Merry Christmas from a Sleepy, Sleepy Boy

Background: One night when I checked on Weston, I found him in his bed, upright, so obviously I thought, "Oh boy, he's still awake..." But then I realized that he was actually sleeping. I whispered for Tim to come in, and we probably stared at him (suppressing giggles) for about 3 minutes. Finally we wised up and grabbed the videocamera, but we only managed to capture the last few moments of his sleep-sitting before he finally collapsed. (I also had to delete a big portion of the video because it was just pitch-black, but then Tim turned on the camera light.) Anyway, kids are funny. Hahaha!

ENJOY!!! And Merry Christmas!

Why I Won't Pay for Expensive Photos with Mall Santa

We went to this weird little Santa activity at a local community center, and even though Weston was cautiously excited when he first saw Santa Claus, he would not go ANYWHERE NEAR HIM when it was picture time. It took a reeeeeeaaaaaally long time to get this one (and as you can see, my super-happy-giant smile is an unsuccessful attempt to make up for his displeasure):

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In other news, Tim and I realized in Sunday School yesterday that the Old Testament is by far the greatest resource on baby names for expectant parents, particularly the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. I don't know if Tim's on board with this, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to refer to our utero-spawn as "Bukki" from now on. (See Ezra 7:4.)

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Countdown to the 22-hour roadtrip to PA: THREE MORE DAYS!

The Big Boy Bed

Big development at the Anderson household: the Big Boy Bed has made its arrival! Well, it actually arrived a few weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. :-)

Up until recently, Weston was still sleeping in his crib, and the entire time he was in a crib, he never made a SINGLE attempt to climb out. Never!! So, there really wasn't any rush to get him into a twin bed. However, when we found out that we were expecting Baby #2, I decided that I wanted to get him out of the crib before he made the connection between Baby #2's arrival and getting kicked out of his crib. So, we decided to go for it, and we actually went all-out and just bought a detachable bunk bed. We figured that we're going to have at least 3 children, so we'll need a bunk bed someday. Might as well prepare now!

Anyway, Tim set up the bed one afternoon, and that evening, Weston familiarized himself with it:
That night, he got all snuggly and cute in his new giant bed (gun in hand, of course, in case of a home invasion):

And here he is, fast asleep (note that he's still crowded into the edge of the bed by his perma-pile of toys):

Tim and I partially expected it, but we were slightly discouraged to realize that being in a big boy bed meant freedom of mobility -- in his room AND throughout the apartment. We thought we'd curtailed this possibility when we put one of those little doorknob covers on his door so that his little toddler hands couldn't open the door. We neglected to realize that his bedroom door doesn't actually latch -- the door doesn't line up quite right with the door frame. So, even if he wasn't capable of turning the knob, he could still just pull the door open and exit his room. Every morning we'd wake up to a little person standing next to our bed, whispering, "Mommy! Wake up! Mommy! I have a sword!" And it seemed to get earlier and earlier. First it was 8 AM; then it was 7:30; then it was 7; and then it was 6:30 (AHHH!). We had to take action. (Lemme tell ya... Tim and I HATE to wake up early. Having another newborn in the house is going to be a painful adjustment, I can feel it!)

So, we put up a gate in his doorway, so that even if he opened the door, at least he couldn't get out of his room. Unfortunately, the first time we put it too low, and he climbed over it. The second time, we put it too high, and we found him like this one night:

The third time, we put it just right where he couldn't climb over it or crawl under it. But that didn't stop him from trying:

Hahaha! Fortunately for us, Tim is a genius, and he realized that if we lifted the doorknob slightly when closing the door, it would latch. Now that it latches properly, the toddler doorknob cover prevents him from pulling open the door. Phew!! I mean, I feel a little bad that he's trapped in his room, but... not really. He can play with toys in there, and even though he's potty-training right now, he wears Pull-Ups at night, so it's not like he's going to wet his pajamas.

Problem solved!!! Yay for the Big Boy Bed!

Giving Thanks Is VERY Tasty

Happy (extremely belated) Thanksgiving (last month)! Here's a photo recap of our fun little Thanksgiving weekend!

First things first on Thanksgiving morning... getting the ol' bird ready to go. Here's a photo of Tim giving our turkey its annual mayo massage. (Is it just me, or is there something really smarmy about Tim's expression?)
Once the bird was in the oven, there wasn't much to do for a couple hours besides watch the parade. So, Tim and Weston went on a walk through the neighborhood. Here's Weston with his brand new winter coat. (I get sick of buying new clothes for him all the time, so I purchased a size 4/5 coat even though he's not even 3 years old yet. I love it in all its adorable ginormousness.)

Afterwards, I asked Tim to take a picture of my slowly expanding lower-midsection:

But of course Weston wanted in! (He's becoming more photogenic these days, if this qualifies as "photogenic.")

Also new this year: my fancy and extremely expensive hors d'oeuvres plate. Step 1: Purchase a cheese log from Walmart. Step 2: Place the cheese log on a plate. Step 3: Arrange crackers haphazardly around the cheese log. Step 4: Stop and eat whenever you walk by.

Aaaaaand finally... that BEAUTIFUL BIRD was done!!!

Here's the bounty. (It's nice to finally have a real dining room table. The past few Thanksgivings have been a bit of a logistics fiasco. Apologies to Chris for last year's wobbly, squashed, living-room Thanksgiving. Haha!)

Oh my gosh, you guys. We had the BEST idea EVER this year. (We're always trying to take Thanksgiving up a notch. I think by the time we're 60 it's going to be pretty much as awesome as it can get.) We ordered frozen rolls from TEXAS ROADHOUSE!!! Soooooo good, and so perfect for little turkey sandwiches later on.

As you can see, I arranged a nice little sampling for Weston. Y'know what he ended up eating for Thanksgiving? (1) A roll, and (2) a slice of pumpkin bread (which, by the way, was not technically even on the menu).

Oh well. At least this guy enjoyed the feast:

I am ALL about the Black Friday shopping, but I really didn't have a lot that I intended to buy this time around, so it was a bit of a mellow year. I did end up going to the Toys R Us sale, which started at 10:00 PM on Thanksgiving night. Here's how it played out:

9:40 PM: Arrive at the cold, dark parking lot and take my spot waaaaaaaay at the back of the humongous line. Listen to the people behind me talk about how they're going to stay up all night, hitting Toys R Us at 10 PM, Walmart at midnight, Kohl's at 3 AM, Target at 4 AM, etc.

10:00 PM: Doors open. Line starts to inch forward.

10:20 PM: Enter the store, grab a huge plastic shopping bag (I commend you, Toys R Us, for your brilliant planning), and make a mad rush around the store for desired items.

10:40 PM: Finish shopping, after having found 5 of the 9 things that I wanted. Get in line to check-out.

12:20 PM: FINALLY CHECK OUT. Yeah, I waited in line for almost 2 hours just to pay.

Fortunately, it wasn't all bad. I made friends with my co-liners, and I also found a $20 bill on the floor. Huzzah! (Don't worry, I made every effort to find its owner. I asked my co-liners, and told them to keep their eyes and ears open for someone looking for a $20. I didn't even pocket it; I held it in my hand the entire time I was in line, just to let its owner know that I wasn't assuming it was mine or anything. However, no one ever came looking for it, and even though I feel really bad for that person, it made my night.)

Anyway, after Toys R Us, I headed to Walmart to score a few cheap DVDs. The lines there were long and slow as usual, although the actual roaming-of-the-store wasn't too bad. (I commend them for splitting up their Black Friday sales into a midnight portion and a 5 AM portion. I strategically avoided the 5 AM portion.)

After getting a good night's sleep, I headed to Target and Kohl's the next morning around 10-ish. GREAT idea, if I do say so myself. I avoided the early-bird rush, but I still got all the sales prices, thanks to their huge inventories of sale items. I didn't even have to wait in line for very long at either store. Yay! All in all, a pretty darn good Black Friday.

That night was our traditional trim-the-tree-and-decorate-the-house night, which we commenced with some baking of Christmas cookies. Aren't these photos heart-warming?

Hahaha... what they DON'T show is Weston's sudden, mini-tantrum that erupted like five minutes later. Yeeeaaaah. At least we were able to document the pre-tantrum bliss. :-)

Tim spent quite a while setting up our ridiculously ginormous new Christmas tree, and then we attempted to decorate it with Weston's help, although that did not quite work. He just kept wanting to play with all the ornaments like they were little toys (which of course I totally understand), but it was getting a little unruly, so we halted the tree operation in favor of bathtime and bedtime for him. (As you've probably noticed, it's a bit of a trial to rein Weston in when he has his own plans. He's a stubborn, independent spirit, just like his mama!) Afterwards, we finished up:

And here's a photo of our living room -- a still life photograph, aside from Tim shaking his head as fast as he possibly could:

Hahaha!