How We Spent Our Christmas and Why Did Santa Break My Bike?

Late November and December have been very busy times. Christmas came very fast this year and I begrudgingly decided to use our fake Christmas tree for the holiday. I hated to do it and the tree is only 4ft tall but with all the holiday prep we just didn't see getting a real tree as a good choice for us this year. The little tree still looked great once we got it up and decorated and even though all the presents didn't fit "under" it we were able to surround it!

Mike and I also tried to squeeze in some Christmas activities. I had some grand ideas with almost one activity planned a night but Rooney got sick and then the rest of us got sick so we only did one or two things. For the first time we went to Coulon Beach and saw the famous Clam Lights. The light display was pretty impressive but it was incredibly cold the night we went. We quickly walked the lights, snapped a few photos and left as soon as we could. I also was finally able to get Rooney and Ailbe's picture taken with Santa Claus. We went to Factoria Mall and had the same Santa we had in previous pictures. I was later told that they have had the same Santa for 30 years!















Speaking of photos! The day after Thanksgiving the photography company that took Ailbe's birth announcement photo came out to take a 1 month later photo of her. We had them also take a photo of both the kids together. We finally got the pictures last week and we think they're pretty cute. As you can see Ailbe has grown alot. We had her 2 month check up on December 22nd. Ailb's has almost doubled her birth weight and is now weighing in at 12-1/2lbs. She has also grown a few inches and is 23" long. Her new cousin Lexy is probably taller than her still but she is now in the 75% for height. Of course she is also in the 85% for weight. Her temporary nickname is Chubs. Can't call a girl that for much longer but it's pretty cute and fitting right now. I would hate to have a 2 year old sticking a finger down her throat so we've got to come up with something else pretty soon.



Grandma Peggie came out for Christmas on the 22nd. This is an annual visit for her and she stayed with us for most of the visit. Thankfully this year we did not have a White Christmas and we were able to get out and about. On the 23rd we went to Westlake Center in Seattle. We took the new light rail directly to Westlake and met up with The Howards. They have a beautiful carousel down there which Mike took Rooney on twice. It was pretty crowded so we didn't get to have a fancy dinner or anything but by the time we were able to get something to eat the food court food was fantastic! I think Rooney really enjoyed the train ride and of course his time with his Cousin Felix.

Christmas Eve we went to the Howards and had the Wade family tradition of pizza for dinner and exchanged gifts for the kids. We had a nice time catching up with family. Rooney and Felix played a ton of course and Megan came up from CA. Christmas Eve night was a little stressful. Santa got Rooney a bike and it needed to be assembled. The hand brakes proved to be a problem for Santa and a vital screw may have been snapped. Santa and Mrs. Claus decided that the bike was cheaply made and that coaster brakes may not be enough with some of the hills we have here. Christmas morning Rooney did not wake up to the bike under the tree that we had hoped but the day after Christmas Santa took back the broken bike and picked up a preassembled one that is much cooler. So on December 26th Rooney came downstairs to a new bike. He let us know that we could "take that bow off!". I guess he felt it looked girly. I'll add more Christmas photos on Flickr soon.

Rooney is saying alot of funny stuff these days. Of course since I'm behind on the blog alot of it isn't written down. He is still telling his famous jokes. It's amazing how they just come off the top of his head. He told us one the other night that was pretty funny. He said "Why do bears have babies?" and of course we said 'Why?". Then he hit us with the punchline. I did not see this one coming and he said "because they want ornaments with chocolate in them!". You can see why I didn't expect this punchline since it did not have an eyeball, in your face or banana in it. Funny nonetheless. One last interesting thing I should mention is that Cheesie has made a reemergence in Rooney's life. Not Baby Cheesie since he's been lost a long time but Momma Cheesie! One night we were reading Froggy Goes to Bed (which we call Rooney goes Night-Night (Froggy is Rooney & we replace all references of Froggy with Rooney upon his insistence). Froggy loses his huggy (aka Cheesie) and finds it in the book. When we were reading it Rooney still had us say Cheesie instead of Huggy and then asked for his Momma Cheesie. She's been sleeping with him ever since. For some reason that makes me feel really good.

We're All Mathletes Here!

I have been wanting to post for the last week or so but time really just keeps slipping past. Since I last wrote there have been a few developments. One I am embarassed to write about. You would think Mike and I were new to this whole parenting thing! So in my last post I talked about how Ailbe seemed to go from tiny to chub in less than 60 seconds. We were a bit mystified but also not because that's what babies do...they grow and get chubby. Well the other day I was rereading the instructions on her formula canister when I realized we were giving her the wrong amount. We have been giving her 1 scoop per ounce of water and according to the package we should have been giving her 1 scoop per 2 ounces! We don't know how long we were giving her too much mix but we do know at some point we were giving her the correct amount because we remember doing 1/2 scoops. I suspect we started giving her too much around the time she really started chubbing up but that is just a hunch. Since we have corrected the amount we have been feeding her she is eating more often but thankfully she is still a good sleeper at night. Whew! She even slept through the whole night last night! 7 weeks! I have to look back through the posts when Rooney was born and find out when he slept through the whole night. He was pretty young too. Besides sleeping through the night Ailbe is also smiling.

Ailbe has smiled since she was first born and it wasn't gas but the smiling now is different. I think she is honestly happy now when she's smiling now and it's not just a reflex like maybe it was before. Either way it was beautiful.

Rooney is still being a great big brother and just adores his sister. He is picking out things Ailbe should get for Christmas. Mostly anything pink, princessy or a doll he feels she should have. He loves to give her hugs and kisses and really likes being a helper with her. I've been looking for any signs of jealousy but so far there haven't been any. Not even any resentment over having to be quiet when she's sleeping or Mom not being able to do whatever he wants because I'm feeding her. We've of course been up to our normal activities and he is still really enjoying his swimming lessons and karate. Mike and I have been trying to get the house ready for Christmas but to be honest I'm not quite ready for all that just yet. We decided to use our fake tree this year and our decorations are only half up. Mike and Rooney got most of the lights on the house but our yard decorations are lacking and inside the house hasn't been touched yet. Hopefully this weekend.

Rooney did get to see Santa at least once so far. We went to the Reindeer Festival at Cougar Mountain Zoo. After a lot of hesitation Rooney finally decided he was ready to see Santa. He wouldn't sit on his lap but he did sit on a stool next to Santa and me and told him he wanted Transformers and stuffed animals for Christmas. I think the stuffed animal request was due to the fact that we had just been in the zoo gift shop but he gave Santa quite a little list. Thankfully Santa was familiar with the Transformer Bumble Bee so they had a connection. Now I have to make sure he gets one!