'Tis the Season

The holidays are officially over and the New Year has begun. Below is a brief recap of how we spent the past two weeks.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas….

We all know the famous children’s poem detailing the peaceful night before Christmas. Before all the hullaballoo of gift opening and socializing, most children are resting up for the big day and dreaming about the toys Santa left them. Not the case in my house. I tweaked the first line of the poem based on our Christmas Eve:

‘Twas the night before Christmas,

and all through the house,

all creatures were stirring,

except for my spouse.

Seriously. Macie had just broken out into the rash phase of Roseola Virus (at least it wasn’t the high fever she had a few days before) and her sleep schedule was fairly off. Unfortunately, Macie woke up crying at 2:00 a.m. and I had to rock her back to sleep while my husband slept- oblivious to Macie’s tears. After a few stressful days of interrupted sleep, we started our Christmas morning fairly groggy. When Macie woke up later that morning (6:00 a.m.), she was grumpy, on the verge of tears, and refused to relinquish her pacifier. Needless to say, our little family looked pretty fatigued in all of our Christmas photos.

Lazy Days

I was fortunate enough to have the week between Christmas and New Years off work, so I took the opportunity to be truly lazy. I responded to email and talked to my boss a few times, but that’s about it work-wise. After spending the previous week taking care of a sick baby, I was sick and fatigued myself (go figure). Therefore, I did very little productive work and certainly no writing. I cleaned my house, put away Christmas décor, read a few books, watched some crappy TV, worked out, and took care of Macie. That’s about it. It was glorious! I went back into the office today refreshed and ready to work, which made for a very productive day.

Rockin’ New Years Eve

Traditionally, New Years Eve is a huge party night- it’s basically a drunken fest. Each year my family and friends look forward to spending the night out, toasting to new beginnings. Most of my friends had plans, including those with children, even if it was just to hang out with other parents and their children. Although we have celebrated the New Year in the past, Josh and I rarely make a huge production of the evening, as we avoid being out on the road with all the intoxicated drivers. This year was even less thrilling than usual. Josh had to work an afternoon shift (2-11) so it was just Macie and me- two ladies out on the town J. As a treat, I rented Kung Fu Panda 2, thinking Macie would really enjoy the movie. Not so much- I paused and restarted the movie so many times that we ended up missing most of the plot. We spent most of the night playing in the basement playroom- I watched as Macie fed and bathed her baby, “cooked” some food, and rode her four-wheeler. Be jealous- it was awesome. After she went to bed I poured a glass of champagne, channel surfed, and was in bed and asleep by 8:30 p.m. Don’t judge, I still had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. the next day with an energetic toddler. Needless to say, it was a pretty wild and crazy night.

Resolutions

1. Join the local mommy social group and actually participate.

2. Maintain my weight loss (maybe even loose a few more pounds).

3. Continue to spend time each day teaching Macie new words and actions.

4. Muster the energy to finish my M.A. (this May can’t come fast enough).

5. Finally go on a family vacation.

6. Learn more about photography.