The new "New Moms" thread!

[DisneyGirl4188]

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HANUKKAH!!!

We opened presents last night. Spencer had a BLAST. We first took him to the neighbors and he opened some things there. They got him so much. Then we opened presents with the family. He learned very quickly how to open things and then when he was finished, he wanted to open our things

This is some of what he got :

There was a bit of family drama from my SIL, but other than her it was a nice evening.

Off to catch up, but I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Amber, Spencer looks like he had a lot of fun!

Hope everyone had a good day yesterday!

We had a very nice, quiet morning as a family, and Owen had lots of fun with his new toys and books. We managed to get to SIL's at 11:45, just as they were starting to open presents. DH's family was mostly gracious about our later arrival, and all in all the day went fairly smoothly. Owen got cranky just before 1:00 when we were about to sit down to dinner, but a little snuggle time upstairs by ourselves settled him down and got him through the rest of the afternoon.

I did learn more about DH's family Christmas traditions which helped explain why they were so upset that we were arriving late. Turns out they always had the full extended family over for Christmas, and they always waited to open presents until EVERYONE got there. So DH and his sisters were always having to wait until noon to open anything. Now that they're adults, oldest SIL decided that her kids shouldn't have to wait that long, so everyone should plan on being there by 10am.

DH and I also discovered that our family traditions were very different, and we now need to decide what that means for our family. In my family, our Christmas day was just our immediate family. It was a quiet, low-key day. Extended family time was at Thanksgiving, not Christmas. DH's family is the exact opposite.

I've suggested that we compromise - we have a quiet family morning, and spend the afternoon with the extended family. DH isn't sure how his family will take that, and he's not sure how he feels about it. So we'll see...but at least I understand more of the issues with our arriving late yesterday.

 

[beckmrk04]

I have some catching up to do!

Well, first of all- Christmas was great around here. We did Christmas Eve with My husband's extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins- there are around 30 of us!). And that's always a good time. We exchange names and I got his grandma the cutest mug from Snapfish.com. The next morning we did a low-key gift opening with just the 3 of us, which was fun. Vaylie was really digging opening up presents, but every time she'd open one she'd want to play with it, and I'm like, "come on kid, you've got 6 more presents to open..." It was cute. Of all the stuff we bought, I think her favorite was the $4 Magnadoodle I got on sale at Kohl's. But she loves her chair, so that's good. And if anyone gets the "Elmo Potty Time" dvd- watch out- it's hilarious. Vaylie ran around saying, "Pee-pee, poo-poo, pee-pee, poo-poo" forever.

So, after we relaxed at home, we went to my mom's house, did that exchange, and then in the evening we go to my IL's house (by which time Vaylie and Dnephew were officially 'over' the whole unwrapping thing). But it was nice. We had a good time.

DH bought me a Dooney & Bourke purse! It's cute, but not really my style, so I'm going to exchange it. Luckily, DH and I are both really laid back about that sort of thing- if we get something the other doesn't like, neither of us gets upset about returning/exchanging. Whew.

So, that was Christmas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bethany- I can see how it would be hard to try to gracefully combine both Christmas traditions. We have at least 3 other places to go at Christmas, and sometimes I just want to stay home, you know? But there's no way I could- our families would be so upset. Glad you had a good Christmas otherwise, and VERY cool of your DH for taking the hit! I think it was a good compromise.

Amber- Spencer looks adorable! Looks like he got a lot of loot! Vaylie did too. In fact, DH spent most of Friday cleaning out her toybox and closet, taking old stuff to the basement, and making room for all the new stuff. It wasn't that we bought her a ton of stuff, it's that so much of our extended family bought her stuff too.

Pollito- I hope you are feeling better! And hopefully after the holidays things will pick up for your DH.

ChrizJen- congratulations!! I hope Christmas was wonderful!!! This age is so much fun. Our DD is 22 months today. She's a riot! She keeps me laughing and on my toes.

Michelle- loved the wreath! I bought stuff Friday (1/2 off! ) and I am going to try to make a Mickey wreath. We'll see how my crafty skills work out.

Nicole- YAY for Izzy! Life is about to get more interesting with a walker. And it doesn't take long to progress from walking to running!

Anyone I missed- I hope everyone had a great holiday!

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Hi everyone!

We had a good Christmas with Christopher. He had a lot of fun pulling things out of his stocking. The paper took him a few minutes, and he had way more fun ripping off a small piece and going to give it to someone My house looks like the Little People are moving in.

He was sick most of the week, but he was still fairly cheerful. Come to find out, he likes to take medicine Other than not eating well, and waking up really stuffy and cranky for about 30 minutes, he was OK.

Bethany - good luck trying to figure out how to blend 2 families together for the holidays. It's always tough to figure out your own plans and traditions, along with 2 other families worth of things to do.

DisneyGirl - Spencer is adorable! He looks like he had so much fun!

Becky - nice purse! It sounds like you guys had a bunch of travelling to do!

Jen

 

[Pollito916]

Amber - Spencer looks adorable in front of the tree in his santa outfit! Looks like he got tons of presents!

Bethany - It's always hard to mesh traditions from 2 different families, good luck with coming up with a compromise everyone can be happy with going forward!

Becky - Sounds like you guys had a busy and fun Christmas. Too funny about Vaylie and the Elmo video! Alex was the same way opening presents, that he wanted to play with each one he opened.

He also did the funniest thing when he first started unwrapping presents, as he tore at each piece of paper, he would yell, "yuck!" We have no idea why, but it was just so funny when it was happening!

Jen - Alex likes to take medicine too - I think b/c of the flavoring they put in it now, but he comes running whenever we say it's time for medicine.

****************

We had a fairly calm Christmas. We went to my cousin's house on Christmas Eve for the extended family thing, then my mom & sister came over for breakfast on Christmas morning, then we just spent the rest of the day relaxing. Overall, it was pretty nice. I'm going to see if I can get some of the disney pics uploaded on photobucket to share with you all.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

PLEASE help me out ladies!


VOTE FOR MOSHE!!!!!

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index.aspx?p=974944&x=.JPG&referid=wlcm

you can vote as often as you want I believe.

Thanks!

 

[TiggerStac]

I hope that everyone had a good holiday. Ours were uneventful..thank goodness!! We do extended family on Christmas Eve at my parents, so that is always crazy and it was.

Christmas has been at my house for the last 4 or 5 years, normally my parents, sometimes my older brother, my mom in law and sis in law. This year it was just us and it was great!! My mom and dad stayed home to take care of my grandfather who is very ill. We won't even go there w/my selfish aunt..that does nothing, thats another story in itself.

But it was nice, hubby asked what I wanted for dinner and he made prime rib. My oldest actually ate some, which is shocking in itself, as his diet consists of mac n cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets and waffles.

We went to my father in laws today and his wife always cooks for an army, and she did again...but it's all italian cooking YUMMY!!

Brady, also, got the elmo potty dvd, we haven't shown it to him, yet..so it will be interesting once he does.

We asked my aunt and cousin to be godparents of the new baby on christmas eve. I got ornaments that said "I love my godmother/father" on them. They were both in shock. My aunt knew we were asking my cousin (her son) but had no clue we were asking her...one of those moments you wish you had a video camera going. My cousins face was priceless, too...my aunt was dancing around

The baby got a cute few gifts, 2 of them disney themed and this great lambie blanket from bed and bath, it's the sofest thing I've ever felt!

Ok....I hope that everyone had a great holiday with their families.

Another plus of the quiet Christmas at home, we started looking into our next trip to WDW. I want to be there for my birthday for once!! So we can go the mickey's not so scary!! I haven't booked, yet, but we have an idea of the dates. It's a long way off for us, as we usually go a couple times a year, but we've been doing a lot of traveling w/hubby's work. so it will be xtra special, as we won't be going this spring as we normally due, with the baby comeing.

 

[Pollito916]

As promised, here are some disney pics,

CP breakfast, Alex was ok with Tigger at first:

As long as he didn't get too close:

He really liked Mickey:

Posing in mouse ears:

But he preferred the baseball hat:

He insisted we all "hold on" on the monorail:

Alex got "chosen" by the claw:

had a blast dancing with the girls at MVMCP:

and the whole family had fun in Mexico:

And at the end of the day, the king took up the entire king-size bed (even though the pack-n-play is right next to it):

Of course there are hundreds more pictures, but I'm sure that's enough for you all!

 

[Pollito916]

While I was looking for Disney pics, I found a couple of Alex's bedroom in our new house, but I can't seem to find any others. Unfortunately, our camera broke during vacation, so we just brought it to Best Buy to be sent out and be fixed, so we won't have it back for about 2 weeks, so I don't know where the rest of the pics went.

 

[beckmrk04]

oops- double post!

 

[beckmrk04]

Pollito- Looks like you guys had fun!! Alex is so cute.

We were going to go to WDW next year, but I'm re-thinking the idea (things are too scary right now, and I don't want to plan a big trip and then have to cancel, kwim?). SO- we might head out to California!! My best friend lives in Chino Hills (which I guess is close to LA) and we're thinking about going out for a visit. Her DH gets Disneyland tickets for free (he told me this to entice us to come out for a visit ). So, we might go out there and do Disneyland instead. It will be much cheaper!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

if you vote ladies....let me know please

 

[ashjohnson80]

Hi, hope everyone had a great christmas. i havne't had a chance to read back. i've been pretty sick, i had an allergic reaction to something and then some sort of stomach virus. i can barely sit up. hope everyone is well!

 

[ChrizJen]

Thanks for the kind words of welcome everyone!! It's been an adventure so far for sure!!

Hi, hope everyone had a great christmas. i havne't had a chance to read back. i've been pretty sick, i had an allergic reaction to something and then some sort of stomach virus. i can barely sit up. hope everyone is well!

We must have had the same thing...
I got the ultimate "crash course" in MOMMY over Christmas and the weekend!!
DD was sick with the stomach bug on Christmas day, and was just miserable. I did a lot of changing clothes and cleaning up after a sick baby. Things seemed to calm down on Friday.
Then Saturday, she came down with the mother of all colds!! Just about the same time that I came down with the stomach bug!!
If you had the same bug we had, it was MISERABLE!!! Today is the first day I've felt truly human since Saturday. And I STILL don't feel 100%.
UGH...Rough holiday weekend. Hopefully New Years will be better.

 

[beckmrk04]

Oooh- sorry you guys are sick. Yuck.

I don't know about anyone else, but I am ready to tear down the Christmas decorations and try to get my house in some sort of order. I did get lucky this year, though- I have New Year's Eve and Day off. So, I think I'm going to try to clean up. I'd need a whole week long vacation to get my house in any sort of real order, but at least I'll make an attempt.

 

[exwdwcm]

Hey everyone!
I'm not technically a "new mom" in the traditional sense, but I am a new foster mom! We got our first foster placement last Wednesday!!
She's 20 months old, and the sweetest little thing you can imagine!
It's been a very nice Christmas present! We're having so much fun!
But I really am new to this whole mommy thing, so it's been quite an adjustment having a little one around!
I can't share too much info, and I can't post a pic (for confidentiality reasons), but trust me when I say that she's a DOLL!! We'll find out more next week about the permanency of the placement. We're hoping to have her for a while!!

Merry Christmas everyone, and hug your little ones extra tight!!

WELCOME~!!! and I think fostering is so amazing!!! GO YOU!!! I bet you are having so much fun and we are thrilled to have you on board here! So what is your little one's name? Please keep us posted on how things develop. My best friend is considering fostering too, so I'd love to hear all about it.

BETHANY- ugh- what drama. I hate you had to deal with the in laws situation. REally, what difference does an hour or two make if you are there or not? geez. I was disappointed because my sister and her family got Scarlett fever!!! yep, my 2yo nephew had it and then his dad got it. So they were not with us for our traditional Christmas Eve. we still had a great time, and I am sure your in-laws did too. I am so glad DH stood up for you guys and stood firm.

DISNEYGIRL- how cute is Spencer in his santa outfit!!!

POLLITO- Alex is just a cutie pie! looks like a great trip was had by all

I hope everyone had a GREAT HOLIDAY!!!! sounds like all the kids had a great time with their families.

I am in the office today, although I planned to work at home, just had to come in and take care of some stuff. Working at home tomorrow though and off Thurs-Fri. yeah! I also came in and had a $100 pottery barn GC waiting for me from a magazine I advertise with at work- that was unexpected- $100 no less. I don't usually shop there, so I can't wait to go look, it's been ages since I've been in there.

Will had a great Christmas- he got this red wagon that he loves! I eventually need to store it outside or in the garage, but for now, it is in the house and he loves opening the door and crawling in and out of it. Kelly- he did get that horse thing and likes it, but we haven't even tried the TV part of it yet. DH got me some Wilton Armetele dishes, which I love, I didn't know they existed until I saw my sister registering for them before her wedding. also got a new COACH purse from a good friend (she is SUPER generous and can afford to be). I don't splurge on designer purses (okay, I am cheap!!!), so it was nice to finally have a designer purse. We had a great Christmas.......the best was just spending time with family and friends, that is the best gift ever.

We are also excited that our trip is now under a year away!!! LOL I know, it's a long time, but we've been booked and planning for a year and like 8 months now. We are going Dec 11-20th for 9 nights at WL!!!! My sister wants to get together this weekend to start planning! lol

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Ash and ChrizJen, I hope you guys are feeling better, soon! I caught Owen's cold, and the sinus pressure is really painful. At least DH doesn't have to work as much this week, so he's been able to take Owen more and let me get some rest. Owen is totally loving all the daddy time he's getting. He's going to be sad when DH has to start working longer hours again.

Polito, it looks like you guys had a great trip! I'm really starting to get excited for our trip to DLR in 2 months, and your pictures added more fuel to the fire.

Becky, a trip to CA for DLR sounds like a good (and inexpensive) option! Chino Hills is a good location to stay for getting to Disneyland, at least as "good" as any driving in LA can be! Traffic down there is just nuts. But from Chino Hills you're at least on the same side of LA as Anaheim, and it's also a reasonable location for getting to some of the other fun stuff in SoCal.

 

[beckmrk04]

Michelle- I didn't even know people got scarlett fever anymore!! That is crazy! Glad you had a good holiday, though. And a Coach purse? You know, DH got me the D&B bag, but my favorite present is the one "Vaylie" bought me (he bought it when he was out shopping with her)- it was a Willow Tree Mother-Daughter ornament. I collect the Willow Tree figures, and I thought it was so sweet that he got me a present "from Vaylie."

Bethany- I have never been to CA, so I am excited! And I thought- ok, Vaylie will get to see an ocean AND Mickey all in one trip (for waaay less money)! Plus, I'm excited to spend some time with my friend- we only get to see each other once or twice a year, so it'll be nice to hang out for a while. And her DH will LOVE having V around- he is chomping at the bit to have kids- I swear you can hear his biological clock ticking. I've never seen any guy like him!

 

[kellyf2626]

Hi ladies! Sounds like everyone had a great holiday...despite sickness that seems to be everywhere! Add Brady to the sick-list too. He woke-up Saturday morning very congested with a cough, and went down-hill pretty quickly. Sunday morning were at the ped's office where he was diagnosed with his first ear infection. Poor little guy is just miserable. I feel like a new mom again, up every hour or so with him at night (actually...I think he slept more as a new baby than this!). Today was the third day of Amoxicillin, so I'm hoping tomorrow he will start to feel better!

Michelle...You'll have to let me know how Will likes the tv part. The horse part is a big hit here too! Although it's kinda lost-in-the-shuffle of all the other new toys right now!

Pollito...Love the Disney pics! Looks like you had a fantastic time. Alex is so grown-up looking!!

Becky...I hear ya about the Christmas decorations. This weekend is going to be a clean-up and organize kind of weekend for us!! The CA trip sounds like a great plan - everyone would have a blast and for less money, why not?!

For some pics of our Christmas, check out Brady's blog... www.nhbradyboy.blogspot.com I'm just too lazy to upload them all to photobucket and then post again. There's also a really cute pic of his sick little face...with his big eyes (which are usually so huge and bright), half-open and red.

What is everyone doing for New Years? A year ago we were ringing-it-in around the world at Epcot!! It was crazy fun!! This year my parents are taking Brady for the night, and we are going into Boston to my girlfriends home for a party. Should be fun!!

 

[beckmrk04]

Kelly- Brady looks so sad in his "sick" picture! Poor boy! Nothing is worse than having a sick baby- it breaks my heart when Vaylie doesn't feel good.

We're staying in for New Year's Eve. I have to run to Wal-Mart to get some groceries, come to think of it. Usually, I make a big dinner, we play games, and just hang out.

My sister is going on a dinner cruise on the Mississippi in St. Louis, and at midnight the boat parks under the Arch and shoots off fireworks! Doesn't that sound cool?