Mia and Andy

We went to a friend's last week to watch the Redskins game and show off how beautiful our kids are. As cute as they were and as many pictures as we tried to take, THIS is the best of the lot. I'm sure you're glad I uploaded it for you.

Seriously, how cute is that? I found a hat from last season that still fits him (rather a miracle since his head is gianormous) and put it on. Then he had to go and look all cute.

Training

I'm in training all day today. Thankfully, they haven't turned off my Internet access so I have some diversions (thank you www.PerezHilton.com). The best is we'll probably get out early (like 4) so I'll get to pickup my chicken earlier. Yay!

I bought DOTS, my favorite sugary treat next to gummy bears only to get up to the session and find they're stale. Damnit. They're almost crunchy and really stick to my teeth - and not in a good way.

My Favorite Klingon

So Andy is starting to put together different sounds and syllables. It's so startling because it sounds like words so I listen in but it's not. I did think I heard "at" for "cat" tonight but it's so hard to tell. He didn't do it again so maybe it just sounded like that.

My little martian also has discovered it's easy to pull the door stops out of the wall and promptly try to put in his mouth. Great. Now I get to worry about him finding one somewhere and poking out an eye with the screw end.

I counted up my Christmas list today to get organized - 19 names on the list and that actually doesn't include Andy. Granted, for him the boxes are probably more interesting than anything that could come in them at this point, but that's weird since he'll probably be the only one of a few kids that would still be eligible for Santa. I'm looking forward to Santa for next year. That will be pretty cool although since the Swedes do Christmas and the Juletompte on Christmas Eve, it's going to be tough to try to keep it all straight. I need to ask my brother-in-law and his wife when I see them how they handle it. Thinking about it, they're never with us on Christmas proper since they live on the West Coast so I guess it's not an issue.

Teeth grinding

Yeah, so his new trick - teeth grinding. It's so irritating it gives me chills just thinking about it. I'm hoping this phase passes sooner rather than later. It's so weird. I'll be holding him and then look around to hear a noise only to realize it's coming from him. It's like listening to chalk on the chalkboard. I now need to read to see if it's perfectly normal or not.

Seeing what's to come

We went to a friend's yesterday and saw two kids that are two and 18 months. Wow. The differences were amazing. Both those older kids can walk and kind of talk. It's hard to believe that's where we'll be in just a few months.

Christmas card debate

And the votes in the great Christmas card debate were fairly evenly split between the red which is more holiday-ish and the green/non-matching picture that was more relaxed. So I ordered some of both. Turns out at Costco is was like $2 more total to order 75 of each so I did. That may turn out to be way too many cards, but Bjorn may try to use some for his work contacts.

Beautiful precious darling angel baby

So after a day of being the spawn from hell with a lot of crying and carrying on, today he's been a perfect angel. I can only think that staying up way past his bedtime Thursday is what really threw him off yesterday. I need to remember to do my best to keep with his sleep schedule around the Christmas holidays so that he (and me) have fun and try to avoid days like yesterday.

Invisible

So what is it about women with small babies that makes them invisible? I had to go to the mall today (I know, terrible idea on the Friday after Thanksgiving) and people were downright hostile, knocking me into racks, banging into the stroller. And all the stores had all their crap way too close so you couldn't even get in and out. I swear people, there will be plenty of crap to buy tomorrow!

Andy stayed up too late last night and as a result, was weird and cranky all day. He took three naps (normally only two) and each seemed to make him crankier and more upset than before. It was quite odd. I'm hoping that a good night's sleep tonight will put him back as his happy self. I wonder if he's a little sick, but so far no fever or cold symptoms (crosses fingers and knocks on wood).

More Christmas pictures

Here's the other option for a Christmas card. Thoughts?

Thanksgiving feasts

We had a great day of feasts. We started at the home of an old family friend's for omlettes and Bloody Marys. There was a good crowd of nice folks. Andy was a champ, thankfully, and played for the couple hours we were there and then home for a good nap. Then out to Fafa's for the full feast. Bjorn made sweet potatoes and some awesome cranberry sauce (with tangerines and port, yum). It was late, but good. Bjorn did manage to cut his hand really badly opening a bottle of wine with an old wine opener. The cork got stuck and then the neck of the wine bottle broke and really cut his hand. It seems to be better, but I'm planning to take a good look and really clean it out tonight.

A long day today, but we have a lot to be thankful for - including good friends, good families and good food.

Mad props

Thanks for the mad props on the Christmas card picture. Indeed, those are good looking kids. I'm going to see if I can get something a little better today, otherwise, I'm going to order these and be done with it.

Snow

So it's snowing here. It looks beautiful. It won't stick, but for now it's pretty magical.

I think this may be the Christmas card picture. If you're reading this, pretend you haven't seen it so you'll be surprised when you get it in the mail. It's slightly out of focus, but it was the best of the day.

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow will be Andy's first Thanksgiving so to mark the occasion I will be dressing him in one of his almost Christmas outfits and taking lots of pictures in between stuffing myself with all kinds of fat-free foods.

Self feeding

Andy insisted on stealing the spoon tonight. It was amusing. And very, very messy. He also figured out that the toilet paper roll is a toy.

Christmas cards

I got all three kids together for Christmas cards - not a small feat getting everyone together at the same time. I'm not overwhelmed with the results, but at least it will be something. I was going to use KodakGallery, formerly Ofoto, but it looks like Costco is half the price and I can pick them up sooner. Perhaps that will make me wait until after Thanksgiving in the hopes of getting a shot where everyone is smiling.

Lazy days and Sundays

Phew. Glad today will be less hectic than yesterday. Andy slept from about 6:45 last night until 7 am this morning and he's just gone down for a morning nap. I bet he's tired. The pictures from Santa Lucia didn't turn out at all, but I did get a couple of cute ones earlier in the day.

Party people

We had three parties to hit today, no small feat considering they were in upper northwest DC, Haymarket, Va., and Chantilly, Va. Phew. I'm tired. Andy was a wonderful sport. I managed to keep him awake until 7 pm and he fussed for about a second until he realized he could finally go to sleep.

Rats

Robinson lost the football game last night to Westfield so they're out of the playoffs. Everyone is very sad. It really stinks since they beat Westfield last week, but due to a BCS-type playoff determination, they had to play again last night even though the team both Westfield and Robinson had beaten was ranked number one and played Annandale who they had all beaten. So if Robinson had lost to Westfield last week, they likely would have won last night, which makes no sense. Mark had three catches though and has his name in the Washington Post, which is always exciting.

Big head, big head, big head

My mom got Andy a great new hat and mitten set last week only it was too small for his gianormous head. I took it back only to find out Buy, Buy Baby didn't have any hats that fit over that noggin. I'm going to have to start shopping in kids/toddler stores.