Hectic Days, Sleepless Nights

Our first Christmas together was a hectic Christmas but all in all we had a good time. We started the festivities on the 23rd. We went to a German pub for a party that our friends throw every year. He behaved wonderfully. He had some toy cars to play with (Thanks Andrea), animal crackers and the ever popular Juice-A Box-A (pronounced Everest style). We only stayed for a bit and headed home to wrap presents. Nothing like waiting until the last possible minute.

We tried our best to prep Everest that Santa was coming and that we would be going to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the morning. I think he got it. He was more than a little out of it in the morning but his eyes lit up when he saw there were presents in his stocking. I think it finally came together for him that Santa puts toys in his stocking and that the stocking was not #1) a Santa hat #2) a place for Everest to store already existing toys. The cookies and milk were also gone so I think the pieces started to come together for him a little more. Best present Santa brought to our house - a toy sword from my days of working at Zizzle. I was hoping those pirate toys would come in handy some day. Thank goodness we had a boy.

We headed to Grandma and Grandpa's and finished up some shopping, ate some lunch and headed back to wait for my uncle and cousin to arrive. Everest was a bit more sedated this time around at Grandma and Grandpa's because he was familiar with it. Or maybe I was less hyper-vigilant this time around. Whatever the case may be, it was somewhat more relaxing, meaning that I was able to carry on adult conversations at the dinner table. Imagine that!! A few friends stopped by so it was great to kick back and talk with good friends over good food and good drinks.

Everest was likely a bit shell shocked in the morning when he saw the huge mass of presents under the Christmas tree. My parent's staircase overlooks the Christmas tree and when I was younger it was always one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Just stopping and taking inventory of the change in the amount of presents from the night before. Santa was extremely busy this year with two new additions to the family. Thank you mom for all of the shopping and wrapping you did!!

After breakfast, we made the long journey to LaCrosse where Everest was wonderful up until the last 15 minutes where he started to get a little anxious. I was more than a little anxious after 4 long hours in a packed car so I can only imagine how he felt. We celebrated Christmas with Ryan's dad and step mom and it was a relatively early night to bed for the little man (and mom).

The next day we were lucky enough to drop Everest off at Ryan's mom's house so that they could spend some one-on-one time with him. Ryan and I are just starting to feel comfortable leaving him in more-than-capable hands for a little while. Ryan and I had a great time, just being able to sit and talk to each other. It had been entirely too long. We then met up with my cousin's family at Chuck E. Cheese's. That place is about too much for me to handle. Whoah. Everest had a complete blast though. He thought it was incredible. And I thought it was incredible that he thought it was incredible.

And then it seems as quickly as we had left, we were back home again. One of the funny parts about this whole Christmas whirlwind is that Everest didn't understand that the presents he opened actually came home with him. We unpacked the car and he just kept saying, "wowwowwowwow!" He was also incredibly cute with opening the presents. He would look to Ryan and I for permission for each present he opened or for us to tell him who they belonged to. He would point to himself and we would nod yes or no. There were a lot of "Thaaaaank you Sintas" being said. He also received a ton of candy. Whenever he would want a piece he would look at me and say, "Momma, just one more." Or, "Momma, just a little bit" (and put his thumb and index finger close together indicating a little bit). I am apparently the gatekeeper for all sweets. That works for me until he realizes he can get around the whole scenario by just not asking and just doing. Then we'll have to actually start hiding things. We've been using the word "Later" a lot when such requests have come in, which just recently have started to be responded to with "Boo Later," which means "No Later." Yesterday when he said that in the car on the way home, Ryan said "Boo Everest" back to him and Everest came back loudly with, "Boo Bobba!" Shouldn't have, but we couldn't stop laughing.

Bathtime remains an eventful time in the Lentz household. Everest calls it "Little Swimming." Everest aka Michael Phelps Jr. He does not like to wash himself and giggles and squirms when we try to do it. We end up absolutely soaked. Then we do bandages and for the most part, he is being great. He lets us pop blisters and wrap him somewhat easily now. He tells us to be gentle in Chinese but even that is subsiding. He only tries to grab the scissors or tapewhen there is nothing else to occupy his time and only squirms when we cover his little feet in Vaseline. For the past few bathtimes we played his Barbie song and he ran and danced all over the room with just a T-shirt on. He opens my closet door which has a mirror and bends over to look at his butt. It is hilarious. We don't think he'd probably ever seen his little bottom before. We have it on tape for bribery at a later date when he is old enough to be immensly embarassed. I can't even describe how freaking funny it is. No shame I tell ya, no shame.

That's all for now. All is well. I am back at work and loving the peace and quiet of being away from the house for awhile. Plus, it makes it all the more fun when I come home to Everest happily yelling, "Momma!!" What could be better than that?!?