Post Thanksgiving Haze

The last couple of days have been full of fun, food, travel, shopping, relaxation, shopping, fun and oh, did I mention shopping? Now, I was not one of those crazies who camped out in front of a store to grab a great deal. I was one of those people who scanned the Internet, found the early deals, and ordered from the comfort and warmth of my home. Today, however, my MIL and I had cabin fever and decided to head out to a cute little town near us to do some shopping. If they had only known we were coming!

I have not had a chance to load the turkey day pics, but I do have the day after pic of Emma's debut as an artist. I give you, the wall of Emma.


Thank you GD for the usage of your sticky-note pads and of course, the crayons. And to Olivia, who had a had in a couple of the masterpieces.

The Weekend Review

Being the last weekend before J has to start working partial Saturday's (gotta love retail during the holidays!), we wanted to make sure we all had a good time and just enjoyed each other. We started off by going to the music store and purchasing a drum for the girls for Christmas. A drum. In my house. Not at grandparents. My house. Crazy, maybe, but the girls are going to love it!

We then decided to come home and be cozy bums for the rest of the afternoon. J and I made it out that night (thank you Dana!!!) for a rare weekend outing minus children. It was wonderful. Dinner with my sweetie. Peaceful.

Sunday was a beautiful day, all be it cold, but still great. The usual grocery shopping out of the way and Olivia down for a nap, J, Emma and I went bowling - Emma's very first time! She had a great time and was really good at it. Must have some natural talent there - not from me that's for sure!

Today, it is snowing. Thanks MI. It gives way to a wonderful reason to stay in jammies, as the girls are at the moment, and to just have fun.

Bach-a-Bach-a

Olivia has her own special language right now. It's a very different experience from Emma, who never babbled and communicated with baby-talk. She went straight to talking right around eighteen months and hasn't stopped since. Olivia, however, is on the slower track. I must admit, I love hearing her garbled way of chatting. It is so cute and sweet and she has a very definitive opinion, although you may not know what it is.

She can certainly get a point across when needed. But I keep waiting for some real words to sneak out. There have been a few. Hi. Go (when she's talking to the dogs).Baby. Momma. Dadda. I swear she tries to say Emma. She does actually say a couple of phrases if you listen closely. Here you go.

I know it will happen when she is ready. Since the only experience we have is with Emma it's hard not to compare and worry a little bit. I am, however, glad to delay the inevitable arguing and screaming that will occur shortly. There are already very one-sided arguments from Emma in the backseat. "She's looking at me!" "Olivia just shushed me!"

Ah, the moments of silence are coming to an end and I know I will think back to these times and think, damn, I had it good.

Already???

Ugh. I thought maybe I was hearing things today. Perhaps my subconscious was trying to test my sanity. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week already. But what is harder to believe is the Christmas music being piped through stores already. I could hardly believe what I was listening to. Scrooge I am not - I love my Christmas music - AFTER THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Emma took note today as well. We had unloaded ourselves from the car to pick up two of the reasons I vacuum daily and she saw a store window decorated with all that is Christmas. 'Momma, don't they know we haven't had Thanksgiving yet? I think I need to tell them it hasn't passed yet'. Observations of a five-year old.

An early start...

I never was one to wait until the last minute to start my Christmas shopping - save that one year I stopped somewhere on my way to Christmas Eve with my family for a gift. With the girls now, I feel like if I don't start planning in April I will be endlessly behind and lost in the drones. Of course, the hottest most desired toy list of the year doesn't come out that early, so anything purchased prior to that may not meet with the masses standards.

Ok, so what is my point exactly with my nonsensical rambling right now? Well, I can never be totally sure myself. All I know is that as we delved into the wretched world known as Christmas shopping, I felt some happiness as I tossed items into the cart for the girls and their cousins. At one point, I could feel myself thinking, who cares - what's one more toy! I truly dislike how early Christmas is thrust upon us - creeping into other holidays before they are even past. But, when the season is truly, officially upon us, I am in love. The sites, sounds, smells and meaning of Christmas is one of the things I truly enjoy. Of course, all of it is so much more special with my girls.

Look What I Can Do!

In an ongoing effort to be more like her sister, Olivia is now mastering the art of putting her socks and shoes on. It's a refreshing change from her usual pull & ditch seconds after being buckled into the car. All in good time I suppose - Em went through the same phase. I remember not being so amused when she did it either.



Of course, Emma had to sneak into the picture, so as to not miss out on a photo op :)

Sisters

When the girls sit together nicely to enjoy a little bit of Sesame Street, it just warms my heart. They actually gel together pretty well, although they do have their moments as I would expect from two girls. When I think about having one more, I worry about ruining the amazing dynamic we have going right now. As I type, Olivia just climbed up on the couch with Emma to snuggle - I love mornings like this.

A new couch & a trip to the ER

To make things interesting this week, we thought that a trip to the ER may add some excitement. We had finally decided on a new couch for the living room, after much searching and debate. Off we went to the store to make our purchase, with Olivia in tow while Emma relaxed at Grandma's house. In front of the couch we wanted to purchase was this beautiful glass topped table. I had made a comment to Jason about how much I liked it but that we could never have it in the house right now. He felt the edges and said they were smooth and even the corners were rounded - but I saw head bumps and sticky finger prints all over it. Not more than a minute later, Olivia graciously proved why we could not have the table - she went to walk towards it and tripped over the rug that was placed under it and took a header into the table.

A nice little gash next her eye, oozing blood and a concerned sales person later and we were off the ER. Thankfully, it stopped bleeding shortly after we left the store. At the ER they determined that it would not need stitches - thank God! Olivia screamed bloody murder when they put her id bracelet on her ankle. Stitches would have required some kind of sedation, for her and me. So, after a little bit of the medical equivalent of super glue to her cut, we headed home.

She is certainly no worse for the wear - she was quite the little trooper. We were quite exhausted from the whole experience but were grateful that things weren't worse. We have called her our 'bubble wrap' child for many reasons...this just adds to the list.

Needless to say we didn't purchase our lovely new couch that day. If Olivia didn't like it, she could have just told us in a gentler, less ER kind of way.