This post was to come before the one after this to be in chronological order, but I'm only off by a few days. Be grateful you're reading this post at all, as I'm amazed that I survived Christmas this year. I took pictures to keep my mind occupied. With Connor being gone for 7 of the longest days ever and now trying to stay afloat in our house as I gut our 'old' things to make room for all our new things, I've just been in a fog with it all. I am extremely grateful for all that we've received, but I'm seriously trying to develop a plan to help simplify the holiday season with kids for the upcoming years.
Christmas Eve- we spent at Debbie's house. We had our challenging moments trying to keep Noah from gripping onto any and all things breakable, but overall, he did great.
Poppy scooped the Noah Monster up for some story time.
The stinker face running all over.
I love the tradition of singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Plus, Noah thoroughly enjoys the "Happy Birthday" song, so it was great. It grabs his attention every time.
I think the 'baby' faze starts to really fade when all the teeth start to come in. Noah's cute little teeth in the front are my favorite. Unfortunately, he has about 6 teeth plowing through now. We will have to bid farewell to his beaver grin soon.
Noah crashed in the car on the ride home from Deb's, so once he was transferred to bed, it was time to get ready for Christmas morning. It was an empty feeling without Connor home. Literally, like a hole in my heart that night. My thrill for Christmas morning was counting down until noon, when I could pick him up.
I didn't think Noah would care too much about Christmas morning, but he was pretty thrilled. He jumped right down to play with his new goodies (and maybe snatch Connor's new basketball out of his Santa pile).
Sidenote: Noah was in his precious Christmas jammies, but woke in the morning good & wet down the front of them. He had a quick wardrobe change before exploring his Santa goodies.
We let Noah open his gifts from us. He was happy just to shred one tiny piece of wrapping paper into teeny tiny bits. The actual gifts were more fun for us, really.
Our little Christmas model.
When my phone alarm chimed at 11:15am, I was a flash out the door. As I drove to pick him up, I just bawled my eyes out. I literally could not wait to pick him up. 7 long days away from him. It was Christmas day & I needed my sweet boy home.
He got in the car as we loaded to come back home & he said, "Mom, when we get home, can I just hug you for a while?"
Instant tears at this point. I reminded him about what happy tears were.
He could not wait to see Noah too. Even Noah seemed happier with Connor home now.
While it still was a strange Christmas, breaking our tradition of the last 6 years, it was still thrilling to just have my boy home. Nana & Papa came by. Life was complete again.
Connor's big gift from Nana & Papa was a fun, "Fliker" scooter. Without a better explanation, the scooter gains its speed as he wiggles his hiney from side to side. It took some coordination, but by day 2, he was pretty impressive on it!
After gifts, Michael was itching to have Connor over after their week break from one another. There were so many big boy giggles. There's no question where home is to C. He was in his element & loving every second of it.
Of all the big gifts that day, C loved his $10 Avengers sticker activity book the most.
And this little guy just made his rounds from new toy to new toy. He was in Heaven.
We spent the evening at Grandma Lori's house, where C was happy to hang with Austin & Noah was happy to have so many snacks. Uncle Mitch & Aunt Michelle gifted all the tiny Phins' fans some Dolphins' gear. Uncle Mitch was glowing :).
Big, big, big thank you to all that contributed to our family Christmas this year. Its hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone already.
Now its a countdown until I'm 3-0. Woo. Hoo.
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