Christmas January 2, 2013

Christmas has already come and gone and we’re back to our normal schedule.  We had a wonderful

holiday together.  John and I were both able to get a nice chunk of time off.  I had a little over 2 weeks and John a little less than that.  It made it very hard to get back in the swing of things today!

We had a traditional Goodwin Christmas again this year.  Grandma’s on Christmas Eve, our house Christmas morning, Grandpaman’s on Christmas afternoon and evening.  We had lots of snow as well.  John and Hayden (mostly John) made a snowman, and John did lots of shoveling.  There was plenty of time for Legos and doll babies and puzzles and books and Wii video games, and Mommy and Daddy had time for running and rowing, reading, sewing, and watching movies.  And eating, oh the eating.

We rang in the new year with newly wedded Mike and Mandy (Mandy is my cousin).  They came down from Chicago with their dog Hadley, who actually made our dog Lucy tired (Hadley is 2 and Lucy is 6, but we never thought anything could slow Lucy down!).  We went bowling with them – the kids first time, and Hayden loved it – went out for dinner (note to self, reservations are a must on NYE, no matter that we didn’t need them last year), and played Just Dance 4.  Great time!

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Christmas January 5, 2012

What a wonderful Christmas!  Hayden was at the best age for the holiday.  He was so excited all month long about everything to do with Christmas – the lights, Santa, presents, Christmas songs, “candy train” (our advent calendar), Christmas cartoons…  It was really a blast to go through the Christmas season with a 4 year old – it made it feel magical, the way it did when I was little.

We tried to make the most of Christmas time by taking advantage of all the special events.  We went on the “Polar Express,” which was a train ride from the neighboring town of Fishers up to “the north pole” (Noblesville, one town up) to pick up Santa.  We did our annual neighborhood Cookies with Santa, and Hayden got to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas (trains, trains, and more trains, because he “really loves trains” – as the month went on we were able to convince him to ask for some other things since he already has a truckload of trains).  Meanwhile, Layla got to show that she is at the exact right age to want to have nothing to do with the big, strangely dressed man, even if he does wield candy canes.  We went to a big Christmas model train exhibit at the Eiteljorg museum in Indy which was really remarkable, and right up Hayden’s alley since it encompassed his two very favorite things – Christmas and trains.  We went to the Children’s Museum “Jolly Days” Christmas experience.  One night a couple of days before Christmas we did what I hope is becoming a tradition since we also did it last year – ordered pizza and ate it on the couch while we watched the movie Elf.  Yes, a 4 year old eating pizza on the couch, I am a wild woman!  I couldn’t bring myself to let Layla loose with pizza sauce and furniture, so she was in her high chair, but I moved it so it was aaaaaalmost in the family room.  🙂

Hayden would have a lot of fun listening to Christmas songs in the car.  He would always ask for Christmas music if it wasn’t already on.  He liked to sing jingle bells or Rudolph – my mom was babysitting for us and I got a text that she was enjoying listening to his sweet voice singing Rudolph and jingle bells over the monitor while he was supposed to be sleeping.  Even Layla started doing her own singing along to jingle bells after a while (her version of singing is mostly singing “eh eh eh” to the tune, and every once in a while throwing in a word that sounds about right).

We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa and Dusty and Andy and their respective families.  Christmas morning we spent at our house unwrapping presents and eating cinnamon rolls.  Hayden was really quite good with it all considering the amount of waiting for other people to open and not really being able to play with everything right away.  I remember last year it really became too much for him after a while.  Then in the afternoon after Layla’s nap we went to Grandpaman’s and did some visiting with Grandma G’s family.

The whole Christmas thing was really great.  John and I also had nearly 2 weeks off work, and it was such a joy to just spend tons of time together as a family.  It was really hard to go back to the routine this week.  But, I guess if we could do that all the time it wouldn’t feel as special.

Layla’s First Christmas January 2, 2011

Layla’s first Christmas went by very well.  She was a little superstar for the whole time. (she is of course a superstar all the time!).  She was a little more interested in opening the presents than I thought she would be (saying that she didn’t have to do much, Hayden took care of the majority of the opening), but predictably liked eating the paper more than the presents.  She also seems really interested in Hayden’s presents.  She was discarding her presents and wiggling around to get her hands on some of his toy cars or anything else she can.

Layla of course got some very cool presents of her own too.  She got some beautiful clothes (being the first Grand daughter I think everyone loves buying her clothes as there are so many pretty little girl outfits.), lots of rattle and chew toys (sounds like what Lucy and Mimi got too!) and this very cool dragon ball pit toy.   It is a dragon that is filled up with with little balls you find in those big toy pits.  She loves hanging out in there!

She got a little tired a couple of times during the two Christmas days we had but all it ever required was a change of scenery and everything was instantly better!  She continues to be a fantastic little baby! (and the prettiest Christmas baby ever – of course :D)

Merry Mistmas! December 20, 2010

Oft heard phrases in the Goodwin household the last few weeks:

(While looking through a toy magazine) “Will you put this on my Mistmas list?”

“What we gonna do when Mistmas be here?”

“Layla wants this for Mistmas.  Will you put this on Layla’s Mistmas list?”

“Look!  Mistmas stuff (lights)!  Do you see that?”

“Will you call Santa and tell him I said please when I asked for more juice?”

“No DON’T call Santa!  Don’t call Santa!  I want to be a good boy.”

LONG overdue! December 6, 2010

Just like a certain “tractor” library book I never found (any guesses as to who that was checked out for?), this blog is long overdue!  My friend Faith called me out on my blog slacking yesterday – thank you, Faith, for keeping me honest!  Between work, the kids, and the biggest thing to blame the last couple of weeks – the holidays – I have not found the time to do a posting.  I feel a little swamped right now, mainly just because of the holidays.  I don’t think I should really complain about it, though, because the things that are keeping us so busy are mostly really fun things that we are fortunate to be able to do.  For instance, this weekend was our neighborhood’s Cookies With Santa, where Hayden (and Layla) got to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas (plus did I mention there were cookies?).  After that we went to Chuck E Cheese (don’t think they have those in the UK – it’s a pizza place with tons of arcade-style games for young kids) to celebrate Hayden FINALLY doing his number 2’s in the potty.  Chuck E Cheese was the first incentive that really seemed to spark his interest in this particular area, so I’m hoping we have turned a corner now – he’s done it three times in a row now as of this morning.  I know I am truly in Mommyland when I find this so elating, so please forgive me.  Then yesterday we went to the Colts game.  And between all this fun stuff every moment is stuffed with something – getting Christmas cards designed, printed (I had to go to three different places before I could get them right – can you believe it!), buying envelopes and stamps, stuffing, stamping, etc, buying presents, wrapping presents… ok I’m starting to get ahead of myself because I haven’t gotten that far yet, but it’s on my radar!  The trouble with the wrapping is that Hayden doesn’t nap anymore, so the only chance I have to wrap his presents is after he’s asleep, and after a long day of work or running around with a 3 year old and a 6 month old I haven’t yet mustered up the energy to tackle that.  But it will happen – it’s crazy busy for everyone this time of year and we all find time to get everything done (or at least all the must-dos – I’m starting to realize some things just won’t get done, like taking Hayden to see Polar Express which I was hoping we could do this year).  We still have to come Christmas parties and events, a Chris Isaacs’ concert, a Christmas symphony, and what’s that, Work?  You want me to work the Sat before Christmas?  Oh goodness, it would simply be my pleasure!  😉

Does this even count as a blog post?  Let me start another one and see if I can stay on topic.  The kids, right!  The kids.

Open Presents.. February 21, 2010

Little late for the Christmas blog I know but better late than never – right?   I’ll keep it short.

Hayden definitely started to get the hang of Christmas this year and thoroughly enjoyed the idea of presents, even if wanted to open everybody elses!   As soon as he saw a present as far as he was concerns it was fair game to whoever could rip the paper off first.  I don’t think Kara or I got to open a single present as Hayden took care of that for us!  “Open presents?” was a very popular phrase that week!!

One of the magic moments was when he was opening his presents.  He was working through his toys and getting excited, and he came across some clothes, he just threw down the box/clothes and grabbed the next present!   Just like his daddy!!!

Santa Claus December 20, 2009

I’m having to get used to using that term having grown up with Father Christmas… but I have to admit it’s easier for Hayden to say and understand.  Last year when Hayden met Santa Claus it was quite an event (to be fair to Santa he had the same reaction to the Easter bunny!)  Can’t resist showing the picture again:

This year was very different.  We had “Cookies With Santa” within our neighbourhood at the local primary school.   When Santa turned up Hayden was really excited and rounnign around in circles. Then like a really good boy he lined up behind the other kids and waited his turn to sit on Santa.  Once up there he sat up on Santa’s knee and even told him what he wanted!  (an Orange race car apparently!!)  I was really impressed because often he just goes quite in situations like this.  He even managed a Dr Evil impression for the picture!!

When Santa was leaving Hayden was in the perfect place in the room and got an extra high five from Santa.  He face lit up like a proverbial Christmas tree!  It was very sweet!

Auntie Michelle January 2, 2008

Hayden finally got to meet Auntie Michelle!!! He loved that she came to visit with her boyfriend Stuart.  Hayden seemed to like both of them very much!  He smiled lots around Michelle and even fell asleep in her arms a couple of times and he hates falling asleep as he is always worried he is missing out on something!!

We didn’t do too much crazy stuff while they were here, more about spending time in chilling and getting Michelle and Hayden acquainted.  We made sure we got a good quality steak in while Grandpaman and Grandma G babysat.  Made sure we went in the hottub and drank champagne.  Did some retail therapy when they got to make the most of the weak $!!!  Had a wine party, chili night!  I guess we did quite a bit after all when you mix in Christmas and presents in all that!!!

It was really nice to have them here, they’ve got off to Vancouver for a week now before they head back to the UK.  Hopefully they’ll come back again soon 🙂

Presents!

I like presents.  I like the paper they come in.  I am learning to open it and eat it.  It’s the best 🙂

I got lots of presents, it appears people like me.  I got this huge Giraffe which is really cool.  I’m going to ride that when I’m older 🙂  I also got this really cool activity mat that I lie around on all the time.  It’s got lots of things I can pull and play with.  I also got a jumperoo from my mummy and daddy.  It’s brilliant.  I like it when they put it in front of the TV when there is football on.  That is probably my favourite thing in the whole world.

I also got myself lots of cool clothes.  It is important that I look good when I’m out as I have a lot of chicks to impress.

I keep getting books – unfortunately I can’t read yet but I like to suck on them, I like to suck on anything I can get my hands on!!!  Yummy!

Still the biggest baby December 15, 2007

Hayden went to the doctor for his 4 month check up on Dec 6.  He was 17 lbs 5 oz, 26 3/4 inches.  He’s still the 90th percentile in weight, height, and head circumference.  He had had a rash on the back of his knees which was diagnosed as eczema, so he got some creams for that and it healed up really quickly.

He’s not where we thought he would be now with night sleeping.  He’s good with his routine and goes down fairly easily, but I have to get up at least once in the middle of the night still and in fact it’s more normal to have to get up twice.  My theory is he is so big that he just requires more food and therefore more feedings.  We had hoped though that at 4 1/2 months he would at least be sleeping through from the 11 pm feeding to about 6 am or so.  I imagine we will start feeding him cereal soon to try to fill him up a bit before bed.  I had planned to start on Thursday and told John to plan to get home early so we could give him cereal for the first time before his bath, but then Wednesday night he had a rare night with only one waking so we postponed the cereal.  I would like to wait until as close to 6 months as we can before we start cereal, but he’s going to have to start having more good nights than bad nights really soon in order to make it much longer on breastmilk alone!

John and I went to a concert on Tuesday night with my stepmom Gretchen while Grandpaman watched Hayden.  We went to see the Kooks, who are a British band who were playing at the Vogue in Broadripple.  We were so tired from Hayden giving us many consecutive sleepless nights and I think all three of us would have been tempted not to go if we hadn’t gotten the tickets in advance.  But it was a really great show so I was glad we dragged ourselves there in the end.  It was a charity show and they had a silent auction for the charity with three signed guitars – a toy one signed by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, an electric IU (my university) guitar signed by the Kooks, and a regular guitar signed by the Goo Goo Dolls.  John went to the auction right before it closed and won the Ryan Adams guitar!  It was great from both angles – we were glad to support the charity (Rock to Read) and really happy to get the guitar signed by one of our favorite artists!

What else have we been up to?  I know it’s been a while since either of us has blogged.  We have been really busy getting ready for Christmas.  I was hoping to have some time to nap on Thurs and Fri (since I have the days off) to catch up on the lost sleep that has accumulated, but I didn’t have time to even think about sitting down in the end.  I seem to be spending all my time baking or shopping.  Our friend Sunil had a chili cookoff a couple of weekends ago which was quite fun.  Everyone brought a chili and we voted on our favorites.  Neither John nor I won (fix!!) but it was quite fun.  We suspended Hayden’s bedtime routine so he could join us.  It seems whenever we show up somewhere without him the first thing everyone says is ‘Where’s Hayden? We don’t want to see you!  We want to see the baby!’

It’s snowing quite heavily today.  We’re in the midst of a winter storm apparently.  It’s supposed to snow all weekend to reach 8 to 12 inches!  It’s my dad’s birthday today, so we are supposed to go out to dinner tonight.  We’ll have to see what happens with the weather to see if it’s safe enough to rough the roads.

Lucy had a vet appointment this week for her yearly boosters.  We took her back to the vet who had kept her litter while they were trying to be adopted.  Everyone in there was going so crazy for her, and she was so excited to be back.  She hasn’t been there in months and months, and yet she clearly remembered the place and was so excited to be there and see everyone.  Laura, the woman who kept the puppies at her house, said she looks just like her mom.  We had never seen Lucy’s mom.  She also kept going on about how good Lucy was and how she was very chilled out.  I think Lucy was on her very, very best behavior because I can’t think of the last time she was described as a good dog!  Certainly not in our house anyway.  She keeps escaping under Macy’s fence and ending up in various yards around the neighborhood.  She is the BIGGEST knucklehead.

I think that’s pretty much it.  We are excited for John’s sister Michelle to get here.  She’ll be here for a week over Christmas.  She’s not seen Hayden yet, so we’re really excited for that introduction!