Our first Christmas in our new house

The holidays have been so much fun. Christmas Eve mom and I took Inara to see Santa at the mall. Too bad the line was atrocious. We waited for 45 min and weren't halfway through the line, so we gave up. I was really bummed because Inara's into Santa this year, so I hoped she'd get a pic with him, but I kinda waited to the last minute so mom could go with me and Shawn didn't seem too interested in going earlier. Oh well. At least Inara got to see him and waved and blew kisses to him. We walked around Park Meadows Mall for a bit and I took mom to this super cool Christmas store. They have some of the prettiest decorations. If I only had extra money to buy ornaments from this place. Maybe someday.

That night we went to the Tomlinson house and had dinner. The night started off on a bad note when Barb's puppy snapped at Avery. It didn't break skin, but it really scared Avery and Thane too. I guess it's just hard to have puppies around little ones. Dinner and all the snacks were good. Poor Inara was pretty tired that night since she got to bed a little later than usual. Then the fun began. Inara ended up waking up 4 times that night screaming super loud. I got up with her twice and Shawn got her the other 2 times. I really think it's her teeth because it was a pain cry and not a scared kinda cry. The first time I got up with her, I struggled to get back to sleep, so I ended up finishing my Christmas letter to Inara, looked up info online for cooking a prime rib, and put the presents in the stockings. One time Shawn got up, he struggled for about an hour to get back to sleep. Ugh. So needless to say, Shawn and I had a rough night of sleep. Perfect for Christmas morning.

Shawn and I ended up waking up around 7ish. Inara finally woke up at 8:30. Not a surprise considering the rough night of sleep she had. Shawn made breakfast for us. After a slight mishap, he ended up making both french toast and waffles along with bacon. Sometimes mistakes can be good since it meant we got a hearty breakfast. We then started opening presents with Inara. I was so happy mom was hear to watch her. We had a blast. Inara really started getting into it. She's so delicate when she opens presents and doesn't rip away like most kids. She loved the musical toy mom and dad got her. She was rocking out and dancing. It was too cute. Shawn bought her a tunnel/teepee/tent set that she loved crawling through too. Of course, I got her lots of books (so I can get more variety when reading to her...haha). Grandma Di and Uncle Jason sent her a zoo train and an animal bowling set that I know she's gonna love playing with. Thankfully, we got some new clothes for Inara too. I swear that kid is growing too fast that I can't keep her closet stocked. She got pretty pooped after opening presents, so she did take a good morning nap. Thank goodness considering we knew she wouldn't get an afternoon one.

Dinner turned out fantastic! The Tomlinsons and Myatts (Kristi's parents) arrived around 2:30. I cooked my first prime rib, and honestly, I have to say I'm impressed with it. I thought it tasted perfect! Especially for my first one. I also cooked green beans with almonds, mashed potatoes, rolls, and mom did her candied yams which I love. I also baked a black forest cake. I've decided I follow in the Tomaselli chef skills but not the baking skills. I'm never 100% pleased with my baked goods. The cake was alright, but I will try something different next year for sure. Kristi and her mom cooked the turkey, which was perfect! Super moist and flavorful. They also brought the gravy and cornbread stuffing (super tasty too). I'm not a big cranberry fan, but they make this great cranberry and orange sauce that's excellent on turkey. Gonna have to get the recipe for that one. I was so happy with how the dinner turned out. I loved getting to use so many of my serving dishes and china that we got as wedding gifts. After dinner, we opened presents with the Tomlinsons. Kristi and Thane really spoiled Inara with so many great gifts. Thank you guys!!! It was cute when Avery opened our presents, she'd come and give me a hug and thank me. She's getting so grown up. Our friends and family really out did themselves with all the wonderful gifts we got. I have to say the best part of the day was hosting my first Christmas in my first house. Everyone seemed to have a good time. The day would have been perfect had my dad and brother been here, but I felt better knowing they weren't alone and got to have their own dinner, but I'd still rather they had been here with me. I'm selfish that way. Ha ha. I hope everyone had a wonderful day and I promise to get caught up on all the calls I missed yesterday. I love you all so very much!!!

It's almost Christmas!

Where has the time gone? Can't believe I'm so far behind on updating the 'ol blog. Well it's getting late, so I'll make it short. My mom arrived safely on Friday. Inara couldn't wait to get out of the stroller and hug Grandma NeeNee. They've been having a great time playing. I've loved showing my mom all the new things Inara does and I know my mom's been enjoying every minute with her angel as she calls Inara. Well except maybe for Monday when we went for Inara's 15 month checkup. She's doing great. She's 22 pounds, which puts her in the 45th percentile, so she's not overweight even though she eats non-stop. The doctor said not to worry about her eating unless her height and weight suddenly get totally disproportionate. She's actually the perfect weight for her height, 45th percentile for both. Her head circumference is still in the 85th percentile. She's always gonna have a big noggin. The bad part of the visit was Inara pretty much screamed most of the time we were there. When I tried to lay her down to take her clothes off, she screamed. When the nurse weighed and measured her, she screamed. When the doctor listened to her heart, checked her eyes/ears/throat, she screamed. And when she got all her shots, she really screamed. Poor thing. My mom had to console both of us. I swear Shawn's taking Inara for her next checkup.

I've been scrambling around getting last minute Christmas stuff done and other projects I hoped to work on while mom was here. How does a week go by so darn fast? I haven't gotten half the things done I had hoped to. Guess mom's gonna have to start staying for two weeks or have both my parents here for a week. Then I'd put Pop to work and we'd get more accomplished. Ha ha. At least I got the shelf in the kitchen hung up, clothes Inara's outgrown packed away, Monster Cookies baked, and all my Christmas projects completed.

For holiday fun, tonight we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. A friend had told me about one insane house, so we went and checked that one out. Wow! Shawn sure has a lot to live up to if he's gonna try to keep up with this neighbor. They had a ski lift with stuffed bears in the chairs, a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, and Santa and his reindeer circling a pole. That's one heck of a job, but it was so beautiful to see. We saw some other nice ones, but nothing compared to this one.

Well, tomorrow Mom and I are taking Inara to see Santa and hope to get a good pic of her first Santa visit. She's been a bit out of sorts since Monday's doc visit, so cross my fingers she'll be ok tomorrow. Then we get together with the Tomlinson's for Christmas Eve snacks, do our own thing Christmas morning, and reconvene with the Tomlinson fam for Christmas dinner. I'll try to post more stories this weekend. I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas. I love you all very much and miss all my California friends and family soooo much!!! Hugs to all!!!

Why Shawn needs to get more side jobs

Inara is seriously going to eat us out of house and home. The kid eats non stop. I'm starting to get worried because the other night after dinner her belly was so huge and hard as a rock. How can such a little thing pack away so much? Here's what she had for breakfast today: a handful of Cheerios, a Yo Baby yogurt, 3/4 of a banana, a jar of Gerber oatmeal with pears, and a cup of milk. Then for lunch she had half a container of chicken and carrot raviolis, some more Cheerios, 2 slices of avocado, and she wanted some of my leftover homemade pizza with mushrooms and bell peppers. For snack she ate two cheese and crackers, a couple mini Quaker Quakes (rice cakes) and a handful of Goldfish. Plus, she's had a couple cups of water throughout the day. When she wakes up from her afternoon nap, she'll have another snack and then dinner tonight. I feel like I'm constantly feeding her. Throughout the day, she'll walk up to the pantry and point for food. I don't want to starve the kid, but I'm starting to worry that she's gonna end up "husky" if I don't watch it. Thank goodness her 15 month doc appt is in less than 2 weeks. One good thing is she has no problems with pooping. That's for sure. The girl pretty much craps after every meal like clock work. I know that her first poopy will be around 9am and boy is it a doozy of a poozy. It's funny because I know when she's pooping because she's stops what she's doing, stares at me, and gets a big shit ass grin on her face when she's finished. It kills me! At least we know she should't have any bowel problems in the near future, so that's a blessing. But again, with all the diapers I go through, she's gonna break us.

And why is it that I find her tooting so darn cute? I'm not alone, because Shawn has said the same thing. She always looks at us after farting and smiles as if she's so proud of herself and wants to be congratulated. Some times she even giggles when she does it. It cracks me up! I love Inara so much that I even find her gas adorable. Call me crazy, but parenthood is so weird. I never thought I'd say that about any person passing gas. But my daughter's farts are cute and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Weekend Update

This weekend was a busy one. What am I talking about? Every weekend is a busy one. Friday was the Highlands Ranch Holiday Celebration at Town Center. There was a children's choir performing Christmas songs, a tree lighting ceremony, carriage rides, reindeers, and pictures with Santa. There was also a lot of free food. Shawn and Thane weren't able to get off work as early as we had hoped, but the rest of the fam got to enjoy the festivities. By the time the guys got there, it was getting a little chilly and Inara was hungry, so we had to cut the night short. All in all, it was a fun event and definitely something I'll check out again next year. Hopefully, we'll be able to get Inara's pic with Santa next year. I was hoping to get her pic with Jolly Ol Saint Nick this year since she really seems to be into him, but the mall charges an arm and a leg come to find out, so we'll have to pass on that one.

Then Saturday, we ventured out to find us a Christmas tree. The first two places we stopped started at $50 and up for a tree. We happened to pull into the grocery store parking lot and were surprised to see they had trees for sale and they were only $30! Bingo bango! We got a beautiful tree. Shawn said it's his favorite one yet. It looks perfect in our front living room too. Inara is already fascinated with it, as I knew she would be. The kid is all into Christmas things. She loves looking at lights and decorations. It's like rediscovering Christmas all over again now that we have a child to share it with.

Saturday night we hosted our first dinner party and game night. I had invited two couples from my mom's group over for pasta and games. Shawn keeps saying how everyone he's met from the group is so nice. I couldn't agree more. We had a fun time talking to the other couples and getting to know them better. Come to find out one of the couples is in their early twenties. Wow! Do I feel old? Given how much I love playing board games, the night was perfect, even though I sucked at the two games we played. The night ended relatively early at around 10:30. Much earlier than our game nights used to end, but the others had to get back home to relieve the babysitters. My how our lives are changing. No more drunken sloppy game nights until 2am here.

Today, Inara and I finished decorating the christmas tree. I put most of the ornaments on the top half out of Inara's reach. I did put a couple little ornaments on the bottom half for her to play with. I figured if I give her some to play with, then she won't try to get the other nicer ones up top. Let's see if that strategy works. Unfortunately, we already had one casualty tonight. A Boo from Monster's Inc. ornament got beheaded. Man, how does a 14 month old cause such havoc in a few short seconds? Oh well. It was one of the lesser important ones, so I'm not too upset. We'll try to save it with some crazy glue.

On a sad note, I got eliminated from our fantasy football playoffs tonight. I was in such a good position to at least make it to the playoffs until the worst team in the division whipped me. That makes the lose even worse.

But to end on a super great note, only 12 more days til my mom arrives. In case you didn't know, my mom will be spending Christmas with us. I couldn't be more ecstatic!!! With the holidays here, this is the most homesick I've been since we moved, so knowing my mom is coming makes things a little brighter. I wish my dad was coming too, but he can't take time off work. I knew Michael wouldn't be able to make it because of retail work, but I had hoped Pop could, but I understand. Hopefully next year we can all be together to celebrate with the little munchkin, otherwise known as Inara Grace.