Merry Christmas!

We were very blessed this Christmas having my parents, Aunt Dani, and Uncle Rhett here to help us celebrate. It was wonderful having a fire going while watching the snow fall on Christmas Eve. I was excited to have a white Christmas for a change. Aunt Dani and Uncle Rhett helped Caleb roast marshmallows over the fire the first night, something Aunt Dani used to enjoy the most as a child. They continued to spoil Caleb the rest of the weekend. Christmas Eve Caleb was sooo excited anticipating Santa's arrival, he didn't even protest at bedtime. Just after he fell asleep, I woke him for another sneak peek of Santa this year while Santa was picking up his elf Sandy to return back to the North Pole. It's getting harder for Caleb to restrain himself, he really wanted to go talk to Santa this time. We may have to discontinue this tradition next year or we will get ourselves in a pickle. But it was cute seeing how excited he was to see Santa. After Caleb fell asleep again, Greg and uncle Rhett worked hard to get everything ready for Christmas morning. Luckily Caleb didn't get up until 8a.m. so we had a little time to rest before the chaos, though Lexie didn't care what time or day it was. She still prefers to stay awake at night and sleep during the day. Caleb was spoiled by Santa this year, but it was worth it to see his face light up as he ran into the living room to see all his presents. He didn't know what to look at first, but ultimately the blue guitar and Spiderman scooter were the biggest hits. He enjoyed singing to the family most of the day on his microphone GiGi gave him. It was priceless! I think we have a rock star in the making. Lexie wasn't too concerned about what Santa brought her, she was content with snuggling with GiGi. We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying wonderful company and food. I hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas.

Holiday Fun

Since Lexie arrived we haven't been able to do as many activities with Caleb. So we wrapped Lexie in a bundle to avoid too much exposure, and took Caleb to do all of the planned activities for the holidays in 2 days. We went to the Prairie Lights and enjoyed hot cocoa and cookies on the journey throug the wonderful Christmas Lights. Lexie and I stayed in the warm car while Daddy and Caleb went to play and see more lights at the half way mark through the parade of lights.The next day, Greg took Caleb through the ICE at the Gaylord Texan. Greg said Caleb really enjoyed seeing the Grinch and sliding down the ice slide. He loved telling me all about the train they rode and how he wanted to go down the slide again. I love visiting the Gaylord Texan around the holidays, it is wonderfully decorated and gets you in the Christmas spirit.Finally we visited Bass Pro Shop to see Santa and enjoy their Winter Wonderland. Greg and Caleb enjoyed playing the different games, riding the carousel, and watching the trains. Caleb finally ended the evening in Santa's lap. I missed it since Lexie was demanding to eat, but Caleb told me all about it in a very excited rush of words when he reached the truck. Lexie had a busy week too. She had her 2 week visit, where she surpassed her birth weight goal weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and has reached 20 in. She's already growing like a weed. She also saw the ENT specialist to have her very short frenulum cut. Later Greg and I laughed as we watched Lexie experiment with her tongue's newly found freedom. She apparently enjoys sticking her tongue out at us already.

All I Want For Christmas

Caleb is really excited about Santa coming. He reminds me every night about what he wants for Christmas from Santa. " Mommy, when Santa comes, he's going to bring me a blue guitar, a microphone, and drums." He has become a big fan of music over the last year; he loves to watch American Idol and listen to Cross Canadian Ragweed, Texas Country, with Daddy. Though not a big fan of the idea of having drums, the other 2 are ok. So I informed him he may not get everything he asks for since there are lots of children who need presents, but he could give Santa ideas. His response was " but it's only 3 things Mom." My other fear was that we couldn't find a blue guitar, and Caleb is so concerned about detail, so I asked if there were any other colors that we could tell Santa. "No, I like blue." Two nights ago he informed me again that he was getting a blue guitar from Santa, then he added "and if it's not the right one I will be mad." I have created a monster. It's our fault of course, as my mother puts it, since we encourage him to make a list of what he wants for Christmas to give to Santa. We'll continue to work on the real meaning of Christmas I think.

Yesterday we received a note from Caleb's teacher letting us know Caleb told another kid to "shut up". When she asked where he learned that word, he replied "jail". I think kids just try to find ways to embarrass their parents. Though apparently she found out from him that some of the kids play pretend jail at recess. And she actually apologized for not keeping better control of their conversations. I have to admit when I started reading the note I thought it was informing us that Caleb learned a bad word from Mommy or Daddy. Of course you never know what Caleb will say to keep himself out of trouble these days. He has actually been lying to us more often recently. Unfortunately for him, he's not very good at it. He often tells Greg that I said its ok to eat this or that, when I just told him no, while Greg and I are standing right in front of him. Let's hope he never learns the true art of lying.

Here are some pics of Greg and Caleb building Caleb's book shelf. They did a wonderful job.

Lexie's Arrival

Well were finally graced with Lexie Ireland on December 1 at 2:02p.m. "She is a chunk" is the first thing my OB said when she saw her, and she was right. Blessed with the Snodgrass cheeks, she weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 19 1/4 in long with a head full of hair. We were so excited to finally meet her. Caleb was disappointed when he came by before the delivery and Lexie wasn't "out of my tummy yet." But he was so excited when he ran in the room that evening looking for his new baby sister. He was very proud of his "Baby Lexie", but when I asked him what he thought of her he said "Baby Lexie has a boy face, she's a boy." I told him the doctor assured me she was a girl and that she will eventually get a "girl face." I guess until then we'll have to put bows in her hair and make sure she wears pink to avoid confusion. We stayed 2 days in the hospital and then finally made it home late last week. Monte welcomed her home first. Thankfully my Mom stayed through the weekend to help with the house work and entertain Caleb. That was such a blessing. Caleb is very helpful himself. He loves to "help" change Lexie's diapers and informs me when "Baby Lexie" doesn't like something. He even wanted to help feed her once asking "can she suck on my tummy mommy?" I explained how only Mommy could feed her, he replied "but I have bottles too." What do you say after that! He entertains me so much, I love it. Daddy bought Lexie a winter hat. Here are some pictures of the wonderful shower my co-workers threw for me.

And here is us getting the Christmas tree up in a little early this year to be prepared for Baby Lexie's arrival. Caleb helped Daddy put up the tree.Caleb was very excited to put the "balls on the tree". Since he could only reach so far, we had most of the decorations at the bottom of the tree. As tradition, Caleb put the topping on the tree.