A Season of Celebrating

Now that Halloween's over, I'm diving head-first into the Christmas season. I think it's because last year as a new mom, I felt so overwhelmed by the holidays. I basically threw up the bare minimum of holiday decorations around my house and hardly baked a thing. I just didn't feel like myself. This year though, life with Tory is much simpler. She's growing into an age where she likes to make crafts and help in the kitchen. I even bought her a tiny little apron and I can't wait for her to wear it!

Last year, my in-laws gifted me this advent calendar for Christmas and I'm dying to fill it with holiday activities for our family this December. Tory might be too young to truly appreciate each daily activity, but soon she'll remember the traditions we've created and the memories shared together as a family every Christmas season. Of course I'll try to document each day's activities here, so someday she'll be able to look back at all the fun we had together.

After scouring Pinterest and blogs for ideas, I've come up with my own list of December advent calendar activities. Most of them aren't anything original, just a mix of age-appropriate toddler activities, some of my own favorite childhood memories and a few new traditions I'd like to start. Here's my list, enjoy!

December 2012
1 - Bake Christmas cookies
2 - Host a Christmas Cookie Exchange for friends and family
3 - Decorate a felt Christmas tree (I better get to making it, ha!)
4 - Make cinnamon applesauce ornaments
5 - Make homemade Chex Mix
6 - Make lefse with Grandma Janie and Auntie Lindsay
7 - Deliver holiday treats to the neighbors
8 - Go to the Holidazzle Parade and Macy's Christmas Santaland display in downtown Minneapolis
9 - Go see a live nativity scene
10 - Decorate a gingerbread house
11 - Attend Wonder Pets! Save the Nutcracker at Mall of America
12 - Take a picture with Santa Claus
13 - Open a special Christmas gift (snowflake pajamas)
14 - Drive around with hot chocolate and look at Christmas lights
15 - Have a picnic dinner under the glow of the Christmas tree
16 - Go ice skating in St. Paul's Rice Park
17 - Make Christmas construction paper garland
18 - Sing Christmas carols
19 - Open a special Christmas gift (a Christmas children's book - Target is featuring some in their $1 Hot Spot right now)
20 - Choose a toy and donate it to a needy child
21 - Read a Christmas story together
22 - Eat a special holiday breakfast with Nana and Papa
23 - Color a Christmas picture
24 - Make reindeer food to sprinkle in the yard
25 - Celebrate Jesus' birthday

Pest Magnet

I'm going completely nuts in my own house these days. I have a hard time falling asleep. I wear socks at all times. I'm constantly scanning surfaces for any trace of them.

We have a mouse in the house.

Okay, we have more than one but I'm refusing to admit it to myself because oh my lord, the word MICE makes my skin crawl. *Shudder.* I'm fairly certain there's more than one because we've caught six already. La la la, I didn't just see myself type that on the computer screen.

I have no idea why they're invading our house this year. I clean all the time, I swear! I don't have piles of junk or containers of open food laying around. We have a dog! Why the heck doesn't she scare them away? It probably has nothing to do with the fact that my husband leaves the door wide open when he runs out to get the mail. Or the fact that I leave the door connecting our garage to the house open when Tory falls asleep in the car. I'm sure it has nothing to do with those reasons at all.

To make matters worse, Andi doesn't seem to be affected. He sets out traps and dumps the dead little mouse bodies into the trash. And repeat. I beg him to call a pest control company and he rolls eyes his at me like I'm a crazy lady. It's just this time of year, he says. Easy for him to say! I'm a prisoner in my own home! The fact that we've caught (cough, cough) more than one of them is a good sign, he says. The poison is working! Yay for dead mice littering my floors.

For some reason, pests just love us. At our old house in the city, it was pigeons and raccoons. Our old backyard was covered in bird poop and one night we awoke to the thump of a raccoon falling off our roof. At the cabin, we have a infestation of bees. I swat them like no big deal, but Andi screams like a little girl every time one flies near him. I guess we all have our own little critter weakness.

For the first time ever, I'm actually excited for a deep freeze in Minnesota because maybe the cold will stop these pests once and for all. Until then, we're living in a sea of mouse traps and high-tech LED ultrasonic pest repellers. Does anyone else think the childhood game of Mouse Trap wasn't so fun after all? DISGUSTING.

Blame it on no sleep

My little family of three spent the remainder of the weekend at our lake cabin. After a busy Saturday of working (for me) and solo-parenting (for Andi), getting there felt like a bit of a hassle but we're committed to using the cabin as much as we can this winter. Plus, Andi's work schedule is about to become crazy-busy so getting to the lake, even for one day, seems worth it.

For the last 15 minutes of our drive, I rode in the backseat with Tory to avoid a melt-down screaming session and oh man, was that a bad idea. I was so nauseous by the time we arrived! The older I get, the more car sick I become sitting in the back row of moving vehicles and it doesn't help the last few miles to the cabin are full of curvy roads. I felt progressively worse throughout the evening and finally went to sleep around 9pm.

To top it off, Tory slept like garbage Saturday night. I'm not sure if it was sleeping in a new place or her one-year molar just about to poke through her gums, but we finally brought her to bed with us around 3am (which was actually 2am with the end of Daylight Savings Time) and endured jabs to our faces from little arms and legs for the remainder of the night. At 6am, Andi and I finally got up because none of us were sleeping anyway. Our little Tory Bean was so grumpy Sunday morning. At age 14 months, she's learned how to throw a toddler tantrum and spent most of the morning rolling around on the ground and whining relentlessly.

Tory and I kept ourselves occupied in the house while Andi went outside to rake up the massive pile of leaves around the lake house. We spent most of our time on the stairs as she perfected the skill of going up and down. At home, we have stairs that are gated most of the time so when we're at the cabin, she loves to go up and down, up and down, up and down. My lack of sleep the night before made this game feel endless and no matter how many times I tried to distract her with another activity, we always found ourselves back on the stairs. So this is where we sat, for three hours.

Meanwhile, Andi was in his own personal hell, tackling the massive leaves situation outdoors. Score one point in the Do Not Own Your Own Cabin category: lawn maintenance for two properties really stinks. By the time he finished, we decided to pack up our things after lunch and head home with the hopes Tory would take her afternoon nap during the drive. Andi is not a lover of manly-men projects so he in a foul mood having finished the leaves task. I just wanted five minutes of quiet with no toddler whining. GAH.

Not a very fun-filled weekend at the cabin, unfortunately. I think we were all relieved to crawl into our beds last night and put another Daylight Savings Time behind us. That day always feels like the loooongest day of the year.

Daddy Daycare

It was a daddy/daughter day for Andi and Tory as I worked another football game on Saturday. While I performed the ever-important job of directing drunk fans to available cash registers in the beer garden, here's how they spent their day:

7:00am
Wake-up time! Tory seems pleased with Daddy's greeting. She is such a little bear-cub in the morning. When I was little, my grandpa bought be a t-shirt that said "I don't do mornings" and unfortunately, our little Tory Bean is the same way.

Now breakfast is something she can get behind! Tory eats a pretty big meal in the mornings. Today, she's having strawberries and waffles. Andi sends me a picture text message to my phone and I'm sad I'm missing a quiet, relaxing morning at home with them.

Clean-up time. Andi said Tory "helped" him by putting my boots in the dishwasher while he tried to load up the dishes. He cleaned Tory's hands and face up too, and then changed her very poopy diaper.

Really going for the Mr. Mom award, they decide to make banana bread. Andi let Tory dump the sugar and flour into the mixer and carry an egg across the kitchen. It doesn't end well. She cracked the egg into her hands, which resulted in another clean-up session.

Nap-time for Tory. She seems to be melting down by this point in the picture-sequence.

Andi put Tory to sleep in her nursery and then finished baking the banana bread and packing up the car for our cabin trip later in the afternoon.

Tory Bean's awake and they get ready to leave for a play date with Andi's friend Josh and his little boy Charlie (10 months). Out of hands - one of the many struggles of solo-parenting.

Playtime with Charlie! Andi says Tory is a maniac checking out all the new toys to play with. Andi brought lunch for the crew and fed Tory at Josh's house.

Next, Tory and Andi head to Grandma Marion's house for cousin Connor's 1st birthday party. Here's a shot of all three babies born in the last year in Andi's family -- Tory (14 months), Connor (12 months), Jaxson (9 months)

I met Andi and Tory over at the birthday party after the football game, and we drove to the cabin for the remainder of the weekend. Looks like Tory and Daddy had a very fun day together.

Family Photos

Our lovely friends Justin and Jessica from Bees Knees Photography agreed to snap some family photos for us this fall. Originally, I intended the shoot to be Tory's one year photos, but time has a way of escaping and when we finally coordinated schedules, she was already 13 months. (Close enough, I say).

I wanted to share a few of my favorites. Like always, there's about a million to choose from and they're almost all delightful. Is there really anything better than catching a glimpse of your life through a camera lens? 

Someone recently told me to enjoy moments like these now for when a second baby enters into the picture (no, I'm not expecting, I feel like I've had to clarify that fact a lot lately), there will be no time for fun things like family pictures anymore. 

I'd like to believe that's won't be the case. No matter the cost in time or dollars, photographs are worth a million bucks.  On this fall day, we shared some laughs and pure exhaustion from wrangling a very active toddler in the park. I think we captured the essence of our little family of three, don't you? 

Parenting: Seven Things I Never Saw Coming

The other day, Tory and I were at the car dealership getting my oil changed and the service employee and I were chatting about kids. He asked Tory's age and how I liked being a mom. He said his wife was expecting their first baby any day and I told him to expect his life to change in the blink of a eye. Parenting is wonderful and exhausting and like nothing else in the whole world. You can't explain it to others no matter how hard you try, and no one will quite understand what it's like until they join the club for themselves.

You expect the sleepless nights and falling head over heels in love with your new bundle of joy the second you lay eyes on them. Lately, I've been thinking about all the things parenting brings that I never saw coming:

Sing, Sing, Sing. On any given day, I sing every kid song I know. Every. Single. One. While we drive, it's the only thing that keeps Tory from falling asleep minutes before we pull in the driveway (thus avoiding the dreaded three-minute car nap) or from screaming bloody murder when we're stuck in traffic on the highway. The other day, I even Googled the words to some long-forgotten tunes because while Tory may not tire of the same "Wheels on the Bus" ditty, I certainly do. Really though, there's nothing that warms my heart more than seeing her smile and clap her hands as I sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" so I'll keep singing every little tune I know.

Reciting Children's Books by Heart. As parents, we read a lot of children's books; and a lot of children's books, over and over again. I can't count the number of conversations I'd had with fellow parents about our favorite kids reads. "Do you read this one? How about this?" Andi's convinced he could write his own children's book based on their simplicity and darn it, aren't some of them just so dang catchy?

Jungle Gym Monkey. The other day, as I was crawling on my hands and knees in the middle of the playground equipment, I wondered to myself, "is this real life?" I'm a 31-year-old grown woman going down the slide with my baby girl on my lap and I couldn't be happier. I envisioned myself going to the park with my future kiddos someday, but I never thought through the part where I'd actually be climbing on the equipment. This is the life of a toddler parent. 

Watching Wheel of Fortune. After Tory was born, I remember sitting in the living room rocking chair at 6:30pm every day, nursing Tory and listening to Wheel of Fortune play on the television in the other room. I wanted to stop that wheel-spinning sound from filling my ears, but the remote was too far out of reach. I was trapped! You'd think I would've learned my lesson, but for months I listened to those annoying people introduce their wonderful spouses and list all of their quirky hobbies. The other day, as Tory and I were playing toys in the living room, I laughed to myself as I heard the theme song Wheel! Of! Fortune! cascade through the house. That annoying show has become part of our life in some strange but comforting, homey-feeling way. I definitely didn't see that one coming.

Poop Tolerance. Andi says his poop tolerance has increased over the year and if I think back, I can remember how gaggy he was in those early days of fatherhood. As a parent, bodily fluids just become part of your everyday life and at some point the nastiest diaper blow-out is no big deal.

Saving Trash. I believe myself to be a sustainably-conscious person. I recycle, buy local and organic and I even had a backyard compost pile for a while. Lately though, I've noticed myself thinking about every single item I throw into the trash can, and not because I'm considering Mother Earth (although, that would be a nice thing for me to do). It's all about turning trash into treasure lately, and the simplest things like an empty milk jug filled with plastic spoons or an old egg carton entertain Tory for hours. What can I make with this? Everything's a learning opportunity and as I parent, I'm constantly stretching my brain for opportunities to teach Tory. Plus, isn't it the truth? A cardboard box or paper towel roll are far more exciting than any expensive, fancy-schmancy toy.

Celebrity Who? I haven't picked up a gossip magazine in months. Well, more like a year. I guess it's no surprise I don't have time to read magazines anymore, but I'm a little shocked by how out-of-touch I am with the entire tv shows / movies / celebrity gossip world these days. There was a time in my life I lived and breathed pop culture. Now, I couldn't even tell you which celebrities just ran off for a secret wedding or who had a baby or what they last ate for lunch. For the first time in 10 years, I asked my mom not to renew my subscription to US Weekly for Christmas because I feel so dang guilty about recycling them un-read every single week.

Halloween 2012

Oh, Halloween. You're pretty special now that we've got a little one in our family. We had an awesome  day with our little lion.

I had dreams of preparing a holiday-themed dinner menu (crescent mummy dogs, ribs or beef stew) before our evening together of trick-or-treating and family fun, but there just wasn't time mid-week. So, after work on Wednesday, Andi and I quickly dressed Tory in her cute little costume and attempted a few annual kid photos on the porch with no success. Tory's at that age where she can't sit still for a picture, even a second, so action shots trick-or-treating the neighborhood it had to be. If I ask her to "cheese" for the camera, she just shakes her head no. Well, ok then!

She didn't mind her lion get-up one bit and happily walked from neighbor's house to neighbor's house with her little pumpkin bucket in tow. Even though she practiced her lion roar all day, she wouldn't bust it out for all of the neighbors. She would do a pretty cute shimmy-shake when I sang "trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!" We made it to about five houses before it was time to leave for grandma's house.

Next we drove to Grandma Marion's house where we planned to meet Andi's parents and sister. Andi's cousin and her little boy were there, too. Tory and Connor played in the living room while we all sat around them, oohing and awwing at all the cuteness of the little lion and shark together.

This is the best picture we have of the two of them together. Connor was content to sit and chew on a Crunch candy bar, while Tory kicked and wrestled her way out of the chair. A candy bar wouldn't even bribe my child; that girl has a mind of her own, yikes!

Kids just make every day better. We had a very happy Halloween and now that it's over, Tory says it's time to bring on the turkey!