So last week ended with some shenanigans. Sunday after dinner, we were all in a good mood and feeling goofy. So I started sliding around on the tile in my socks. This prompted J to start trying to do this. He quickly learned that he can't do that in his shoes. When he had trouble sliding in his socks, he deduced that I was wearing special socks and asked that he wear them. This was a rare time that I wasn't wearing ankle socks. I was wearing knee high sport socks, and of course he needed them pulled all. the. way. up. He still has some technique and form issues to sort out. B wasn't too impressed with our goofiness.
Tuesday we started our Advent calendar of Christmas activities. First on the list, decorating the exterior of the house. The kids learned a valuable lesson come night fall when we checked out our handy work - always check the lights before hanging them on the roof…
Wednesday we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas before bedtime.
PS, pretty sure we have a future thumb sucker on our hands…working hard to curb that habit before it becomes permanent.
Thursday we headed north to ride the Polar Express! With the way things have fallen for the month of December with my work schedule, Justin's work schedule, and other events, as well as waiting until the last minute to book tickets, we weren't able to attend this as a family of 5. And with the days that were still available, it was Justin that drew the short straw and didn't get to go. In his place, my mom went with us to help me wrangle the kids and keep my sanity. We had originally planned on going up a little early to play in some snow, but the weather got the best of us and there was little to no snow left on the ground. So instead we hit Bearizona, a drive-through wild animal park with an additional walk-through area. The kids got to see some bears, bison, big horn sheep, deer, wolves, and mountain goats from the comfort of our vehicle, and then walk through the zoo like setting and see them even closer. B slept through this detour, and nursed when we were out of the car, so while the older kids and Grandma were exploring the walk around area, we were watching two peacocks torment some porcupines.
After Bearizona it was off to the Grand Canyon Railway where we grabbed a quick bite and watched the Polar Express arrive! The kids then ran around like loony toons with all the other kids, feeding off each other excitement.
Once aboard, the kids thrived in the magic and excitement, and I'm pretty sure even Grandma had fun! B was awake for almost the entire train ride (which did cause a rather long and arduous drive home with him being overstimulated and over tired and just OVER being in his car seat. What should have been a 2-ish hour drive home ended up taking closer to 3 with three stops (one to try and calm, one to nurse, and one to switch drivers when Grandma started to get carsick from trying to calm him, and i couldn't drive safely while holding his hand). Overall, the trip was amazing though, and the kids were talking about it all day on Friday.
Friday we laid low and recouped from the excitement the day before. For dinner we had some friends over and made personal sized snowman pizzas! A favorite with the kids for sure.
Friday night B didn't sleep. At. All. I don't know what it was, but it was a rather difficult night, with lots of tears and an emotional breakdown on this mama's part. There was nothing I could do to calm the kid down and get him to sleep, and nothing makes a mama feel more like a failure than that. Especially in the middle of the night. Needless to say we were all a bunch of un-sunshiny people the next day. Justin had to work in the morning, and J and A woke up entirely too early for my sleep deprived self. So off to Grandmas we went so I could have 1 hour to drink coffee and pick up supplies at Target by myself. Once back home, both J and A boycotted their naps and were just peaches (dripping with all the sarcasm in the world). So needless to say, any plans we had for that evening we deep sixed in hopes of an early bedtime. We managed to get J and A down relatively easily (though it's never easy anymore now that A doesn't want to stay in her room), but B was another story. Our current battle with him is just getting him to sleep, and stay asleep, in his room. His good naps have disappeared, and he no longer sleeps more than 30-40 minutes at a time in his room. He wants to be in our bed, curled up next to me. A habit we would love to break. I don't sleep well with him in our bed, and frankly, I need more than 30-40 min kid less (if I"m even that lucky) at night just to get everything done before I get to go to bed. Any suggestions at this point would be greatly appreciated. We are *thisclose* to letting him just cry, but it's going to break my heart and deep down I feel like he's too young to go that road yet; like there's a better solution.
Today after naps (if you can call them that) we headed out to the Deer Valley Airport to watch Santa fly in on a helicopter. We then waited in line for 45 minutes, until we were the next family, to meet the big guy…only to have the kids change their mind and we left to get dinner. We made the best of the evening, crabby kids and all.
Until next week friends, bring on the Christmas Cheer!
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