Bedtime Blues

Bedtime and nap time at our house have been terrible for the past week. Up until then we could read a few books to the boys, put them in their beds, kiss them good night and walk out. They would play in their cribs and laugh and act silly until they would finally settle down and go to sleep. Well, Gary went to Louisiana for a week and a half with his grandmother where he got rocked to sleep for naps and went to bed with her at night. In short, he got spoiled. His homecoming gift to his little brother was a nasty cold. So, between Gary's new need for companionship while he drifts off into dreamland and Will's misery and snotty nose neither one wants to go to sleep the easy way. For the past week, Gary and I have been lying on the floor next to their cribs until they go to sleep. It works, but it takes a huge chunk out of our time to ourselves. Sometimes it takes an hour or longer for them to go to sleep. Ugh!

Christmas Morning 2007

Christmas this year has been kind of a blur, but it was fun and memorable, and I have plenty of pictures to show for it. My husband, Gary, was injured at work December 3rd and has been home convalescing since then. He's the one who usually climbs through the scuttle hole into the attic to dig out the fake tree and the boxes and boxes of ornaments. He wasn't able to do it this year, so I waited until my brother was here to help me, and I went up there Christmas Eve. We got down a tiny 3 ft tree and a few ornaments and let the boys think that Santa put up the tree for us. Of course, for his labor he was paid the handsome wage of two pieces of fudge and a glass of milk.

We had a quiet, okay maybe not quiet, simple Christmas at home—our little family and my brother, Rick. 

The boys woke up around 7 am. I sent my husband down to wake Uncle Rick whose job it was to video the boys seeing the gifts that Santa left. We played until we were famished, stopped to eat, and then opened more gifts. It was a fun day. I think Gary understood a little about Santa. We watched all the usual cartoon specials and read books about Santa and Rudolph and went to see Santa at the mall. Next year will be very cool. Hopefully he'll remember some of today and will be able to anticipate the stocking and the gifts and the festivities. Next year I will have this year's pictures to show him. 

Will didn't understand any of the Santa business, but he understands toys. He was all over the place checking out all the cool stuff, mostly all his brother's cool stuff. He has a cold, so he was a little grumpier than usual. Poor thing. Thank God for photo editing. I had to erase snot from several pictures. YUCK!