Christmas joy

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written a blog. I've been slacking big time. Figure since I'm sitting here sulking because my parents left, I could cheer myself up by writing a blog. So much has gone on lately, so I'll do my best to write about all of it and not write a 500 page novel.

The day after Thanksgiving Inara and I flew to CA to surprise my mom for her 65th birthday. Inara did rather well on the flight, but it's still pretty stressful flying just me and her. However, I did get a very nice compliment from a lady in the terminal. She said I was a great mom, and she loved listening to me talk to my daughter. Boy, did I need that compliment as I was stressed out flying solo with a 2 year old. Michael and Pop were in on the surprise all along, but when mom got home from running errands with Lisa that afternoon, she was totally SHOCKED. We got a super funny video of her reaction. We flew in on Fri and left the following Wed. It was a short trip packed with lots of visits and fun times (and of course a few trips to Yogurtland and Golden Spoon too). We went to see Grandma Mary at the home and ended up running into my Uncle Danny too. Jason & Lilli came by to see Inara, and I went to dinner with them. I gave them their Christmas gifts early and Jason finally got me the new pictures of Inara he made me for my birthday. He was even so kind to make a copy for my mom's birthday too. That night I got to hear stories about their trip to Japan. They are such a cute couple. I'm so happy Jason is happy and in love. Inara and I got to visit Grandma Di one day too and deliver her Christmas present. I also got to spend time with my best girlfriends and finally meet Sierra's baby girl Layla. We got some adorable pictures of Inara holding Layla too. She really is great with babies. Yeah, maybe someday she'll be a big sis, but we'll just have to wait and see on that one. Somedays a 2 year old is all I think I can handle. Kylie and Lisa came over a few times. It was a blast watching Inara and Kylie playing. They had the most fun playing "airport" with Pop. It's crazy what things kids will do to entertain themselves. We even squeezed in a trip to Disneyland on Tue for Mom's birthday. Inara LOVED Small World. It was all decorated for Christmas and so pretty. I loved watching Inara's expressions, and she was clapping along with the music the whole time. So darn cute! Inara had a good time playing with Toby too. She even got comfortable enough to pet him. Shawn take note: we just might need to get Inara a puppy when she's old enough to take care of it. Mikey and I got to spend some time together just the two of us. It meant a lot to me to spend time with him, my best friend. I miss my lil brother so much, and it was great to meet the new person in his life. The best part of the trip though was just getting to spend time watching Inara play with Nee Nee and Pop as usual. Boy, does she love her grandparents!

Unfortunately, I started getting sick the last couple days we were in CA, but I had to suck it up because the week we got back was packed. I worked a MOPS fundraising event I helped organize. We offered a special Santa photo opportunity for moms in our group and their friends. We only charged $15 for kids to take photos with Santa. The kids got to spend some time chatting with Santa, take pictures, and make a craft. We burned the pictures to disc rather than print out a few copies. This way the parents can print their own pics and as many as they needed. Most families got at least 10 shots. One family got something like 30 shots of the 2 kids with Santa, then each kid alone, and the mom got in a few too. What a deal for $15. I didn't end up taking Inara because she really hasn't had interested in taking pics with Santa and has cried when I've tried getting her to take a pic with him. Figured why spend money on a pic of her crying. I can take those pics for free myself. Plus, I would have had to take her at 8:30am, made her cry, then drop her off at preschool. Not a good way to start off the day. I figure maybe next year she'll be more open to taking pics with Santa.

That night was our Hometown Holiday Celebration at Town Center. Inara and I braved the cold and enjoyed the festivities. We got to see Santa come in on the horsedrawn carriage, and Inara got to ride her favorite train they have at every town event. It was super cold that night, so we didn't stay too long. Shawn met us there and we headed to 3 Margaritas for dinner. Inara was acting out of sorts and rightly so, the next day she ended up getting sick. She was down and out for a week with croup. She never ran a fever but and never had restless nights, which is unusual for croup, but she had a runny nose, loss of appetite, and a cough for over a week.

This worried me because Friday, Dec. 11 was Inara's first Christmas program at preschool. She had be learning 2 songs and I didn't want her to miss the program. After what ended up as one of those "I feel like a bad mommy" mornings, Inara made it to school and was in her Christmas program. I had some issues with my camera working, so I didn't get a video of the first song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She, however, pretty much just stood up there on stage like a deer in headlights not quite know what all was going on. But it was still dang adorable watching her up there. She did great shaking the bells for the second song though. I got a video of that at least. I'm still kicking myself in the butt for what was a rather disappointing mommy experience that day due to various factors. Yes, I know I'm too hard on myself and need to learn to let things go. But I just want to be the best mom to Inara every day and I let myself down that morning. I won't let something like that happen again that's for sure.

The next week was also packed with playdates and Christmas parties. Inara and I went to 2 playdates on Mon, which was a good distraction from my bad weekend. Tuesday we went to My Gym and saw our great friends Jen and Addison. We ended up going to Target and hanging out with the girls for awhile. I just absolutely LOVE watching Inara and Addison together. I so hope they will be best friends forever. Inara just adores Jen too. I had another bad mommy moment that day though when I realized I left my wallet on the checkout counter at Target. We were almost home and Inara was so exhausted but I had to keep her awake so I could go get my wallet. Instead of crying about it all though, Inara made me laugh at the whole situation by saying "Mommy, so silly. She left wallet at Target." Thanks baby girl, for putting mommy's boneheaded moment in perspective and making me laugh about it.

Wed was the best day I could have asked for. That morning Michael Skyped me early in the morning to break the good news: Mom and Pop were coming to CO for Christmas!!! After the hectic and week and a half I had and how depressed I was that my family wasn't going to be here with me, this was all I could have ever asked for for Christmas. Then that afternoon I had our closest friends over for a Christmas potluck lunch. We finally got to see Owen and his new baby sister. The other kids all had fun playing with Inara's toys, while Inara, as usual, mainly wanted to sit on my lap. She's still so clingy and doesn't like playing with the other kids most of the time. Just don't know when she'll out grow this stage. Oh well. When it was just Whitney and Tatum left though, she seemed to come out of her shell and ran around playing with the girls. I'm thinking maybe it's the big groups of kids that scare her. Guess I'll just have to do smaller group playdates in the future. All-in-all, we had a great time celebrating Christmas with our friends and I was SOOO excited to share with all of them the great news about my parents coming out here.

A group of us took a trip to Hammond's Candy Factory on Thu. I was thrilled it was the 3rd day in a row we got to spend time with Jen and Addison. I sure do love hanging out with those girls. Kristi and her gang along with Eetung and William joined us as well. I thought the candy factory was a lot of fun. I got to entertain the kids being my silly, goofy self. All the kids did so well that day too. I ended up getting a big box of candies for when my parents were here too. Afterwards, we all went to a mall close by to grab some lunch and let the kids run around in the play area. Needless to say, Inara crashed on the car ride home that day. Again, it was another great way to celebrate Christmas with friends and get me in the holiday spirit.

Friday my parents arrived and I couldn't have been happier. I'll write another blog about their visit when Inara naps today. Her movie is over and wants me to come play, so I better wrap this blog up for now.