December 29 = Decorate Day

We have been meaning to put these up for months... and now that we have the new crib set up in Liam's room, Malia's room is now all hers and so it seemed like a good time to mark the outside of their rooms as their own.  The pink and blue signs were a gift from Grandma and Grandma's very good friend, Zachary's "Aunt Shari" made these beautiful scrapbook page shadowboxes.  I pray that both of my children know deep in their souls that they are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Liam may have to face various health problems in the future but I hope he understands that God has a plan for him and Malia, just by being female, will probably, somehow, look in the mirror and not love what she sees- I think most people feel that way at one point or another no matter how beautiful they are.  Hopefully she'll skip it- I pray that I can instill in her the understanding from an early age that her body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  I hope she loves her blue eyes that I prayed she would have and that she knows her smile makes my heart flutter.  And I hope she sees the beauty in others too- recognizing that God made us all the way he wanted us to be.

December 28 = Read the Newspaper Day

We don't get the newspaper- I get a magazine called The Week which- not surprisingly- comes every week- and that's my source of the news.  That and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Anyway- whenever we go to hotels though, we do grab the newspaper just so I can do the crossword.  Zachary checked into his parents hotel room in the morning before they arrived because they had funny holiday hours and he, very sweetly, grabbed a paper for me.  I guess Liam just felt the need to be informed on the world around him!

December 27 = DTA/Brio Day

It's getting cold in Annapolis!  Liam's TMNT vest is serving him well!  Before heading to downtown Annapolis, affectionately known as DTA, Pops took Liam to the playground outside our apartment.  This boy is obsessed with going outside- he's also obsessed with having both hands held and having his hand holders count to three and swing him through the air.  And he's also obsessed with Gigi- if you don't have enough hands to hold Gigi, carrying her in your mouth will have to do!

There's a store in DTA called Irish Traditions and anytime we are close, Zachary and his family stop in- it's a favorite of theirs.  It's really neat- they have clothes and jewelry, baby gifts and information about different Irish families.  Liam enjoyed himself during this trip and tried on this really cool hat.  Also I'm pretty good at taking pictures very quickly before he vehemently takes the hat off.

Later in the day we all went to eat dinner at Zachary's and my favorite new restaurant, Brio.  Liam did not cooperate; Zachary and I took turns walking around outside with him but here's his, "1, 2, 3, weeeeee" action shot on the way back to the car!

December 26 = Christmas II

My parents left in the morning and Zachary's parents got there soon after!  After they brought in as many presents as they could carry, we had leftovers for lunch and then got down to business!  Liam didn't get quite as much of his nap as he should have but he did a good job opening presents and even helped with a few of Malia's.  Liam got a cool easel with a whiteboard on one side and a chalkboard on the other side- it also came with letter and number magnets- it was an instant hit!  He also got some red chucks and a really cool alphabet bag- it unzips to all of these pockets, labeled a-z, with a tiny object that starts with that letter.  Right now he loves playing with the little pieces but it will be great when he learns his letters too.  Malia got lots of cute clothes and cool toys- including a little play floor piano that she can kick to make lots of music.  My favorite gifts were a new pair of Toms shoes and a Jeopardy daily calendar and Zachary got some warm winter clothes and a lot of books.  We also got a book with pictures from throughout the year- some pictures in the book I had never seen!  We hesitated to stay in Annapolis for Christmas because we were worried we wouldn't be able to spend enough time with family but we were so blessed to be able to see both of our immediate families and spend great quality time with them!

December 25 = Christmas!

Malia slept through Christmas Eve night like a champ!  I woke up at 7:00 and was the only one awake so I read the Christmas story in Luke like I do every Christmas while I pumped of course and then made my new favorite breakfast- an English muffin with Nutella and Matthew, sleeping on a mattress in the living room, didn't hear me cleaning out the dishwasher or the toaster go off.  Zachary woke up and fed Malia and came out to join me which signaled to me it was time to get everyone up!  So I turned on Pandora and turned it way up and sure enough, everyone got up around 8:00.  We opened presents- Liam got his annual Hess truck from uncle Matt, the traditional Dr. Seuss book from my parents, and some really cool toys that I had put on Pinterest that I thought would be good for his development.  He also got some cool TMNT clothes.  Malia got some really cool toys- one being an colorful octopus that plays peekaboo- and lots of adorable clothes.  I got a beautiful ruby necklace because that's Malia's birthstone, really awesome Sanuk yoga mat flip flops, two cardigans and a lot of leftover containers!  And who can forget the chocolate covered cherries?!  Zachary got a Duke shirt and a gift card to Dick's sporting goods.

After the presents were all opened- we headed to IHOP which is a tradition Zachary and I started a few years ago- we've gone three of our five Christmases together now.  Liam kept his elf pajamas on from the night before and spread lots of Christmas cheer to the waiters and waitresses having to work on Christmas morning.  When we got home it was time to start preparing more food even though we were pretty full at the moment.  Growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family and Christmas day with my mom's side.  My grandma and aunts would make snacks for us the "nosh" on throughout the day.  So keeping with that we made some cheese dip, sausage balls, a pork tenderloin and lots of baked goods my mom and brother had made the week before.

We had my dad's favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story on in the background as well as lots of NBA action and then tuned in to watch Zachary's school, George Washington, win a basketball game that night.

Unfortunately I don't have many pictures because we had my parents' video camera rolling the whole time so we did preserve memories but none I can share here!

Posting that first picture reminded me of another Christmas soon to be tradition that we started this year- Zachary wore an "ugly sweater" and plans to wear the same one every Christmas- should be interesting!

December 24 = Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve!  The day started off pretty normally- Liam had a speech appointment that Grammy and Matt took him to and Gramps stayed home with Malia so Zachary and I could go to the gym without any babies.  We got home, showered and then my parents and I went out to participate in my dad's favorite Christmas tradition- Christmas Eve last minute shopping!  We went to Target and they got Malia some rattle socks- very cute- and I got her something for her new crib that will be in her new room very soon- after my family heads home, we're moving Liam to his room and Malia into hers.  When we moved in, we made the room with the crib Malia's room- we made it pink and green and just had Liam sleep in it thinking that by the time she was ready to move into her crib, he'd be ready for a big boy bed.  We were wrong.  So we were very lucky and had a crib given to us that we've put in Malia's room and we need to move Liam's crib into his baseball room.  It'll be a big adjustment for all of us!  But I digress.  Then we came home and opened a few presents.  Uncle Matt got Malia some adorable red pants with white "fur" on the bottom so we paired that with a funny bib Great Granny Jean got (Liam has worn it too).  

Dad and Zachary made dinner- it's a marinated grilled chicken recipe that I have no idea how to spell but it's delicious.  So we had that, rice, and green beans.  Liam loved it which is always a good thing.  We were planning on going to Christmas Eve service but we weren't sure if they would have childcare so my parents decided they wanted to stay home with the kids and Zachary and I didn't want to go if we were the only ones going so we got them dressed up like we were going and then took tons of pictures.

Then we started a new Christmas tradition that I hope we will continue every year.  I had gotten a movie for us to watch a few weeks back- Despicable Me II- and I got Liam some new PJs.  Malia already had two sets of Christmas PJs so we got them both festively dressed and sat down to the movie.

December 23 = Reflection Day

I was listening to "Mary, Did You Know" today by Pentatonix- it's beautiful.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you've kissed the face of God.

So Malia is not Jesus but when I was listening to this song, I looked over at her and she was laying on her blanket, staring at her hands.  I started thinking about what those hands would do one day.  Would they do what my hands do every day, prepare food for her babies, change their diapers, encouragingly pat them, pick up the same toys a million times a day?  Or maybe she'll be a nurse one day, and they'll give medications, change IVs and hold the hands of scared patients.  Maybe she'll be an accountant or a CEO or an architect or an engineer.  Whatever she is, I know she'll be great at it and she'll have all my support.

I pictured her giving a speech in front of her classmates at graduation- she may have been the valedictorian or maybe the class president- but in my daydream, I thought to myself, I'll be so honored to be the one that kissed those cheeks and fed her and patted her to sleep. 

And that helps me understand the true meaning of Christmas- to think that Jesus came into the world the same way Malia did- well without the c-section.  But He was an innocent, sweet baby who stared at his hands, I'm sure.