The new Waterville Hospital... a nice place to visit but I am glad we didn't have to stay!

Jamie and I had a early NYE party last night so Grammy & Grampy Underhill kept Adrian overnight in Stickney. We went to get him this afternoon and when he woke from his nap he was cranky like I have never ever seen (nor want to again). We decided something must really be wrong so we sucked it up and went to the Waterville Hospital. (Which by the way is beautiful, has great staff, and had us back home in 2 hours flat.) After seeing a RT, having chest x-rays in a baby torture device from the 1800s (which almost made Mommy cry as hard as Adrian) and seeing a nice doctor Adrian was diagnosed with pneumonia. No wonder the poor thing has been fussy! He had his first dose of some powerful antibiotics and a nice piece of toast and jam and he felt better right away. The good news is we hopefully are on our way to recovery and I have the next 2 days off to nurse him back to health. He slept all the way home from Stickney and seems to be having a somewhat peaceful sleep right now....

So that was Christmas, eh?

Wow. It's here and gone again. Crazy. We had a wonderful Christmas at the Underhill-Jones house but to be perfectly honest I am sort of happy it is over only because I am exhausted by all of it! I got a new camera from my sweetie so I have an extraordinary amount of photos, I'll just try to pick a few of my favorites.

Poor Adrian was sick all Christmas. He certainly still enjoyed it but he just wasn't his energetic little self. And he probably got tired of people running around with a kleenex after him the whole time. It's hard being sick at Christmas but at least I have the week off to take care of him. There is nothing better than a Mom when you are sick! (I still long for mine when I am not feeling well.) He has been super duper clingy with me these last few days. I love the extra cuddling but it can really play me out.

We celebrated Christmas with the whole gang: Brian & Tracey, Grampy & Grampy Underhill, Nanny & Grampy Jones, and let's not forget Melly and Barkley. It was a full house but sort of fun having all of the hustle and bustle around. It was the usual Christmas celebrations except in a different location this year. We were honoured that everyone came to us this Christmas!

Adrian got so (too) many presents this year. He can't even focus his playing. As soon as he sits down with one another toy catches his eye. He really seems to like his toy kitchen, toy vacuum (he's a progressive man) and farm set the best. You just never know which will be hits. The books I bought him seemed to get tossed to the side but I'll work them in slowly.

We had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to some quite time as a family over the next few days. Hope everyone was as blessed as we were!

Some random Christmas photos....

Adrian is so sick and lethargic. Uncle Brian is making fun of him.

"So this is what I got Mommy this year!"

Adrian showing Grammy how it is done. He should know, he got lots of practice!

Christmas dinner in my basement. It wasn't pretty but the food and company were both great.

Daddy must have been a really good boy this year. Trust me, he usually isn't this spoiled! Socks and underwear for the next 5 Christmases! (-;

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We would like to wish everyone a truly wonderful Christmas this year. Jamie and I both have the rest of the year off starting tomorrow night! What a delightful thought. I am looking forward to sleeping until it is light outside, eating a leisurely breakfast with Adrian (as opposed to trying to shovel it down, you can’t rush Mom’s lumpy oatmeal) and spending lots and lots of time with our family and friends. So if you are in the Hanwell area, please stop in and see us. We have big plans on spending lots of time home and would love some company!!

We have far too many exciting Christmas plans to list but there will be many a holiday party with friends, family and co-workers. My office children’s party is today and I am pretty sure I am far more excited than Adrian. Rumour has it there may even be a visit from Santa! That should be interesting as Adrian has been ‘standoffish’ with Santa to date. But Santa will have a cool toy plane for Adrian that will be sure to win him some brownie points this time. We have a whole list of people we want to visit over the next couple of days… there just never seems to be enough time! So if we don’t make it to your house, know that we wish we could and we will be thinking of you this Christmas and wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas. What an amazing time of year!

Eating like a big boy.

The big change I have noticed with Adrian lately has to do with food. Not only is he eating a whole new variety of things (i.e. pasta, chili, Mom’s lumpy oatmeal) he is also starting to eat with a spoon and fork. I find it funny that he wants to try this because if I could, I would love to eat with my hands all the time. He will usually eat with his utensils like a ‘big boy’ until it gets too hard and then he resorts back to his hands. He is doing really well though! It’s hard for me to imagine that last time this year he was nursing exclusively! Now our word revolves around sippy cups and the high chair.

Another funny food thing he does is say ‘hot’ and make a grimace face the first few bites he takes of anything, regardless of its temperature. You can imagine how this started, he actually had some hot food a couple of time and we said ‘oh hot!’. But now he tries it whenever he puts food to his mouth, even if it’s cold! Here’s a picture of Jamie and Adrian blowing on his supper because it’s ‘hot’. (Of course the ‘h’ is not pronounced so it’s more like ‘ought’ when he says it.)

Adrian is obsessed with Cheerios all of the sudden. He would eat them all day long if we let him. I think it is because I got him some cute little seasame street bowls with lids and he likes to carry them around and eat out of them. He will polish off one bowl of dry cheerios and try to get back in the cupboard for more.

The last 2 of Adrian’s first set of molars is coming through right now. It looks so strange to see all of those pearly whites when he smiles (yes, his smiles are big enough that you can usually see his molars!). There hasn’t seemed to be any visible side effects of teething this time. Only 8 more teeth to go! Phew.

I ♥ the weekend

We had such a fun family weekend. Everything is just so entertaining with Adrian. Friday night we went to the mall just to see Santa's workshop (Adrian doesn't want to go near the big guy) and play in the play climber. As expected Adrian loved it.

Saturday night was my office Christmas party. It is always nice to have a night out with my husband. It happens so rarely. Adrian spent the night at Nanny & Grampy Jones' house. We had a Yankee swap and Jamie ended up with a little remote control helicopter (which he claimed was for Adrian even though it was for ages 8+). To be fair, Adrian does like to sit and watch it fly. Barkley however hates it!

Despite the cold I forced everyone out for some fresh air yesterday. Adrian isn't fancy on his snowsuit and I must say I can't blame him. The poor thing can barely move in it. And he won't keep his mittens on. Luckily I did manage to get a couple pictures of him smiling. Just look at those rosy red checks. Don't you just want to squeeze them!?!

Oh those handsome boys.

I hope this doesn't sound like bragging but how can I not say it.... Look how handsome my boys are!!! A pretty good picture seeing as 2 of the 3 of us were feeling pretty cranky about getting our pictures taken.

Defiant.

Defiant. Perhaps that should have been Adrian's middle name instead of Alexander. Adrian Defiant Jones... it does have a certain ring to it wouldn't you agree? I guess he has realized that even when Mommy or Daddy say 'no' he has something called 'freewill' and can do whatever he wants even though it may have some consequences. He is really starting to test us out and it's really funny which makes keeping my 'serious Mom' face on very hard. For example he knows that he is allowed to 'sit on his bum' on the fireplace but not stand up. So he will sit on the fireplace happy as can be and then all of the sudden he will look to make sure I am paying attention and then he will slowly start to stand up. He'll stand a little, wait for my reaction, then sit. Then try it again standing a little more each time. Wow, just when I thought I had this whole motherhood thing down pat I have to start figuring out how to discipline him! How exactly do you try to explain right and wrong to a 1 year-old? Anyone??

Getting ready.

With the first weekend in December came lots of Christmas preparations. Jamie put our cool new LED lights up outside and I dug out the Christmas tree. I took some good advice from my old friend Jodi and bought some plastic tree trimmings at the dollar store and let Adrian go nuts. I opened the box of decorations and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. The only problem is he puts the decorations on the tree and then takes them all off and wants to put them away. So far we have the lights, ribbon and beads on the tree and Adrian seems content just to look with a little bit of 'gentle' touching. I even let him put the angel on the top and he was mighty proud of that. He keeps asking to get up in my arms to have a closer look at it. I must say, trimming the tree is much more fun when you have Adrian helping!

We also had the good fortune of being invited to a Christmas party at the Brewers house Saturday night. What made the party even more special was that Santa made a guest appearance. Adrian didn't quite know what to make of Santa as you can see from the picture below.

He wouldn't sit on Santa's lap but he would admire him from the safety of Mom's arms. He joined the group picture with all of the kids. Aren't they just the cutest bunch you have ever seen!?!

So far Adrian is really enjoying this 'Christmas' scene. Lots of lights, friends and he even had his first candy cane! Tomorrow night we have a turkey dinner at the church, another thing that is sure to make him happy.