Home.

In close to 24 hours we will be home owners again!

I cannot believe our journey of building our house is coming to an end. Yes, I realize we will have a lot more to do but the fact that it is actually going to be ours, is almost not comprehensible. It was the bumpiest ride but we made it!

We started with this....

Now we are moving into this....

The actual building part went so fast. From November to December it was like an overnight transformation. I still remember stopping by the house before leaving for the cruise and seeing the siding - we were in total shock and were just not expecting it.

This neighborhood is going to give me that warm and fuzzy feeling I have been looking for. There might only be four houses now but I know this is going to be a place we are going to call home for a long time!

Phew!

I'm not sure where the past week has gone, but it is gone. Christmas was so much fun this year. We headed down to Raleigh to be with the Baker's and Charlies mom. Henry had a blast with "Oulia", "Deenie", Uncle Steven and Grandma. We are still working on the sleeping situation but it is getting a little better.

Thursday we headed over to a Kids museum in Raleigh called Marbles. It was a great museum and we were in total shock on the price. It was only $5, yes $5! We have a kids museum in Baltimore and I think it is like $15 a person! Henry and Julia had a great time playing make believe with all the exhibits.

Friday was Christmas Eve. We kind of hung around and then went to lunch. We headed out to church with a very cranky Henry. He lasted maybe ten minutes at church. When church was over he melted and I mean melted into a scary demon child. I ended up not going to dinner and taking him home because he had fallen asleep in the car. They did bring me home some food.

Christmas morning was a BLAST! The kids came running down the hall to see all of their loot. Santa made Deenie's family room look like Toys R Us, there was so much stuff. Neither of them knew what to do first. I think we opened gifts for close to two hours there was so much stuff! I was treated very well...Pandora charms, new Uggs, NorthFace Jacket, robe and lots of other little things.

That night as we were going to bed it started to snow...and snow....and snow. We got up the next morning to about six inches of snow! We were trying to wait until it had gotten a little warmer before we hit the road home so we took the kids sledding in the driveway. Their faces lit up when they went down the hill in the saucer. Henry might have been wearing a pink snowsuit. I'm sure when I pull out the pictures when he is older, he is not going to be happy with us.

The reason we had to get home was that my Nana had passed away last week and her service is tomorrow in PA. We are leaving tonight to make the four hour trip up there. Henry is staying home with Grandpa and Gayle.

Thank you so much Deenie and Uncle Steve for hosting us, we can't wait to do it again!

Bah humbug!

Bah Humbug - yep that's me! I'm usually dripping with holiday spirit but for some reason not this year.

Maybe it is beacause my Nana is very ill and my mom is sitting by herself in a nursing home with her or the fact that Henry refuses to sleep, maybe because World Market is my enemy and I didn't want them to be or maybe the that we have our final walk through on Wednesday and we had a leak in the house and there are holes everywhere.

These are all possible reasons that I feel like Scrooge.

I know once we leave and get to Raleigh, I will have a little more spirit....but for today, I'm going to be Scroogie.

Bah Humbug!

Time's Up!

My time is up with Henry in his crib. The past few nights he has been refusing to go to sleep. We were trying to get him so tired that he would not realize it was bedtime and he would just pass out.

Last night we went out to dinner and Gayle and Grandpa were watching him. They did our regular routine but he wanted nothing to do with reading his books. Gayle tried but he just kept running to the door. She put him in his crib and walked out. Well then the screaming started. They let him cry for a few minutes but then walked back in to him throwing his leg over the top of the crib rail and almost landing on the rocking chair. Gayle caught him just in time. Then Gayle said he was jumping up and down so much that he was able to get his waist over the top too!

We finally arrived home and found him sitting on the couch with Grandpa and Gayle. We didn't know what else to do, so we took the mattress out of the crib and laid it on the ground. He sleeps on a mat at school so we thought maybe this would work. Well, 45 minutes later he finally fell asleep. I just kind of laid there until I knew he was out. He didn't move the rest of the night, of couse I slept with one eye open just in case I heard him moving.

This is all fine but we are traveling a lot in the next few weeks and not only that we are moving in two weeks! I was hoping to work on this in the new house, I should have known that Henry would have a different plan.

Any tips would be great!

I Won!

Last week I entered a contest over at Mom of Two Boys. The contest was for a self inking address stamp. I always wanted one of these and I figured with the new house this would be the perfect time to get one, so I entered and I found out that I won! The stamp is going to come from GlitterPuff on Etsy. I am pretty excited about a little stamp.

You know what else I won....a night of no sleep with Henry. Last night was a bedtime nightmare. He went to bed as usual. Put his blanket in, put is mickey in and I picked him up and put him in. He seemed fine.....then it started one hour of calling out Daddy and this moaning noise. Charlie went to get him to call him down and brought him downstairs. We gave him a snack and then sent him on his way back upstairs. Now he was crying. I didn't know what else to do and this was a last resort but we put him in bed with us. He slept from 9:45 to 11:45. Then he woke up crying again and was inconsolable. We got him some water and tried to calm him down. I even put on Thomas to see if that would work, but it only lasted a minute. We went downstairs had a little snack and then laid on the couch. At 12:30 we headed back upstairs and I kicked Charlie out. I finally got him to sleep around 1:30 or so.

He looks exhausted this morning. We can't figure out why he didn't want to be in his crib. He is usually always a good sleeper so nights like this just throw up for a loop. I just hope we don't have a repeat performance tonight!

Weekend

The weekends are going by pretty quickly now that Christmas is really only a week and a half away. We have something planned almost everyday!

This past weekend there was a Christmas party at Charlie's dads house (where we live). He had a magician, Kevin, come in to entertain the guests. This guy is AMAZING! He makes a card show up in a banana and you have to peel the banana to reveal the card. Henry loved watching his tricks. He even made Henry some balloon animals and a sword.

The party was wrapping up and there were some guests left so I let Ellie out. She was being kept in the basement so she would not eat all the food. Well she ran over to the guests and they started petting her, then all of a sudden she laid down and started moaning. Charlie ran over and picker her up....His words to his Dad "I think she is dead." I immediately started crying. Her eyes rolled back and her tongue was hanging out. We brought her into the laundry room where Charlie put water on her lips. After a few minutes she was back but couldn't really walk. We took a blanket and wrapped it around her and sat with her on the couch. She still wouldn't take water but she was eating Milkbones. In about an hour she was back to herself.

We have no idea what happened but it was just so very scary. Ellie will be 12 in March and we realize she is old but if you saw her you would think she was still a puppy!

On Sunday once we could see that Ellie was okay we headed into DC to see the train exhibit at Union Station. What a waste of gas! There was one model train - ONE! Sorry there was one exhibit and it had three trains on it. I thought it was going to be this big exhibit and when we saw it we were so disappointed. Henry loved it regardless and loved watching the choo's choo's go round but we could have gone somewhere closer. At least we know not to waste our time next year.

Five Question Friday

1. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Growing up we always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve morning before we would leave for my Grandparents house. Now a days with travel and and family we have Christmas about three times! We do open most of everything on Christmas day but there are times when Christmas with other family is the week before.

2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie (or candy)?
Growing up my Grandmother used to make the BEST sugar cookie! She always made me angels with pretty sprinkles. These cookies were so thin it was amazing. Even when she was very old she would still make me that cookie and we would marvel how this little women would be able to roll the dough like a sheet a paper.


3. What's the worst Christmas gift you've ever received?
Sorry Charlie but the worst gift I ever received was the Christmas he gave me silverware. Now the silverware was very nice but not a gift for a boyfriend to give his girlfriend. We still talk about that Christmas.


4. Christmas song that you love?
I know this is going to sound corny but my favorite Christmas song is All I Want for Christmas is You. It always brings a smile to my face and I have to turn it up real loud when I am in the car.


5. How many trees do you put up?
One. I don't think I will ever put up more then one and only because I don't like to take the down. We always get a live tree and they are very messy to haul out.

Almost Finished

Charlie and I met for lunch today over at the house and HOLY MOSES! We had trees and they were getting ready to lay down the sod! They also put our posts in for our porch and this was only what we saw when we pulled up!

After trying to figure out what had been planted in our front yard, we went inside to find light fixtures, toilets, hardwoods and men carpeting the house. I even walked into a bathroom and was able to turn the lights one.

We also ran into the head construction guy and talked about the ac unit eye sore. Who puts an ac unit right in front of a big picture window!?!?

It doesn't look bad in this picture but you can see it as soon as you walk down the hallway. I was quite annoyed when we saw this last week and Charlie said that he would call and see if it could be moved. Charlie called but he just kept playing phone tag with the guy. It was nice to have him face to face to ask him and the good news...he said moving it should not be a problem!

Seeing the house almost done is like a huge tease but I just have to keep reminding myself we are almost there!

HO HO HO!

Right after Thanksgiving, I brought out all the Christmas books we had and started reading them to Henry. I thought this would be a fun way to learn about Santa and  maybe if I can keep introducing Santa every day then he might not be as frightened as he is of the Red Robin.

He loves the Little People Christmas Is Here Pop Up book. We go through the book and there is a page where the Elves and Ms. Claus are looking for Santa, when Henry finds the flap where Santa is he squeals in delight.

We have also been trying to teach Henry to say what Santa says...."Ho Ho Ho". When we ask him, he usually says "Ho, Ha, Ha". We are close and it is cute so it works for me!

Well the time had come to take Henry to meet Santa and to see if this all had worked. I was a little nervous to see how he would react. We came in upstairs at the mall and we took the elevator down to Santa. Henry spotted him on our way down....Now I don't know if you have ever seen the movie Elf, but my kid screamed Santa just like Buddy does when he sees him in the Gimbles. Henry was so excited. He then did a little Santa chant and a Ho, Ha, Ha. I was so happy we had success.

I was hoping this happiness to see Santa would not wear off by the time we got there and thank goodness for the Fast Pass lane to see Santa, there was only another family in front of us. Henry's jolly cheer was wearing off and you could see him getting nervous. It was finally our turn and he gripped onto Charlie. I was able to get him off and I did a little Ho, Ho, Ho, backed him into Santa's lap and this is what we got......

SUCCESS! He loved every minute of it! We even were able to tell Santa that we wanted toys for Christmas. It just made my heart melt!

HO HO HO and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Choo Choo 2!

Not that we don't have enough going on with Christmas, traveling, setting things up at the new house, closing on the house and moving but I am also planning Henry's 2nd Birthday!

His actual Birthday we will be closing on the house in the morning, moving and then having pizza, cake and gifts that night. He is going to be so excited when he sees this:

His party will be the following weekend once we have settled in.. I had Becca over at Jumping Jax Designs, whip me up an invitation and some other Choo Choo party stuff. She sent the invitation over last week and I am in love.

Now, I have to start thinking about some other decorations but at least I have some of the basics down and can work from there. I can't wait to celebrate!

Boo to the Flu!

I should have known on Friday when I walked into daycare and they were trying to take his temperature that we were going to be in for it.

We got home that night and it was a low grade fever and he was eating and acting normal. Went to bed fine too, then I woke up to this:

A rosy cheek little boy with a temp of 103. I was able to get it down with Motrin to 99 and he was still eating and drinking lots of fluids. He lasted about two hours until he looked bad again.

Call the doc and they are quad druple booked! So we wait and wait. The nurse finally calls us back and she takes his temp...98.6? WHAT, HOW? Look at him he is bright red. I go back to the waiting room and pull out my thermometer and I get a reading of 104. I quickly go back to the nurses station and ask her to take it again. This office uses an under the arm one which I don't think is ever right.....she takes his temp again and gets 98.1. I said look at him there is no way. We go into the room and she takes it rectally and gets a reading a 104.9!!! She rushed out and got some other doctor. The doc comes in and swabs for strep and flu and gives him a motrin dose.

We wait, and we wait and we wait. We were not allowed to leave until his temp came down. Well, the strep test came back negative but the flu test lit up like a Christmas tree. The actual doctor finally comes in to tell us we are the First Flu Patient of the Year. We even won a prize of Children's Advil. Woo Hoo! We were able to get his temp down to 102 so they let us leave with our prescriptions of Tamiflu and something for his ear.

We got home and Henry was doing better. He slept until 3:30am when I heard him screaming milk. I went in and got him and he drank two sippys of milk and a glass of water. I guess he was a little thirsty even though he was drinking all day. I finally got him back to sleep at 4:45am and we slept until 8am.

On Sunday morning, my child was back. He was happy and no fever. It was such a relief!

GREEN TRAIN, GREEN TRAIN!!!!

In the past week Henry has become OBSESSED with trains. We put up the train last week for Christmas and ever since then he has been a choo choo aholic!

He has this plastic Thomas Train that he calls Blue train and he is taking it with him everywhere. Last Sunday, we are in Target and we took him to the train aisle which was probably our first mistake because he wanted everything and we could not get him out of there. Well then we saw this little Green Train (Percy) and we let me him play with it in the store - well we get to check out and this train that is no more then 2" is $7.00 - whoa! So, I run back to the train aisle to see if I can find something else. I ended up getting him the twin Yellow trains (Ben and Bill). These were at least two trains for $10. I thought this was a score!

We head over to lunch and he is playing with his trains doesn't seem to remember me ripping the Green one from him and replacing it with the yellows.

Lunch, a two hour nap, a trip to the mall and a grocery store trip later he starts screaming "GREEN TRAIN, GREEN TRAIN!" Charlie and I are like what is he talking about. Then we remember the Green Train from the store, but how does he remember? We get home and he is still yelling for the Green Train. He takes my purse and looks through it, to see if I put it in there. We keep telling him that we did not get the Green Train. Well now he starts crying "Green Train, Mommy". We finally get him distracted and move on to the other trains.

Fast forward 24 hours....Henry and I are on our way home and out of nowhere I hear "GREEN TRAIN, GREEN TRAIN, MOMMY!" I again explain to him we don't have the Green Train. He looks at me and says "Green Train, now Mommy?", I tell him no, not now Henry.

After two days of his randomly screaming Green Train, I went to Target at my lunch and bought the train. I gave it to him last night and I heard the happiest squeal of my life when he saw it. Yeah, I caved and I am sure it won't be the last time but to see the joy in his eyes with that Green Train, it made a terrible Tuesday a lot happier!