A Pony for Christmas

I still need to sit down and write everything up from Christmas, as well as download and go through my pictures, but in a few words, we had a perfect Christmas. The kids loved everything Christmas, and despite some severe sleep-deprived-grumpiness that hit off and on in the afternoon, they did amazingly well. Annie squealed with pure joy on and off all day, and would shriek stuff like, "It's what I've always wanted!" while starting at the jump rope in her stocking. "Do you know what it is, Annie?" In an equally high pitched squeal, "No." (Another humorous highlight to me was every time Ellie would open any gift Annie deemed 'cool', Annie would quickly remind her how important it is to share. She was equipped with a whole little mini-lecture about the virtues of sharing.)

But the hit of the day had to the the pony that Santa brought. Have you seen these (they were big last Christmas, I didn't see 'em as much this year, although Amazon is still selling them for $300)? They're the 'life-like', taller-than-Annie, interactive pony. (Which was found on clearance months and months ago at Sears for $30 . . . I just didn't want anyone thinking I, or Santa in this case, would spend $300 on a kid's Christmas gift).
I knew the girls would love it, but I had no idea it would become 'the' toy (here I was thinking the dollhouse Annie's been asking Santa for for months would be the biggest hit, silly Mom.) Annie's never asked for a pony, never really discussed horses with me, and isn't even that into My Little Ponies yet, but she spent as much time as possible nuzzling this horse, stroking it's cheek, sitting on it's back, brushing it's mane and feeding it carrots, all the while whispering to it how much she loves it. That girl is smitten. (Ellie's a pretty big fan too). It was funny, and a bit sad, that Annie became increasingly worried throughout the day about her horse waiting at home (it hadn't eaten since breakfast, afterall). Once we were at our third or fourth house for the day, Annie just couldn't get it off her mind, "Mom, my pony hasn't eaten in awhile . . . we need to get home to feed her!" Their reunion at 6:30 that night was sweet, and we were never able to talk Annie into eating dinner, since she couldn't pull herself away from the pony. (Which she made up for by requesting waffles at 6:40 this morning.)

Who knew? Turns out every little girl does want a pony for Christmas!

Christmas Pictures

I've always loved Christmas. But never as much as since watching my own kids discover the magic of the holiday for themselves. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our family since 2006, Annie's first Christmas. Being that my girls are almost exactly two years apart (two years and one day to be exact), it's also been very fun to see the girls experience Christmas at the same ages (7 months old, then 19 months old so far), and to see how alike, and different, they are . . .

2006
Annie with Aunt Andrea on Christmas Eve

Annie and Uncle Cody on Christmas Morning

Annie, 7 months old

OK, so I needed to have turned this picture before uploading, but it's not happening now, so just turn your head sideways to see this one of Greg and Annie.

Annie liking to unwrap (or eat) presents on Christmas morning.

2007
Greg, Annie and I on Christmas Eve

Annie opening presents, 19 months old. (She had way more hair than Ellie has at this age, with a lot more curl).

Annie & Daddy

Christmas morning at Grandma Ruth's house

Annie and Daddy Christmas Eve Day, going to visit Greg's Grandma who lives about an hour away.

2008
Last year, Annie helping me make desserts for Christmas Eve.

Daddy & 7 month old Ellie on Christmas morning.

Look how little Ellie was!

Annie dressed up at Grandma Ruth's house

In Annie's Eyes

Earlier this morning Annie was checking out the monochromatic ultrasound picture on our fridge, staring at it curiously. When suddenly I heard her say to her little sister very excitedly, "Hey Ellie . . . you and me are peach, but the new baby is going to be black!"

There is no talking her out of this either, she's seen the picture, she has proof . . . :-)

Self Appointed Best Mother of the Year!

I'm kinda proud of myself. Despite horrific morning sickness (that lasts all day and is worse in the evening), where foul smells send me running for somewhere to gag and hack and heave in private, I'm handling Annie's stench quite nicely. See, after the adenoids come out, the doctor mentioned there'd be an 'odor, some bad breath' for a few weeks coming from our three year old. The nurses were a bit more blunt, using words like 'horrific' and 'terrible' and the 'worst thing you've ever smelt' and 'kinda like a dead rat'. They knew what they were talking about. (I check poor Ellie's diaper like 30 times a day trying to pin down the smell). Walking into Annie's room in the middle of the night is like entering some festering den of death or something. Having her snuggle up in bed next to you is like cuddling with a backed up sewer. My mother even mentioned bouts of nausea hitting her when she was hanging out with Annie yesterday, and she can't blame morning sickness, just the smell.
Through it all though, I have cuddled my fussy child, cradled her while she screams her way through ear drops, and let her talk to me -- face to face! All the while fighting back the very real urge to start heaving while looking into her big brown eyes. When she has a nightmare, I can soothe her in my lap and stroke her hair, even though it smells like something crawled up her throat and died. I'm pretty proud of myself.
Mom's are amazing. We're capable of pretty much anything.

Sitting on Santa's Lap

Both of my girls were VERY excited to go and see Santa this year. Ellie especially, which I'm not sure is completely normal for an 18 month old :-). While waiting in line to see the jolly man himself, Ellie just jumped up and down, for a minute or two, while loudly exclaiming, "Oooh! Ooooh! Ooooh!" OK, it's really amusing, but everytime Ellie sees Santa (even just a picture), she points and excitedly makes her own version of the 'ho ho ho' sounds, except that coming from Ellie it's like a monkey or gorilla noise. She also says 'Santa' fairly clearly when she sees him. She's a huge fan.

This is Ellie repeating Santa's 'ho ho ho', with her monkey-like 'oooh oooh oooh's. She even kinda looks like a monkey when she says it. :-)

Annie enjoyed a little one on one time with Santa, telling him about the dollhouse she wants. (She took me by surprise that morning though when she'd told me she wasn't going to be asking Santa for a dollhouse anymore, because now she wanted makeup. Three years old!?)

Afterwards, the girls were so giddy and excited by the whole experience, that they just danced in the mall aisle way for the next 5 minutes or so.

Afterwards we stopped by to visit Grandma Ruth . . . who has Ellie's favorite rocking horse in the entire world. She rides it like a little daredevil, and I'm always convinced she's gonna tip the thing completely backwards as she tosses her body forcefully from front to back. She loves it.

This was just a short video from before we left to go see Santa, when Annie and Ellie were excitedly talking about our plans for the day.

Oh, and here's the link to last year's Christmas picture. They're getting so big!

Annie's First Dance Recital

I had been a bit worried about Annie's first dance recital all week. And I wasn't feeling much better about it this morning. She'd just had surgery two days before the big day, and it was anyone's guess how she'd be feeling by showtime. And the way she whined and cried all morning the day of her performance had me pretty convinced I was going to have a sobbing elf on my hands when it was her group's turn to dance. And the all-morning-long weepiness was making it hard to keep the mascara cleaned up off her face. But, we had our own little Christmas miracle. Her class was scheduled to dance last, which meant she got to just sit on Mom's lap and watch the other kids, slowly cheering up throughout the show, 'til it was finally her turn and she excitedly took the stage. Yay. It was adorable, she did so well, and as always, watching three and four year olds try to all follow the same dance steps at the same time is hilariously heartwarming.

Here she is before the show, the first time I'd gotten her to stop crying long enough to clean up her eye make up. She was so cute.

About 2/3rds of the way through the show, she'd finally cheered up, and started mugging for the camera while we were sitting out in the audience.

Here she is during the actual dance . . . I can't wait to see my father-in-law's pictures, since his camera kicks my camera's butt.

Annie's the short one there in the middle :-)

Annie had quite the supportive entourage, with 13 people cheering for her from the audience. Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts & Uncles, Mom & Dad, Ellie, and my awesome friends Jessi and Dalan. Afterwards, a bunch of us went out for ice cream to Leatherby's, and afterwards Annie's Aunt Talina and Uncle David took her to go see the new Disney Princess movie. It was a very, very good day.

Surgery Day Pictures

Here's a few pictures from the hospital yesterday.

Annie was in a cute, funny mood on the way to the hospital and in the waiting room.

That quickly changed once we got her into her hospital gown. She was very upset and kept leaking tears while sitting in my lap. I felt so bad for her. At this point they gave her some Versed to help out with anxiety and a little while later she was kinda glazed over and out of it, but no longer crying.

After calming down a little, but her eyes were still red and puffy.

She was highly amused by the oxygen monitor on her toe. It lit up under her socks and made her big toe glow red. This made her smile. Later, the anesthesiologist brought in a mask to show her, which we set up her stuffed bear, Rosie, with and put the bear to sleep. She was highly amused by this, and at this time was ready to calmly go with the doctors with no tears. Yay!

This is after Annie had officially been discharged (which happened while I was being wheeled down to the E.R.) and after she met back up with me. She was very excited that we now had 'matching bracelets'. She looked really tired at this point, but remarkably well. Most of the staff who came in and saw us in my ER room were amazed she'd just gotten out of surgery. It was weird for me too, since I'd gone from seeing her freaking out and still disoriented and finally falling in and out of sleep groggily in my lap, to her being brought down to the ER room to me, all fully dressed and recovered.

Genius Aunt Talina

So, Annie is sitting here on my lap, all the while talking on the phone with her Aunt Talina. Talina asks Annie, "What did you get me for Christmas?"
Annie: "I can't tell you, it's a secret."
Talina: "Oh, I see. What did you get Mommy?"
Annie, while sitting on my lap: "For Mommy? A box of candy . . . you and me can talk about it because it's not for you." Talina and I both started laughing. Good one, Talina. :-)


Surgery update:
Annie seems to be doing really well. I'm hoping she'll crash soon for the night, but for now she's running around like a crazy person with too much energy. A crazy person who didn't have surgery earlier today.
Mommy on the other hand, I'm the walking dead. I feel kinda dizzy and woozy again this afternoon, and have spent most of the chunk of the day laying on the couch. I'm wishing I had a home blood pressure taking contraption of some kind, 'cause I'm feeling a lot like when my blood pressure was a whopping 80/44 earlier today. We all need to get to bed!

Quick Surgery Update

Annie is recovering well from surgery. Waking up was tough and traumatic (for all involved), but once she calmed down she has been fine ever since. "I'm all the way better now," she keeps assuring us. Um, one minor problem came up though. I had a bad bout of morning sickness while holding Annie in recovery (she was asleep in my arms at the time), and as I was handing her off to Greg, I went from dizzy to unconscious, my tongue rolled back, I started breathing weird and I was shaking. I woke up not too long after surrounded by nurses who rushed me down to the emergency room for tests, believing I'd had some kind of seizure. I'm fine, the baby is fine, and I probably just passed out. I'm just apparently a drama queen who can't let her daughter be the center of attention :-)
It is good to be home. It was a LONG morning.
I'll do pictures of Annie in her surgical gown pre-surgery later, but for now Annie and I are both under strict doctor's orders to get a lot of rest. So, I'm going to sleep!

Peek a Boo!

Annie & Ellie have created their own little fortress of solitude. Annie emptied out the smaller armoire in our room, and they'll pile in blankets and toys, then climb in, shut the doors, laugh and squeal, than throw open the doors to 'surprise' Mom. They can play in here for long stretches of time. I'm a fan.

Starting young, Ellie's already working on perfecting the self portrait. Here's some pictures of her and I on the bed the other day.

The Big Day Tomorrow

We head in to the hospital at 6:45 tomorrow morning for Annie's surgery. She is nervous about the "doctors fixing my ears and my nose," but she seems pretty OK with what we've explained is coming tomorrow. She is glad she will be asleep when they're tickling the insides of her ears and nose, but giggles uncontrollably at the 'tickling' explanation of the surgery. Wish us luck!

Edited to add: As an afterthought, I decided to add some picture of Annie from the morning we went in for her first set of tubes, when she was ten and a half months old . . .

Here we are in the waiting room. Annie was fascinated by her hospital ID bracelet. (And now at 3 years old when I was showing her these pictures, she asked excitedly, "So, will I get a bracelet this time too!?" Yes, yes you will. Congratulations!)

Annie fascinated by her surgical socks.

Getting checked out by the nurse. Dang, she was so teeny tiny!

Playing in her surgical gown.

These beads were either pissing her off or she was concentrating really, really hard on the task at hand.

Trying to get down, since Dad had picked her up (for what was probably the fortieth time) to get her socks back on.