The Christmas Chaos of 2013

The Proctors had an amazing 2013 holiday season!  I was fortunate to have several days off for Christmas and New Year and we whooped it up!  It was a crazy sprint to the finish to get ready, but we did it.  We celebrated Christmas with the Dee family on Christmas Eve afternoon and followed suit with the Legere (my Mom's family) family gathering.  The kids opened gifts and the big kids had a Yankee Swap.  Food was delicious!

Christmas Day was super special - I woke up before the kids and anxiously awaited their expression in seeing Santa's loot!  Totally worth the hype of having Eddie the Elf, being good for Santa, late night wrapping, and online gift buying.  Abby.was.ecstatic!  We had a bit of a lazy day before we got on the road to Woburn.  We had a late afternoon dinner before staying the night.

A few days later we celebrated with the Dee side up in Turner.  Yummy breakfast of steak and eggs and my favorite tradition of the gift auction. The kids had a blast!

The holiday season is over and we relished the 9 days off from work and with our family.  So.much.fun.  

Sam's One Year Stats

Sam had his first year appointment on and we're in good shape.  We hit on all of Sam's success in his first year and according to Dr. Erin he's doing great!

He's our peanut!

Height:  28.5" (10%)
Weight: 19lb, 2oz (17%)
Head circumference: 18.25" (59%)

He's a pretty sweet rockstar, that Sam I am.

Happy FIRST Birthday Sam!

Oh yes it's true! Our little son is turning one!   One.

Sam is an amazing little guy.  Healthy, funny, adorable, inquisitive, sweet, snuggly, squirmy, and curious. He's starting to say more sounds, eat more and more meals with us, and to confidently take more steps.  Sam continues to sleep well (knock on wood!), smiles constantly, snuggles his head in your neck for a hug.  He loves playing with his oversized lego's, walker, and his new cars.

Sam has his check up tomorrow and we're expecting a good verdict.  He has 10 or so teeth, feels like he weighs a ton, and his nogging is huge!  In more personal news, I officially stopped pumping on Monday and we're about to finish up the last two bags of frozen breast milk tomorrow.  I won't lie - this part is a little bitter sweet. For the past 10 months or so, I have pumped 5+ times a day and became an exclusive pumper in the breast feeding world.  We were fortunate to give Sam only breast milk until recently when we added whole milk.  We are working on using only sippy cups, but this sensitive (I take after my Dad) little guy is going to give us a run for our money with that one. 

We absolutely adore watching Abby and Sam play together.  She is such a great big sister and helps him with everything - including opening his birthday gifts.  We are so lucky to have two awesome kiddos.

The Magic of Christmas

We get ready for Christmas the Friday after Thanksgiving - it gives respect for the day of gluttony and family.  And, also something to look forward to.  We went to the tree farm right around the corner from us and cut down our own little seven foot tree.  Because we shook out the squirrels and we didn't to wait for it to "fall" we were able to decorate the tree that night!  What a sight!  It's a beauty- Candles are in the windows, wreath is on its way, stockings are hung, and Tchotchke stuff has been displayed.  I recently had to explain the definition of tchotshke to Tim as he used the term out of context.  No, Tim, the advent calendar is not "shlotskey".  Well, maybe, but it's not.

Many families struggle with the commercialism of Christmas.  We try blend a lot of Christ with the Santa aspect and think we do a pretty good job.  Our nativity is up and we talk about how we celebrate Jesus' birthday.  I do agree that society as a whole has gone a bit overboard with the Black Friday sales, etc.  I read a quote recently, "Only in America do we trample over shoppers to get the best deal a day after we celebrate all that we are thankful for."  How true. Good thing I did my shopping online.

Eddie the Elf has come to visit us as well! He came to visit a few years ago and has been checking on Abby, and now Sam, for two years.  Abby named him Eddie, after the character in the movie.  Many people claim he's a creepy looking elf.  While I don't deny that, the joy and fun that all of us have with Eddie is fabulous.  He reports back to Santa and misbehavings or good deeds the kids do and sometimes even gets into a little mischief himself.  Eddie is a lot of fun to have around!  Abby's anticipation, excitement, and creativeness is pure magic.  Isn't that what part of this season is all about?

Thanksgiving round up!

We had a blast visiting the Proctors down south!  We enjoy great company, lots of laughs, amazing food,  a lot of charades, and a little soccer.  The B family are hostests with the mostests - a beautiful table spread.  Mr. Sam even took his first couple of steps! Abby had her birthday part five and Sam even had a taste at opening gifts.  Boy, oh boy do we have a lot to be thankful for.  We had a lovely time! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Goodness there is so much to be thankful for this year. Our health, our faith, our jobs, our family, and plenty of love to go around.  Yes, we have much to be thankful for!  Wishing all of you in cyber land a safe and happy Thanksgiving. 

Abby's Birthday Part II, III, IV

She was kind enough to remind me that she had FOUR birthday parties this year since she was turning four.  Yes, four.  Her friends, our little family party on 11/21 - her actual birthday, party at daycare, and our bigger family party with her local aunts and uncles.  Oh boy, yes, four parties!

She had a blast and was a little sad to take down the decorations today.  Thank you to all who helped make her birthday so special!

Sam is 11 Months Old!

Eleven months.  The countdown to ONE is well on its way. 

Sam is loving cruising around furniture and I'm positive he is going to take his first steps soon.  He is eating like a champ. We've given him loads of veggies, fruits, proteins, and grains. He still loves his oatmeal with applesauce in the morning and his yogurt in the afternoon.  He is still partial to his chicken and squash.  He's got plenty of chompers to chew it up - he even has one of this one year molars!  It seems like his teeth are skipping around a bit coming in.  Sam really enjoys feeding himself and picking up cheerios and small bits of food.  He is often eating what we're having for dinner, which is nice when we're going out. 

He has a couple of words - mama and dada and ba for bottle.  I suppose the word explosion will be happening soon!

The best part is that he is still sleeping all.night.long!  It's crazy!  I know I'm going to jinx myself, but I am just so darn proud of this little guy.  And so thankful he is taking after his Dada. 

 He new favorite little trick is this:

He LOVES it!  Tim and I were commenting on how his personality is really shining through.  He's so proud of himself, laughs at everything, get's cranky when teething (who wouldn't??!), sleeps through anything, and loves his big sister.   Abby dotes on him and is extremely helpful - she even offered to get my slippers from downstairs tonight.  Oh how I remember when I was asked to do the same thing....

Abby's Birthday (Month!)

Last weekend we celebrated Abby's fourth birthday with several of her friends (an adult friends!).  We reserved a space at our church and and it worked out really well to have the kitchen nearby and the gym for the kids to run around in.  We found a cool basketball hoop for practicing pre-schoolers and lots of toys from the Children's Closet. 

Abby's theme was Princess and Pirates (pink and gray) and she loved every single second of playing her part.  She was welcoming to her friends and mostly had good manners.  We started to get really cranky toward the end of the party - I think the sugar was wearing off. 

We have a few more opportunities to celebrate her birthday - her actual birthday on 11/21 and a small family gathering on 11/23.  I'm sure she'll eat this up for as long as we let her.  :-)

Sam the Man had a blast crawling around

Place settings for the princesses and pirates

We got Crafty!

Cinderella CAME!!!  (It's really Susie, our day care provider)

 

Gifts for the Animal Refuge League

 The big kids and little kids had so much fun!  I was a very proud mama that Abby agreed to collect goodies for the Animal Shelter in lieu of receiving traditional birthday gifts.  We stopped over on Sunday to drop off the box of toys, litter, food, and treats.  They loved it!  We brought Mimi with us and showed her the dogs, bunnies, and our favorite room - the kittens!  It was a busy Sunday for the ARL. 

World Series Championships!

It's all very exciting in our house!  We let Abby stay up late to watch a piece of history.  We might be paying for it today.  In  all honesty, she doesn't actually fall asleep until 9:30 so letting her stay up until 9pm, is no big deal right?

The Red Sox won the World Series in six games against the St. Louis Cardinals.  A few scattered grand slams and home runs through out the playoffs, Big Papi a clear MVP winner with a .733 batting average for the series, winning AT FENWAY, and following the bearded players absolutely made year an exciting one.

I'm fairly certain we brought them a few good luck charms:

Halloween 2013

We were so thankful our friends hosted a party on the Sunday before Halloween versus on Saturday. I was crazy busy with a craft fair and Tim being out of town.  Sunday was a perfect day for a party!  I was dressed as Ursula, Abby was Ariel on her wedding day, and Sam was Sebastian - all from The Little Mermaid, of course.  Tim is going to join us and be Abby's prince for Thursday.

She Cleaned Her Room

Well, she said she did....

I think we have a selective listener and doer on our hands.

Don't Lick the Spatula!

She loves helping in the kitchen so I asked her to help me make a cake for book club. Almond torte with raspberry buttercream.  This obviously was a google recipe and I hadn't really taste tested it before.  Abby volunteered during the creation.  Now, with raw eggs, I didn't want to her to eat the whole bowl.  Although, by her reaction, she would have. 

After a few tastes, I asked her to stop licking the spatula.  I turned around to frost the cake, and then back at her.  This is what I found.  Luckily, the camera was close by.

Yes, we cook naked. 

Toilet Paper Fiasco

They've all done it...unroll a roll of paper towel, that is!  When the infants start crawling, and you give them a teensy bit of independence, this is what they do.  Sam seems to love the bathroom.  He loves standing next to the tub, the toilet, and the stool.  We have to remember to keep the toilet seat closed!

I know that Abby did the same thing when we were living at my parents house.  Here's the link even though the picture has disappeared!  Insert sad face here.....

Happy 10 Months, Sam!

I think the past month has gone by the fastest.  Like, blinked, and *poof*, gone. Like, no way this just happened. 

At 10 months Sam is crawling like it's his job, cruising around the table, pulling himself up onto everything, still sleeping all night long (YES!), eating less purees and more our food, laughing more, and loves his cars and trucks.  It's so hard to believe that he'll be one so soon!  (For family reading wondering when we're going to celebrate, we're going to wait until after Christmas :-)  )

We have permission to start very little cow's milk in his sippy cup, and from11 months to one year will transition to whole milk.  I've been pumping at work to give him exclusively breast milk for the first year.  While I've been successful and grateful for the support of my work, I'm anxious to put the breast pump away. 

Sam now has his top two teeth and a third one on the bottom for a total of 5 teeth (toothies, according to Abby).  He's chomping on cheerios, soft veggies, meat, and pasta.  He even had his first few bites of macaroni and cheese! It looks like there are several more teeth coming in!

 

Our happy guy is pretty awesome!

Nemo Update

Well, we had to have the "fish go to heaven" conversation much sooner than we anticipated.  It went well considering we weren't necessarily ready,  Abby is saving her quarters (for sleeping through the night) for another fish.  Maybe this time a gold fish. She's already name him/her - Flounder.  C'mon, was that really a surprise.  This almost princess loving four year old, knows her fishy sidekicks.

Stay tuned!

Columbus Day Weekend

We are privileged to visit Vermont often - sometimes in the Burlington area and other times down south near Rutland.  Papa Proctor has a gorgeous piece of property with a stunning post and beam house.  A few apple trees, loads of perennials, goats across the way, a horse up the road, and a small quaint community to take care of each other. 

The fall is the most perfect time of year to visit!

Feeding Seneca the horse

We had a lovely day eating yummy treats, going to Cider Days in Belmont, visiting with Seneca, thehorse, teaching Auntie Erin to geocache, watching the Red Sox game, having a fire by the apple trees, playing with vintage Fisher Price Little People, lounging in pj's, eating more yummy food....really, a fabulous weekend!