Oh R2D2 you Crazy Fool

I'm not sure that this necessarily needs an explanation. Except to say...Wyatt did it.

Few people know the story of how Mary and R2D2 were present at the birth of Santa Claus.
Apparently there was also an elf, a sheep on the roof, and a drunk shepherd.

Hey Kid, you're too big for the Baby Bumbo...How big does he look there?

The Hardest Half Hour of My Day

So, I'm not exactly what I would refer to as a "crunchy" Mommy. I don't cloth diaper. I'm not breastfeeding my kid past the first year. They don't need to wear organic clothing. I'm not going to throw out my television, and I believe 100% that children should play sports competitively. Score gets kept and every kid doesn't always play. Do I make my own baby food? Yes. Do I love to breastfeed my baby? Absolutely. But I'm not a fan of sharing my bed with my kid, for a lot of reasons. Mainly because I like my sleep, but also because I like my space. I don't want to deal with my five year old (and four year, and goodness knows how many other kids we'll have by then) climbing in my bed all the time. And I like to have rules, like "you sleep in your own bed." You know, logical reasons.

I never thought I would be a co sleeping Mommy. And I'm not really. At night Reese goes down in her bassinet. When she wakes up, I pull her in bed with me, clear a perimeter of space, and start to feed her laying side by side. She falls asleep quickly, and while I never exactly fall back "asleep," I also don't "wake up." As soon as she's done eating I place her back in her bassinet and she stays asleep.

This little pattern typically takes place around 5:30. If it's Saturday through Monday I put her back in her bassinet and get up around 7:30 when we hear Wyatt wake up. If it's Tuesday through Friday, my alarm typically goes off before she's done eating. So I hit snooze. And I just stare at her. I think about how I don't want to leave her. I think about how cute she looks sleeping against me. I think about how stinking warm I am and how cold it is out of bed. And then I don't want to get up. But why would I want to leave someone who looks this cute sleeping?

Since the Cards Went Out...And Came In

Everyone who was going to get one of ours got it, so here's our Christmas card picture for 2008.And in case you're wondering what happened to yours.....

Some Kind of Bug

So our house has been hit with some sort of stomach/head/achy bug. Last night (Saturday) I was upstairs cleaning our room (which I'd been doing pretty much all evening with Reese watching Gilmore Girls) and I just got hit with hit. Like, one second I was fine and the next second I wasn't. I felt nauseous. Nothing came up, but I fell asleep feeling really crappy.

This morning I woke up feeling fine, with the exception of a bad headache. When I came downstairs, Brian had what I had last night. He still wanted to head to in to work for a little bit to get a few things done, so he called his parents to see if they would come and get Wyatt for a few hours since we both felt bad.

I started to feel better while Brian was at work, but his Mom came and got Wyatt anyway (seriously, we are so lucky. Thank you!). While Wyatt was gone I was able to rest a bit, and Brian came home almost as soon as Wyatt was gone, but he was feeling worse. He went upstairs to get some rest and I stayed downstairs. I've been able to get a few things done today, but never really felt 100%.

Fast forward to the last hour, where I have been up with a nasty, queasy feeling in my stomach. And it's not because I fell asleep watching the Tree Man special on TLC. Brian heard me in the downstairs bathroom (my plan was for Reese and I to spend the night down here so as not to catch his nasty cold) and came down to check on me. He's feeling better. I'm feeling worse. I'm hoping the kids don't get sick...

Four Months Old!

Reese turned 4 months old on Christmas day! She is getting so big now. I can't believe how quickly the last four months have flown by, and I'm trying to relish every second of Reese's babyhood. If there is one thing that I learned with Wyatt, it's that the time flies by. You can't stop it or slow it down. One day you wake up and realize your baby is a toddler who is becoming more and more independent every day. I can only imagine what it's like once your child becomes an adult.

Over the last month Reese has really found her voice. And it is absolutely beautiful. She coos, but she also just talks. And it's music to my ears. I love to hear her babble to herself. And Wyatt will say "Baby Sissy is talking." She's a champ at lifting her head up when she's on her tummy, and also when she's sitting down. She loves to practice standing, and she loves to smile. Brian and I call her Smiley because she is such a happy little girl.

Her sleeping patterns are changing. Gone is the long morning nap, in favor of more short naps during the day. She's going to bed earlier, and I think we might be getting close to sleeping through the night. It's actually difficult for me to gage sleeping through the night because technically on the days I work she does sleep through the night. But on the days I don't work, I'm not interested in her 5:30 wake up call. Regardless, she goes right back down so it's not a big deal.

I am truly enjoying being a mother to my daughter. I love being a Mommy to both my kids, but I love the difference that come with mothering my son versus mothering my daughter. It's absolutely phenomenal.

Brian's final Christmas present, was actually a present for us all. We've decided to do something that I have always been in favor of, which is to give Reese two middle names. I argued for it from the time we discussed middle names, but Brian wasn't sure. It's going to take some time to get it finalized, because you wouldn't believe what you have to go through to change a four month old's name, but below you'll see some pictures of Reese Lynn Noelle Baker at 10:07 am on Christmas morning when she turned 4 months old!

Newborn
One Month
Two Months

Three Months

Hi Daddy!

Is it time for my close up?

Smile!

Christmas Morning at Our Place

Christmas morning was fantastic! Wyatt started stirring around 6:50 so I got up and popped breakfast in the oven. Reese slept until 7:30 - through the night - for the first time. She typically wakes up once around 5 to eat, but that night she didn't.

Brian and I went to get Wyatt, who was jumping up and down in his crib. We changed him in his room so that he wouldn't see the presents when we brought him down. Once he was down here he ran over and climbed on his trike. He loves that thing! While he had breakfast Brian and I exchanged our gifts. I got him a guitar and an IJuke for the IPOD. He also got an assortment of books from the kids :). Brian got me a new coat, season 7 of the Gilmore Girls (he overcame his own hatred of the show to buy it for me, and I've watched all 22 episodes since yesterday), and a ring with Reese's birthstone.

Reese got a walker and a collection of toys for little girls, and Wyatt got his trike, some Star Wars toys, Yankees balls and a baseball bat, and some cars...basically, he got too much. He hasn't looked in his stocking yet, and we still have unopened presents for him under the tree! We hung out around the house for a few hours before we went over to Brian's parents' house for the rest of the day. Our Christmas morning was absolutely perfect!

All ready for Christmas!
The tree with the Christmas stash underneath
I slept through the night last night!
Getting the hang of the peddles!

Wyatt testing out his new trike!

Wyatt saw a leftover half of a cookie from Santa, and decided it looked like a delicious breakfast!

Reese says "Merry Christmas!"

Lining up his toys with Reesie in the background

Like father, like son. As soon as Wyatt opened up his Star Wars bath toys he lined them up perfectly on the carpet with no prompting. Brian used to do the exact same thing with his Star Wars toys, and we have the pictures to prove it!

This was right after Wyatt was getting ready to be a daredevil and decided to count before he made his next move. Brian and I were barely listening because we were exchanging our presents, and then we heard "One, two, five, six, nine, ten." So he's missing some numbers, but I was so proud of him!

Practicing his Evil Canevil moves

Reese using her new Ariel doll as a teether

Proof that Brian and I were both home on Christmas morning

Having SO much fun!

Setting up the Star Wars toys for a ride on the back of the trike!

Merry Christmas Eve!

What a day! I put in a few hours at work and left to go get some last minute shopping done. It only took about 45 minutes to hit up three stores, but I knew exactly what I was looking for. While I was at work Wyatt learned "Santa Claus gonna come and bring Wy Wy presents?" Good job Daddy! I came home with a schedule for Brian to follow for the next two hours to get us all out the door to North Carolina on time. Needless to say, even though we both precisely followed that schedule we walked out of the door about 25 minutes late!

We had a super delicious Italian Christmas Eve dinner cooked by my Pucka and opened presents. And the spoiling began! Wyatt and Reese both walked out of the house loaded down! My aunts and grandfather spoiled them...and that was just the first stop! We went to my parents' house next to do Christmas. My Dad is at the Fire Station all day tomorrow, so we went ahead and did Christmas tonight. The train table was on full display when Wyatt walked in, and it took him a second to see it, but he ran for it! He LOVES it. I'm not even going to get into how hard it was to get him to leave it behind (my Dad is going to bring it by later this week). He also got a target for pitching. He was throwing the baseball like a pro...except for the time he hit Reese! She was a little startled, but she's fine! He got a Little People Nascar set from my brother and his fiancee, a T shirt that says "My Aunt Rocks" from Katie, and loads more stuff. Reese was given a doll baby, Holiday Barbie (to start her collection), and my baby doll cradle! I was so excited to see it!

My Mom gave me an incredible gift! My grandmother had a ceramic Christmas Tree that has little lights in it. For as long as I can remember it's been in my Mom's house, but a few years ago she gave it to Pucka to decorate his bachelor pad. He's getting married next week and he's going to give it back to her, and she's giving it me! I am SO excited to have it. I can't wait to use it to decorate my house and to pass it down to Reese one day!

We came back home and made fresh cookies for Santa, watched some Christmas shows, tucked Baby Jesus into the manger, and laid Christmas cookies out for Santa and Carrots for the Reindeer. These are a few pictures from the days festivities....

Merry Christmas Eve!
Running for the train table

Taking it all in

Checking out Daddy's new trash can (seriously, he wanted a new trash can for Christmas).

Looking at the Nascar toy from Uncle Marc and Aunt Apple

Reese looking at her Holiday Barbie

Reese's baby doll in my old cradle!

Tucking Baby Jesus in

Reese in her Christmas Jammies!

Cookies, carrots and milk!

Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart and the Very Next Day You Walked Anyway

Here is Christmas 2007 in Pictures....

Brian and I have a tradition of looking at the scrapbook that he used to propose on Christmas Eve. I've since updated it with pictures post-proposal, and last year I told him I had something special to tell him about Wyatt. I made him close his eyes and showed him this surprise!

Last year's tree after Santa Claus came!
I love how my baby boy is looking at me here!
Oh Glorious Rav-4...what a wondrous Christmas gift!

Brian and his favorite people...minus me of course!

Wyatt in front of the tree and the presents at Mimi and Baba's

Inspecting Pooh. "Sweet little birdie, tweet tweet little birdie, your happy song brightens up my day."

Sitting with Mimi next to her Yankee Tree (we really are serious about those Yankees...how 'bout that Mark Texeira signing today...Merry Christmas!)

Noelle last Christmas

Brian showing Noelle a black lab from Allison and T

Wyatt eating rice cereal. What a difference a year makes!

No words.

We saved some presents for Wyatt to open the day after Christmas. Little did we know that would be the day he took his first steps by himself! At 8 months, 26 days Wyatt walked alone! Hopefully Reese waits a little longer, or I've only got 4 months and 28 days before she's on the move. I'm not a parent who looks forward to this developmental milestone. Our old camera easily toggled between black and white and color photos. I miss that!

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Finished...Kind of...

So today I got Brian's last gift! Yay me! I'm still waiting on a delivery from Amazon for him, but everything else for him is wrapped. Reese is done. This morning Brian went to Conte's and got Wyatt his trike. In an awesome development, Brian found the trike that we wanted at Conte's right before he ordered it online and was about to pay some exorbitant amount of money for shipping. He may have paid a bit more at the bike shop, but it was a lot less than shipping something to arrive tomorrow. I stopped and got his hockey/soccer set on the way home and Wyatt is done! Almost...I'm about to be out of tape and I realized we still need Animal Crackers and Goldfish for Wyatt's stocking. Although I did remember to get everything I need for breakfast on Christmas morning, including Cinnamon Rolls to celebrate Baby Jesus' birthday (candles and singing Happy Birthday to You will ensue).

Anyway, I'm hoping that Brian can stop on the way home...but we'll see. We've got less than 24 hours until my family's Christmas festivities begin in Moyock!

On a kind of separate note...
My Mom has always given me fresh PJ's on Christmas Eve. Wyatt and Reese both already have Christmas Pajamas that they've worn before. I'm contemplating wrapping them and still opening the PJ's on Christmas Eve just to start the tradition...thoughts?

Failed Miserably and One Year

So, I was doing pretty well with the ornaments for a little bit...but not so much in the last week. There's too much to do! Wrapping, shopping, holiday activities...I'm stressed out! Fortunately I'm caught up on all of my wrapping, so it should make the next few days a little less stressful. I have one more present for Brian, but I've got everything else and his stocking is done. Reese is finished. Wyatt is...not. That's all in Brian's hands though!

I'm working for the next two days, but tomorrow is Brian's last day of work for the next week and a half. Our Christmas Eve will consist of leaving for my grandfather's house in Moyock for a late lunch, and then spending the evening with my parents and brother, future sister in law and sister. We'll come home and wear our new pajamas to bed and wake up for breakfast and presents. We plan on leaving for Brian's parents' house early and spending the day and probably the night there.

Today marks one year since I discovered I was pregnant with Reese! I knew it before the test came back positive (I took it really early...like 3 days early). I was absolutely sure that the baby we wanted was coming...and I was right! Looking back, I'm still surprised that I was able to keep it a secret for two whole days!

Here are some of Wyatt's First Christmas Ornaments from last year!

Mickey Mouse on a ricking horse
Winnie the Pooh Lenox

Winnie the Pooh and Piglet

Yeah, this ornament still needs a picture in it!