A Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas was fun this year! Sto and I have been brain storming about some nice holiday traditions that we can start. We came up with a couple. So on Christmas Eve we all opened 1 present: Christmas jammies. Then we snuggled up by the fire and listened to Sto read Twas the Night Before Christmas. Once Pippa was in bed, we spent the rest of the night wrapping presents and watching A Christmas Carol.

Thankfully we still have a year or two before Pippa is waking us up at 5am, so I was able to sleep in until 7:30. First, we opened presents! Pippa was very good at helping her daddy open his Wii. And Sto was pretty psyched, especially since he had been talking about buying himself one over the last week. Thankfully I was able to convince him to wait for the after-Christmas sales!

After making a nice pile of paper to play in, we sat down to another Christmas tradition. Breakfast. This is a tradition I grew up with. In my house we would always have pop-overs and jam or french toast fondue. Since I wasn't about to attempt pop-overs and we don't have a fondue pot, I decided to make stuffed french toast. Sto's was stuffed with cream cheese, banana, and peanut butter and mine was stuffed with cream cheese and raspberries. They both turned out great but the banana/peanut butter was definitely the big winner. Pippa, of course, liked them both.

Later in the day we headed over to Fred and Myron's for lunch with the family. Pippa spent most of the day practicing walking while holding on to just one finger for support. All that work paid off because the next day she started walking on her own and there has been no looking back! But more about that in another post. Somewhere in the middle of it all, we Skyped with everyone in my family. So thankful to be able to connect with everyone face to face, even when we're not!

In the evening we headed to Ate Belen's house for dinner with the rest of the family. By this time, Pippa was super tired (because, of course, she only took a 45 minute nap all day! Typical!) so we ended up putting her to sleep in her cousin's crib until we were ready to go home. Thankfully, that worked out well so we are hoping to repeat the process for New Year's Eve. The evening was filled with food and laughter. I guess I could say that about the whole day. A perfect Christmas.

Oops! He he. Sorry.

So today is day 5 of grumpy, teething Pippa. She woke up a little happier than the last few days, but we've said that every morning and by the end of the day I was thinking I should have already called the doctor. So I had a wait and see attitude. Thanks to advice from Dr. Laura (Gessman, not that other crazy person) I was armed for the day with Motrin instead of Tylenol and it seemed to be doing a good job. I left Pippa with my MIL to go see my midwife and then do a little Christmas shopping. I arrived home to the report that she seemed to be in much better spirits all morning and even took a nap in her crib without fuss. (Did I mention she took a 3 hour nap on my chest yesterday? Yeah. That was fun.) Phew. Maybe the worst is passed, though it's still hard to tell if those darn molars are really cut through or not.

After lunch I finally got around to changing her out of her jammies for the day and what do you suppose I discovered? Low and behold, there is a rash all over her chest and tummy. For those of you who aren't familiar with childhood illnesses, let me interpret these symptoms for you. Significant fever for a few days followed by a rash on the torso = Roseola. Well that explains it!

I gave the doctor a call just to touch base and they confirmed my suspicion. Of course, at this point in the game its basically over and she is no longer febrile or contagious, so there really isn't anything more to do....except to call my friend Meghan and give her the not-so-good news. If you remember, we were at Connor's 1st Birthday party this past weekend when the fever started! Now Meghan has to send an e-mail to all the other parents to inform them that their kids were likely exposed to Roseola. Oops! Sorry 'bout that. My bad.

But I am very glad that I'm getting my happy, can play by herself and not need to be held ALL THE TIME, little girl back. Now hopefully those molars won't really become a problem!

Breaking the 15 Year Fast

I did something today that I am little ashamed of. I ate a hamburger. From Burger King. I really don't know what came over me! I was running some errands and saw the Burger King and suddenly needed a hamburger with extra pickles. I haven't eaten a hamburger in, I think, 15 years! No lie. But let me tell you, it was so good! Seriously. I want another one just thinking about it.

Man, I hope this isn't a pregnancy craving that lasts for the next 6 months. I don't think fast food hamburgers will do much for my hips!

The Snuggly Teether

I have a snuggly, feverish, teething, little girl on my hands. Seriously. It's quite pathetic and sweet. I'm pretty sure she's working on her 1 year molars and they are giving her a hard time. I've actually been giving her Tylenol because she's been so uncomfortable and feverish. Don't ask me exactly how high her fever has been because I haven't bothered taken a temp. What's the point? It won't really change anything. (Spoken like a true nurse.)

She didn't even want to play like she normally does at Connor's party. She just wanted to be held and cuddled. But I have to admit that Sto and I have kind of enjoyed our super snuggly kid. We all just lounged on the couch and watched football this afternoon. She's been drinking plenty of milk but hasn't wanted much else. She did enjoy the fruit smoothie I made for her, though. Thanks for that tip, Mary! I don't know how long to expect this to go on but I hope it's not too much longer. I don't like seeing her so obviously uncomfortable. Also, I want to take her to get pictures with Santa, but they won't be so cute if she's just sitting there sucking her thumb. In the mean time, we'll be home snuggling and eating smoothies. Not such a bad life, really.

C-man's Party!

Today was Connor's 1st Birthday party, completing our 3 week long 1st Birthday party marathon. It was a great party with great food (nicely done Meghan. And I don't think everything tasted so good just because I'm pregnant. Everyone agreed with me.) As opposed to the other parties, this one had an actual theme that was well thought out. It was a barn yard theme complete with cow print table clothes and farm animal toys in the goody bags. Very cute.

The kids all had fun playing together with the barn yard themed toys set out for them and we all enjoyed watching Connor dig into his cake. As I suspected, he was on the neater side of the cake eating business, but it looked like he enjoyed it none the less. And I'm sure will be asking for some more tomorrow!

I know I've said it before but I love my mommy friends and I especially love their kids. I feel very blessed to be a part of their lives and I know Pippa already benefits from their friendship as well. Here's to another amazing year!

Drawer Explorer

Pippa likes to explore the cupboards and drawers these days. It is one of her favorite past times. This is one of her favorite drawers. I'm fine with it as long I can get dinner started!

Filipinos Know How to Party!

In the spirit of merry making, we continued the festivities of the weekend with a Filipino Association of Central New Jersey Dinner. It's an annual event but this year it was extra special because they were honoring my father in-law with a lifetime achievement award! The party began at 3 and was scheduled to last until 9! We didn't get there until the much more reasonable hour of 5:30, however. There was a Filipino cultural dance group that performed (quite impressively) and the award was handed out. Sto gave a very nice introductory speech that included a series of pictures. Among them were there two: Sto's father carrying him on his shoulders at the age of 3 and this recent one with Pippa on his shoulders. Proof that I don't know any milkmen!

After all of this, dinner was served...finally. Sprinkled between it all, of course, was dancing. If you've never partied with the filipinos, let me tell you something. They love to dance. Ballroom dancing, disco, line dancing, you name it. It doesn't take much to get them on the dance floor. The band on this particular night was especially fun. Here is a quick video of a Lady Gaga cover! That was the beginning of a bunch of dance songs that succeeded in getting all of us onto the dance floor, even Gina's! It was the most cardiovascular activity I've had my whole first trimester! Exhausting but fun...and a little sureal!