The Crud...Now with Milestones!

We have been infiltrated by the crud. I am probably to blame. I have been nursing a rattly cough for awhile now and being 1. Cheap and 2. Lazy I never got it checked out.

Baby Girl started with her coughing on Saturday and when I took her in yesterday (after a fever that just wouldn't go away) we found she has the same type of pneumonia she had last year. Thankfully, antibiotics should take care of it, and I have a prescription waiting for me to take as well. Dr. Dad just let me know he is feeling "off" and I just pray and pray it doesn't get to Baby Boy. Baby Girl has been out of school the whole week and I am getting a taste of taking care of two helpless creatures at once! She is striking a pathetic pose on the couch right now with frequent dramatic requests for this or that.

Thankfully, Baby Girl was in much better spirits when she woke us up Sunday morning after losing her first tooth. The Tooth Fairy brought some sugarless gum and a dollar. Happiness all around.

Merry Belated Christmas

Well, I never wrote anything about our Christmas. It came in a rush and left in a rush and I, once again, have no idea how that happens. I make lists, I make plans, I vow to enjoy and relax and inevitably I enter January feeling like I just witnessed a blur.

Baby Boy got his first taste of our crazy Christmas traditions. It was a big difference from Baby Girl's first Christmas, when we were house bound due to her prematurity and RSV season. We managed to see all our family and travel around and open gifts and eat (and eat!) and he did great.

Every year, though, I get a little nostalgic when I think about the Christmas traditions we used to have when I was a child. Of course, I realize that families change and grow and what we do now is create those happy traditions for our children. The memories I have of spending Christmas Eve with my grandparents and aunts and uncles are how my kids will remember Christmas with our parents and siblings. I can only hope they remember their childhood Christmas with as much fondness, and not as a blur with mommy yelling bad things at the tape dispenser when it gunks up during gift wrapping.

Baby Girl got a dollhouse, and NOT a Wii, despite her endless campaign. She really didn't seem to mind, though. Baby Boy got some diapers. He also didn't seem to mind. There were many other gifts including a fabulous new wallet and laptop case to me from Dr. Dad (despite our no gift pledge) and I was very surprised. We are very blessed.

This was also the year Dr. Dad and Baby Girl went to get a live tree and the weather was so bad they just went to Lowe's. Except, when the brought the tree in, it was missing a top. It looked like an artificial tree, and for a moment I thought maybe you had to just insert the top. I even asked Dr. Dad if it might be in the garage. Poor guy had to bundle up the tree, drive back to Lowe's and get a new one. The top had apparently come off when they were netting it for the car. Thankfully we got a discount.

Everything has been packed away and we are settling back into a routine. As usual, we had a green Christmas and are now having a VERY white January.

Time to start planning for Christmas 2009!

N.Y.C. I.O.U.

It occurred to me that I never finished writing about our trip to New York. The Rockettes took up our Friday, but we were there until Sunday afternoon.

What I learned from this trip is that if you are going to be somewhere like New York City for only about 2 days you can either shop, or be a tourist, but not both (at least not very well!).

Here is the summary of the rest of our trip in the rushed tones I felt while trying to Do! It! All! before we jumped in the Taxi for the airport:

Saturday:

Sleep in. Rushed brunch at hotel. Times Square. Look! There's the Empire State Building! Macy's, Macy's, Macy's, Macy's, Macy's, Macy's, Macy's, Macy's (there are 8 floors, people!). Cole Haan. Tiffany's. Look! There's St. Patrick's Cathedral! Light show at Saks. Rockefeller Center. Lose Mom in the massive crowd all trying to see The Tree. Find Mom. See Tree. See tiny portion of ice skating rink due to massive crowd. Escape crowd. Stand in line at Magnolia for cupcakes. Back to Hotel. Order in Pizza. Have night out with my sister involving a wine bar and drinks that cost more than you would believe. Look! There's Tavern on the Green! Sleep.

Sunday:

Sleep in. Rushed breakfast of leftover cupcakes and bagels I make my sister go and buy (it's New York! Must have bagels!). Pack. M&M Store. Time's Square. Tacky Tourist Shopping. Hello Kitty Store. Taxi. Look! There's Central Park! Look! There's Wall Street. Look! That is where the Twin Towers stood. Look! It's Battery Park. Get out and walk to the water to see the Statue of Liberty. Also "Elvis Island" (according to Baby Girl). Taxi. Little Italy. Lunch at La Nonna's. Tacky Tourist Shopping. Taxi. Hotel. Get Luggage. Hugs and Kisses. Taxi. Airport.

It was a trip of a lifetime. Christmas in New York City is truly something to behold. I was hoping one day to go there for the Thanksgiving Day Parade but now I will focus my trips on the West Coast.

Hopefully not as rushed!

A Happy New Year

I am starting off the New Year without resolutions. I never keep them and rarely even remember what I resolved to do anyway!

However, some of us have resolved to try something new...

I was actually thinking I should resolve to keep a spirit of thankfulness throughout the year. With everything that happened in 2008, I realized I can sum it all up quite easily:

Our blessings are many. Our worries are few.

I wish the same for you and yours in 2009.