Oh the Holidays!

Holiday time is such a whirlwind.  There's so much going on, and so much to get done.  One reason I may never leave my current job is because I am SO grateful that our office is closed from December 24th until January 4th.  It might be the only way I keep my sanity.

I keep thinking I'll write a post, and then I decide I need to bake cookies, to wrap presents, to pack boxes, to address Holiday cards, etc.  Oh, and sleep sometimes.  So yeah.  Here goes the update for the last couple of weeks.

Dakota can pretty much sit up on her own now.  She's not completely steady, so she still needs to be watched, but she can make it for longer and longer periods of time without tipping over.  Definitely no crawling yet, for which I am also grateful!  She now eats three meals a day, and has had sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and pears.  I think I'll introduce butternut squash next - more because that's what I have in the fridge than any other reason.

Jayden has been more than a little difficult recently, but I've been trying to relax and go with the flow more and it has helped a little.  He still is very whiny and very demanding.  I know he is only four, so trust me, I am not expecting him to grow up faster than he should.  I am just trying to work with him on being more reasonable.  I keep telling myself baby steps.  And I do seem to be able to get through to him more, particularly when I take a deep breath and get down on his level, literally.

So here are the last few (ten?) days in pictures:

A cute sibling moment in the morning.  Jayden loves helping me wake Dakota up, although sometimes I have to remind him nobody loves screaming in their face when they first wake up (especially him!!!).

One afternoon recently I got to preschool about five minutes after Dakota fell asleep.  She's so cute - I love her pink jailbird outfit.  Also so funny how she sleeps on her stomach at preschool, but would never do that for us at home.  Kids develop different habits for different places.

Carmen had to work last Saturday morning so after swim class I took Jayden to the castle park, one of his favorite parks, even though he barely plays on the castle part of the park.  He climbed this whole slide by himself.

Jayden was also super excited to take Dakota down the slide with him.  She didn't hate it, but I wouldn't say she loved it either.  She tolerated it.  :)

She also got her first ride in a swing.  She enjoyed more than Jayden enjoyed the swing at her age.  But she wasn't all smiles either.  And she definitely wanted to hold on tightly to the chains.

After the park we went to lunch, and they had a snowboarding exhibition. They had brought in snow and were pulling kids around a course on tiny snowboards.  It took Jayden about ten minutes to decide to ride it, but I'm so glad he decided to do it.  He was pretty proud of himself and his ability to balance.  

On the actual snow.  He tipped off towards the end of the ride, but thought it was pretty cool that he balanced around the cones and over the "shiny bumps."

Dakota's official six month picture.  That's right.  She is SIX months now.  So crazy.  And in her Adidas track suit.  I am pretty happy with Carmen's relationship with Adidas - that has worked out well for the whole family.

Thing 1 and Thing 2.
THIS is the smile I love.
And now, be prepared for a series of photos of the kids just because I couldn't help myself.

I wish their shirts were more clear in this picture, because the two of them on their bellies looking at each other like this is just too adorable for words.  If only I'd planned better and put them in matching pants too...!

A better picture of the back of their shirts (made by the one and only Lizzle, by the way).  Amazingly, Jayden is almost growing out of his, just as Dakota is growing into hers.  But I think we'll get a few more wears out of them.  :)

Playing with Dakota as she tries to grab the phone from me.

More silly faces from Thing 2.

I realize he's just putting on his socks and shoes, but that's actually a milestone in and of itself - he can put on his own socks and shoes at this point.  But also, he's wearing a full on tracksuit (courtesy of Gigi, I think).  And he looks so effin old!  I don't know when that happened, but suddenly I have a 14 year old or something.  

Cruising around with Momma today, relaxing in the carseat.  

Four more full days of work until 11 days off.  Poor Carmen is likely to have to work (and to travel) from December 26 to 29.  Jayden, Dakota and I are going to Seattle from December 26 to 30. It's going to be very stressful to do on my own, and I am rather worried about it.  But it's only a few days, and then we'll get home and have a few days to relax and recover before we have to go back to work/daycare/preschool.

I'm hoping to visit Santa this weekend, although Jayden is really trying to find lots of reasons why he doesn't want to go.  I told him he doesn't have to sit on Santa's lap; he can stand next to Santa if he wants.  He told me Dakota can go first and then he'll watch.  Hilarious.  Throwing his six month old sister to the wolves.  So much for the protective older brother.  :)

Tomorrow during the day is my work holiday party, and then in the evening, Children's Village is having Kids Night Out.  We drop Jayden and Dakota off around 6, and the preschool staff will take care of them up until 11.  They show a movie and have popcorn for the older kids and do I don't know what with the babies.  Carmen and I don't have any plans yet, but we decided to do it to give ourselves a date night during the holidays.  And Jayden is actually really excited.  I ran to Target this evening to buy the last available Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sleeping bag for him and will bring his pajamas and a few stuffed animals as well.  Hopefully they show a movie that doesn't scare him!  And THEN it turns out we got invited to two parties on SATURDAY night.  OF course the timing doesn't work out.  So we got a babysitter for Saturday night - but not Katrina because she's out of town.  We're using the daughter of Dorkis, our substitute care when Jayden was at Juju's.  Dorkis' daughter - Claudia - has worked with Dorkis, and at Juju's, so Jayden knows her.  She's a high school student, so I'm a little apprehensive of leaving Dakota with her, but both Claudia and Dorkis said it should be okay.  Luckily we're only going up the street, so if there are any problems we can get home very quickly.  It does feel a little weird to be gone two nights in a row.  But, since I will soon be with the kids 24/7 for 11 days straight, I think it might actually be a good thing.

Carmen has had a lot of stress at work recently, and with recruiting season coming to a head right about now, it's not going to calm down until the first or second week of January.  And then that calm only lasts about two or three weeks until Pro Bowl and Super Bowl hit and it all goes crazy again.  I have plans to take some vacation days while Carmen is gone during Pro Bowl and Super Bowl so that I can take care of myself too.  Hopefully I can really pull that off, because I think it will be necessary.
I hope everyone is doing well, and hopefully you all enjoy the Holiday cards which should be arriving in the next few days!