Happy New Year!

Hosted a yummy holiday dinner (if I do say so myself), kids screaming and running around the house like crazies. We also successfully got all 7 kiddos down to bed by 9ish - amazing!

Now the grown ups are playing the Kinect and hanging out. Jenn brought some homemade Limoncello (made with Everclear!) for pre-midnight shots. If you ask the others, it's really good and smooth. If you ask me - it tastes like sour cough syrup. ;-)

Here's to another awesome year!

Holiday Dinner

Every year since we've lived in this house, I've hosted a big holiday dinner for some of our close friends and their kids.

First dish down (the most important hehehe), five more to go! ;-)

No Fear

It's a good thing I have the tickle monster on my side, to defend against the leaps, pounces, flailing arms, kicking legs and head butts to my face.

To squash imagination, or not?

I found a number of Callum's "First Snaps" toys up on the mantle. Knowing this was Logan's handiwork I told him not to throw the toys. His response?

But they're snowflakes mom!

*sigh*

Hey look, twins!

Is a grapefruit still good for you if you sprinkle sugar on top?

I'm eating a grapefruit a day but I'll still probably lose some of these. :(

Morning Starbucks

Mama needed her coffee fix after a teething crying baby woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep for a good full hour in the middle of the night, followed by a toddler who threw up all over his bed and the hallway (trying to make his way to our room) just a couple of hours later.

Luckily, Logan's not been hit with anything too serious and already seems to be feeling tons better this morning. Apparently the infection that has hit Callum's ears was spread to Logan as well. Thankfully, his ears are fine, but his sinuses (and system) are definitely trying to fight it off.

A donut (and coffee sleeve for Callum) is a small price to pay for a few minutes of happy, quiet, non-whiny kids. ;-)

More toys than a Mommy knows what to do with!

We're headed to the doctor's again this morning. This time for Logan, who got really ill yesterday (broke a 102 fever at the theater, poor guy!). Stay tuned.

Rum cake anyone?

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Everything tastes better from scratch! ;-)

Merry Christmas!

Playing the Kinect, a surprise gift from Santa. :)

The Supervisor

Odin has been diligently overseeing both playtime and baking activities. It's a rough job but someone's gotta do it.

Christmas Eve Gift!

Logan opened one of his presents this morning (a tradition in the Connally family is, whoever says "Christmas Eve Gift" first, on Christmas Eve, gets to open a present a day early. He got Zafu this morning so he got to open a present). ;-)

Surprisingly, he picked a smaller gift. So, Mommy helped him build two Lego trucks and a fueling station. After playing a bit, Logan tells me, "Mommy, now we need a boat and a castle!"

No clue where he comes up with these things.

Ear Update

Notice how diligently Daddy is watching his son, who is gnawing his way through a spare cable...

Poor Callum. I took him back to Dr. Safir's yesterday as a follow up from last week. Sadly, the antibiotic that we were trying didn't seem to do a bit of good, as both ears are still infected (though his left ear seems to be worse). So, he got a shot of antibiotics this time (to hopefully knock this thing dead), and yet ANOTHER antibiotic/prescription for us to try out.

We go back in on Sunday morning for another recheck. Since we have plans to go up to Tahoe on Monday, I'd like to make sure his ears are in decent shape before we attempt the drive (and change in altitude).

Thankfully, he's tolerating these ear infections really well. Dr. Safir said most kids with infections as bad as Callum's would be in a lot more pain. :(

I bet this would help make a great bonfire

Sad thing is, this isn't even all of it.

Great Neighbors

Every holiday our neighbors try to fatten us up with (delicious homemade) goodies. Not just one neighbor either, but several!

Look! Snow!!

Not sure if you can see from the pic (snapshot while exiting the freeway - shhh!), but there are some low clouds hovering along the mountains in the distance.

Logan saw them and exclaimed, "Look! Mom! There's snow on the mountains!!"

I said, "Actually, they're clouds".

"No, actually it's snow. You're just trying to trick me!"

Standing

What was it, just two nights ago? I was saying Callum HAS to stand. Well, literally overnight he's now using the objects around him to stand on his own, without us there to help prop him up.

4 more days until Christmas! Woohoo!

Presents!

I don't know if you can tell but our tree actually has several presents which magically appeared overnight (after Mommy diligently wrapped last night!).

Logan didn't notice them this morning but he saw them when we got home after his evening ritual of turning on all the lights.

He was so excited he picked Callum up and then tried to get his attention by laying on the floor, with his face in Callum's, pointing adamantly toward the tree.

"Look Callum!! Presents! Under the tree! We have presents! Loooooook!"

(How he picked Callum up, I still don't know. He only lifted him about two inches before dropping him back on the floor - poor Callum - but just another thing I now need to be aware of and watch more closely!)

8 months old

Our little one just turned 8 months old today. Hot damn!

This past month, when he's not battling his crazy back to back ear infections :( he's taken up crawling with a vengeance. It's so fun to see his curiosity sky rocket as he explores the world around him. He's also just recently mastered sitting up from a laying down or crawling position, which, now that he can finally do it, has made him so much happier.

He's not completely happy just crawling around however, as he continuously tries to pull or push (think: downward facing dog pose) himself into a standing position. When we're nearby, we'll place him next to the table or couch to stand and play (even trying out his legs and taking a few steps when he can!). Only then is he truly happy.

Razor sharp

Several snaps later, I finally got a glimpse of Callum's first tooth with my phone. The quality's not good enough to see the second one starting to poke through next to it, but trust me, it's there.

Leftover birthday cupcakes

What to eat....what to eat.... ;-)

Loganism of the (other) day

Mommy, fuck is a bad word?

Yes.

But Daddy always says it.

Continuous Ear Infection

I took Callum back to the doctor today to recheck his ears. His left ear (which was infected last week) is looking better. Not great, but better. The right ear, however, looks bad. So, apparently, the infection is just passing from one side to the other. :(

Dr. Safir prescribed a different anti-biotic for us to try, since the other one just doesn't seem to be kicking it. We'll see. I take Callum back in again next week before the holidays.

Meanwhile, Logan was chatty as ever. While waiting for the doctor, Logan says "Mom, I need to go potty! I need to pee in a cup!!" *sigh*

10 Days 'til Christmas!

Last year I used tape because I didn't have anything to hang the stockings on and didn't have it together to buy something in time. This year I'm happy to report, we're not as ghetto. ;-)

Cars make a special trip just to drive by and see this house

We live in a neighborhood where Christmas lights are up pretty much the day after Thanksgiving. A couple of blocks over from our house is this one. This guy is actually the father of our neighbor and goes NUTSO on the lights every year. In addition to the over-the-top-light-decorations, he's got music playing for anyone to enjoy while strolling by (which was what Callum and I were doing the other day). :)

I'm strong!

Lately Logan likes telling (and showing) me how strong he is. ;-)

Today was his 3 year checkup. No shots but just an overall health check. As if we didn't know, he's growing growing growing, weighing 34 lbs (75%) and measuring 40" tall (93%)! He's apparently the height of many 4 year olds! He's an all around great kid - his conversational abilities are sharp and really showcase how smart he is.

He's also got quite the sense of humor, as evidenced by the end of our visit when Dr. Safir asked him to pee in a cup which he thought was really funny. ;-)

Growing up

I left town for four days. I got back and my baby's crawling like crazy, he's pulling himself up in his crib so we had to lower the mattress, his front tooth is poking through, razor sharp, and he's babbling "dada dada" nonstop. What the hell just happened?!?

Outside Dining

We're having dinner with my parents to celebrate Logan's birthday and grabbed a table outside because it was super crowded and a very long wait. I think this may be one of the first times we've eaten outside and Logan is loving all the cars, buses and people (even carolers!) passing by. :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Logan!!

My toddler is now the ripe old age of 3. Yikes!

I'm home with Logan today since he had a fever yesterday and had to stay home from school. Apparently he caught whatever Jon and Callum have, although he seems to be handling it much better. In fact, we decided to get out of the house to grab some lunch (did you know Chipotle now has kids' lunches?!?) and perhaps a cupcake or two. ;-)

Home sweet home

Left the very festively decorated (but rainy) Bellevue late this evening. Unfortunately Jon, Logan and Callum are all sick. Guess it's back to being Mommy again! :)

Santa comes to town

Visited the MSFT retail store. I may or may not have snagged an Xbox Kinect bundle on behalf of Santa.

Din Tai Fung

This dumpling house just opened in Bellevue 2 weeks ago and is already hoppin' with a looooong wait. Several of us staked it out anyway for dinner tonight.

My coworker set the expectation with me that it was going to be a "once in a lifetime experience". I teased her that the first thing to learn in my world is you always under-promise and over-deliver. ;-)

Still, this place certainly met my (high) expectations. Deeeeelish!!

CA folks are easy to spot

At this conference up in Redmond, and I'm in a room with maybe 75 other people. During introductions, I would take a guess at who was from CA and who was local (before they would say). I was about 90% accurate.

For the most part, attire gave it away (but strangely so did hair styles and facial appearance). For example, I'm probably one of the only women in the room rocking heels (these being one of my newest/fave pairs). The rest are wearing some version of a boot or hiking shoe. :)

Lonely.

It's much too quiet in here.

I was just catching up on another Mommy blog and she has this neat idea to do a daily picture countdown to Christmas. I looked back through my blog and have almost posted one pic a day since Dec 1st. So I'm going to steal her idea and see how far I get as well!

Day 6: Travel up to Redmond and already missing my munchkins terribly.

The pearly whites!

I noticed Callum's bottom teeth threatening to poke through a few days ago - and sure enough, this weekend his bottom right tooth has cut through (I think his left one will be coming in soon too).

Callum doesn't seem to act any different by it - but of course, he's been "teething" for MONTHS now, the drooling, biting, slobbering machine!  Still, I'm so glad it's not affecting him, since I'll be leaving tomorrow for a week long trip up to Redmond while Jon gets to play his hand at Mr. Mom for awhile.  OOOOoooohhh how fun!  ;-)

Disney Band-Aids Fix Everything

Logan says, "But I can't see it when it's on my face!"

Poor guy slipped and fell while Jon was draining the tub tonight. He got a pretty nasty cut on his left cheek/jaw bone but seems to be fine otherwise. Mostly the fall just scared him, I think.

SF

We spent the night in the city last night. Here's the view from our hotel room. Loved the colors in the sky this morning!

Holiday Parties

Up in the city with Jon. One party down, one to go! ;-)

Sad doggy

I came out of Logan's room after changing Callum and found Logan had put this cone on Odin's head. Poor guy, you probably can't tell from the pic very well but he put it on backwards. :)

Logan said, "But he has an owie! And I gave him a kiss!"

I'm sure Odin appreciates the extra attention. ;-)

Crawling

Callum took 3-4 "steps" (crawling) forward at school today! His teachers said he wasn't even paying attention but they all gasped and clapped when he did it, which of course then made him topple over in excitement. :)

Can't wait to see our little guy getting around on his own!

The countdown begins!

This week, Logan has taken a new interest in his birthday. His last request was flying dragon (not just dragons, they need to be FLYING dragons!) and Spiderman cupcakes with fire (which I hope he means candles). He's actually getting into arguments with his buddies at school too "No, TODAY is my birthday!" (and then I have to tell him no, it's not...)

So this morning, after he woke up, he asked Jon and I, "Is it my birthday yet?"

Poor guy. :)

And you thought I was talking about the countdown to Christmas! ;-)