Christmas Break 2007 Part 1

Jason finished school two weeks ago and celebrated by going surfing. That is his new thing. In fact, he has been going out to surf a couple of times a week since break began. He has so much fun and it is good exercise. He misses the exercise he used to get from ROTC. He especially likes Stinson Beach. He took Brendan and I with him once. Only once because Bubba TOTALLY freaked out when his dad got in the water and kept crying about sharks and saying, "I want my daddy!" Too much YouTube about shark attacks with his dad, I fear.

My in laws came to stay with us on the 17th. It has been fun to watch Brendan interact with them. He had so much fun and was our entertainment most of the time. It was also nice to have babysitters so that Jason and I could go out. We had a lovely evening of dinner and a movie without Bubba. That hasn't happened in a while.

We all traveled to my parents house for Christmas Eve and stayed 2 days. I haven't been home for Christmas in years. It was fun to be around the hustle and bustle again. Let me say that we are truly blessed with wonderful friends and family who sent us Christmas gifts. All were so thoughtful and appreciated. I loved all the Christmas cards we got as well. It is always nice to catch up with people.
It brought me especially great joy to see my parents and in laws open their gifts this year. I think I scored big time brownie points this year with my parents and the McDaniel parents. I love finding just the right gift! Nothing quite touches the feeling you get when you know someone really likes what you have given. I don't think they'd want me to post the pictures I have of them in their pajamas opening the presents, so you'll just have to trust me. :)
Brendan got a motorized train set from his dad, among other things. No other toy captivated his attention like that train. However, it is more for kids age three and up and he can't operate it very well. He became so frustrated with it that we had to hide the tracks and let him play with the engine and half the cars. The funniest thing was that when Daddy Jason and Grandpa Dave tried to set it up for him, they couldn't figure out how to get it to go forward at first. Brendan flipped out when he saw his train was only going backwards. It cracked me up! They fixed it though.

As far as pregnancy goes, I am really feeling it lately. Can I just let everyone know how much I loathe maternity pants? Arghhh! Anyway, everything is going well. She and I are healthy though the midwife told me that, given my fast delivery with Brendan, I did not need to wait the usual hour timing my contractions. She said, "When you think you are in labor, come in." She was concerned that this one might be really quick (yippee!) Jason and I got to tour the hospital this past week. The only other couple on the tour was a dentist who graduated from Pacific years ago and her husband. We spent about 45 minutes after the tour talking with them about dentistry. What a coincidence!
Well, I am sure I'll have more to write about the second half of our vacation later but for now I'll just say Happy New Year!

Christmas beginnings

We set up our Christmas tree this past Monday. This year we opted for a small 3 footer that sits on top of the entertainment center out of the reach of a certain agent of destruction. I think it is pretty cute. We just decorated it with some lights and a few sentimental ornaments. Every year we buy a new ornament that symbolizes the past year. This year our ornament has the Golden Gate Bridge on it.

Jason has been insanely busy this past week and next week is finals week so I only see him a couple of hours a day. As a result, I have all my Christmas shopping done, my cards sent out (except those that Jason is in charge of getting the addresses for), and I am almost completely ready for the baby's arrival. Amazing what you can do when you are bored and need a project, huh? The problem now is, I am out of projects for the next week when Jason has the car and my main source of adult conversation with him. :)

However, it feels pretty good to be done with these things so I can sit back and really watch the holidays unfold. This past Friday we went to Falkirk Mansion here in San Rafael for the Dickens Christmas program - Father Christmas, cookies and milk, carollers, Victorian costumes. Jason really liked "the ambiance", as he put it. Father Christmas rode up on a fire engine, which is the only thing that Brendan remembers about the evening. He talked about the fire engine for hours afterwards but has no idea who Santa is or what is the big deal. I guess that's not a bad thing, right?

Though this past week he has really let me see why parents love the idea of Santa's naughty and nice list. He has been the most naughty, most mischievous, most tiring little man ever this week. One day he ran outside and tossed things off the balcony, threw toys down the stairs, played in my makeup, broke his dad's stocking hanger, didn't take a nap, climbed into the crib (which is no longer his) and broke the changing table attached to it, pulled off the dangling stars from his sister's mobile, strew blocks and crayons behind him like he was Hansel and Gretel with breadcrumbs, turned on the dishwasher and a host of other things that I must be trying to block out right now. All in one day from one little man! Sigh. We have hit another testing phase. Part of me wonders if these behaviors will surface again when his sister gets here. I will have to make a special effort to have Brendan and Mommy time and to let him help with her as much as possible. He does love little babies, however, I am sure he'll be thinking, "Geez Mom, when is this one gonna go home to her mommy?" But I sure do love that little guy like crazy!!

I still say he looks more like his dad