Twas the morning of Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...
And then, he woke up.
All our love The Shepherds
So sorry for the long delay in an update. I'm sure you all can relate with the hectic schedules that come with the holidays! Other than preparing for Christmas we've been LOVING the company of my parents! I'm so happy to have them here with us for Christmas. The last two years it has been just our family together on Christmas so it's so nice to have family around. Here are a few random pics from the last few weeks that I decided were blog worthy.
Moose and Bindi were hanging out in the back of Jess's truck supervising the hanging of Christmas lights. Note the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story" in the window on the second floor. :-)
Here is Sydney next to her friend Sam (in the Santa hat) during their Christmas program at school.
We had a little snowfall this past week and the girls were in heaven! They loved seeing the snow and trying to catch the flakes on their tongues. It melted the next day but not before Syd and Jess built a miniature snowman and had a snowball fight. Sydney looks like she was just white washed in this picture but Jess assured me that she piled the snow on her head all by herself. She looks kinda miserable though.
Hi folks. Remember how I said we had solved our bathing problems with purchasing a doll for Lou to wash (the lovely Teresa)? Well, if you laughed at that idea you were RIGHT to do so. She took a bath for the following four nights without complaint then stopped again. So now we only give Lorelei a bath when she is getting a little ripe. It's so strange. Once she is in the tub for about a minute she calms down and enjoys the bath as usual but getting her IN the tub involves screaming, running away, hysterical crying, crumpling in a heap on the floor, thrashing about, all the toddler moves. So we decided it's not worth the stress most nights and she probably doesn't need a daily bath in the winter, when she isn't getting muddy or dirty or sweaty.
So anyhow, how was your week? We played the singing ornament game a thousand times.
We also had a whole bunch of snow over the weekend, which has sadly melted away.
We have all done it. It happens before you realize you are doing it as you stare at that little face, mid-trantrum. You form an opinion, a judgement. It is not your child. No way! My child would never act that way. Never.
Then you have a child and he/she does, at some point, misbehave. If you are a very judgy person, he/she misbehaves royally! That, my friends, is called karma.
I try not to judge. I look at kids in a pile the floor in Wal Mart and wonder if they have special needs, if they have two parents in their homes, if they watch too much violent television. I give them the benefit of the doubt. I try to, anyway. I smile politely and walk away, hoping whatever is bothering the little one will be rectified.
Then I come home from a long day of work and my son takes one look at me and says,"No, get out. I don't want you here, mommy." He even goes so far as to push me out the door. Then he adds the worst comment to the conversation, one-sided conversation, as it were. He says, "Go to New Jersey, I am with Nonna."
Now, I didn't mind living in New Jersey and have a few people still in the state whom I adore...so I wasn't offended by the specificity of the locale. Instead, it was the idea that a child I conceived, carried, was torn to shreds delivering, nursed, suffered with, cried over, was many times and will continue to be infected by, puked on, peed on, you name it, I did it for...wants me to exit stage left.
Thoughts of threatening Santa came first, then the desire to spank, punish, time-out...no none of this will work. I asked him to apologize, this wasn't nice talk. He refused...so he did get the time-out for that but in that time I discovered what I would do next. It was, I must say, ingenious.
I pulled out pics of his friends. I told him I was looking for my new son. (Now, bear with me...he kicked me out, remember?) He was confused, of course. I explained that I was told to leave and that would mean I couldn't be his mommy and I would need to find a new family. He began to tear up. He threw himself at me and cuddled with me, he played with my hair, he breathed me in. He told me he loved me, over and over again.
It might have been mean...but it was a stone for a stone...and I doubt I'll be told to leave the house again anytime soon. If I do....I'll need to come up with something even better.
This parenting thing is a work in progress...just remember that the next time you judge. Maybe, just maybe that mom has something up her sleeve too...you just don't know it yet.
So see below for kiddo's first visit with Santa. We have been wearing the new hat every day which is good because she hates the hat I crocheted for her with a fiery passion. She also did a little hat fashion show for us the other morning.
This week we were supposed to go to her winter concert but it was cancelled due to cold weather (they had to walk over to campus to do it) so that was a bummer. Maybe someday I'll get to see her in a concert.
The only other news is that I gave her a haircut as you can probably see above. Oh yeah, and Eric is introducing her to Star Wars. She is really into Star Trek since she saw the beginning of the latest movie at Walmart in French with French subtitles (apparently our Walmart is trying to give us some culture). We kept having to tell her the car driving sequence as a story while driving to school. So Eric got her a Star Wars picture book and got out his toys. He also has an Empire Strikes Back pillowcase but that is on HIS pillow. Here they are playing with Chewy in the couch fort we made tonight.
The other day I found myself wondering - if Andrew and I don't buy presents for the kids on Christmas - will they be there anyway? What if we test it? What if the the big guy really does exist but since we take care of the gift buying, the wrapping and the placing under the tree (we even eat the jolly old elf's cookies that kids made for him), maybe he just doesn't show up because he's not needed (and we ate half of his treats)? It could be true right? If you believe?
Yeah, I must be the parent of a six and three year old. Their undoubting belief in Santa is very powerful. Nia reminds me each day that the "Elf on the Shelf" is watching and that he flies messages to Santa. When I took the kids to see Santa at the mall this year, Nate ran up to him and jumped in his lap, wrapping his arms around him. He did it without hesitation. He did it with love in his heart and excitement for the wonder that Santa brings. I stood there with tears in my eyes. Adult strangers waiting in line for their child's photo stood there with tears in their eyes.
I suppose it's because the moments like I just experienced with Nate far outweigh the moment of "finding out." His happiness and love for the stranger hiding behind a white beard and red velvet suit made me want to believe again. (Plus, he was a really good Santa!) Part of me hopes to find a mysterious present under the tree for me - special delivery from the North Pole.
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