Lifelines

Our very good friends, Scott and Lynn, are here from North Carolina to celebrate the New Year with us! We’re busy having a good time so I can’t really write now (because I’m currently not so able to string together very many coherent sentences)but I wanted to get these photos up.

Happy New Year to our family and friends!

I was tired today; tired enough that at some point, the floor looked like a delicious place to nap.

And I don’t know what it is with my kids but they are completely opposed to my taking a nap, especially in their view. I AM NOT allowed a moment’s rest on the couch–never, not ever. If I lay on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, (which I sometimes do when I’m hating Morning Duty) they are relentless.

They are clear on their point: “Get. UP”.

Even if, on a weekend, I sleep late (which DOES happen and is very, very nice), they can’t stand to leave me be. I will hear little Creux-bangs on the door and know he snuck away from Charlie to come find me. If he manages to get the door open, he’ll race over to my side of the bed and yank on the covers until I either get up or wail for Charlie to rescue me. Greer is a bit more stealth and is now a little more accommodating to my resting needs but if I pass her Sleep Tolerance Threshold, I’ll awaken to her standing right beside me, smiling wide and whispering something completely random like “Mommy! I yike orange!”

Do you know who disturbs Charlie when he naps?

Ummm, NOBODY!

What’s up with that, anyway?

Always my very favorite way to kick off twelve hours alone with the kids! I love it when Charlie works late! Yippee!!

But my boys have always been drawn to my shoes. And I’m hoping that other Mommies are nodding and knowing exactly what I mean too–that their own little boys clip-clop around the house in Date Night boots because otherwise I’m going to friggin panic.

Today was Charlie’s first day back at work and so, it was mine as well. I was ready for it, happy to yank this place back together from all the holiday madness.

And that’s what I did–I spent the entire afternoon just doing what needed to be done: heaps of laundry (we’ve lived here almost 18 months and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the laundry room empty; I just can’t get caught up–EVER), sweeping floors and cleaning potties, making room for new the new toys and markers and games. In between all of this, I snacked them and lunched them and snacked them again. I think I cleaned the kitchen three times before it was time to mess it up with dinner preparations.

But I did eventually find a stopping point, where I felt that I’d done enough for the day.

And that’s not to say that the house LOOKED any better, by the way. Because things tend to go something like this:

If I sweep the kitchen floor, the boys come in from outside and one of them (who shall remain nameless) “forgets” to take off his muddy boots in the garage.

If I wipe down the counters, someone makes a snack and while they might (not likely, but it HAS happened once or twice) put most of it away (really though, they won’t), there’s always a sticky knife left glued to the counter or enough crumbs to re-make a sandwich with left behind.

If I vacuum, Greer drops the glitter jar.

If I fold but do not put away the laundry, Creux destroys the entire basket of folded clothes by pitching them over the gate and down the stairs.

If I dare clean-up the playroom anytime other than right before they go to bed, my tidying is un-done the second one of them notices.

And after all this, if I attempt to fix them dinner, this is what they do while I’m busy:

Can you see Greer’s rotten little gleeful face, smiling away? Creux did most of this but she added the wind-tunnel effect and had it snowing invoices for a good many minutes.

Charlie will be very disappointed in the new filing system I used to clean it up and organize it. It’s called “Rhyse”. :)

I could have told you (and I don’t know why I didn’t) that it would have been Rhyse who came to wake me on Christmas morning. I felt him before I heard him, which is not surprising as you can’t be in his presence and not just feel energy oozing off him. At least I can’t be. If Rhyse is in the house, I can sense him immediately.

I’d gone to bed around 3:30am on Christmas Eve so at 7:30, I was not feeling super Christmasy. But only for a minute. My excited, wide-eyed boy, stage-whispering at top stage-whispering volume, with uncontrolled bouncing at my bedside, got me up and going quickly. I’d just been up at 7:00 with Creux and had fallen back asleep and ironically had been tremendously grateful for being able to do so. (It was short-lived.) :)

So I shushed him quietly and stilled his bouncing, looked up, and saw Chas standing in the doorway, waiting also, and sent them both back to their room while I woke Charlie and pulled myself together. I did not want Creux to awaken because he is a lunatic in the mornings if I am around (and I mean that in the most loving way possible…but he is still a lunatic) and I wanted some time with the others, to be able to sit unaccosted on the floor and share in their delight.

Christmas morning has belonged to the boys for a really long time. Last year, Creux was super wee–only three months, and Greer was still just a baby herself. And I have a firm (very firm) No Waking Babies policy :) so…for several years, we’ve let one or both of the Littles sleep while the boys have our undivided attention.

I almost did that again this year but changed my mind at the last minute, broke my own rule, and went back in to wake my slumbering daughter. She’s not so wee now and I thought maybe she would end up missing being apart of all the action and the big Present Mountain unveiling.

Though groggy, she understood instantly what “I think Santa’s been here!” meant and she popped right up and reached out to me to pick her up. For his part, I had to wake Charlie THREE times and when he finally came to, he jumped out of bed and asked me if the kids were sick. WHAT? I stared at him blankly for a minute trying to figure out what in the world he meant and then snapped him into reality with, “They’re like lined up in the hallway so you’re going to want to move your ass.” :) (I am not tender and loving at 7:30 in the morning. Sue me.)

No one is allowed downstairs until Mama gets there with camera-in-hand. (Which surprises you, I know.) And then we set them free and they gaped in astonishment at their Present Mountain while I am torn between savoring every moment and starting the coffee-maker. (This is actually a really difficult decision, for the record.)

Oh, but it was wonderful! (And I did savor every moment because Charlie had programmed the coffee-maker–yippee!) Rhyse was the most animated and he was ready to rip the entire thing apart instantly; there were just too many competing presents in his view with his name on them!

We had them each continuously choose a gift and unwrap it together. I was surprised that Greer was able to read her own name on the presents; she knows how to verbally spell her name but I didn’t realize that she recognized the letters put together! I was super tickled at that! It was sweet to see her digging around and then turning to me to make sure she had the right ones. (And she always did.)

Creux did not make his grand appearance until TWO HOURS LATER which was totally annoying because he NEVER sleeps in that long when I can sleep, too! But sure, on Christmas morning, he decides to catch up on a little R&R.

He was a bit puzzled at the state of the family room, though his siblings had long since moved on and were no longer ripping through wrapping paper at warp speeds. So we sat down and opened a few of his gifts together, with a bit of help from Greer here and there. He lost interest quickly, however, and I finished opening them just yesterday. :)

Christmas morning was as I had imagined it to be: lots of fun and excitement and squeals of delight…and pure satisfaction on my part. Satisfaction that everyone is happy and enjoying the time together AND that I survived another crazy Christmas!

Christmas night passed with little fanfare over here. Not that it wasn’t meaningful or that it wasn’t hard work pulling a major dinner together (Charlie spent HOURS in the kitchen). But, it was a relaxed and cozy dinner spent with his oldest brother’s family and my mom.

I have gobs to share from this morning but am far too tired at the moment to do anything other than fall into my bed.

It was a good day, well-worth all the crazy “extras” but this Mama is glad it’s o-v-e-r. I’m ready to return to my regularly scheduled programming, ready to enjoy this upcoming small stretch of nothingness leading into the new year. (Am not, however, ready to return to schoolwork. Shudder.)

Pictured with us are Jonnie, Julie, Emily, Spencer and Natalie.
It was great to see you all, thanks for spending the evening with us!

Mid-day, and I’m still in my pajamas…and so are half of the kids. I can’t quite remember what dragons I had to slay in order to secure this quiet Christmas time for my family but it was worth it.

For us, today is a day of almost-rest. We opened presents early and then the kids scattered about the house, playing with their new treasures. I dragged along for awhile, very tired from my late last night, but hit my groove around 11:00 and have made terrific progress in the tidying department. (It was intimidating, that gift-load!) Charlie is working on dinner already–preparing for tonight’s family gathering.

We’re all enjoying our lazy “day in” together.

Though we’ll be having a houseful this evening, it’s going to be a low-key, hang-out, come-as-you-are affair. No dressing up, no stressing over the state of the house (ok, well, very little stressing)…just us focusing on our loved ones and our very merry Christmas Day.

These are just a few snapshots of a piece of our afternoon. The kids all received new art supplies in their stockings and decided to sit down for a bit and create special little nothings.

Of all the Christmas rituals we have, this is my favorite: staying in, laying around, playing, watching, laughing, loving.

It’s 2:30 in the morning and Santa has been here, actually was here for much longer than he wanted to be, but our kids were really good this year.

For my part? I’m tired. Really tired–of shopping, of thinking about gifts, of wrapping them (dear God), of being out spending my free time at Target (but loved sharing it with Michael’s), of calendar watching, of squeezing in “extra’s” like those lovely holiday cards, of the frenetic build-up, of the buying, buying, buying.

BUT–it’s here now. They will wake and they will wake early (but not before 7:00, Mama says). They are not allowed downstairs but I’ve heard that they sneak anyway. They will be excited and surprised but they’ll have to pull us from the bed to participate. I will wake first and repeatedly tell Charlie to get up. (Repeatedly. Did I say that already?) I’ll document those first few moments then settle down in the middle of pure chaos, vowing to try and contain the excitement slightly so it all lasts a bit longer.

I’ll lock in and be present and soak in their sweet innocent delight at their good fortune. I will cherish the small moments and remind them to be thankful because they are very blessed, in ways far greater than monetary, but also in ways that I am grateful that they lack the understanding.

They need nothing but we want them to have this anyway.

We always spend Christmas Eve at my mom’s house and it’s the kick-off to our family gatherings for the holiday. It’s really quite nice because Charlie and I decided long ago that it was just easier for US to host most family events and so, we typically do, but it’s lovely to not have to worry about the food or the clean-up for once!

It was a wonderful night spent together! We had dinner then sat around and talked for a bit while Rhyse nearly exploded from present-opening excitement. :) The gift-giving is always fun between my mom and sister and I because it’s like continuously shopping for ourselves–we just buy what we like for one another!

No time for chit-chat tonight, Santa needs as many helpers on-deck as possible and I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Coffee-in-hand…it begins…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!