Putting Up the Chris Tree

 This year is the first year that I let Ainsley put up the Christmas tree with me.  I was gonna just do it myself and surprise her, but Sean told me he thought she'd like to help.  I'm so type-A that doing it myself was the only thing I'd considered.

Xander: Mesmerized

While Ainsley took her nap and Sean was at the store picking up the ornament hangers I needed but couldn't find (of course I found them right after I finished putting up both trees), I put up the tree and the lights.  I have a system, and I figured it'd be easier to do those steps without the "help" of Miss A.  I let Xander sit close to the tree as I put the lights on...he really enjoyed looking at the lights.

Ham with a capital H

She loves her ornaments.

Ainsley was hamming it up with the ornaments before we actually started decorating.  I was trying to get a picture for our Christmas cards.  Ainsley and ornaments seemed like a sure thing, but that was inaccurate.  These cute pictures are two of about 15 that I took.  It's getting more and more difficult to catch her!  She's not looking at the camera because Sean was getting her to be supacute, so she's looking at him.  Of course, because I couldn't catch the pictures, he declared me a photography failure.  I invited him to take the pictures himself.  To my relief, he had similar difficulties.  It's nice that he isn't better than me at *everything*!  I did get a good shot that you'll get to see in the final Christmas card.

Hanging the lion

 This year, we have shatterproof ornaments to hang.  The day after Christmas last year, Sean, Ainsley, and I (technically Xander was with us...in mah belleh!) drove all over Fort Wayne buying the things we needed for a new tree that wouldn't choke or kill the kids.  It was difficult to say goodbye to our adult tree.  I loved the silver and gold ornaments--at least they've found a good home at Jill's!  Plus the whole safety thing is kinda important, I guess.

She LOVES these two.

Putting up the tree took F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  I had to open all the ornament boxes and had to put all the ornaments on hangers....which was more time consuming than I though it would be.  Ainsley really enjoyed playing with the ornaments.  Someday, I'll blog about the extent of Miss A's mini-OCD for those of you who haven't seen or experienced it.  For those of you who have, you can only imagine the joy she experienced when she was presented with tons of items that were similar in either size, color, or both.

Placing her ornament booty in a line on the table.

While Xander hung out downstairs with Sean, A and I got to work.  Well, mostly I got to work. It ended up taking us about 4 hours to put all the ornaments on the tree.  Part of the time issue was Ainsley's collection of the ornaments.  She gets her OCD honestly--and when I hang ornaments, I do so in a particular fashion (also, shut up Sarah and Erin!  I hear you teasing me!).  So, doing the tree with Ainsley this year was my Lesson in Tolerance.   As I'd get out the red sparkly icicles, Ainsley would grab four or five and run away with them. "SPARKLES!" she'd scream.  Finally, I figured out that if I wanted what she had, I needed to bust out a new color or type of ornament to distract her.  She'd then fixate on those ("GREEN ICICLES, MOMMY NOW!") and I'd get the remaining few I needed to decorate.

The finished product.

I got artsy with this picture.
I took it through the tree.

Every twenty minutes or so, I'd have to go find her stash--the place in the purple chair that she tried to hide ornaments.  Apparently, my ingenious method of getting her to give me ornaments was my playing into her game.  When I wasn't looking she'd go back to the tree, remove the red sparkly icicles and stash them away. This was an elaborate game we played for a REALLY LONG TIME. I'm ok with it though.  The tree turned out pretty nice.  It's till missing something--I'm not sure yet.  But we have years to add to it and figure it out.

Chris tree hugs

Now, every morning, Ainsley wakes up and gets excited about her "Chris tree!" It's adorable to hear her talk about her Chris tree.  The day after we put the tree up, she insisted on giving hit hugs and kisses.  Every day she inspects it--meticulously touching each ornament.  The Chris tree is very important.

"Here you go, Mommy"

Of course, once she had the hang of putting up a Chris tree, she then became an expert.  Last night, we put up the minitree in the basement.  As I got out the tree branches and put them in piles, Ainsley ran around helping.  She was very interested in putting the branches up (after all, this was a step that she slept through in the big tree).  As I went to get the lights situated, Ainsley took it upon herself to start decorating the tree with garland.  Xander looked on as Ainsley hung garland.  I think, for a first effort, she made some interesting decisions.  She was particularly proud.  When I took the garland down so I could put on the green and blue lights, she was frustrated for a moment, then used the opportunity to put the garland back.  That was a particularly fun moment for her.

Showing off her handiwork.

Seahawks tree

I think it was in putting up the Seahawks tree that Ainsley also started to understand the concept of Santa.  We have a Santa Seahawks ornament that she fixated on.  She was carrying it around talking about Santa. She continues to enjoy looking at and touching the Seahawks tree.  I think a part of her likes it better because it's small like she is.

Falling asleep in the jumparoo

 I recognize this post has been pretty Ainsley-heavy.  So in the interest of showcasing little Mr. Xander, I submit two photos for your perusal.  When I went to take a picture of the finished Seahawks tree tonight, it was pretty late, Xander was having his usual fit of "I WILL NOT SLEEP," so I put him in his jumparoo.  Where he jumped and squeeeeed to the imaginary dolphins in his head and jumped some more.  Then he promptly fell asleep.  I tried to get a picture of his sleeping, but by the time I got over there, I'd made a noise that startled him awake.  I then considered letting him fall back to sleep and getting my picture anyway.  Sean gave me the "I don't think so" look.  So, you can only see the cuteness from the back of his head!

Happy little bug!

To make up for the missed shot, check out this ultra cute smile he shot at me while I was putting the lights on the tree.  That's his new thing, by the way--giving his momma the "I'm too cute for words" smile.  Works every time.

Being Thankful

Had I thought about this blog post before 10:00 tonight, I'd have taken more pictures to document the day.  As it stands, I figure I'll just toss out some of the random memories I have from today.  Background: my sister Jill and her boyfriend Joe came to have Thanksgiving with Sean, the kids, and me.  Ainsley and Xander dressed for the occasion.  Ainsley's shirt says:  I'm thankful for 1. Mom and Dad 2. Yummy Turkey 3. Football.  Xander's onesie says:  Daddy loves me more than football.  So, yeah, football is integral to our holiday.

Two Green Beans
I made two different green bean dishes today.  Jill and I love the classic green bean casserole.  Joe and Sean do not.  Beyond the green beans, our menu consisted of turkey, Stove Top, yams, mashed potatoes, crescent rolls, cranberry jelly, and gravy. Sean requested another vegetable beyond potato/potato.  Can't say I blame him.  So, I made all-day green beans and green bean casserole.  However, I forgot to pick up the all-day green beans fixins--all of them.  Even the beans. So, I sent Sean to the store to get the fixins while I worked on turkey prep.  When Sean goes to the store, we generally exchange several texts.  His text to me today: "Ah, Thanksgiving. The only day of the year you see this many men shopping for groceries."  Hee! To the right is the meal that my daughter ate.  Or should I say didn't eat.  She was so excited by the visit, all she wanted to do was show Jill and Joe her toys.  See commentary below.

Smurfs and Snoopy
While I was getting the food together, Xander slept in his swing and Ainsley watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  She was particularly drawn to Snoopy.  I tried to get her to check out the Smurfs, but she didn't really care.  She did keep pointing out the "chickens" every time a turkey appeared on screen.

JOE!  JILL!  Come on, guys!
When Ainsley has company (and make no mistake if you come to my house, you're Ainsley's company), her main objective is to boss her company around.  Because she's cute, she gets away with this.  But I find it particularly charming when it works on people who I normally wouldn't expect it to--like Jill's boyfriend Joe.  First, it must be known that Joe is an awesome guy.  He's kind, polite, funny, and, most importantly, loves my sister and treats her well.  Ainsley loves Joe.  When he's around, she'll make him play, read, rough house, whatever she wants.  And Joe's a willing participant.  It was sweet to watch her give him hugs.  It was hilarious to watch her discover his cartilage piercing.  She was fascinated that he had one ear pierced and the other not.  She just kept running her fingers along his ear back and forth from ear to ear.  He let her do this for about 5 minutes.

Mmmm cookies!

When we were decorating our Thanksgiving sugar cookies (turkeys, owls [Ainsley's choice], and acorns), Ainsley sat in Joe's lap...where she proceeded to sneak bites of cookie.  I'm no fool; I knew that she'd get a cookie in the decorating endeavor.  She snuck two for sure.  Also, Ainsley "decorating" cookies entails her dumping the small bowl of sprinkles onto one cookie.  I like to think of it as the Super Cookie.  Joe deemed it necessary that the Super Cookie be eaten right away.

Jill brought Ainsley some books that she'd gotten from a friend.  The most valuable of these books was a magnetic Barbie doll set thingy.  Basically it's modern paper dolls set but in magnet form.  Ainsley deemed this AWESOME.  Notice how she's holding the book away from Xander.  She does not want him near it!  Xander, of course, doesn't care.  Mr. X spent most of this holiday giggling, MMMMMMMmmmming, and nomming.  He had his first bite of non-rice-cereal food: mashed potatoes. He ate two or three small bites, but he wasn't really into them.

After Jill and Joe left to go home, I put Xander into his Thanksgiving p-jammers.  At this point, Ainsley decided it was time to play Tickle Tickle with Xander.  Of course, anytime A gives X attention, he goes C-R-A-Z-Y!  He'll giggle and giggle.  I was able to catch some of it.  Her method was to take her Lorax (Ax) and Seabee and tickle Xander's belly.  He would then laugh hysterically.  It was genius.



The visit really tuckered the kids out.  They had such a good time with Aunt Jill and Uncle Joe.  The playing and the laughing and the tickling and the couple bites of turkey we could convince A to eat should make for a wonderfully restful night.

Water Bottles and Growing Up

Summer 2009

Ainsley has had an insane obsession with water bottles since she could crawl.  Alysse documented this in Destin last year.

Nom nom nom

She would crawl after water bottles.  She would chew on water bottles.  She would cry if you took a water bottle away from her.  Water bottles made awesome swishy noises.  They felt good on her gums.  And, most importantly, they were nommable.






Well, now she's graduated to drinking from the water bottles.  She won't drink water in a sippy cup.  If we offer it to her in her cup--or even if her juice-to-water ratio isn't to Her Highness's liking, she'll defiantly dribble it out of her mouth.  As a matter of fact, one trip A and I took involved my not getting the ratio right as I gave her her cup in the back of the van.  Upon our arrival home (thankfully home), I discovered her cup empty and her outfit completely soaked.  She'd dribbled the whole damn cup all over herself.  Thanks, kid.

However, if the water is in a water bottle (like Daddy drinks), well, then all bets are off.  She'll drink tons and tons of water.  And after each drink, she'll narrate her action; this pleases her ENDLESSLY.  Please to enjoy:

In Xander news, Mr. X has become quite ambulatory.  He's been skooching and creeping all over the place.  His aim?  Things For the Nomming.  This is the face he makes when he goes in for a nom:

He's also becoming quite the big boy.  Want some perspective?  The picture on the left: Xander, 10 days old.  On the right: Xander, 5 months, 6 days old.  Really, he's too big for that bouncy seat, but he still loves it. For now...he gets to stay in it.  Until he realizes he's not going anywhere in it and declares it Dead. To. Him.

On the topic of his getting bigger, I have to say that I'm typing this blog as he sleeps in my lap at 11pm.  It's awesome because everybody knows a baby doesn't sleep any better than it does in its momma's lap.

It's also kinda bittersweet.  I'm really torn.  A part of me knows that he should be sleeping in his bed--and he would if I put him there.  But he's so warm (I get cold in the basement) and, more importantly, I'm cognizant that, barring unforeseen events, he is my last baby--and I want to cuddle with him as much as possible.  Too soon he'll turn into the snotty toddler telling me, "NOOO!"

Another part of me misses the independence of putting the kiddo to bed and chilling with Sean.  So, there are pros and cons for Xander and there are pros and cons for me.  Ugh.  I've been mulling this around in my head for the last couple of weeks...I've been erring on the side of cuddling.  I figure that's the best way to go.

Blood Draws and First Foods

I love my husband.  I particularly love how in our parenting, as in most aspects of our lives, we pick up each other's slack.

Today, Ainsley had to have her blood drawn.  Now, I'm a pretty strong woman.  I can deal with just about anything.  The items on my list of exceptions: 1) bodies of water that can support life beyond humans, 2) roller coasters, 3) blood draws.  Luckily, Sean is able to handle all three of these with ease.

Apparently, the only thing that could solve Ainsley's blood draw trauma was McDonalds.  Oh McDonalds fries.  How delicious they are!

So, how do I pick up the slack?  One of Sean's weaknesses is messy baby eating.  Luckily, I'm quite skilled at the using-the-spoon-to-wipe-the-face maneuver.  Xander has recently started eating rice cereal from a spoon.  He's not too good at it yet, but he really enjoys mushing the cereal around in his mouth then pushing it out all over himself.  Evidence below--and this is after I'd cleaned him up a bit. Also, if you don't believe my kids are siblings, check this.

Ainsley Has Emotions

As I'm drinking my morning coffee, Ainsley stumbles up to me, whimpering and pouting.

"What's wrong, baby?" I ask her.

*Whimper, whimper* "I'm sad," she, well, whimpers.

"Why?" I ask.

She then just looks at me. Her whimper stops. She then places her face in my empty yogurt bowl, lifts it out, and walks away.

So, Xander May Be Bulimic

Xander pukes. A lot. One time I came home from class and Sean said he was wearing his fifth T-shirt of the day--I'd only been gone an hour or two.

Today, about 10 minutes before I had to leave for class, Xander spewed about 1/2 a bottle of formula all over me. Sean found this immensely hilarious--I imagine it's because I was now feeling his pain. Of course, even though I'm slowly losing weight and getting to expand my wardrobe into some non-moomoo (and yeah, I feel the spelling of moo moo is more appropriate here) options, this was one of my last clean work shirts. Frustration did set in. Luckily, Xander has an innate survival mechanism to grin and be super cute right after spewing whatever liquid from whatever orifice.

Now for those of you unaware, Xander is a bit of a Hoss. He's moving into his 6-9 month clothes and he's only 5 1/2 months old; he wears size 4 diapers while his two year-old sister wears size 3. Don't get me wrong Jerry Springer won't be sending us to Disney World. It's probably because Ainsley is so pocket-sized, that Xander seems so big, but this kid can eat. And eat he does. A lot (as I said before). And quickly.

Before Ainsley was born, Sean and I watched some show that involved a baby pooping on someone. He shuddered at the fact and hoped we wouldn't have to deal with that with our kid; I told him that we'd be doing well if we didn't get poop in our mouths. I also live under no delusion that I'm not going to spend a majority of the next years with vomit, spit, pee (Xander peed in my face today and then GRINNED--refer to the previously mentioned survival mechanism--at me this morning), poop, blood (or blud-uh) all over me. That's what I signed up for when I became a mom. I can take it.

But I wonder if X really needs to binge on a 6oz. bottle so that he can Exorcist it all over me or Sean. And I don't mean to mock boys who actually have eating disorders, but, seriously, WTF, kid?

I've Been Inspired! Also, Ainsley Is Literate.

So, Erin Banks Kirkham has this blog...the Wiferly Project and she's been posting a lot about her newly married life. And it's inspired me. So I'm going to post more...I figure even if I'm only diligent for a few weeks, it'll make my grandma happy--cause I know she checks this (Hi Grandma!).

I'm taking this literacy class right now and we're talking about how children acquire literacy and all that good stuff. Of course, it gets me to thinking about my own literacy and how I honestly don't remember learning to read (and I'm going to mix literacy and reading a lot in this blog--literacy scholars, step off)--and not in the "I don't remember much about my childhood" way because I remember a good deal about my childhood. I distinctly recall being in kindergarten and everyone learning to read (cat, dog, boy, etc.) and being IMMENSELY bored because I already knew that stuff. Sean's also a pretty avid reader--he probably reads 2-3 books a month (fatty sci-fi books too..so that's impressive to me anyway). With this in mind, I shouldn't be all too surprised that Ainsley is a reader. See photographic evidence below.

The other day, Ainsley was quiet. I assumed she was doing something awesome, like putting a whole roll of toilet paper down the toilet. Instead, I found her reading to Dora. *squee*

I haven't been a reading Nazi like some of the UberMoms I've met or heard of...I don't make sure I read to her for 20 minutes every night. But I do read to her a bit most days--and I'm sure Sean does too. This morning I was reading for my literacy class when Ainsley came up to me and said, "Whatcha doing there? Reading?" Then later as she played with the foam letters Sean bought her for the bathtub, she meticulously placed each letter in a tile and named the ones she knew. "A" "R" "H" "I" "E" "M" "X" "G" "L" "O" "9" (yeah, there are numbers too) I was stunned. Ainsley knows almost 40 percent of the alphabet--and she just turned two. I have to admit, I had a few preening moments in the bathroom as she found the letters.

Ok, this isn't the normal cute anecdote that I hope to post more regularly, but it's what I've been thinking about today.

In Xander news: his tooth is more prominent. Photos as they become available. Until then, feast your eyes on some Halloween cuteness.