christmas 2015

Merry Christmas to all!  As you can see, ours was a great success.  

siri says

I have the CRAZIEST week (expect me to say that every week this month, like everyone else!) So today I just wanted to post a few of my favorite photos from the Thanksgiving holiday, with very little commentary.  Without further adieu...

I was basically obsessed with Claire's Thanksgiving outfit - and can we talk about those fox socks??  99 cents at Old Navy!  

We played Jingle Bells on the piano roughly 10 times...I think she has a musical future!  

And THEN she fell asleep on me on Wednesday, something that basically never happens anymore.  I might be paying for that now, as the last few nights she's been much more demanding with her bedtime routine and frankly everyone's a little exhausted.....it could also be from the excess of being out of her routine but hopefully we can get it back on track soon!  Until then, coffee.  

"Helping" me get ready for a holiday party.  

Pancakes on Sunday morning!  

Running with the theme of naptime cuddles, and rough bedtimes, Claire has been verrrrrry clingy lately and we've been doing lots of wearing again.  

She is exhausting but she sure is adorable.  I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and are not *too* stressed out by Christmas' approach!  

Happy Holidays, xo

happy new year!

IT's been a CRAZY few weeks around here - besides the hustle and bustle of the holidays, Claire and I both got hit with the flu and we're just coming out of it.  I tell you, you've never known panic until your 6 month old's tiny body feels like a furnace.  We're also learning to wrap (fun, but hard!) learning to eat solids (with very little interest, admittedly) and and learning to stand.  She's getting dangerously close, and I fear she'll walk before she crawls very well.  Sorry for the quick in-and-out, but I'm home with my still contagious baby today, so I leave you with this flood of photos and a wish that the first real full week of work this year doesn't hit you too hard!  

the weekender/christmas edition!

Sorry for the radio silence everyone!  Our little house got attacked by the nastiest of colds, and last week, well I think we can pretty much strike it from the record.  Not much of anything happened really, and Darrell was the only one that made it out unscathed - although he was STILL forced to take a sick day just to take care of Claire & I on 6 month shot days.  Shot days are the worst, am I right?!  And I was just kind of pathetic at that point, all sweatpants and coughs and runny nose nonsense, not nearly the kind of parent you want taking care of your baby that just had 3 shots (in one day!  sheesh!) so Darrell came home from work and took over.  

I think we're mostly out of the woods now, I've been diffusing all the anti-germ essential oils for a week (more on this soon....) and it seems to have actually worked.  Friday night we went out for noodle soup just to make sure every cold was properly kicked to the curb. 

There is this fantastic restaurant in St. Louis' Chinatown called Famous Szechuan Pavilion.  Yes, we have a Chinatown, and yes it is VERY small.  But it exists!  Having been to China, well, this is as close to the real deal as it gets.  They don't turn the heat on (space heaters only, which I'm not sure actually saves any electricity but you know....) and the water isn't served cold.  Cleanliness is questionable.  However!  It's BYOB and all the food is served boiling hot, so no worries.  Get the house noodle soup and the vegetable fried rice.  Bonus points for frying an egg and serving it atop the fried rice leftovers for breakfast the next day!

 By Saturday we were all feeling mostly recovered and decided that it was time that Claire meet Santa!  She basically killed the first Santa visit.  Is it a little mean if I say I was kind of disappointed she didn't cry?  Those pictures are kind of hilarious.  I'm sure I'm jinxing us for next year and she'll have a total meltdown.  But she loved this guy!  He was sort of magical in a Miracle on 34th street kind of way.  He actually insisted he chat with every child after taking a picture (which made the line loooooooong) and he really did talk to Claire, and she stared into his eyes like he was Old St. Nick for sure, just rapt in attention.  Crazy stuff.  I'm not sure I could've felt any more warm & fuzzy.  

 Claire is definitely into the sparkly and fun elements of Christmas.  Her exersaucer is right next to our tree and this is pretty much all she does in it anymore: 

Holds her little hands like that and stares at the lights.  Okay, now for the rest of the baby photos this week that are completely unrelated to this narrative.  

She keeps trying to pull herself up on things and I keep telling her she's only 6 months old.  So far, she's winning this argument.  

friday link love

I'm not sure why, but my link love posts always get me so reflective.  Probably because it's always the end of another week, and the weeks seem to pass so quickly with Claire in the mix.  

This week, I really felt how close it is - how close we are to that time of year where everyone really shows their true colors.  Where you can feel stressed, or feel the joy.  I'm already feeling a little anxiety about our family gatherings - there's so much more pressure on us to come to EVERYTHING and to be everywhere because of Claire.  Just looking at our calendar for Thanksgiving & Christmas makes me nervous.  

But, I just need to keep in mind that the most important thing is us three and I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that we can't do everything.  Christmas with a baby will be a lot easier if we just simplify.  A few things we're doing differently this year?  Fewer gifts - I'm talking just parents, siblings, and one another.  I love buying something for each and every one of my loved ones, but this year of course we want to devote the majority of our resources to Claire, and the time investment in finding the right thing for everyone is just too much!  No doubling up on events - we won't be carting ourselves around to three lunches between noon and 3 pm.  Just one Thanksgiving dinner.  Living in the moment, rather than worrying about having Claire fed and changed by the time we have to hurry hurry to the next house.  

Lastly, no pressuring ourselves about decorating.  We'll have a tree - and that's it! And even though we'll be using our good old fake tree we'll probably take a trip to a tree farm for some photos of a bundled up baby, because you have to, right?  

Ranting about the holiday season, finished.  Here are this week's favorite links!  

Seriously, stop asking parents how their kids are sleeping!  

I cannot get enough of these funny posts captioning old paintings: here, women having a terrible time at old parties, and women being proposed to.  

Did you know that even sign language has accents?  

I don't have any *fancy* holiday parties this year, but I kind of wish that I did so I'd have an excuse to wear this dress!  

Graphic design can be so clever!  I never noticed most of these hidden messages in famous logos.  

Made me laugh, but also makes me shake my head!  I think someone from Mt. Vernon, IL wrote this e-card.