Christmas = SUCCESS! 13 days......

Even though I felt like I would never get everything done for 'Santa' we did it and the boys were so excited!!

J&K were happy just ripping open the wrapping paper :-P And even more happy when they saw the fun toy inside lol Their favorite gifts were some Hess trucks and Mr. Potato Head :-)

Gavin first opened his electric guitar stand but couldn't find his guitar. Santa had hid it behind tree, hehe He finally discovered it and was over the moon! He also got his speaker, wire and guitar. He has played it every day since Christmas....strumming along singing a song. So stinkin' cute!!! He has also inquired if he can take guitar lessons at drum school :-) Fortunately for him, his drum teacher also plays guitar so it looks like we will be learning guitar for a bit. Although I like the drums better....they require more energy.

Marcin and I got a few things for each other but we decided we needed to concentrate on the kiddos. I was pretty proud of myself because from Santa each kid got 4-5 items (Well except Gavin since his guitar required some accessories). I have been Christmas shopping since summer :-) All of their gifts were excellent condition second hand gifts and I saved a lot of money! Yep even the guitar, amp and huge 20 inch Ride cymbal gavin received.

It was a good holiday! Now to get ready for New Years....you know us, we go all out with a huge party to attend, formal wear, hotel, etc. HA HA! kidding....we will be home with the kids :-) I plan to cook some steaks, lobster tail, hoppin' johns, cornbread and something sweet for dessert. I really hope I make it to midnight but that is always hard to tell. Then its my birthday, WOO HOO!!!! I am having a difficult time processing the fact that I am turning 35...its just strange. I don't feel 35 but then again I am not certain what 35 should feel like. Of course I am always tired but I blame that on my children because their endless energy is exhausting!

13 days until my Christmas and birthday gift for next 10 years or so....the tummy tuck! Best.Gift.Ever. :-D I had my pre-op appt a couple of days ago. I didn't expect much from this appt because I had two consults so I could ask my 1,001 questions/stresses/concerns. The plastic surgeon is great....very nice, straight forward and laid back. I like this in a doctor. I get to pre-op, they have me undress down to bra/underwear and give me this paper half shirt to put on...really? whats the point? LOL not to mention it was FREEZING!! I ask for a blanket but thankfully Doc was coming right in, whew! Seriously, I had goosebumps! This was how appt went:

Doc: How are you?
Me: good!
Doc: I need to take two pictures of midsection. I will cut from hip to hip, take out this pocket of skin/fat, pull skin down, reposition belly button, lipo flanks and home you go. Here is painkiller script. Any questions?
Me: (Deer in headlights look on my face) Um........I was nervous for this appt today, can you give me anything for nerves day of or before?
Doc: Do you like wine?
Me: Yes
Doc: That's all I can give you, he says while laughing. ( I am not sure what is so funny since its ME going under knife!)

I continue to bombard him with more questions that I already know answer too but I need the reassurance that the answers are all the same LOL They are. I'll be down for the count for at least a week, 2 drainage tubes for 10-14 days, not able to stand up straight or lay flat for at least a week, may take longer to lay flat. He said out of all he cosmetic surgeries he does, this is the most painful recovery. Lovely. Although I told him I would rather expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if its better than I anticipate. It makes sense that the recovery would be rough....midsection is a huge part of the body that the body relies on for many things. I am as ready as I am going to be.

One of my top concerns are the boys....I am going to miss them. I know I will be here and see them but I won't be able to cuddle, pick them up for kisses or play alot. Mom guilt 150% *Sigh* Such as life :-) Wish me luck, pray for me....whatever you do, please keep us in your thoughts!!


 

finally...ready for Christmas!!

I honestly did not think we would get here! All I need is a pack of C batteries and a bottle of wine, good to go!

I got the rest of my baking finished up yesterday....sugar cookies, peanut butter blossom (YUM!!!), red velvet bundt cake and mini oreo cheesecake (Thank you pinterest....seriously if you are an Oreo lover, you will love, love, love these things!) Run to the store, get the ingredients and make them before the ever popular News Years resolution to eat healthy, LOL http://www.threesquarechef.com/2011/06/mini-oreo-cheesecakes.html

We got all the gifts wrapped last night...clean up house over next couple of days, work on bathroom and wait for the Big Guy to come visit :-)

When Gavin was born we decided we would stay in Delaware for Christmas instead of traveling. It is hectic enough to travel, let alone over the Christmas holidays so we felt this was a great idea. Especially after J&K were born...home it is! Pre-kids we would alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families. It makes me sad not to have my family with me during the holiday but my prince charming was in Delaware....whats a girl to do?! :-)

Growing up our Christmas celebration was we were able to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Leave out the cookies and beer for Santa. Santa came while we slept and all of our gifts were laid out around the tree, couch, somewhere was designated for our things. I had two younger brothers so we each had our 'section' hehe Then we would spend the day going from house to house eating, playing pollyanna, etc. I did not like the going from house to house part. I wanted to stay home and play with my new stuff, hmph It was always so rushed on an already busy day.

As an adult, this didn't change much until I got married and adopted some new Christmas traditions. Obviously, Marcin's family does things a little differently than mine does. I guess you could say Santa comes while you are eating Christmas Eve dinner :-) We all go to my In-laws house, eat dinner and then open all the presents. They don't open anymore presents on Christmas day, all are opened on Christmas Eve. He also told me they didn't do stockings :-( My Christmas stocking was always my favorite thing to go through...this is where the good stuff always was!!!

Now as a parent, Marcin and I had to come to a compromise on this because as you can see Santa visits each family at different times :-) So we developed our own Christmas traditions, as most married couples probably do. We go to church and chase our children around, then Marcin's parents house for Christmas Eve dinner, take lots of pictures and open all gifts that Santa bring there. We tell the kids we have to hurry to get home because Santa will be coming to our house next! We come home, put out the cookies and vodka/beer/milk and leave Santa a short note thanking him for all his hard work and gifts, get kids in bed and get to work! Some wrapped gifts under the tree, a few things not wrapped but by the tree such as an electric guitar and cymbal, fill the stockings up with goodies and sleep, aahhhhh.

Kids wake up, open up presents, play, play, play, play, play, play and play some more. Take lots of pictures. Last year we had the family over to our house for brunch. We loved this because we didn't have to pack up the kids and rush anywhere. They are able to play with their new toys and family can come see the rest of their Santa gifts.

Now that I have gotten everything done, I am excited to see these sweet faces light up over their gifts and the idea of Santa. I need to enjoy this while I can until they figure out whats going on, like I did and used to sneak downstairs in middle of night to find someone else placing gifts under the tree. (Sorry dad...you probably didn't know I was doing this lol)

Glad the Mayans were wrong!

I love my life...I was not ready for the world to end! What now? Any other apocalyptic predictions?

A quick countdown recap....

Christmas - 3 days away. I have not wrapped a thing. Nothing. I did manage to get a little bit of baking done. Wrapping will get done at some point in next 2 days. The Christmas spirit just isn't with me this year...well it was back at beginning of November, ya know when the Halloween, Thanksgiving AND Christmas decor was out in the stores? It is so commercialized.

35th Birthday - 10 days away. ACK! Rumor has it Marcin has some birthday plans for me, HOORAY!!!!!

Surgery - 20 days away. EEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!! OMG! Pre-op appt is next Thursday. Which reminds me, I need to get some bloodwork done at some point.

I started going to a chiropractor this past week. My first time ever. Ever since J&K were born, my arms fall asleep. It started out at night, then a little during day and now my finger joints ache. My arms will be so numb that it feels like knives stabbing me if I try to push a button my iphone just to see what time it is. ouch.  My doctor had me get a neck xray and suggested probably a pinched nerve most likely from carrying two big babies until 37 weeks :-P Chiro agreed so we shall see if it helps, I hope so because it is not very pleasant feeling.

My boys....well they have all been sick past 2-3 weeks. I just LOVE this time of the year ;-)

Gavin is doing great! Seems to be taking a break from his drums..he still drums on everything but hasn't been playing them as often. He is on an electric guitar kick :-) He is enjoying school and his friends there. We made the final school decision and we are keeping him at the school he currently attends. You know when a decision just feels right....that is this decision for me. I think Marcin is on the same page....if it weren't for the expenses of private school then he would fully be on same page. It can be done....we will revise budget and make it all work, somehow. Super happy about this decision!!! He will be excited to see all his friends again next year!

Kaleb doesn't stop talking.....EVER! I love hearing his sweet voice, so cute and you can't stay mad at him! He has become quite the stubborn, non-listener though. hmph, not fun! He loves to stack things...cars, blocks, trains, boxes from pantry, etc. If it can be stacked, sorted or lined up...Kaleb will do it :-) He also likes 'BIG JUMPS!" He jumps off of everything...
He is growing so fast....I had to put him in some 3t pants already! Size 9 shoes, whew! He has taken to climbing out of his crib :-P He also climbs back in lol

Jakob has become a great listener. We joke that J&K have switched for a while :-) Jakob is still very independent but you ask him once and he listens! His speech is getting better, HOORAY!!! It is still difficult to understand him sometimes but he gets his point across. Jakob loves cars....he drives them on all the ledges in the house along with the various race tracks we have :-)

I still look at these 3 little beings in amazement that I am their mom.....ME!!! And Marcin is their dad. We are PARENTS! The tragedy at Sandy Hook school was with me for days. When the event happened at Columbine, while I was sad...that was in 1999. I was 21 and no children, I didn't have the perspective I have now. When I saw Sandy Hook on the news...my heart just hurt for those families. I couldn't stop thinking of getting my kids up in the morning how those families wouldn't be starting their day like that. The unopened Christmas gifts. It doesn't make sense to me....

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time with your families and give them all extra hugs this year, be thankful for them :-)

quick december update and house stuff

I haven't blogged in over 3 weeks...how is that possible? how is it possible that Christmas is in THREE DAYS?! I am not ready....at all. I should be wrapping presents but I can't gather the motivation to do so. Obviously they will get done sometime this weekend..at least that is the plan.

December started out by meeting a wonderful friend in Conshohocken ( no clue if I spelled that correctly!). We met up at Ikea and browsed for a bit and then went for lunch. It was a fun day just to catch up with her. We live a couple hours apart and we have tried numerous times to gtg with kids during week and someone was always sick or something came up, so we decided to do adult time, best idea ever!  The following week we had a super fun and gorgeous wedding of two good friends of ours. Marcin was in the wedding so rehearsal dinner Friday and the weddin in philadelphia saturday. We even got to stay over Saturday night =0 Needless to say, it took me a few days to catch up on my sleep because by Sunday, I was exhausted! I can only imagine how tired the newlyweds must have been! Then we went out AGAIN the following weekend to see a band that we saw over summer at beach wedding, we met a couple of friends there, much fun!
This brings us to this weekend....how did that go by so fast?!

In the midst of all of this, we have also taken care of the kids hehe I have also had some house projects going on which turned out pretty well:-)

I started in the master bath...Marcin and I repainted all the molding and doors. I also painted the builder oak cabinets a dark espresso and gave the walls a fresh coat of paint. I still need to do horizontal stripes on the walls. Marcin will hopefully finish up the hardware for cabinets/drawers and frame out the mirrors.

OH and I had a fabulous idea that did NOT come from Pinterest, HA!!! I will be sure to share if it works out....light covers. I hate the builder lights in there and I had an idea one day while painting. We shall see if it works out :-)

 

This is Marcin's side. My side, across the bathroom is pretty much the same. We are thinking of doing a small strip of tile btw the mirror and cabinet.

This is our idea for the mirror frame....

I added a couple of things to the foyer, not sure what I think about it but it is staying for now or until I (we) find something I (we) like better :-)

The sheer panels on the side windows here really bugged me!! It didn't help that I had to attach them with 3M command strips and the boys ALWAYS pulled them down because they would run to the window to pull curtain side and down it would come, RRRRR!!! So to pinterest I went....I saw an idea I liked but modified it a bit. So this is before.....

 

And after........

I think it turned out cute! The boys STILL pull them aside to look at window but it is easier to adjust and put back :-) I feel like the door needs to be a different color though......

My other idea was to make a little sitting area for guests to have somewhere to sit to take off/put on shoes, hangs up coats, shoes, etc. We have the 'formal' living room (aka waste of space) to the left of the front door, so I figured I could use some space in there. I also had my toy bench from when I was a kid. My grandmother kept it for me until about 5 years...we brought it back with us when we went to pick up my piano from Mississippi :-)
Here is my toy bench before....

I had some leftover paint from the cabinets, so I used that and made a cushion on top. Here is our new sitting area....

I LOVE the fabric I found for the cushion :-) It works!

Um so yep....along with the fun, craziness of our lives we have somehow managed to get all of this done. It looks really productive when I look at it now. YAY US!!!! We hope to finish up our bathroom in the next couple of weeks.