A Very Baby New Year

It's official. I just survived the holidays with two kids in diapers and, well, it was ... wonderful. Yes, it's true. The holidays with a sixteen-month-old who’s just learned to walk and a newborn can be blissful (OK, maybe blissful is pushing it, but definitely happy).

The week of Christmas is sort of blurry, as are all weeks your first twelve weeks with a newborn. However, I managed to do all of my shopping for out-of-town family in one day and shopping for presents from Santa in about 20 minutes (including gift wrapping). I was able to scurry down to the plaza between breast feedings about a week before Christmas and pick up everything I knew I needed immediately. The rest, I bought that same evening online. Santa delivered all but one present on time. (We rock.)

This was our first Christmas in our new house and the first year we decided to stay at home rather than trekking up to Iowa. I guess it's also the first holiday with both kiddos. So, the pressure was on. I had visions of starting all sorts of lasting, cool traditions (just like they suggest in Parents magazine), of integrating my family's traditions with Chris' family customs. I dreamed of homemade pecan rolls baked fresh on Christmas morning and ten different kinds of cookies, of reading ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, of hot cocoa and god knows what else (most of these dreams occurred during middle-of-the-night feedings with Gus, when I was in a semi-conscious state).

In the end, I was able to bake about two dozen sugar cookies and frost them with homemade frosting. And, of course, we had more presents and stocking stuffers than Sophia’s attention span could deal with. For our big Christmas breakfast, Chris made eggs and bacon for himself and Sophia and Gus and I feasted on microwaved oatmeal.

For Christmas dinner, we journeyed to Independence for a Christmas Extravaganza with the Huhmann family. I say extravaganza because the Huhmanns – Bill, Barbara, Brad, Karrin, Byron and Beth – showered our family with good food, extremely generous gifts and lots of love. Gus slept through the entire affair, waking only to eat. Though she received some great new toys from Grannie and Grandpa Huhmann, Sophia found one of Brad’s old doggie pull toys and spent hours “walking” it. The coolest present any of us received had to be Sophia’s trucker jacket from Uncle Brad. Brad found these insane, obscure patches online and Karrin sewed them onto this adorable jeans jacket. My favorite patch is the “triker.”

New Years weekend was actually just as busy, if not busier, than Christmas. We spent NYE at Steve Davis and Lisa Garrison’s gorgeous house in our old neighborhood. They turned their third floor into a nursery and we hired their next-door neighbor, Emma, to baby sit. Chris and I managed to eat, drink, smoke a few cigarettes (yes, bad Mama) and steal a kiss – all with only a few minor interruptions from the kiddos upstairs! Since neither of us wanted to be the DD, Ron and Alicia were kind enough to host a sleepover at their house. Amazingly, Gus slept through the entire night and didn’t wake until 9:15 the next morning!!!!

We spent New Year’s Day at Kyle and Fran’s house. They made a delicious fried turkey and we had lots of cookies and other goodies. The boys watched the Iowa game and, miraculously, they won! Fran, Payton and I played board games. I think my favorite was “Hands Down.” If you have a five-year-old, you need to check it out.

Yesterday we attended a brunch at James and Meg Hilburn’s house just a few blocks away. Meg’s house is insanely adorable – she is the second coming of Martha Stewart – only somehow less perfect which makes everything that much cooler. We had lots of yummy food and the kids were, according to Meg, the hit of the party.

As I look back over the last two weeks, I'm amazed at what we were able to do with two babies. Perhaps it isn't as hard to have two in diapers as everyone keeps warning me! I guess you'll have to read on and find out more, eh?

Today, it’s back to business. I have to write down all of the presents received and get thank yous in the mail. I need to make sure I stop eating cookies, fudge, candy etc. and get back to my high fiber, low-fat kick. I need to figure out how to join the Y. Oh, and I gotta give Gus some quality tummy time on his play gym and bathe Soph.

I also have to go to the OB for my six weeks’ check up. When I went after Sophia, it was fairly traumatizing, but more on that later.

Happy New Year, everybody!