Total weight gain: Haven't had a recent appointment, but with the holidays and eating, and eating, and... eating... I'm going to safely say I'm up 10 pounds. (at least.) Maternity clothes? You betcha. Rockin' the leggings constantly and recently took out my favorite pair of maternity jeans from Nolan's pregnancy. Stretch marks? Nothing yet! Sleep: Pregnancy wise it's been fine, but I've caught Nolan's cold that is the never-ending battle bug... we're both going on 2 weeks of having it! So sleep is definitely not fun between the clogged sinuses and constant coughing. Can't wait to be healthy again! Best moment this week: Celebrating Christmas with the family and watching Nolan love everything about the holidays this year! Cannot believe next year Santa will have two kiddos to spoil! Miss Anything? Since we baked cookies for Santa this week, I was definitely sad to miss out on eating raw cookie dough. Movement: Yes! Finally feeling her pretty regularly, although they are small tiny movements, she's there. Jason actually got to feel her twice, and once on Christmas morning! She was super active on Christmas Day, so she must have known Santa had visited! :) Food cravings: Lots and lots of sweets! 'Tis the season! Anything making you queasy or sick: Not pregnancy wise- just this darn cold! Gender prediction: Girl! Symptoms: More ligament pain, especially if I move quickly like getting up out of bed or changing positions. Reflux depending on what I eat, so I'm careful to avoid certain foods. Definitely more tired with this cold lingering around as well as being busy with the holidays this week. Belly Button in or out? Out. Looking forward to: Preparing and planning more nursery things, constantly trying to agree and come up with a name for this little chick, and counting down to the second half of this pregnancy! Can't believe the halfway point is already here!
Christmas was spent just like the last few years, which we wouldn't have any other way! We start out spending Christmas Eve at my Mom's, celebrating with our traditional potluck of Christmas foods, like chicken wings, Canadian meat pie, baked beans (the absolute BEST), veggies, salads and more appetizers and cocktails (sparkling cider for me, this year)! It's always super yummy and wasn't any different this year- maybe even more delicious since my preggo belly devoured some baked beans like crazy! After dinner, we got right to exchanging gifts with my mom, Aunt Denise and Uncle Georges, since we were able to spend the holidays with them this year which was so nice! Nolan opened his stocking first, which was actually my stocking when I was little, and Harley tried helping him, especially with the goldfish crackers.
We tried to snap some family pictures in front of the tree, but didn't get the best ones. Oh well, at least we have something documented for 2015!
While opening gifts, Nolan started out very serious and was determined to get into the wrapping paper on his own. Once he realized there were toys and things inside for him, he really got into it and was pulling gifts out left and right! He also liked to hand out gifts to everyone, and would hand one off to someone and then hand the next two or three to the same person, thinking they all belonged to that one person. It was cute and we definitely had to make sure we were reading all the gift tags on each one! We didn't get many pictures because we were busy enjoying opening each gift and each other's company, and we were all so spoiled with gifts from our family!
After a late night at Grandma's, we finally got home and quickly left out our cookies and milk for Santa, some carrots for the reindeer, and a little piece of cheese for Santa Mouse! (Read all about our family's Santa Mouse tradition here). We got into our PJs and Nolan passed out as soon as his head hit the crib. He must have known Santa was on his way! Towards the end of the night, I ventured downstairs right before going to bed, and noticed Santa had come! We must have missed him as we were getting ourselves ready for bed... He's a pretty quiet and sneaky guy!
The next morning, Nolan slept in until 8:45! We were excitedly up and waiting for him to wake up so we could see his reaction to Santa's visit. He came downstairs right away and was so happy to see what Santa left him! He ran right to his new kitchen and got straight to playing. What an awesome gift! Santa Mouse also snuck his cheese from our tree and replaced it with a nice little gift, with the signature yellow ribbon, of course!
We opened our stockings first, and Nolan loved digging through and seeing what Santa left him in his. His favorites were definitely the Play Doh that he asked for and the Superman and Batman figurines that he wanted, too! He couldn't believe it! Santa also left him an awesome Chewbaca t-shirt to wear this spring, and Harley even got a few treats in his stocking, too!
We took a quick break for breakfast, and watched the Christmas parade on T.V. while we ate. Nolan loved watching all the cool performances and is really into parades ever since Disneyland! Right after breakfast, we got to opening all of our gifts, which again, we were spoiled with as a family! Nolan had a blast opening his presents and really enjoyed unwrapping and discovering each new toy inside.
Mama got some of her absolute favorite chocolates in the whole world... Hawaiian Hosts, and both Mama and baby were so happy about that gift. Thanks, Daddy! We also snapped a quick bump picture in front of the tree since Christmas marked 20 weeks through this pregnancy already! Whoa!
Auntie Stacey sent some super fun gifts that Nolan loved, and he thought his Pete the Cat book was SO funny when he opened it! Thanks Auntie Acey for our awesome Hot Wheels, road playmat and book! He loves it! Once he had opened all of his toys, he was so happy he just had to pose with the Christmas tree for a picture. He was literally grinning from ear to ear with all of his new toys, and got straight to playing with them all before Papa came over.
Harley even had a blast playing with his newest toy... that hopefully he won't destroy in a couple days!
Shortly after we finished opening our gifts, my Dad came over to spend some time and exchange gifts, too. Nolan got the coolest Lightning McQueen power wheels, and instantly had to drive it as soon as he opened it. We will definitely have some fun times with this car... but definitely outside as Nolan needs some practice steering! :)
Once my Dad left, we ate some lunch and then put Nolan down for his nap, while I got everything ready for our company of my mom, Aunt Denise and Uncle Georges that were coming over for dinner. I cooked my second Christmas ham and it came out pretty good! While we were getting ourselves ready for company and dinner, Harley napped with Nolan's new Cookie Monster toy. Once Nolan woke up, he got dressed in his Christmas outfit and looked simply adorable and like such a big boy! We used the same bow tie as last year... it's too cute!
We had the absolute best Christmas and I know each year is just going to be better and better with Nolan getting older, and even more, having another little one to watch take in the wonder of the holidays! I can't believe next year Santa will have two kids to spoil! I've always loved everything about the Christmas season, but with kids, it makes it a million times better to see the excitement through their eyes, too! Here's to hoping your Christmas was as happy as ours!
We continued many of our Christmas traditions this year, and the older Nolan gets, I know the more fun these are going to be! This year, he was really into a lot of our annual holiday happenings, including our visit to Town Square's Snow in the Square, checking out the lights at Quiver Point, baking Christmas cookies, and starting some new traditions this year like the Boulder City Santa Train and watching the Downtown Summerlin Parade! We started our first tradition by visiting the giant Christmas Tree and watching it snow at Town Square one night in November after a dinner at CPK. Last year, Nolan was amazed by the "snow" and giggled as he wobbled around trying to catch it. This year, he questioned it a little bit more and wasn't quite sure what the foamy stuff was falling out of the sky, but warmed up to it once he saw everyone else around freaking out and running around having fun. He really enjoyed the Christmas music playing and had more fun dancing around to that rather than playing in the snow!
While Aunt Denise and Uncle Georges were in town, we celebrated Uncle Georges birthday by enjoying a dinner out at Downtown Summerlin, eating at Lazy Dog Restaurant. Afterwards, we caught the Holiday Parade that rolled through one of the main streets in the shopping area, and to our surprise, was actually really cute and enjoyable! Nolan absolutely loved it, and he waved to all of the floats and Christmas characters that came by. He even got some candy that was handed out, which he held on to the entire night without wanting to eat it (just wanted to hold it, weirdo!) and he loved hopping around and dancing to the music and watching the band play. After the parade was over, we walked around Downtown Summerlin in the chilly weather and stopped by the ice skating rink, and Nolan again loved dancing around to the Christmas music playing in the background. He even had fun dancing and jumping with Aunt Denise, and asked to "Cheese!" in front of the giant Christmas tree! We definitely will make this another thing on our December to-do list if they continue this parade every year!
On the day before Christmas Eve, we continued our tradition of baking cookies for Santa and visiting Quiver Point and driving around to see lights and houses decorated in our neighborhood. Nolan really enjoyed baking cookies this year, and I allowed him to help with almost every part of the process! He thought it was so fun to be able to pour ingredients and help me mix and scoop, and he was super focused about cutting out the cookie shapes with the cutters (or poking his fingers in most of them, really). Decorating our cookies was on a whole other level of enjoyment for this kid- and while I was prepping more dough each time, I would find him licking up the sprinkles off the counter, the cookies, his fingers... everywhere! (Don't worry... we kept this one batch just for Santa while I made another batch of sugar cookies separate, so people could actually eat them)! While I switched out cookie sheets in between baking times, Nolan "organized" my towel drawer and played with the parchment paper and plastic wrap. We listened to Christmas music and made a huge mess in the kitchen, but this afternoon is probably one of my favorite memories I have with him so far in life. I can't wait to do this every year with my kids, and hope they enjoy it as much as I do!
Later that evening, we bundled up in the chilly weather and met up with my mom, Aunt Denise and Uncle Georges to visit one of our favorite streets during Christmastime- Quiver Point. They must not have decorated nearly as much this year, because usually they have lights stringing across the street, which wasn't there, and some other main decorations were missing, so that was a bummer. Yet, it was still an amazing display and Nolan really enjoyed seeing all the characters this year, asking to take pictures (aka "Take CHEESE!") with each and every one of them! The first house we came upon had the cutest Frozen castle, and Nolan quickly identified Elsa, Anna and Olaf and said Hi! He loved the Mickey house and screamed when he saw Mickey and Minnie at his level!
The Penguins of Madagascar definitely held his attention for a second, and he also enjoyed saying Hi! to Nemo and Dori, which was one of his favorites from last year! Towards the end of the street, one house had moving lights shining on it, where all the kids would chase them trying to step on them and catch the lights. Once we made it to the cul-de-sac, Nolan had to peek in and see each of the decorated houses, and gave a wave and blew a kiss to the waving Santa.
We saw the Peanuts gang and Nolan screamed Hi to Snoopy, but quickly gave way to his favorites this year- the Minions house and the 101 Dalmatians (also his favorite last year). Mommy enjoyed seeing the new addition of the Up! Movie and reminded Nolan that he was Russell from Up! for Halloween this year!
We snapped a quick picture in front of the Quiver Point sign and tried taking one of the huge Christmas tree cutout, and then made our way back to the car since it was so chilly outside that night! We hopped in and drove around, looking at lights back in our neighborhood, and made a stop to watch the fun light show that a house just a few blocks down from us does annually. It was definitely the best one thus far, this year, and Nolan was hooked watching it the whole time!
I love that we can continue our traditions each Christmas, and although I was bummed we missed a few this year since we were all sick with some nasty colds, it still turned out perfect. Making memories during the holidays has to be one of the best, most amazing things, and I can only hope that my kids can remember fun times and Christmas spirit when they think of our holiday traditions through the years! Here's to another year of making some of my favorite memories, upholding old traditions and even starting some new ones!
Our next post will be all about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...so stay tuned!
