Happy New Year/December

Happy New Year!  I can't believe how fast 2012 went, it really is crazy how fast time goes, sometimes the days are so long but the years are so fast!

We had a wonderful magical Christmas.  The boys tore through all of their presents.  I didn't think opening all of those presents could have happened so fast.  But it did!  The boys are so loved.  They got a lot of toys and clothes!  I think we are set for a very long time!  Thank you to everyone who joined us in loving on our children :)  They are so lucky to have so much love in their lives.

Getting ready for Santa was so much fun.  The boys, especially John David, were so into Ellie (our Elf)!  He would find her so quickly!  They would check the spot she was in the day before, notice that she wasn't there, tell me or Kevin that she went to go see Santa and then they would find her.  Austin would talk to Ellie, "Why you there, what are you doing, Ellie?" and John David, would say "ELLIE!"  I love that they were so into it! We put reindeer food out and cookies for Santa.  They both were so excited when they saw that Santa ate some of the cookies!

I did it!  Finally, I almost have our bedroom back.  I took most of the boys clothes and put it into Austin's room.  He has 2 dressers in there that have nothing in them.  Last time he had clothes in there he would throw them all on the floor, but now that he has matured a bit ;-)  whereas, he hates a mess on his floor I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try again.  And this way, he can have easy access to his clothes and choose what he'd like to wear.  It's been a couple of days and it's working well.  I want to make a few changes to his room this year.  I'd like to get him a big boy bed, the crib converts to a full size bed so we need a mattress, box spring and some bedding.  And now that we've had John David in the other room for 6 months or so now, I think we need to make it more of a room, decorate it for him and get him some furniture other than a bed.  Right now, it's just his bed and some toys.  That's okay for now, though.  Less is more right now.

Austin now has added me back into his bed time routine.  So after, I put John David down, and after daddy has read Austin his stories, I go in there and sing 3 songs.  He must love my voice ;-)  Last night it was Twinkle Twinkle, Sunshine (and when I ended it "please don't take my Austin away, he said "hahaha NO! Sunshine away") and the Bumble Bee Song.  Sometimes he gets 4 songs out of me, but that's when he requests, "Rumor Has it" and "Set Fire to the Rain" only because I only know the chorus and can get through that in all of about 5 seconds!  This kid cracks me up!  The other day, he kept saying "you so happy to see me"  Of course I was, but it sounded a little vain ;-)  I must say I'm so happy to see you all the time.  Oh and he is so sweet with his lovie and monkey mall blanket.  He keeps kissing them by when he goes to school, and when he gets back in the van, he says, "I missed you, lovie and brown blanket" and squeezes them!  He really can be cute! 

My poor John David has his first ear infection after tubes, it took 9 months!  Ugggh this is awful.  I feel so bad for him.  Because he has tubes, they do antibiotic ear drops and John David HATES and I mean HATES the drops.  I have to bribe him with an M&M and even then it's pulling teeth.  I have to clean the ear first since there still is a gross discharge and then squeeze the bottle 5 times, all while he squirms and moves his head, left to right.  I sure do get my exercise.  This cold he had was a doozy and it didn't surprise me that it went to his ear.  What surprised me was the blood.  I was expecting goop from the ear, not blood so it through me off.                            

John David is my little artist.  He loves to color and draw and loves markers and pens the most.  He is constantly creating masterpieces and I love it.  He's making lines and circles and constantly using his left hand.  He also got some drums from grandma, and loves to play!  It's a lot of fun, Austin grabs the guitar and they have a 2 person band and me as the dancer!  They always, say, "mommy, dance!"  Fun times!

I got a lot of wonderful gifts for Christmas.  Kevin, my loving loving husband, got me the best gift of all.  He's not typically the most romantic guy, but this takes the cake.  He created a list of 12 dates for us.  Each date is in an envelope and we open it up in the beginning of the month, our first date is an IMAX move and dinner.  Looking forward to this date and all of the others coming up!  I got some charms for my charm bracelet, a Willow Tree nativity set and so much more.  I feel so very blessed!

2012 was a great year, we had a lot of ups and downs, but we are here and happy and that's what counts.  Looking forward to 2013!