Christmas

Since Chris just had foot surgery, we had a pretty low key holiday season! James and I spent all of Christmas Eve playing around the house while Chris rested upstairs. When James went to bed, Chris and I enjoyed watching Christmas Vacation while gorging on festive Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Christmas morning was spent attending church, then coming home to start the holiday cooking! Once Chris showered and James napped, we opened up Christmas presents. Chris and I got a mini pie maker (but it also makes quiches and pot pies), while James scored with some books, a Cookie Monster toy, and a new bike! He has been going crazy ever since over these new toys.



For dinner, we had Elaina, Daniel, and Danny over and enjoyed a Christmas feast! Afterwards, the cousins exchanged gifts, and we opened Aunt Kirsten's presents. It was a very relaxing holiday, and it was nice not having to travel this year, even though we really missed seeing the rest of our family.

Now I am so grateful for James's new presents because they are keeping him distracted while I pack for our trip tomorrow! James and I will be visiting family in Oregon for a couple of weeks, and we can't wait!

Surgery Day

I know that if I don't record this now, I'll regret it later because frankly, my memory sucks. Just last Wednesday Chris went in to have surgery on his foot. He had some extra bone on his instep that caused him a lot of pain when walking, so we are hoping that this surgery goes better than his last one.

It's like Christmas comes early when Chris is on heavy pain meds. He says the funniest things! He kept calling me to have the exact same conversation, not realizing he had already called me. He apparently sent out a random text to multiple people about "memorizing info" and having it "fees so good!" Then my sister-in-law Mal responded back to him, telling him she was Voldemort, which Chris bought hook, line, and sinker. When he called me later he said he had a conversation with Voldemort, who was a "mean, mean guy" who he "no likey." I was literally crying with laughter. Whenever Chris is on pain meds he gets very reminiscent, and calls all of his old buddies and family members to "catch up" on the good times. Another funny thing about Chris is that this is the second time he's come out of surgery convinced all of the nurses were hitting on him, because they commented on how hairy he is (...I guess in his mind that's a compliment?!?)

Anyway, we are all safe and sound back at home, and I am playing mom to both James and Chris now while Chris recuperates. We will probably have a very low-key holiday!

Sad Day

It was a sad day here at the DeBeikes household. After James knocked down our Christmas tree for the sixth time, thereby breaking our fourth ornament, I decided it was not worth my sanity! I have officially taken down the tree, and it's on its way to DI tomorrow. We have had it for seven years, and it has seen its last day. I think we might be the only family to have ever taken down the tree BEFORE Christmas!

Birthday Boy Tribute

To celebrate James turning 2, Chris and I thought we'd make a list of the new things James has learned recently, along with our favorites.

- We are officially pacifier free! James was getting too attached to them and was starting to wake up more in the night crying because they fell on the floor. It was time to break the habit, so we gradually clipped the tips of the pacifiers. He got annoyed with them before we threw them in the garbage claiming they were broken. It was a rough couple of days, but I am SO relieved we did it!
- James LOVES to hide toys and come up with his hands in the air asking "Where'd it go?" He also loves hiding himself under blankets and saying "Where'd I go?"
- When he finds something he's hidden or he's pointing to objects, he says "yaya", which means "there it is!"
- Whenever he does something he's especially proud of, he jumps in the air with his arms outstretched and yells "I did it!"
- Every time he does something he knows he's not supposed to do and I'm coming to discipline him, he runs up to me and throws his arms around my neck and says "hi!" It works on me every time.
- He still calls me Dad. We're working on it :)
- James is still quite the picky eater, and seems to have an intuition for knowing which foods are junk, because that is always what he tries to grab from the store or from our pantry. He does love eggs and grilled cheese at the moment, and I'm sure he'd drink milk all day if I'd let him.
- He is a monkey! He will climb on everything! This is why we no longer have side tables or any decorations on our TV stand or kitchen table. It scares me to death because he loves to climb in and out of his high chair from the outside, and to stand on the kitchen table and "jump" in the air. He is a daredevil and his poor mom's anxiety level goes through the roof. I'm sure the inevitable ER visit is not too far away...
- He loves to read books and to watch us draw an animal that he has to name. He doesn't say animal names yet, just their sounds. His speech is still a little delayed, but getting much better everyday.
- He LOVES saying "no" although it actually sounds like "mo"
- James is great at giving "smooches" :)
- Anytime he hears music, he starts to dance!
- James is affectionately referred to as The Tasmanian Devil, and after spending 5 minutes with him, it's not hard to see why. He gets into everything and literally runs around all day.

He is quite the happy, energetic kid and we sure love him dearly! We know he'll be a great big brother and helper to his parents. Happy Birthday James!

Turning 2

I cannot believe James is already two! People weren't joking when they said life goes by faster when you have kids. I feel like I was just in the delivery room, holding my new baby boy!

James was such a lucky kid on Sunday. His Aunt Shannon had a couple of days off and flew out here to spend the weekend with us! He got to wear his Birthday Boy pin all during church, and even got some special birthday treats in nursery! Danny, Elaina, and Daniel then came over in the evening and he opened his presents, ate dinner, and devoured his cake. We had a great time and I have some fun pictures from our wonderful night.

Birthday cake!

New clothes from Grandma and Grandpa!

Monster trucks from Aunt Shannon!

Clothes!

Legos from Mom and Dad