Those are the best words I can describe our Christmas.
Thanks to Nanny for spending 3 days penned up with us and entertaining one busy little man. Thanks for all of the great gifts and thank you for the prime rib. Thanks for doing dishes at least 2 times a day and thanks for all of the laughs - especially for the laughs.
Thanks to Doo and Sheree for feeding us on Christmas Eve and all of the sweet loot.
Thank you to all of the Colemans for filling the underside of our Christmas tree with absolute magic! We are NOT opening the drums, not yet anyway. Needless to say, Jr. LOVED all of his toys. He is still working his way through them. His mom LOVED all of his new clothes, so so so cute. His new blanket is dreamy and he insists on sleeping with his "Seaturd" or lizard.
Thanks to Jr. for providing constant entertainment.
Thanks to Ed for my new iPod, and all of my other amazing gifts. Thanks for being an amazing husband again and again.
Thanks!
Lime Coleman - 12 weeks and I am done with morning sickness. It was like a switch went off - yay! My tummy is already poking out. Even if I suck my gut in, there is a firm lump just above my pant line. I should be able to feel the little lime soon.
Jr. and I talk a lot about Santa Claus. He always calls him Claws. I thought that he would relish the opportunity to meet Claws.
Not so much. Even though Faith was brave enough to sit on Santa's lap, Jr. couldn't be persuaded. He did give him a distant fist bump. Uncle Bean tricked him into this photo.
We did have a blast riding the carousel. Normally he cries and cries and we have to ride the bench, but today he was brave and rode on a pony and on an otter. Maybe it was because Faith was there next to him to help him be brave.
Last weekend we picked out a tree. It was 9 below in Helena, but was 20 degrees above over the pass. Although the temper tantrum he tossed before we embarked left his parents COMPLETELY scarred.
Once we hit the truck, he was in a much better mood. Jr. had an absolute blast picking out a tree.
Last night just as we tuned in to the Griz game (poop!) Jr. pulled down the Christmas tree on top of himself. Ed and I were both sitting right there and bam. Tree toppled over and baby completely engulfed in Christmas. We pulled the tree off of him and there he sat completely fine. Not even a squeak. In fact he was rather disgruntled that we didn't let him participate in the ornament clean up/shop vac/carpet cleaning. Apparently Christmas is dangerous.
The new baby is a fig this week. Apparently figs make you have terrible debilitating headaches and sick all day. Thanks fig! I can't wait for week 12 and you are a lime. That is when the sickness starts to go a away. One more week!
So Kumquat Coleman has a nice strong heartbeat. Ed and I were recalling trying to hear Jr.'s heartbeat and we could hear it but Jamie couldn't pin it down long enough to get a good heart rate. Not Kumquat, he she produced a nice solid little heart beat that we could all hear for at least 30 seconds if not longer.
Both of us had tears and were giggling. Jamie said that it still gives her chills.
Oh and I got a job offer today. I have a great degree of mixed feelings about changing jobs at this point, but when he called and offered me the job, I about lept out of my skin I was so excited. Not one ounce of me hesitated. I started to cry I was so excited.
I am now and once again officially a SOIL SCIENTIST! I will be starting with the Forest Service in February.
It was a monumental day. I am still reeling. We should go celebrate. Take out Emelianos?
Between Kumquat and work, I am exhausted both mentally and physically.
Jr. isn't even taxing compared to those two. He is a welcome breath of fresh air. He is changing into such an amazing little man. I have always described him as a wild man, but he is kind of chilling out. He is sleeping like a champ. He is 100% officially weaned. It is like all of my wildest mommy dreams come true. Yes, I know my world is really small right now. . . My next wildest dream come true is going to be potty training. Sweetness is getting a potty chair for Christmas. ALONG with other things, don't worry.
We had some below frigid temperatures the last week and Jr. needs to get out and about so hopefully we can drag Scrooge Daddy Coleman out to cut down our Christmas tree.
Thanksgiving at Casa Del Coleman was fantastic. It was sunny and warm here so we took a nice morning walk and after Jr.'s nap, we headed over to the Papa Bill and Nona's house. Dinner was DE-LISH.
Jr. fell in LOVE with Buttons. Sheree's mom's Shiz Tzu. He would follow her all around the house and yell clear as day "BUTTONS! CUTE!" We took a little time before dinner to enjoy the park. We met another kid Jr.'s same age who was a whole head shorter than him, couldn't walk as well and definitely wasn't talking.
We do think that he is one extraordinary kid, but you temper those feelings because every parent thinks that their kid is the most perfect and extraordinary being on the planet. Then there are times where you are just blown away by him. He talks so clearly, says two to three word sentences and is starting to make sense. You teach him something once and then days later he says it in context. He is also a total parrot. He repeats EVERYTHING! For example Saturday night we were driving around and we taught him to say "BOO Chargers!" Sunday we were watching football and he said, clear as day, "BOO CHARGERS!" He followed that up with "GO BEARS! and YAY BRONCOS!"
This morning he pointed at colors in his rug in his room and told me they were blue, green and red (it was pink, but I am not splitting hairs). He then went into the hallway, pointed at the trim and said "white". Seriously!
That is just his brain, his physical development is also incredible. He can throw almost a perfect spiral football, and man can he wing it across a room. He catches less often, but is getting there. Then today, he picked up a cinder block and carried it a couple of feet. I mean seriously, 19 month old carying a cinder block.
I am so thankful that he is smart and strong. I am thankful that he is starting to be more independent. I am thankful that he will be such a handy little helper when his little brother or sister gets here. Weird looking little kidney bean.
I am thankful that Nanny came over for to the weekend to celebrate her birthday. "HAPPY DAY NANNY!" Ed was gone hunting and I don't know that I would have been able to handle taking care of him by myself this weekend. I no longer have morning sickness. I have all dam day feel like crap sickness. Nanny helped feed him, entertain him, bathe him, watch youtube videos with him and generally help me keep him fat and sassy all weekend. He loves her so much.
Ed didn't kill anything all season. I think he is bummed, but he did get to go camp out with his buddies at hunting camp Saturday night, drink too much and stay up late. He was home early enough to help Jr. and I finish up some yard work. He missed Jr.'s great fall tonight though. The egg on his head - OUCH! Poor baby. We had to watch an Elmo video and eat Cheez-Its to feel better.
Here is a photo of our little bathtub Picasso. Tonight he drew this artwork, pointed at a portion of it and said "Moon!" I asked him to draw a flower for mommy and he did. He loves to "Coldor".
Junior loves to watch football. He yells "GO GO GO GO GO GO!" He yells "TOUCHDOWN!" and throws his hands in the air and I am teaching him to Boo San Diego, Oakland and Dallas.
A little about what has been happening in our world. The kitchen is 99% complete, the punch list of remining items includes a base cabinet, a skin for another base cabinet, a threashold to transition between the hardwood and vinyl, and the "crown" moulding. Plus I have to repaint the kitchen. Antique White looks more like 50 years of cigarette smoke and bacon grease white. Except I can't really paint right now. I also can't really lift heavy things, eat unpasturized cheese, eat lunch meat, go bungee jumping or go out and booze it up. Yup. There is a baby in there.
I mean, it is early. I am only 7 weeks and if I have learned anything from my nearest and dearest friends, anything can happen. We will *hopefully* be able to hear the heartbeat on December 11th.
I am definately starting to feel pregnant, from about 9 AM until noon or 1 PM I feel like barfing and curling up like a little pill bug. It is awful because I hold it back and I wonder if I just do it if I will feel better - but I can't bring myself to cut loose. If I even smell or think about something unpleasent, watch out. Teeth brushing is also dicey. I am not overly tired, and have so far been able to remain pretty calm amongst some pretty crappy crap going on at work.
Already this pregnancy is so different, so much calmer. Maybe it is because I know what I am in for. Or maybe it is that 100% of my time is taken up taking care of a 19 month old and I can't sit around and obsess about how I am feeling or stupid pregnancy magazines. Or maybe my life is already irreversibly changed with Junior and an addition of a brother or sister is not as big of an adjustment. I SAY THAT NOW. I am interested to see how I change as these next 9 months progress.
When you ask Junior if he wants a brother or a sister, he always answers "SISTER". He sometimes awnsers "BROTHER", but mostly it is "SISTER". His parents agree completely. A little girl could be a suprising change of pace from Wild Man Junior Coleman.
Little man has a fever and is lethargic. Poor sweetie pie just can't find anything to be happy about. Even Elmo videos can't bring his spirits up. He doesn't have the flu. It could be teeth, it could be anything.
I had to stay home with him today. Other than a trip to the Dr.'s office there has been lots of sweet sunggling - that is how I know he isn't feeling well. He lets me hold him for hours and holds still. He wants to be carried around and leans in for kisses. He climbs into our bed pulls pillows around him and says "Nigh Nigh".
I wish I could take all of his sickness away from him.
Tomorrow Ed is going hunting to celebrate Veterans day. Jr. is going to daycare and I have my first ALMOST full day to myself. What to do? What to do? Do everything? Do nothing?
This weekend we jetted off to Great Falls to avoid Mikey and Ed's final kitchen construction duties. My mom had Trayson Saturday and Sunday. He was an amazing playmate to Jr. They had so much fun playing outside, playing at Aunt Lisa's and shopping at Target. Jr. was exhausted Saturday night and slept well for the first time in WEEKS.
Sunday Faith came over home and the three of them PLAYED and PLAYED and PLAYED!
After a truly terrifying week we were ready for ghosts, goblins, skeletons and DRAGONS!
Nanny was in town on Friday so we debuted Jr.'s dragon costume. He hated wearing the dragon head, but seemed to like the outfit.
On Saturday morning I took Dragon Boy to the children's museum to play in the play room with Monkey Boy Carter, Bee Girl Zola and Puppy Lady Allie. They had a blast and after playing and playing and playing we walked next door and rode the carousel. Jr. hated it and would only sit on the bench with me. The other kids rode nicely and poor Zola cried and cried when the ride was over. She got to go twice.
After a nice nap it was time for trick-or-treaters. Adrienne came over dressed as the cutest lady bug you have ever seen.
I put the chair in front of the door so that Jr. could watch out for the trick-or-treaters. He would yell "TREAT" at them and knock on the door so they would come to our house. He even gave candy to some of them.
By 8:15 we were out of candy and Dragon Boy was in bed.
Jr. and I raked up leaves only to run through them and fall into them. We sometimes threw them around. Then we took a ride in the wagon. It is fall. That kid is super cute. Oh and just so you know, he is now 18 months old. That is one year and six months. Time to think about potty training, advancing to cups and learning.
Liesel called last week right in the middle of my most stressful week ever with a brilliant idea. No it wasn't the toaster that cooks hot dogs. She had an extra ticket to the Montana Grizzly game for me. At first I was very unsure if Jr. could handle going to a football game, and thought of 1000 excuses, but I bit the bullet and Liesel assured me that neither one of us would die in the process, so we went.
Jr. did great during the 1st half. He made friends all around us, high fiving strangers, wearing his new Griz hat, wearing Liesel's hat, yelling "football!" at the game. He also proved to be a happy tailgater. The 2nd half was not as charming, he had to be locked down in his ergo pack while I stood in the handicapped section and rocked him. He eventually nodded off just before the Griz won the game in a very tight ending.
Sadly we don't have any photos. I forgot my camera and Liesel took some with her dads camera, but we didn't get them, hopefully we will see them soon.
It was a great weekend and Missoula was beautiful. I love Missoula in the fall and visiting Liesel makes me want to move there and buy the house that is for sale across the street from her. It is near the airport and Jr. loves airplanes. . .
It was so nice to get out of the kitchen construction.
Update, we have two counter tops, one is messed up so has to be replaced. Tomorrow we get floors. Fridge should be coming soon. Our sink is not connected yet, not until the counter tops are finished, which apparently hit a snag late yesterday evening. Here are some photos.
After a truly terrifying week we were ready for ghosts, goblins, skeletons and DRAGONS!
