down and out

The Mayor is sick. I hate it when he is sick. He has a horrible cough and a fever over 103. The good news is as of yesterday, he didn't have strep throat and his chest was clear. The bad news, if his fever is still here after tomorrow (which right now it looks like that will be the case) we have to go back to the doctor Friday morning to get re-checked. Apparently, pneumonia is going around and they will want to make sure nothing is settling into his chest. Nothing is worse than when your baby is sick. He isn't sleeping well because of the coughing and he isn't eating well either. So, we are staying put at the house until he is better.

We did get one huge thing accomplished today though...we ordered Bear's baby furniture! And got a fantastic deal! Should be here in 6-8 weeks...plenty of time for her arrival.

Back to The Mayor...he slept in his crib for about an hour this afternoon and woke up crying. He was just miserable from the running nose and coughing. But he was still completely exhausted...so he ended up taking an additional 2 1/2 hour nap on his daddy. Sleeping upright on his daddy helped with the coughing and as for daddy, I don't think he could have been happier to have his little man sleeping on him.

after nap, he was still cuddly and wanted his MeMe to read him a story

cuddling with Big Daddy

round 3

The in-laws all arrived this weekend and we have been enjoying spending Christmas time with them. It has been so much fun having a house filled with family. The Mayor is having a blast playing with his cousins. He wakes up asking for them; he is going to be so disappointed when they leave. It is times like this that make me realize this is what the holidays are really about...family. I wish they lived closer so we could see them more often. For now, we will just soak up every minute of being under one roof.

the cousins opening presents

the mayor reading a Thomas book

the mayor loves his new Thomas LEGO set

daddy putting the LEGO set together

playing together

merry christmas

What a fantastic day! Christmas with a 2 year old; it really doesn't get much better than that. Although The Mayor still doesn't really understand Christmas, he was much more into it than last year. He was excited to open his presents and even more excited to play with the toys. And toys...did he rack up. Not only did he rack up, but so did Bear. We were talking today that you know times have changed when your unborn child gets more presents than you do. It really made this holiday so much more fun to watch the excitement through our child's eyes. Not that Christmases in the past weren't fun, but it is so much better with kids. The sweet innocence and pure joy that radiates from their faces when they open their toys...it is truly priceless.

The Mayor spent the morning and afternoon just with us. It was special to have this time together. Especially since this will be the last Christmas with just the 3 of us. Santa was very good to him; he was loaded up with train sets and Thomas the train pieces (along with other fun toys) but the trains were definitely his favorite. He played hard all morning and took a much needed 3 hour nap. Then it was time for round 2. Off to PopPop's house to celebrate with the rest of the family. The amount of toys he received was definitely appreciated but way too much. He couldn't even play with them all before it was time to open another gift. The finale came when his PopPop gave him a train table...all set up with an entire track, city, bridges, helicopter pad and a dozen trains. He didn't leave the table for almost 3 hours. We had to make him stop long enough to eat a little dinner. All worth it just to see the smile on his face. He loved being surrounded by his family and playing with his favorite...trains.

MeMe, Big Daddy, Aunt Natalie, Uncle Tom, Trey and Luke arrive this weekend. We can not wait for round 3. And even more excited to have a house full of family and spending quality time together.

showing The Mayor the cookies Santa had eaten

The Mayor showing his collection of the Thomas the Train fleet

playing with his new remote control train track

Meega, sweet baby Bennett and the dog-dog The Mayor made for Bennett

so excited! Emily from Thomas the Train

a cute dress for Bear

playing with his new train table with PopPop

cookies for santa

We had so much fun today. Baking cookies with a 2 year old, you just never know...could be a disaster or a blast. Luckily, cookie decorating was a success and we had a blast. However, that doesn't mean we didn't learn a few lessons for next year. Lesson one: next year we will put the sprinkles in a bowl and let The Mayor take a pinch from the bowl to put on each cookie. This year we let him use the sprinkles directly from the container, and I think we got to cookie number 3 before the container was empty. Lesson two: move the decorated cookies out of his grasp. The Mayor took bites out of 4 different cookies before we had finished decorating the first dozen. I guess 3/4 of the dozen being salvageable isn't too bad. Lesson three: use a white icing instead of a colored icing. Colored icing - not the easiest thing to come out of your clothes or your skin. White icing is just as delicious and you can liven the cookies up with colored sugar and sprinkles.

But the most important thing is The Mayor had the best time. He thought he was such a big boy squeezing the icing on the cookies and decorating them. And the look on his face when he stood in front of 4 dozen cookies...he just knew he was in cookie heaven.

the four half-eaten cookies during the decorating of the first dozen

love that face

the finished product

after the sugar rush wore off, he laid himself on the couch, asked to be covered up and said "nite nite"

love

I have been on the verge of tears all evening. And I am going to blame it on pregnancy hormones, but if I were to be completely honest, it has nothing to do with hormones...it is just The Mayor. There are just some days that I look at him and want to cry. Not from frustration or because he is being difficult, but purely from love. While feeding him dinner tonight, I fought back tears. His sweet tender face, his gorgeous big brown eyes, his long eyelashes (that any woman would kill for), his sweet cheeks, I could go on an on...but everything, the whole package, just made me want to snatch him out of his highchair, kiss him, hug him and never let him go.

I never knew love could be like this. So intense, unconditional and pure.

Today was a day I wish I could put a brick on him to keep him from growing up...to keep him this precious loving 2 year old. I wish I had more words to express how I love him. Any mother, actually any parent, can attest to having one of these days...where you are just so overcome with love for your child. I love him everyday, but today was a day I wish would last forever. Maybe it has to do with Christmas being around the corner or the fact that another year is about to come to an end...whatever it is, it got me today.

After 10 years of marriage to the most amazing man, the sweetest son in the world and a baby girl due in 3 months, I am truly blessed.

sweet boy

Today had the potential of being a rough day. It was cold and rainy all day today. And I mean cold...I think it got up to 39 degrees today. The Mayor and I ventured out to the mall to finish Christmas shopping; I know, mean mommy. Normally I never would have gone out in this weather, but this weekend is very busy so today was really the only day I had to get this done. It broke my heart because after we were done shopping, The Mayor and I made a mad dash for the car. I did my best to keep him covered in his stroller but when we got to the car, he was covering his face, crying and saying "cold, cold". I cranked that heat up so we could enjoy the ride home.

The Mayor honored me with some fantastic cuddle time as he nestled into my lap to watch a "Thomas" episode before lunch. Every few minutes, he would lean in for a kiss too. I love days like that. After nap, we went to PopPop's house. He was going to watch him for a couple hours (I had a rehearsal dinner to go to - I am the wedding coordinator for a friend's wedding) and daddy had to work. As you can see, The Mayor enjoyed his time at PopPop's. He always does. He enjoyed watching another "Thomas" episode, playing with the dog-dogs, looking at the Christmas tree and coloring. He was just as cuddly with his daddy when they came home and did the nightly bedtime routine. Such a sweet boy. You just never know with a 2 year old and a rainy day. It could spell disaster but not today.

santa and the pink pig

Today we continued our annual tradition of traveling to Atlanta to see the Real Santa. He is fantastic...and you have to make an appointment. They open up appointments in early October and usually by the end of the first 24 hours, all 5000 appointments are completely booked. This was The Mayor's 3rd visit to see Santa, his first was when he was a mere 6 weeks old. I love this tradition. They also allow you to purchase a DVD of your visit with Santa so we have one from every year. It is so fun to go back every year and see how much your baby has changed.

I was a little nervous about this year's visit. The Mayor is 2 years old, and I just knew if we were ever going to have a freak out when it came to sitting on Santa's lap, this was probably going to be the year. Luckily, we didn't have to end up in the picture with The Mayor! He didn't scream or cry...but he didn't smile either. That's ok. He still looked absolutely adorable in his Christmas red sweater sitting on Santa's lap sucking his thumb while Santa went over his wish list.

After our visit with Santa, we ventured across the street to The Pink Pig. An Atlanta institution. Macy's has been putting up The Pink Pig train ride since the mid 50s. We paid for 2 trips for The Mayor; we knew one wouldn't be enough and we each wanted a turn to ride with him. He wasn't happy while waiting in line (thank goodness he is only 2 once) but once he got on that train, he was all smiles. It was definitely worth it.

We are looking forward to continuing the tradition next year. It will be doubly fun and doubly blessed when our daughter is joining us on the festivities.

sucking his thumb while listening to Santa read his wish list

so excited to ride the train

blowing kisses to daddy

sleep

I need to start this blog out by stating The Mayor loves to sleep...I mean, LOVES to sleep. He has been sleeping through the night since he was 5 weeks old, sleeping 12+ hours since he was 10 weeks old and still takes at least a 3 hour nap everyday...and a lot of those days we are having to wake him up so he can be put down for his normal bedtime.

Today, I thought I was going to put The Mayor down a few minutes early for his nap so he would wake up early so we could do some Christmas shopping. I thought my plan was brilliant...he had a play date this morning, so I knew he was wiped out. I put him down for nap at 1:00 (normal naptime is 1:30, 2:00 at the latest). He fell fast asleep...for about 30 minutes. Then I heard him giggling and talking to himself. I left him up there hoping he would fall back asleep. Instead, I heard a huge thud, followed by a loud screaming cry, followed by the door knob being jiggled. Yep, The Mayor had climbed out of his crib. He has never climbed out of his crib. When I went into his room, I noticed the large stuffed dog that he sleeps with had been wedged up against the side of his crib...almost like a step stool. I am sure this gave him the leverage he needed to hoist himself out of his crib. Needless to say, this large dog-dog is now a playroom toy. I am praying this dog is what got him out of the crib and not his own strength of lifting himself out of bed. I am not ready for that...and I am definitely not ready for him to be in a toddler bed yet.

We were able to leave even earlier than planned for Christmas shopping, and on the way home The Mayor was entertaining himself by counting and singing and clapping. But somewhere between the mall and home, it got quiet and he fell asleep. At 5:45 PM. I am not happy but daddy is thrilled. It has been a long time since his boy has slept on him. He snatched him out of the car seat and said "I am going to lie down with him!!". And now they are on the couch. I told him at 6:00 he was waking him up so we could eat dinner and put him down for bed at normal time. He isn't happy, but I need The Mayor to sleep tonight. It is precious though...seeing my boys sleeping on the couch together. Makes me think back to the days when The Mayor was a sweet newborn. I miss those days...

bruiser

Ah, the joys of having a son. Three days before we are scheduled to see Santa, The Mayor hits his eye on the coffee table. He was just bending over to get his shoe, obviously standing too close to the table, and bam...hits his upper cheek area on the table. What can I say, he has his mother's depth perception...poor guy.

It was so traumatic, we had to use both boo-boo bunnies tonight. One for the cheek and the other one he wanted to chew on. He also had a haircut today...he looks like such a big boy. Makes me so sad...

daddy tending to the check while The Mayor

munches on the other boo-boo bunny

his haircut...he looks so much older now...

the mayor meets bennett

Today was the day I was anticipating. The Mayor was finally going to meet Bennett. We have been talking about Bennett all week with The Mayor and this morning I was really talking him up. I wanted to reiterate to The Mayor that we were going to see baby Bennett, that we needed to be quiet and very gentle with baby. The Mayor repeated all the "rules" on the way to see baby Bennett. When we got there, The Mayor was shy and sat in my lap watching Meega feed Bennett. Once The Mayor felt a little more comfortable, he ventured over to touch Bennett, talk to him and even kissed him. Then it was over. Bennett no longer interested The Mayor, but all of Bennett's toys did. The Mayor wanted to sit and rock in Bennett's vibrating rocker, turned the music and nightlight on and off on his pack-n-play, pushed his swing back and forth...all toys and products we have at our own home. But somehow, they were a lot more interesting at Meega's house. Every few minutes, The Mayor would venture back over to Bennett to kiss him, hug him or just look at him. Then it was off to play with the baby toys.

We went back over this evening so Uncle D could meet Bennett too. Since he had been out of town all week on business, this was his first opportunity to meet the sweet baby. Surprisingly, The Mayor wasn't jealous when his daddy was holding the baby. Whew...The Mayor wanted to sit next to him while he held the baby. The Mayor even wanted to show Bennett his dog-dog. So thankful he wanted to share and wasn't jealous...hopefully this will continue when our new addition arrives in March. I got a small glimpse into what my life will be like in a few months...tiring! Holding a newborn and tending to a 2 year old...all I can say is there is a reason why we have children while we are young. We need all the energy we can get!

All in all it was a great day. Although The Mayor didn't hold an interest for too long in regards to the baby, he did talk about him on the way home. For most of the car ride home, The Mayor kept repeating "bye Meega, bye J, bye Bennett", "bye Meega, bye J, bye Bennett". He loves his cousin...it is going to be so much fun watching these two sweet boys grow up together.

seeing Bennett for the first time

being silly

playing with Bennett's pack-n-play

giving his cousin a kiss

The Mayor showing Bennett "dog-dog"

Uncle D holding Bennett for the first time