Holiday Rap Up!

I cannot believe the holidays have come and gone! What a whirlwind that was! My cootie bug took over a week to heal... which meant my entire Christmas shopping spree took place in 2 whole days, 2 days before Christmas! I will never ever do that again. Besides the extreme exhaustion it threw my little guys schedule off completely! All in all though our Christmas was spectacular! A little crazy playing the family juggle between both fam's but as always we succeeded! Quinten was obviously so excited about Christmas and all that came with it that he didn't take a single nap all day!! And boy did he let us know when he was ready to go home! Easiest way to sum up our holiday is with a picture montage! Here we go...

Quintens First Christmas Eve...

Grandma came with us on Q's first Christmas light drive. We do this every year on Christmas eve. Its sad to see the toll the economy has taken. The amount of lights were down a lot from last year. But our favorite neighborhood was still all lit up. Now I know what you're thinking ' how can that kid see anything from his car seat' right? Well its never too early to start a tradition!

The night ended with one sleepy baby (waiting for Santa perhaps)? And mama's glass 'o champagne! Fab-u-lous!!

Christmas day began by being awakened by my husband whispering "lets go do our Christmas before he wakes up!" Yes folks thats right these new parents got up before their newborn and opened our gifts without disruption! Quinten woke up happy as could be around 7am, we then dressed him up and brought him out so he could start enjoying his first Christmas! (after being fed of course).

He was ohhhh so excited about all his gifts!

We then arrived at Uncle Chris and Aunty Alex's house for stop #1...

Chillin with Aunty A

The madness begins...

The super fun musical octopus from Grandma. Dad has been practicing Twinkle Twinkle and Mary Had A Little Lam daily :)

Cousin Sean ripping open his gifts!

I am quickly learning what my parents always told me growing up! Giving gifts is far more fun than getting gifts. I found myself sitting in a pile of unopened gifts watching everyone else tear into theirs with more joy than if I had all the gifts in the world! And now with all the kids in the family its becoming even more fun. To watch their little eyes light up with the true pure joy of Christmas is amazing. With the innocence of not knowing how hard everyone worked to make the day happen, and the mind numbing excitement in trying to figure out which gift to open next... bliss!

Putting the little guy into a milk coma... :)

We then ventured over to my parents house for Christmas festivities #2! It is always pretty hectic doing the family juggle on the holidays but really we are just so blessed to have the family to spend the holidays with. Knowing that some people don't even get to see family on Christmas makes the craziness all worth while!

My little niece Lauren is 5! She makes sure everyone knows it too! :) Unfortunately my sis-in-law and my other little niece Robyn had to stay home with a little bit of a stomach bug :(

Enjoying the day with my boys and my little girl :)

We surprised my folks with a night at Sycammore (a hotel near by). I always love the look of surprise on their faces! They were a little mad at first, stating we shouldn't have spent the money, but that quickly faded to excitement of the upcoming stay!

Does my brother know how to put a smile on my face or what?! Happy mama :)

Great-Grandma got Quinten his first sock monkey! I was so excited, I love these things! We have named him Fred as of now... if he wants to change it someday he can but as for now we call him Fred! He loves him!

I'm not quite sure what it is about the holidays, perhaps its the onset of a new year, but its made me really want to tidy things up. I am slowly going room by room, cleaning, organizing and throwing out anything we don't need! The hard part has been juggling cleaning, the kid and my sick hubby. Oh ya did I mention he ended up catching my bug :( I have gotten plenty of kuddos though... many " I don't know how you did it" (taking care of Quinten alone with the cold). At least I know I am appreciated. There are a lot of husbands who don't realize and especially don't express their gratitude. I'm a lucky girl :) As excited as I was for the holidays to come, I am a little relieved to see them go for another year. It was exhausting this year! Another learning experience of how different life is now with a child. Our new years will be something if not completely different! Who knows if we'll even make it until midnight, and this year I really don't think I care! Sleep is soooo special to me now that watching the clock strike 12 just doesn't sound all that exciting, especially knowing that Quinten doesn't sleep past 7... I am though excited for the new year. I love the thought of a fresh start. I'm not much for resolutions (they never work!) but I love setting goals... This year I hope that we can pay off Shannon's truck and start saving to move, and pay off my car. I want to tone up, and get as healthy as possible. I hope we can find some fun activities to start as family to get us out of the house, pretty much just enjoy life and cherish every moment that we have with each other. Looking back on this year I can't believe all that has happened. I swear we fit 3 years worth of events into one! Its hard to remember it all, having our son has really made the rest of the year fuzzy! Well I wish everyone a very safe and fun New Years and pray for a fabulous and wonderful 2010!! Onto all new and crazy adventures, I think for us next is teething... woohoo! xoxoxo