Our Christmas - 2014

I realize I'm almost a month late with this post, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that's ok. I've been focusing on a lot of different things in my life other than blogging, and for right now I only want to come here when it makes sense for me and I really have something to say. And today, I guess I've got something to say about Christmas ;)

This year our Christmas was pretty low key, and pretty perfect. The weekend before Christmas we went to Oklahoma to spend some time with my Dad, which Grayson absolutely loves. He could spent an entire day out at the barn with my dad, playing in the dirt and just generally being a real country boy. This is hilarious to me because when I was a child I had zero interest in my dad's barn or any of the horses inside of it. I was so not "country". And somehow I've got a son who is being raised right smack in the middle of a city and loves nothing more than being inside a smelly barn.

The next day, we went on to see my Uncles. We love spending time with those guys, and their place is pretty much our home away from home. Things are quite relaxed when we visit these days since Grayson is involved. Before he was a part of the group, we spent a lot of time going out and having drinks and staying up all night. Now I typically go to bed with Grayson around 10 or so (he gets to stay up late at the Guncles house), the hubs will stay up with the Uncles and mom having a glass or two of wine, then everyone's usually in bed by midnight. BIG change.

On Christmas Eve we had A's family as well as my parents over to our house for a little Christmas gathering and lunch. Grayson and his "big" cousin Haik played together more than they ever have before (Haik hasn't been Grayson's biggest fan thus far haha), so he had an absolute blast. After a very long and relaxed lunch/dinner, all of A's family headed home and we did our gift exchange with my parents. This year I swore I wouldn't go overboard because this kid already has so much stuff and doesn't NEED anything else, but I really just can't resist. And neither can my parents, apparently. We set out cookies for Santa and G got to stay up pretty late that night, too.

Christmas day we woke up early and did Santa gifts, as well as opened our stockings. Stockings have always been my favorite part of Christmas for some reason, so I made sure A knew he better stuff my stocking with some good stuff! After that, we headed north to Oklahoma for Christmas with my mom's side of the family. There are so many littles running around now with that side of my family, so it's just so much fun to watch them all playing together. There's Grayson who is 20 months, Isabella who is 21 months, Jayden who just turned one, and Jonah who turned one on Christmas day. It's so cute to see so many tiny ones right around the same age together. Wish we all got together more!

This year was so much fun because Grayson was really into it. He got excited about all his gifts, opened them on his own, and loves his toys so much. Last year he was just kind of taking it all in, but this year he was running around like a maniac and enjoying every minute. I can tell that every year is going to be more fun than the last one - hopefully in the future I can get it together and refrain from going overboard with things one spoiled little boy really doesn't need. Ha, good luck, right? Even though it's so ridiculously late to say this, I really hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with loved ones!

Wait....it's December?

I seriously cannot wrap my head around the idea that Christmas is in just a few weeks. Time seriously passes by so fast these days, I can't keep up. However, December is one of my very favorite months, and I'm practically giddy all throughout the holiday season, so I'm definitely not complaining.

But the bad news is, I am nothing but a big fat procrastinator, so I am so not prepared for it to be at this point in the year already. I did get a few Christmas gifts over the weekend, but my list is still loooong. I'm not sure what the plan is really for any of our holiday get-togethers. My house is kind of halfway decorated. There are a million holiday activities that I want to make time for, but I just realized that there are three weekends until Christmas and every one of those is pretty much booked up. So not really sure how that's supposed to work...

Flash Back! I mean, really? Look at that fat little nugget! How was this a year ago??

But, the season is upon us, and I can now officially blast Christmas music whenever I want and not be judged. I have a beautiful tree and glittery decorations all over my house, and every where you go there are houses covered in flashy Christmas lights. So I'm going to ignore the mild feeling of dread that I feel down in my gut, and I shall embrace this wonderful time of year.

Since Grayson was so little last year we didn't really start many actual traditions, but this year I have so many fun things I want to do. Plus, he's SUPER pumped about the Christmas tree, and will grab my hand and walk me to the front room several times a day to show it to me. So I can already tell that this year is going to be on a whole new level of fun. Can't wait to see him open all his gifts!

If you are a lazy bum like me and are just now getting started on your holiday to-do list, good luck to you. Embrace all that December has to offer you, and don't let it stress you out until you feel like you just might lose your mind like it has the tendency to do.

And if all else fails, just drink lots of spiked eggnog. That should fix it. I mean, that's my plan.

ICE!

A couple weekends ago the hubs, Grayson and I went to ICE! at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine. A few families in our neighborhood were going, so we decided to tag along. I must say, this is my favorite thing about our new neighborhood. Young families who actually get together and socialize on a regular basis. So much fun for all three of us!

We've never been to ICE! before, so we didn't really know what to expect. It was really incredible and fun and impressive, but most of all it was COLD. I believe they said it is 9 degrees inside. Yeah, that's right. That's cold anywhere, but in Texas that's downright FREEZING FREAKING COLD. We are not used to that type of climate, let me tell you. 

Basically, you go through several rooms with tons and tons of ice sculptures, all of which are in the Frosty the Snowman theme that they went with this year. Apparently they switch it up from year to year. It was seriously super impressive....much cooler than I'm making it sound. The pictures don't do it justice. I'm amazed that people have the talent to create some of this stuff. 

Grayson had a great time, although he was a little too cold. When we were getting somewhat close to the end he started saying "Go. Go. Go!". I said, "Do you want to go? Are you too cold?" and he nodded his head yes as hard as he could and pointed toward the exit. Needless to say mama got outta there as quick as she could! I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it more in a couple of years when he can appreciate some of the characters and fun activities that they had going on, like the huge ice slides kids could go down. 

By far the most fun he had was dancing and playing with our two little neighbor girls. They're both in kindergarten, and they just lavished him with attention. He LOVED every second of it. I could tell he felt so big and cool playing with the big girls, and he wanted to hold their hands and walk by them the entire time. Things like this put a slight fear in my heart for what I'm looking at in the future. 

All four families went to have dinner afterward at a Mexican restaurant inside the Gaylord. If you've never been there, or anywhere similar like Opryland in Nashville, it is huge. Like, insanely huge with restaurants and shops and a billion guest rooms and a river running through it...it's like it's own city. And it is gorgeous during the holidays. Well worth a trip just to see what it's all about. 

If you haven't experienced ICE!, I would say it's worth checking out. It's pricey from what I recall, although we had a promo code for half off which was nice. But it's kind of one of those things that you need to see. I doubt we will go back in the next couple of years, because G just wasn't quite old enough to truly appreciate it. But once he is, we will definitely be back. 

Now that we've got that marked off the list, we've got about a month left in the holiday season...and probably about 37 "holiday" things I want to do and places I want to visit and activities I want to attend. Fingers crossed I can get at least like three of them in...

Meeting "Olaf" was another huge plus for G. I'm sure Frosty was horribly offended that Grayson kept saying "Owaf! Owaf!". He cried when we had to leave him behind.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year at this time I reflect on how good I really have it. There are so, so many things that I am thankful for, and I'm so incredibly blessed to have the life I do. Of course there are struggles, and life lately has certainly had it's sadness and challenges, but overall I am so lucky to live this life, with this husband and this baby and this family and my lovely home and sweet friends and food on the table and a reliable car to drive. I take for granted so many things that would be such a miracle for others. I truly strive every day to appreciate the good in my life and to recognize how amazing it really is that my family and I are all safe and healthy and happy. And on this day, I'm more aware than usual. That's what I love about the holiday season. Although it may have it's downsides, it seems to bring an awareness to what's important in life.

I hope that you're all having a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. This time of year can be so stressful and overwhelming, but I hope you're able to sit back today and count your blessings. Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!

We recently had family photos taken by the amazing Fairytale Photography here in the DFW area, and they were phenomenal as usual. I'll be sharing more soon!

Trick or Treat!

Since Grayson was just a tiny six month old baby last Halloween, we didn't do much in the way of trick or treating. In fact, we did exactly nothing besides dress him in his cute little tiger costume and walk around a little Halloween festival for about 20 minutes one day. So this year was really our first trick or treating experience, and he loved it. 

I totally procrastinated and waited until the Monday before Halloween to order a costume. I knew I wanted him to be a pirate, but couldn't find a good costume anywhere. So by Monday I was in a slight panic. Luckily, the husband took over since I was freaking out, found a costume, and had it ordered in about 10 minutes. Sometimes I've discovered it's just best to sit back and let him handle the things that make my head spin. 

The costume was in Thursday afternoon, just in time to try it on and make sure it fit for trick or treating the next day. And it was ADORABLE. Grayson wasn't so convinced, but he eventually came around. 

Friday we met up with some neighbors and trick or treated around the neighborhood. I LOVE our new neighborhood. It's full of young families, people are always out in their front yards and walking around, chatting with neighbors. There were so many kids and parents out trick or treating, so it was really fun. After an hour or so of walking around we headed home to hand out candy for a bit. It ended up being pretty cold (well, Texas cold), so we eventually just went inside and left the bucket of candy out for kids to take whatever they wanted. Luckily, the bucket was still there with a few stray pieces of candy when we went to get it. 

Grayson had a blast, and said "tritatweet" (trick or treat) at every house and "gangu" (thank you) when he got his candy. Daddy let him gnaw on a twizzler for awhile, and I gave him a little piece of chocolate. So, pretty much best day ever for that kid. 

Looks like I should probably start brainstorming costume ideas for next year...who knew this was such a stressful thing?

Easter 2014 - Grayson's First Easter

I know what you're thinking: Easter? Really? Come on, it's JUNE for cryin' out loud!  

Yeah,yeah, I know...but somehow I haven't blogged about anything important...or really, anything at all, since like February. So when I was browsing through my photos and saw these I thought, now or never. 

So it's now.

Easter this year was not the greatest. The day started out just fine. It was beautiful and sunny, and we went to the Armenian church to attend their Easter festivities. We saw the husband's family, Grayson got to meet a zillion people, we hung out for a bit and chatted, then we headed home to meet up with my dad. 

Oh man, these pictures of G and all his cousins crack me up! 

Quite possibly the only smile of the day....look at those poor eyes. How did I not know something was up??

We went out to grab a bite to eat, and Grayson was just so fussy the entire time. Earlier that day I had told A (remember, husband is now going by "A" on the blog...when I remember, that is) that he felt hot and I was a little worried. He told me it was probably just from being out in the sun and he was fine. Well, I noticed again that he was a little warm when we were on our way to lunch, but he always gets hot when he's been in his carseat, so I kind of brushed it off as that being the reason. 

After we got home from our lunch with Papaw, I kept trying to make it a fun Easter - but it just wasn't really working. As the day went on I couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't ok. He was dragging around and not playing like normal. He obviously wasn't himself. He was so not into his new Easter toys and was super duper clingy to me. After a bit I kind of decided to just give up on the fun and start in with the cuddling, which seemed to be much needed.

Our sad attempt at a family photo...

After my dad left a couple hours later I finally took his temperature and it was so high! I can't remember what it was now, but it was over 100...I'm thinking around 101 something the first time I took it. My child had never been sick (aside from a tummy virus) at this point, so I kind of started freaking out. Plus, I felt AWFUL that I basically ignored the signs all day. Ugh, talk about mommy guilt. 

His temperature kept climbing as the night went on, and I really started panicking. It got up to 103 and I decided it was time to call the after hours doc. She assured me that fevers in babies aren't near as worrisome as they are in adults and to just give him tyelenol or motrin, maybe do a cool rag on his arms and hands, and watch him. I felt a teensy bit better, but not much.

All in all it took the poor guy around three or four days to kick whatever it was that he had. We ended up going into the doctor and she said it was just some type of virus, but there wasn't a way to really tell exactly what it was. It was so, so sad to see my baby in that condition. Totally broke my heart!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that his birthday was the Thursday following Easter. So we made it 11 months and three weeks with not a bit of sickness, then he just felt absolutely terrible leading up to the big day. Fortunately he started feeling better Wednesday and was basically back to his normal self when he woke up on his birthday. 

So, needless to say Grayson's first Easter wasn't exactly what I imagined it would be. We didn't hunt Easter eggs, he didn't care too much about anything in his Easter basket, and he was a big old grump all day long - for good reason! Even though it wasn't picture perfect, it sure did make me appreciative for that sweet baby's health!