Week in Review: We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was a laid-back, family-filled day. The week leading up to Christmas can always get kind of stressful for a girl like me who does everything last minute, and this week did have it's stressful moments, but, for the most part, it was a good Christmas week. I'm trying not to be depressed that it's over! :(

Sunday: Aubrey and Jude both still had runny noses and coughs, so I stayed home from church with them and David went. Aubrey woke up wheezing, so we ended up having to do several breathing treatments that day :( I was sad, because I was SO hoping she had grown out of wheezing. Anyway, we had a pretty good morning at home while David was at church. Both of the kids weren't feeling great and were fussy, so that made it hard to get anything done. I pretty much just sat on the couch with them. After I bathed them and took a shower, I cooked lunch for us. Aubrey was super clingy by that point, so it was a little difficult trying to cook while holding a 2 year old. Lunch was ready when David got home, so we ate. Aubrey went down for a nap after lunch, and I tried to take a nap with Jude. I wasn't really tired, though, since I had spent the morning just lounging around, and Jude was pretty squirmy, so I just left him sleeping and got up. I got on the internet and wrote my week in review post for last week. After I finished with that, I put on makeup and got ready to go to church. David stayed home with the kids that evening and let me go to night church. It was good, but I left as soon as church was over so I could get home before Jude would need to eat. David and I both had a sweet tooth that night, so I stopped at Kroger on my way home to get some cookies to cook :) When I got home, I baked the cookies and talked to David and Aubrey. It sounded like the kids were way less whiny for David than they had been for me that morning. Of course. Ha! David put Aubrey to bed, I put Jude down, we ate our cookies, and just had a low-key night.

Monday: This was just not a good day. It started out right when Aubrey slept until 9:00. It was pretty much downhill from there, though. Aubrey was in a great mood - baby brother was the "problem child" that day. Haha! Jude was just SO fussy all day. Actually, he was ok right when he first woke up. It just got rough when he started getting sleepy and ready for his morning nap. The kid hates to nap. I knew he was congested and probably didn't feel great, so I didn't want to have to let him cry it out. I spent literally over an hour sitting on the couch trying to get him to sleep while he fussed/nursed/screamed and fought sleep. Poor Aubrey was just playing sweetly by herself. Just when Jude would doze off, Aubrey would come ask me something, and his eyes would pop open. I was sad because I felt like I was neglecting Aubrey - I encourage her to play independently and I definitely don't entertain her all the time, but I really couldn't even speak to her without setting Jude off. After a while of this, I was jut getting SO frustrated. I finally had to go lay Jude down and let him scream just for my own sanity. He screamed solid for 15 minutes and I then I had to go get him because I knew he must feel bad. He is difficult to get to sleep in general, but he's not usually THAT bad. FINALLY, after what felt like forever, he fell asleep and I was able to lay him in his bed. He only slept for about 30 minutes, but it was long enough for me to give Aubrey some love and fix her lunch. She really was in a great mood and didn't seem to mind that she wasn't getting much attention. Jude's catnap put him in a slightly better mood, but he was still irritable. I knew he was going to be tired again soon since he didn't nap well, and I just needed some quiet, so I went ahead and put Aubrey down for her nap at the regular time even though she had slept late. That was a mistake. She talked and played for a long time. I was really at my wits end trying to get Jude to take a nap at this point, so I laid down in my bed with him so he would fall asleep. Sure enough, he fell asleep pretty quickly. By the time he was asleep, Aubrey had gone from talking to crying. So, I got up and went to her room. She just didn't want to sleep. I told her she had to stay in bed, and she was NOT thrilled. I spent the next probably 45 minutes going up to her room and listening to her talk/cry from downstairs. Not the peaceful, quiet time I was hoping for. She finally quieted down and went back to just playing, and Jude woke up. I kid you not, it was like they were ganging up on me! Jude wasn't in a good mood. I put him in his bouncy seat in the bathroom and got in the shower, and he screamed the whole time I was in there. Ughhh. I got out of the shower, and Aubrey was crying again. Standing there listening to them both cry, I literally wanted to cry too. Or pull my hair out. I decided we were just loading up and leaving the house, or I was going crazy. I threw some clothes on and didn't even put makeup on. We got in the car and went to Sonic. Then we just rode around. Aubrey was back to being in a great mood, and Jude fell asleep. We rode around "looking for Christmas lights" (even thought it was broad daylight) for around an hour, and then I figured David would be almost home, so we headed home. And then David texted me saying he was going to be a little late. Ahhh! Jude stayed asleep in his carseat, and David was only a few minutes late, so it ended up being ok. I was planning on cooking dinner that night, but after I told David about our day, he said we could go out. He's so sweet. My mom was out Christmas shopping, so she met us at Mellow Mushroom for dinner. It was fun and so nice to just be out of the house. I think that was part of the problem. I just kind of go crazy when I don't get out of the house at all, and with the kids being under the weather, we had been home a good bit over the past several days. After dinner, we did a little Christmas shopping and then went home. I felt much better by the time we got home and ended up having a nice evening. I read this sad sad blog post that night, and it really put my bad day in perspective. I stopped right then and there and thanked God for my babies. Even when they scream all day and don't nap. Every moment with them is an absolute gift, and I pray I NEVER take that for granted (I know I do, though).

Tuesday: I was determined we would have a better day, and that meant we needed to get out of the house. We were planning on having lunch with SD, but I was worried that Aubrey and Jude's noses were still too runny. I really didn't want to expose Sarah Denley or Ann Peyton to anything! So, we decided to wait until the next day to do lunch. Aubrey, Jude, and I went Christmas shopping instead. My mom and grandmother were going to be out shopping, so we met up with them. Jude was pretty fussy when I was trying to get us ready (right around that first nap time again) but he fell asleep in the car and was fine after that. Aubrey was so good all day. She loves to shop and go to "stores." We went to lots of stores, that's for sure! We got most of our shopping done, though! We were gone pretty much all day. Day #2 of no nap for Aubrey. She was fine since we were out and busy. David got home not too long after we did. The weather was so nice and warm that he took the kids outside to play while I cooked dinner. When David and the kids came inside, Jude was sacked out in David's arms. Awww, shopping wore him out! :) We ate chicken and vegetable stir fry for dinner, and then decided to go to Wal-Mart to print out some pictures. My mom and brother met us, because my mom wanted to print one of our pictures. All of the machines were broken! At least, they wouldn't read our flash drive. SO annoying! We ended up going to Walgreens instead. After we got all that done, we went home and put the kids to bed.

Wednesday: Aubrey and Jude were much better, so we got ready for lunch with SD and AP. We met them at Broadstreet. We were running late, and Jude didn't go to sleep in the car like I was hoping he would, so I didn't know how lunch would go. Jude did end up being fussy since he was sleepy, but he was pretty distracted by everything going on in the restaurant, so he was ok. Aubrey entertained herself in her highchair. She took about 3 bites of her lunch. She eats like a bird these days. I honestly think she eats about 6 bites of food a day. I worry that she isn't getting enough, but she seems fine. We had a fun lunch, and Jude fell asleep just as we were leaving. Of course he would! ;) When we got home, Jude was still sleeping, so I put Aubrey down for her nap. She talked for a while and then went on to sleep. Yes! Jude was still sleeping, so I wrapped presents. After a while, Jude woke up and he was hungry! He was in a great mood after taking a good nap, and I put him in his bouncy seat and kept wrapping. Aubrey was just waking up when David got home, so he went up to get her. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed! It took her a while to snap out of her funk, but she did eventually. David played with the kids while I cooked taco soup for dinner. After we ate, Jude took a little nap, and Aubrey "helped" me wrap more presents. It took much longer with her help, but it was so cute that she wanted to help! The kids went to bed, and then David had to leave to go pick his parents up from the airport and take them home. I watched TV and waited up for him. It was after midnight when he got home, and we went to bed after that.


Thursday: David didn't have to go to work that day - whoo! We all slept in... Jude and I slept REALLY late, and it was nice! When we got up, we got busy working around the house. We straightened up and I made a grocery list. We ate leftovers for lunch and then put the Aubrey down for a nap. David laid down with Jude and they took a nap together :) I went to the grocery store while they were sleeping. Of course, the grocery store was c-r-o-w-d-e-d! I got everything I needed to cook for Christmas, though! When I got home, everyone was still asleep, so I was able to put up the groceries and do some more cleaning and cooking in the nice quiet house. When the family woke up, we hung out more and didn't leave the house all afternoon. We ate leftovers at home for dinner, and then I left to go to a movie with my mom and two girls from church. We saw the Narnia movie, and I liked it! It was my first time to see a 3D movie. When I got home, the kids were asleep. I had to wake Jude up to feed him, and he didn't really go back to sleep very easily. He ended up waking up several times that night :( Hopefully it was a fluke!


Friday: I LOVE Christmas Eve almost more than Christmas day. We have always gone over to my grandparents' house for a big meal and presents on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. It's just a fun tradition that I love. We got up and got ready and made it over to my grandparents' house around lunchtime. Jude fell asleep in his carseat on the way and ended up sleeping for a long time, which was nice. We ate a delicious lunch and then opened presents! We wracked up! Aubrey and Jude got TONS of cute stuff, and David and I got a laptop from my grandparents and my parents :) We are so thankful! We just hung out and ate LOTS of dessert the rest of the afternoon. We had our Christmas Eve service at church at 5, so we went straight there when we left my grandparents' house. I love the Christmas Eve service! It was a little interesting this year, because there is no nursery. We didn't know how long we would last with Aubrey and Jude both in the service. They actually did well. David had to take Aubrey out after a while because she was getting a little loud, but they were able to come back in towards the end. Jude was awake the whole service, but the two of us were able to stay in the entire time. I was happy with how they did! After the service, we stayed around talking for a while, and then we went home. Aubrey was so tired after skipping her nap, and she went right to bed. David and I finished getting our house ready for the next day and went to bed late.

Saturday: Merry Christmas!! We woke up semi-early and got ready for the day. We had decided we wanted to stay home for Christmas, so we invited BOTH of our families over. David's family came over a little early and we opened gifts with them. Again, we got some great stuff! My family came over a little later and my dad cooked a turkey. We spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen cooking, and the kids got lots of attention and had a blast playing with their new toys. We ate a late lunch, and then sat around the table talking for a long time. Aubrey was able to take a nap since we were at home, and that was SO nice. She was exhausted and really needed a nap! David's family left after dessert and my family stayed for a while. We had a great, low-key day! I enjoyed being home for Christmas. After everyone left, we fed Aubrey dinner and she played some more. Jude and I watched Little Women :) I love that movie, and it always seems Christmas-y to me. After the kids went to bed, we straightened up from the day and went to bed early.

I'm going to do a separate Christmas post with pictures soon. Even though I'm sad that Christmas is over, I'm looking forward to another Holiday week! :)