Holiday Hoopla

An action *sleepy* shot from our Christmas photo shoot

Well, its official, it is nearly impossible for me to get done what I want for the holidays.  Granted I love the holidays and maybe got a little too ambitious in my head.  What sounds great and what is doable are two very different things with a 2 month old in the house.  Cards, stuff for Nate for his FIRST Christmas, baking, shopping, watching cheesy holiday movies, decorating, crafts.... it is hard to squeeze that into 15 minutes of free time a day LOL.  So far I've watched 2 cheesy holiday movies and sort of shopped.  

My shopping can best be described as quick little whirlwinds.  Once Nathaniel goes down for the night at around 7 or 8 I run out super quick to a store or two.  The problem with late night shopping is that by this time I'm actually starting to get tired and lazy so I fade out REAL quick. (I know this doesn't sound like me because normally late night is when I'm at my best - my night owl ways have been considerably changed since Baby Nate)  Kevin and I did run to a few places this weekend and Nate actually didn't mind, he was pretty content.  If I'm being completely honest some of our shopping goes like this now...  If it is a <10 min shopping task and I just have to run in, grab something and go, Kevin drops me off and circles with Nate so that he stays sleeping or at least not crying.  I then text and get picked back up.  There is no lolly gagging in this method.  Truth be told this may be some of Kevin's favorite holiday shopping since he doesn't actually have to shop.  I'm sure he prefers driving around to shopping in crowds ;)

You might think I'd be taking full advantage of internet shopping then - That seems logical and smart, right?  I have had 3 different *good deals* in my carts at various stores that have gone away.  I missed out because once I got around to getting my credit card it was too late.  Something will come up (maybe Nate is hungry, etc.) so I leave the computer come back and my deals are gone.  

I'll be the first one to tell you my time management is hovering around a C+.  Although I'm getting a lot better.  I am certainly learning my way around Nate and it is becoming easier to time showers and eating etc since I can read his moods better.  We have had better outings too since I kind of know whether he is going to cry the whole time or maybe be ok.  A lot is dependent on if there are raspberry sounds and if he gets heavy eyed on my drive around the neighborhood before headed towards stores.  He still does NOT like to be stopped at any point in the car (I don't know if I mentioned this yet).  If we are at a red light the waterworks start, then they stop as you drive again.  This makes shopping in the crowded area of Cool Springs where I live very hard during the holidays.  He has to be asleep or on the verge to make it through all of the lights and traffic delays because of the crowds.  Too many stops and we are pretty much headed home because the crying just escalates.  Nate is a big fan of constant motion.

The baking is a challenge because if Nate does get up or gets cranky in the middle of a recipe I can't just leave the baking stuff sitting around. Hooligan Mocha would eat everything and it would be a disaster :)  He is lucky he is a cuddly dude.  Actually I think dogs and babies are so super cute just so you forget anything bad that they do.  If Nate smiles I forget all the crying from the previous hour.  Just like if Mocha lays his head on my lap and snuggles I forget he just ran off with my shoe.  That is their genetic trick... or I'm just a sucker.  Probably the latter.

Nate Note:  One thing Nate has been obsessed with since he could see them is ceiling fans.  He started staring at them almost right when he got home from the hospital.  I remember he looked at them when my sister was here, which was when he was still only a week or two old.  The fan isn't on or anything either.  I think it is the contrast of the roof and fan blades.  He likes the big star shape.  If you are holding him and turn away from the fan he will strain to try and see it again.  We thought maybe it was just the fan in our room, but he is equally excited about the one in the family room.  He will even giggle to himself when he looks at it, I'm not sure what is so exciting to him, but he cracks himself up.  I made a few flashcards with shapes and happy faces for him and I added a shape similar to the fan and he likes that too.  Although the yellow happy face is what he most enjoys from the flash cards (I just used sticky back foam sheets and cardstock and created the flashcards)