i love it...

I love little baby mohawks, especially on my own little guy,

he looks completely adoarble sporting one.

Although, that’s probably because he is  completely adoarble,

with or without the rockin little ‘do.

Better Late Than Never...

Well, it was a nutty, crazy, busy, exciting, peaceful, happy, family fun filled Christmas for us, and I am finally getting back to my blog now that I have found a spare minute to post. We had a wonderful holiday, I loved every minute of it, and my children keep telling me how much they loved it all too. And yes, I am totally copying Holly and Anne with this style of post, so here goes:

 -We had a fantastic Christmas, and a really fun and wonderful day together. I opted out of a huge Christmas Day dinner, and instead kept it all very simple, and then went for the big guns on New Years Day with a big ham dinner. I think this is something I will be doing again next year, it really worked for us, and it gave me a chance to relax and enjoy Christmas Day with everyone else.

-For Christmas this year, I made each of my children a pair of flannel jammy pants as well as a snuggly fleece robe to go with it, and for Finn I made a pair of reversible pajamas. They all looked so cute, and it kept them nice and warm too.

 

 -The family Christmas party was lots if fun, and the live nativity went off far better than I expected, the kids were so cute!

-Heidi made another awesome cheese ball, this one had bleu cheese and cranberries in it, yum!

 -The surprise breakout present that ALL of the kids (my children and nieces and nephews too) have been crazy over? The Honeybee Hop, by Playskool. Gracen got it for Christmas, and so far everyone has loved it, even the older kids have played with it. Who knew? I can’t recommend it highly enough!

-Another big hit? The ‘Easy Link’ by Fisher Price. They love it!

-This seemed to be the year of the video mp3 player, we all seemed to get/give one. I didn’t know I would love mine as much as I do, but it’s awesomely fun, and oh so convenient!

-I bought High School Musical for Haven (she LOVES it!), and Amy, you were so right, what a cute movie!.

 -I am still sewing with almost every spare minute, so I am sorely behind in blogging, but so happy with all that I have been making. For starters, I made both Haven and Gracen a flannel nighty, and then a matching nighty for their favorite doll too. Now they don’t want to wear anything else to bed. I also had fun making Mathes and Noah matching pajama pants with a fun breakfast them print on them. Doesn’t everyone want pancakes on their pajamas?

-It was so crazy and busy, I never did get a single card mailed out. Heck I didn’t even get the cellophane off the box the cards came in, so just know that you weren’t snubbed, I’m just swamped and completely behind. I’m still hoping to come through though, better late then never, right?

-We re-listed our house, and are once again getting lots of calls for showings. Crossing our fingers for a buyer soon!

 Finley is 8 months old now and loves sitting and playing with his toys, got his third tooth on New Years Eve, and suddenly he began to “talk” on friday (the 4th), and has been babbling on and on ever since. He continues to be Ciel's favorite photography subject and he loves all of the attention showered on him by his big brothers and sisters. Finn is still incredibly happy and easy going, and lights up any room with his sweet little grins and infectious baby giggles.

-I got a beautiful new 7 qt. crock pot for Christmas, and I love it! It’s a thousand times better than my old one, and is the perfect size for us. Oh happy day!

-At Marky’s suggestion I gave Picasa a try and I’m in love! Such a dream to use, and a million times better than the other online web albums I had tried. Thanks Marky, you rock!

   I’m sorry, this was kind of scattered and all over the place, but I’m tired, it’s still crazy-busy over here, and I am just thrilled to have finally gotten a post up. Wish me luck getting another up soon, I’m going to need it. Anyways, we hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and I’m going to see if I can find more time in the coming days to post again. Who knows, miracles do happen, right?

Finn's First Teeth!

Finley got his first teeth today! He has been gumming stuff like crazy for the past little while, and this morning I noticed that two little teeth had finally broken through. And yes, since he often uses my finger to gum on (he’s such an animal!), I knew he was still toothless as of last night, and was fairly surprised that they came in that fast. He had been just as happy and smiley as always, with no signs of teething pain whatsoever. The best part is that he slept through the night, and never even made a peep (thank you son)! I can’t find my camera or I would have totally had a cute little money shot of his new little teeth. Oh well.

Hasppiness Is A Folding Table In The Basement

‘A folding table in the basement for my sewing machines? Who knew that was where my happiness lay…well at least some of my happiness anyways.’ With the house on the market, my sewing table had to be put away. Which meant that I have been intermittently hauling everything in and out of the garage as time permitted, and working on my projects at the kitchen table during ‘off-peak’ hours. That got old REALLY fast. So, in the interest of Christmas, and all that I hold dear in my little sewing heart, Craig set up a big folding table in a corner of the basement for me to lay claim to, where I have now happily stationed myself with my sewing machine and serger. I am currently trying to get to as many of my urgent projects as I can, and I am having so much fun as I go. I missed my favorite creative outlet, and I am thrilled to be back at it again. At least until after Christmas, because once we re-list, I will have to pack it all up again in order to show off the “roomy attributes” of our house. But, in the mean time I am making the most of my temporary digs, and so far I have gotten quite a few things done. I will post more on them later, but for now, just know I am happily sitting at my folding table in the basement, and loving every sewing, crafting, stitching, seam ripping minute of it!

The Nutcracker

 I wasn’t able to go to the Nutcracker this year so I sent Haven and Ciel with my Mom, and Heidi was able to take Livy with her this year since she was now old enough. And after last year, I decided that it would be so much more fun for each one of the girls to have her very own Nutcracker to take to the performance. They loved being just like ”Clara”, right along with the ballet, it was a hit with all of them. Haven and Livy both looked so beautiful, and I was thrilled Ciel decided to go this year no matter what she was wearing. (Next year I’m banning jeans, and I will buy her any dress or skirt she wants….with or without a tiara….) As sorry as I am that I wasn’t able to go this time with both of my girls, I know there is always next year. I am so excited about the dress possibilities for next year, I’m already looking through patterns for the perfect one for next years performance.

Families Can Be Together For….A Little While

During dinner tonight, Noah had a question for me:

Noah- Who is going to be my Mom when I get older?
Me- I am.
Noah- No, I mean when I’m bigger and grown up, who will be my Mom then?
Me- Yes, I know what you meant, and it will still be me, I’m your Mom forever Noah.
Noah- Ohhh. (sounding incredibly disapointed)
 
 …who did he hope my replacement was going to be?

New House, Bad Scare, An X-Ray, And Done!

Tonight we took the children on a tour of the new house since none of them had seen it yet, and they all loved it. I was going to take some pics with my camera, but the owners have no children, have tons of knick knacks and trinkets everywhere you turn, so I had my hands full tending to that, but all went well, and nothing was disturbed. Once we got home I started right in making dinner, the kids were hungry and clamoring for a meal. Finn had fallen asleep on the ride home so we were letting him snooze a bit in his carseat in the living room.
I had only just begun to cook the meat when I heard a weird sound like a choked kind of half cry, and it was coming from Finley. When I got to him, Gracen had just walked away, clutching his binky, and looking fairly guilty. I knew she had once again “fed” him something she knew she shouldn’t have (so far the list of “offending items” are wheat bread, cereal, juice, milk, pecan chocolate chip cookies, and crackers). She loves her baby brother and wants so much to share with him, she just doesn’t understand that he’s still too little for it.
I don’t know what she had given him this time, but when I got to the baby he had stopped breathing and was turning all sorts of colors. I grabbed him, turned him face down on my forearm and began to thump him furiously, told Ciel to run get Craig (he used to be an EMT), and went for the phone to dial 911. But just then, he must have swallowed whatever it was that was stuck, because he suddenly began crying and breathing again. I immediately called my Dr. to let them know I was coming, buckled him back into his carseat, and away we went. I’m not prone to panicking, but even though he was breathing fine I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until they had checked him over.
The Dr. listened to his lungs, checked his mouth and throat, and he showed no signs he had ever been in any distress with his breathing, but he had some cuts, scrapes and a bit of bleeding at the back of his throat. Since we still weren’t sure what it was he was force fed by his sister, Finn had to have an x-ray to rule out any metal objects. To do that they had to put him in a sausage casing plexiglass contraption that held his arms up over his head, pressing him on all sides with only a small cut out by his face, but he was so small, the cut out area came to his nose, so it was awful. He was pinned in there for about 15 minutes, but it felt like forever since he was crying so hard. It was so heartbreaking, I just kept reminding myself that it was a good thing, but it was so hard to not be able to comfort him. I sang to him, held his little hands, and pet his little face and head, trying to make it just the tiniest bit better, but nothing worked until he was out, and back in my arms. My poor sweet little baby boy.
Happily the x-ray was clear, and he got a clean bill of health, so we just have to watch him these next few days until we think whatever it was has passed or been digested. We didn’t see exactly what Gracen fed him, but we suspect it may have been a Froot Loop, but again, not sure. Not exactly how we wanted to end our evening, but the kids loved the house, are so excited to move in, and Finley is doing fine and talking away, playing like nothing ever happened, he’s still as happy as ever!