The not-so-santa and other nice pictures....

Here are som pics Alex has drawn recently. The top one was for my birthday. See me on the left with Sam in belly and the right is my GIANT birthday cake. ;)
I sort of forget what this picture is but I wanted to point out that in all the pictures she draws of me (still) show Sam still in my belly.
Pic of Mom and Dad. Looks quite like us, I think.
Awe....so sweet....


Alex took this pic of Sam and I. She did a pretty good job. She is really into taking pictures these days.

Freaky looking Santa--tthe pic doesn't really do it justice...but trust me. I tried to tell Alex that it was one of Santa's helpers. That left her very confused. His voice was raspy, he acted totally confused when I spoke about the naughty and nice list, he barely spoke at all, and was out of breathe the entire time, and popped a cough drop in his mouth before Alex even got off his lap. She wouldn't look at him when she spoke...I can't say I blame her. And the best part is I spent nearly 20 bucks to get a pic with the not-so-Santa. Alex later asked me why Santa has such a big 'tum-tum'. I told her the helper we saw had an even bigger belly than the real Santa. I didn't want her to picture Santa SOOO big that he couldn't perform his xmas duties. This was a B-I-G Santa, people. I was glad when the whole thing was over. I opted not to have him hold Sam. I was afraid he'd never held a baby before. He clearly was uncomfortable being Santaand I'm not even sure he spoke English, come to think of it as he looked at me with such a blank look while I lead the entire conversation---even telling her to tell him what she wanted for Christmas [He never asked]. While there was no line for us to wait in, I clearly should have gone when more people go. They probably save the 'more-like-santa' for those times?

The set up was sure pretty, though.

Sassy pants with conductor hat on. Oh and I bribed her with fruit snacks to get her to wear a pair of jeans (as she has many cute pairs she is about to grow out of) and with great hesitance she did put them on. Cried. Then came out of her room with a skirt on over the jeans. Ok. It was a compromise, I suppose.

I've been trying to get Sam use to using the baby bjorn. He's hot and cold with it. But it at least allows me to get dinner cooked on some nights when he ONLY wants to be held, so that is something.

Merry Christmas!!!

Let's just say I'm no Betty Crocker...

Alex and I made cut out sugar cookies. I envisioned quite the merry time with glorious looking cookies to take pictures of in the end. My first tray all melted together and ended up one big blob and there were no definate shapes to anything. I ate those. Hide the evidence. We continued to try to use the cookie cutters. They clearly should have come with instructions for people like me because they just weren't working with the dough I was using. As Tim was working in another room he kept hearing me say some choice words (no cursing but evidence of sheer frustrations and the realizations that I will never be that mom who brings desserts and gorgeous treats to kid functions or to make with the kids). So, I had to think fast and change my attitude. Afterall, it was the time we were spending together. So we made cookie houses (easy enough to cut out with a knife) and a cookie cake. The results were not so beautiful but we did have fun and Alex had a SERIOUS sugar high. Another note to self: make cookies in the morning next time...not right before bed. The cookie above is Al's house. It's hard to see but she seriously layered about six layers of sprinkles and candies. Note the empty sprinkle jar next to it. It was full when she started.

What a bean. I weighed him today.... 11 POUNDS!!!! They are supposed to double their birth weight by like six months or something? Uh, I think he'll reach it alright.

Alex is still insane over Sam; And he is for her as well. She does a great job entertaining him and hollering to me whenever he has spit up...though I usually know before she hollers because I hear her gagging.

He has lost nearly all his hair except for a very attractive ring around the back of his head, it keeps growing. I'll have to get a picture of it. It's too funny. He is also plagued by the horrible baby acne. Both my babes were in the lucky 20% of babies who get this awful afliction with no reason. Boo. And it's clearly not bothering him...just his mom. At least it goes away. But they are still stink'n cute!!!

catch up with pictures....

Once again, I've neglected to blog lately. Here are some recent pics over the last few weeks. Some of the pics look weird (the setting on my camera got all funky and I didn't know how to change it?!). Things are good, enjoying the holidays!Happy holidays to all of you (the two readers of my blog?! ha!)

Alex and her friend Lilly (Brie's daughter) who were fast friends in the first five minutes they met!

The bean pies

T multi-tasking

Christian and Alex having some quality reading time

Alex drew this sweet little pic last night in bed. I had to share. You'll see Tim in the bottom left corner, then me holding Sam and Alex at the top going down a slide at the top. The heart, she said, is so that I know that she loves me :) Sigh....they just get cuter and cuter!

Speaking of cute here is the hubby after baking his famous apple pies (strictly because I called him up at work and instructed him to buy stuff to make his pies because I was hungry for his apple pie and wanted a piece that night (wow! was that a run-on sentance or what! The brain cells have not all yet returned)...he always aims to please his sweet wife :)

There's that sweet Sam...this was taken a few weeks ago. I swear he looks different already! He doesn't even fit into that shirt anymore. Note the picture at the top right...Tim draws such drawings for Sam to look at to stimulate his brain--I wonder what he thinks when he sees such masterpieces!?

Proud big sister. She enjoys holding Sam but only for a few seconds at a time.

The sweet fam...awe

Alex on Halloween with her sassy-pants 'tude!

After the 'tude

Again with the 'tude! what else is there to do when you don't get your way but to climb into your toy box to pout! That's what I do, too, when I'm upset.