Christmas Preparations

How is it seriously the week of Christmas already?  Wasn't it just summer?  Getting in the Christmas spirit has been hard this year with Andrew being gone and minimal sleep, but I'm trying to feel a little more jolly this week.  Andrew will be home from his December tour of the country courtesy of UPS in a few short days, so that always lifts my mood.  You don't realize how much you rely on the extra set of hands until you don't have them around.  Luckily, both our parents live close and have been a HUGE help.  As in I would have lost my mind this month had it not been for them.

Had it not been for my parents, I'm pretty sure our Christmas tree would still be sitting in the middle of the living room in pieces and I would have no Christmas decorations up.  Granted, that would not be the end of the world.  They have also provided me with countless meals over the last several weeks and even months since Izzy was born.  Andrew's parents have watched Izzy while I ran to the grocery store and ran to the airport to pick Andrew up or drop him off to get a rental car.  With the weather getting colder, I try not to haul her out and about any more than I have to.   I appreciate the help more than I will ever be able to put into words.

Last weekend, Izzy, Buddy, Maya and I had a sleep over at my parents house.  I wasn't really up for sitting in our house alone all weekend.  Plus, I wanted to do some baking for Christmas and I knew that wasn't going to happen if I was trying to do it on my own at home.  Buddy got himself a new bed out of the deal; he is totally spoiled at grandma and grandpa's house too!

Maya enjoyed having new things to sniff, but she kept walking to the door expecting Andrew to walk in.  Unfortunately, these last couple of weeks, we have been dealing with a recurrence of Buddy's neck pain.  Last Saturday morning he was fine and when I came home later in the day, I could tell he was in pain.  I was able to get him in to see the vet the next day and get him started on meds.  He hasn't been as bad this time around as he was last time, so I think by catching it early we were able to keep his pain from getting too severe.  He has also been back to get a couple of acupuncture treatments.  Hopefully this will all be a distant memory again soon.  He had been doing so well for about six months.  Poor guy, I don't think the cold weather helped matters at all.

Izzy has been growing like crazy and changing daily.  She is starting to interact with toys now, which is fun to watch.  She smiles when you talk to her, and I love hearing the start of her laughter!  For the most part, she is a pretty happy girl.  We have been dealing with a little bit of a snotty nose that she got when she started daycare, but we have been able to keep if from turning into anything major.  Thank goodness for the Zarbees chest run and vitamins with immune support!

As you can see, she hasn't lost the crazy hair.  It's getting a little longer, so it will stay down with some effort.  Clearly it wasn't cooperating in this picture!

As I said in my last post, we had family photos back in November.  Since there were are first professional photos since our wedding photos five years ago, I have been busy working on getting a few of them printed out.  I'm amazed at how much she has changed over the last twelve weeks.  We were out at a restaurant this weekend and saw a tiny new baby.  I told my parents I don't remember Izzy being that small.  They assure me she was!  Here are a few more of my favorite photos from our November family session with Katie Lindgren.  

I can't get over how adorable this photo is!

 

 Those eyes.... that hair!