The Holidays

10 days til Christmas. Well, til Christmas Eve, which is when it begins for me. I have not gotten as much accomplished as I hoped I would by now, but I am getting there. I could have gotten more done had I not been frightened by the parking lot at WalMart on my lunch today. Maybe I will pay the extra couple bucks and get what I need to get from Target.

I have about 50% of my gifts purchased, which isn't a lot because we scaled back considerably this year. I have 3 kids to buy for and a grab bag. I also have some home made gifts I haven't even started on yet. At least I bought the wrapping paper and baked some Christmas cookies. Oh and I got pictures with Santa and the cards are ready for pick up.

Santa and I are tight, so he stopped by.

Cousins

The holidays will be a litle crazy this year. But it's the kind of crazy I am signing up for because I will get to see more people. The plan: Christmas Eve at my parents house. Dinner, gifts for the kids only and spending quality time together. Those two little blondes pictured above, they will be spoiled. Hopefully their Grandpa will read a Christmas story for them too. Christmas Day has changed. In previous years Paul and I have tried going to all family functions and driving ourselves bonkers. The past few years we spent Christmas Day with his family at his sisters in Schaumburg so I didn't get to see any of my extended family at my uncle's house in Plainfield. This year... well, my uncle's starts at 2pm and we are doing Paul's family at Paul's parents house in Woodridge this year at 4pm, so maybe, just maybe I can pull this off. I will need to strategicly plan the nap times too!

So last year at this time I was expecting. I was not sure what to expect, except a baby. That I indeed have. What came with, I was not expecting. I was not expecting the challenges we have faced since a year ago. I was not expecting to have my outlook on life to change as it has. I was not expecting to have this little boys smile melt my heart so much even though it's not perfect. Not being perfect is what probably makes my heart melt just a little bit more.

Speaking of this child. He's HUGE! The first 4 months of his life he was this fragile little thing, now he's a baby in a toddler's body. He's not crawling yet, I think he wants to go directly to walking. His clothes don't even fit over his head! Thanks Dad.... for passing down your unusually large head to my child.

I will end this with a picture of him in a diaper box. It's like his little race car, and when it breaks, there will be another one waiting or available really soon.