Recaps

I'm back! I made it through Lucy's surgery. I made it through William's third birthday. I made it through the Thanksgiving weekend. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

If you followed Lucy's blog you know that her surgery was a smashing success. I only cried a few times. Lucy cried a lot. But I think that's to be expected when one's head is cut into. She's pretty much back to normal as far as her temperament goes and now we just need to keep an eye on big brother as her incision heals and the stitches start to fall out.

I had a whole buncha mommy guilt about Lucy's surgery week bleeding right into William's birthday. But it turns out three-year-olds only get the big deal about birthdays in so much as we tell them. He wanted "lots of blue, blue, blue balloons, mommy." We got him eight blue balloons and a red bike. As it goes, the blue, blue, blue balloons won out as the favorite gift. Coulda saved myself $50.

And then there was the Thanksgiving weekend. Oh my. If you've followed my blog for any amount of time you know that every year we switch which family we spend the holidays with. Last year we spent Christmas with Brian's side so this year they got us on Thanksgiving. All five of his siblings follow suit so when we're home, we're all home. Griswold Christmas Vacation style.

This year there were 12 adults, 8 kids, 2 dogs and a partridge in a pear tree. The whole slew of us eat, drink, sleep and bathe under one roof for four days. It's fun and it's not all at the same time.

The fun parts are capturing memories as all the cousins play together. The fun parts are all the adults laughing and drinking and playing Rock Band until all hours of the night. The fun parts are eating delicious food and drinking delicious cocktails. The fun parts are photo ops like these.

The kids' table minus two.

Lucy making herself comfortable at the adult table.

Post-dinner moving watching. Again, minus two babies. (I just love how my niece, Addison has her arm around William in this like it's totally natural.)

A much-needed nap for both my boys.

After naps William says, "Mommy, take a picture of me and Lucy." Twist my arm.

But there are not so fun parts as well. It's messy and loud. There's no more hot water left for your shower. All four of us are crammed into one room where actual sleeping is a rarity. Germs are spread. It's loud. It's messy. There's a lot of dog hair. It's loud. It's messy. Can you tell which side of my pro-con list is longer? For these reasons I'm so glad these holiday come but once a year.

And now here we are right smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season. How did that happen? I'm already feeling behind but I've decided to close my eyes, take a deep breath and try not to get caught up in the stress. I've got one three-year-old and one seven-month-old this Christmas season and that doesn't come around very often. So I'm going to soak up every last drop with a smile on my face. And!...

And...I'm going to document it all here. I've missed blogging. I've missed my readers. I've missed the comments. So I'm vowing right here and now to make at least one post every single last day of December. Think I can do it?

And just so you know, a picture post so totally does count as a real post even if it is only because I don't have time to post something more substantial.