew is so busy I suppose it is time for me to step up and contribute to our blog. The big news is Matthew is enrolled at UNR. We have decided it is time for him to really focus on school so he will now be going full time (plus working full time). I don't know how they do it. But this means that he should be teaching in a few years. (Yay for nights with my Husband again.)
I am very proud of all the hard work he does for our family. Thank you Matthew!!