Christmas

This was the first year that Cass really seemed to understand what was going on with all of the gifts. He is at a great age when it comes to buying gifts for him, because he loves everything . . . books, cars, etc., and of course Thomas the Train! He even loves Celena's presents . . . I say this as he is on the floor beside me spinning around a light-up turtle that she got as a gift - I guess she will learn early on to share her toys!

1st Christmas

Celena had a couple different "Baby's 1st Christmas" outfits, so we had a wardrobe change midway through the day so we could get pictures in each outfit. :) She must have sensed the excitement of Christmas, because I couldn't get her to nap at all during the day. She was tuckered out by bedtime!

Christmas Program

Here's a clip from Cass's first school Christmas progam. This is his class of 2-year olds singing. Cass is in the middle in the khaki pants and red sweater, climbing the risers the entire time. We were cracking up!

Our Little Ballerina

What do you think my husband would look like if he weighed 15 pounds and wore a pink tutu? Ha! Celena looks SO MUCH like her daddy!! It's funny to see the resemblance even when I dress her up like this. :)

Baptism

Celena was baptized in November. Our church doesn't allow video or photographs during the baptism, so we tried to get a picture of Celena with all of us after the ceremony, but as you can imagine it didn't go well with a hungry baby and a 2 year old that had just sat through a church service. SO, I decided today that we would play "dress up" so I could get a picture of Celena in her pretty little christening gown. You can't really see the whole thing (because as you can imagine it's impossible to pose a 5 month old in attractive way to get a picture of the entire dress, I tried but she kept sticking her legs in the air!!). I decided I'd frame the dress in a shadow box and use it for decoration in her room - that's one way to get our money's worth out of it!

Help Cass earn free books!

Cass loves to read, so I'm hosting an online Usborne book party so he can get more books and expand that little mind! The books are great, and they also have puzzles, sticker books, activity books and curriculum guides that you can do at home. Please check out the link below to my eshow and consider getting some books for the children on your Christmas list, there are books for all ages. The eshow closes at midnight on December 15. Cass thanks you!!! :)

www.ubah.com/HOS164981

By the way, Cass insisted on wearing his blue crocs with that outfit. I realize it looks goofy. He likes to express himself through fashion. Ha!

Little Stinker

Man, this little girl is persistent! Sleeping continues to be an issue. She has had a cold the last couple weeks, so I've babied her and have held her a lot for naps and at night when she wakes up. She is over her cold now, so I'm hoping we can make some progress getting her to soothe herself to sleep. The last couple days she has hardly napped at all, and hasn't gotten very good sleep at night either, so she was really tired today.

Since she was so tired, I decided to do whatever it took to get her to take a nap this afternoon. I laid down with her for a while to get her to go to sleep (which was nice for me too, since I was up with her until 2:30 AM last night!!), and she then took a good nap in our bed. Hopefully she will be better rested tomorrow so we can work on napping in her crib, and maybe I can post some positive updates about her progress soon!!!

Gingerbread House

Cass made his first gingerbread house last weekend. He lost interest after about 15 minutes of decorating, so not all of the decorations made it onto the house (which is why it is a little sparse).

His little personality continues to amuse us. The other day Celena was in her pack n' play crying, and Cass walked over and put a toy car and a book in the pack n' play, I guess he thought that would console her. Then, she was laying on a blanket on the floor kicking, and he put his Thomas the Train in her hand. I think he is really wanting a playmate!

We got some humorous feedback from his preschool teacher last week. When I went to pick him up, she asked me if Chris wrestles with him. I said that he did, and asked why she wanted to know. Apparently Cass tries to wrestle the kids in preschool! She said it is harmless, he just walks up to them with his arms out and lays right on top of them. She and the other teacher couldn't figure out where he got this since he doesn't have older siblings. So, we had to tell Cass that he only wrestles with Daddy. Our little talk may have worked, because the teacher said he didn't wrestle at all today! :)

Our Kiddos

Cass has a mind of his own lately, but he happened to be rather cooperative yesterday so I asked him if he wanted to take a picture with his sister and he surprised me by saying "yes"! (I'm finding it tougher these days to catch him in the picture mood). Anyway, I obviously wasn't prepared for the picture, as you can see Celena is wearing St. Patrick's Day pajamas. And it's December. There are a few reasons for this . . . 1) The color green is one of the colors of the month that Cass's preschool is focusing on so I thought I'd put Celena in it, 2) These are size 9 month pajamas that I thought Celena would wear in March, but she is growing like a weed so I figured we'd get some use out of them now, and 3) we weren't leaving the house all day. Oh, and 4) green is a Christmas color. I know, using that as a reason to dress Irish in December is a stretch. Regardless, she doesn't look all that thrilled to be having her picture taken.

Cass is quite the little helper these days. He will let the dogs in the house for us (when they don't already let themselves in . . . amazingly our dog Norm has figured out how to open the door), and he'll go and get about anything for us when we ask him to, so we can be lazy and not get out of our chairs. :) Yesterday I even asked him to brush the hair out of my eyes because I didn't have a free hand while I was holding Celena and he did it. I think soon I'll teach him how to give massages to I can get a back rub now and then. ha!

Cass is also getting closer to potty training. Yesterday he pointed to his pants and said "poopie", so I gathered Celena and we all ran upstairs where his potty was, and he had me pull his pants down, and he sat down. Unfortunately the "poopie" was already in the diaper (lesson learned - we need another potty for downstairs), but he asked for toilet paper and wiped and put the toilet paper in his potty. I gave him a miniature Hershey's candy bar as a reward, and immediately read his Potty Book to him, then called Daddy at work so he could leave him a voicemail telling him what he did. I really have no idea what I'm doing, I suppose rewarding with chocolate isn't the best idea, but he otherwise never gets candy (I know, I'm a mean mommy), so I figure it just may do the trick.