Christmas 2017

So, before it is too far gone, here is my account of Christmas 2017, which shall now be known as Calvin's first Christmas.  

I took these pictures of the kids with the tree earlier in December with the intent of sharing them and showing off how awesome we are because SOCIAL MEDIA but I never got around to it and they were still on my camera memory card as of today.  They are definitely not perfect but still cute.  Tessa wouldn't wear her Christmas pajamas because they "aren't sooooooft"meaning they aren't fleece material.  

For some reason I couldn't get these two pictures to be centered.  I am getting kind of embarrassed about how out of date my computer skills are these days.  There was a time when I was so good at computers I could remove viruses, so all kinds of system restoration and there was a time in college and grad school where I was one step away from being a hacker due to the lengths my classmates and I would go to in order to remove copyright protections from various types of media.  Now I can barely use Microsoft Word anymore.  I was writing a letter for someone this month and I truly did not know where to find all the old basic commands like changing margins.  

Aww...so cute. 

Milo...the weakest link.  

Off to the right you can see part of the junk pile I pushed out of the way to make the tree look all pristine.  

The tree didn't look any better than this.  As the month went on, Allan adopted that armrest as his tree chewing and tampering spot so there was a big gaping hole in the tree there.  

Here is Ben on Christmas Eve, taking inventory of the gifts under the tree.  We have never been home in our own house for Christmas so everyone sent gifts to us so it was pretty crazy.  

Justin's parents came for Christmas and we proceeded as usual with church (Milo was terrible), supper and present opening.  

Somehow we have acquired a tiny santa hat which has never fit on anyone's head before.  It finally got its chance!

Milo was not agreeable to taking a sibling picture either...

Finally present time!

Ben received several lego sets, including a large airport and matching air show hangar.  They kept him busy all day.  

Here is Tessa playing with some Shopkin's thing.  It's a high school with little accessories like a basketball hoop, lockers and tiny books and food. She picked a very nice Christmas day outfit which included a sundress from this summer.  

Calvin wasn't forgotten this year even though he wasn't supposed to have been born yet on Christmas!  It was pretty nice not having to worry about going into labor!

Allan was indifferent about his first Christmas every where he hasn't been alone in the house for days.  We dressed him up in an elf costume which is a dog size Medium so that indicates how overweight he is.  

We also have a Santa hat with ear holes and a beard attached but he would not keep it on his head even for a second.  Once again...the pictures are not centered.  Oh well.

After Calvin was born and named I quickly ordered him a matching Christmas stocking even though I knew it would not come in time.  I just wanted it done and maybeeee they were discounted too.  It came New Year's Eve and I took a few pictures before I packed everything up on the 2nd.  I am not opposed to leaving decorations up until the twelve days of Christmas have passed but these days I take an opportunity when I can and Ben was at school and Milo was sleeping so I got busy.

He's still so tiny!  

What a nice present he was!

Calvin's Birth

Well, Happy New Year to anyone who is still reading out there.  I see my last post was on December 7th so this is the longest blog break I've ever taken.  Don't be alarmed-I have a good reason.  It all started on December 13th.  Every year we take pictures with the Santa at the mall and pay way too much for the overpriced photos they take for you.  It's fun because we have matching pictures every year since 2012.  The night was Wednesday and we had already tried Monday only to find the set closed for unexplained reasons and a surly mall employee fending off all the annoyed people by explaining that Santa had to go back to the North Pole for some business (har har har).  Tuesday we had the sense to check the Internet and it was the same old story.  So finally on Wednesday we made a quick stop before Justin went to his dart league.

Now, I don't know if I mentioned this in a post long ago but the due date for the new baby was December 28th and, although I had been showing signs that labor was near at my last two appointments I really did not think it was possible for me to have a baby before 40 weeks.  As I was hiking around the mall the night of the 13th to say I wasn't feeling my best was an understatement.  That night, I managed to get the kids to bed and headed to the basement to wrap presents because Justin planned to bring them when he went to the NDSU game that Friday since we weren't planning on leaving home for Christmas.  My back was killing me and I just knew something was amiss.  Justin got home and we made the call to the neighbors before it got too late that we were going to the hospital so they came and got the kids and off we went.  We arrived at 11:30 to find I was 5 cm dilated and indeed in labor.  

Now, if you recall, back in August  made a post announcing we were having a girl and we found out in grand style by shooting off a pink firework.  As we sat up all night we filled out the birth certificate form with her name and I was almost going to order her a Christmas stocking to match the others.  Something stopped me.  Well, at 4:25 a.m. our fourth baby was born and...it was a boy.  It was...a lot to take in.  He weighed 6 lb. and 14 oz. and looked just like the other kids.  That was enough of a shock but on top of that he was having trouble breathing.  He was taking rapid breaths and he ended up in the NICU.  We didn't really know what was going on.  At first they thought it was an infection but after chest x-rays it was discovered he had small pockets of air around each lung which meant they couldn't fully expand.  The only remedy was time and extra oxygen.  So began our five day stint in the NICU. 

Everything finally settled down and It was 6 a.m. and I had been awake since 5 a.m. the morning before and all the emotions hit me.  I was sitting in the room with no baby and the girl I had been dreaming about didn't exist.  It's hard to explain but she was like a real person who was just gone.  I kept seeing that pink firework shooting into the sky and I kept thinking about the boxes of girl clothes in the basement waiting to be worn again.  Then I felt guilty because there was a tiny little boy in the NICU who I couldn't hold or feed and who didn't have a name.  

So, we moved ahead and I got busy pumping.  The birth for me physically was no problem and after it was over I barely felt like anything had happened.  About an hour after the nurses come to hoist you out of bed and I jumped up by myself as they were asking if I had an epidural and one said, "I guess not..."  I was discharged the next day and we managed to choose a name...Calvin Harold.  Calvin was a name we had on our list back when Ben was born.  Harold was my grandpa's name.  You might be wondering what the girl name was...it was Geneva Mary.  

The kids were not able to see Calvin because they weren't allowed in the NICU but they had some treats for older siblings and they received some fun wristbands and those cool felt coloring pages that come with markers. 

I loved these when I was a kid!

Leaving the hospital without a baby was the weirdest feeling.  They gave us our going home box with cheese and meat and bread and sparkling grape juice and Milo was kind enough to carry the baguette upstairs for us.  

I spent the nights at home and actually got sleep which also made me feel guilty and weird and spent time at the hospital during the day.  Calvin graduated to an oxygen tent and started receiving milk through a tube in his nose.

On the 18th I moved into an overflow room at the hospital and stayed so I could nurse him for 24 hours to prove he was able to eat on his own before we were discharged after he was weaned off the oxygen.  On the afternoon 19th we headed home!  

This is the picture we put on the hospital website. 

All ready to go!

It was very strange driving myself home from the hospital!

The bus dropped Ben off right after we got home so he got quite a surprise when he walked in the house!  

Tessa brought him one of her favorite stuffed animals to hold!  That is Amber, a beanie baby cat from the 90's.  

Milo has been very interested in the baby holding equipment and he suddenly looks like a giant.  

These pictures are out of order but they were taken when the kids saw Calvin through the window of the NICU for the first time after he was taken off the oxygen flow.  

Our first family picture!  Not the cute hospital room photo everyone plans on but still special!

I will wrap this post up for now.  I am way behind but I want to document Calvin's early days.  This blog has become a record of our big moments in life and I don't want his story to be missing from it and also we have Christmas to cover!  So check back-I am BACK!

Old Fashioned Fun (Inspired by Paw Patrol)

You all know I am all about the TV watching around here and my kids have never been without that background noise turned on as soon as we wake up in the morning since they were newborns.  And imagine...not a one of them has problems focusing at school or symptoms of ADHD.  I held out with the kid cartoons as long as possible but once that gate opened around the time Tessa was born there has been no turning back and the Paw Patrol, Curious George, Blaze, Thomas and other beloved characters have been regular visitors in our house every day.  I completely zone these shows out.  One morning, which I don't remember this happening because I was probably sitting at the computer in the kitchen pretending to pay attention to what the kids were saying, there was a seasonal episode of Paw Patrol on and the kids were confused to see the pups making garlands for their tree out of popcorn.  I explained that this was an old fashioned way people decorated trees when there weren't a lot of stores around that sold decorations and maybe they didn't have enough money to buy fancy beads because in the "old days" they weren't as easy to make in factories.   Speaking of that, where are all these colorful balls, beads, stocking weights and fake trees produced?  I imagine a very magical factory but it's probably just another factory in China.

Justin has once again been at the oil spill site all week and I could feel myself melting down yesterday afternoon, surrounded by a huge mess so bad I didn't know where to start dealing with it and all the kids whining and fighting.  So I told them we could make popcorn strings if they cleaned up the table after we ate and were good.  This wasn't enough to cause a peaceful and enjoyable meal with Tessa, who only wants to eat junk, junk and more junk.  She whines all day, from the moment she wakes up, for granola bars, cheese-its, goldfish crackers and veggie straws (these are mostly just chips with the word veggie in the title but it makes parents feel better) and pretty much eats no protein, fruits or vegetables unless I place them in her mouth or place strict limits on her being allowed to do anything else.  And, imagine this, she is always crabby and irritated.  I wonder why.  I mean, I know I feel pretty good if I only eat simple carbs all day but maybe that's not her problem.  It's just a guess.   I only let her have snacks at certain times of day but I am ready to pitch them all in the trash.  Oh...she will eat berries.  Forget all seasonable, affordable fruit like bananas, apples, avocados, delicious December oranges, pears and peaches from little fruit cups, pomegranates, etc.  She will eat berries which, this time of year, cost $5 for a tiny carton that doesn't even hold enough to serve three kids.  And none for the adults in the house, obviously.  But, one kid was excited about the popcorn thing and that was enough to get him on his best behavior at least and he even wiped off the table.

This activity didn't make a terrible mess although there was a lot of broken popcorn laying around.  We have an air popper so you can make it without any oil or salt which no one has ever done before because BORING but it was perfect for this.

Ben looks like he has a Mohawk in these pictures.  He really doesn't.  Must be the way his hat smashed his hair down at school.  

So here is the chain Tessa and I (mostly I) made.  

It really does add some classic texture to the tree.  It would be fun to have a themed tree with all white one day and use popcorn chains.  I'll consider that in about ten years when I have time to care about stuff like that. Or it would be fun to decorate an outdoor tree and watch the birds and squirrels enjoy a treat.  I feel like there is an old children's book from my childhood where that happened but the details are very faded. 

Ben hung his chain by the stockings.

And look closely...

I can't believe I did this but after they went to bed there was a bowl with some bland, flavorless popcorn sitting there and stray needles were littering the table so I thought, "why not?" and me and "Shelfie" made a mini string of popcorn.  Hehe.  

In other seasonal news, I have made three big batches of spritz cookies this year.  One for Thanksgiving, one for Ben's Boy Scout bowling party and a third for a cookie exchange with friends.  I have been trying to perfect these for years since I grew up eating them and they are so simply delicious.  Every time, they have been too hard for my liking.  I like cookies to fall under the "are there raw eggs in this?" category and it seems like my spritz cookies always end up brown on the bottom and crunchy.  Well, I think this year I found the recipe and THE SECRET...BEHOLD:

Look at the perfectly un-browned back of that cookie!  And they are chewy and melty and perfect.  I read on an internet article or blog when searching for a recipe to use that it helps to place baking sheets in the freezer for a few minutes before you dispense the cookies and bake.  I suppose it makes them take longer to heat up on the bottom.  So I tried it and it seems to work!  Also, almost any recipe says to bake 10-12 minutes.  When I see directions like that I default to the lower number but I started baking them for 8 minutes and when I use my fancy ridged pan, shown below, I reduce it to 7.  

Check out big chunky up there in the corner!  Sometimes the press malfunctions a bit...

Oh, and also I go heavy on the extracts.  Almond extract should never be added in an amount less than a teaspoon, in my opinion.  My new favorite recipe said half that.  WHUT!?  And a big glug of vanilla never hurt anything either.  I think they are good.  At the boy scout party I saw a dad walk away from the table holding a big stack of them in his hand.  

Exterior Illumination 2017 Version

I believe back in the early months of this blog, when we were in the first months of having our first house, I did a post about exterior illumination when we hung actual, real Christmas lights on the house and in a tree in the front yard.  Whoa.  Must have been nice to just have time to do whatever we wanted!  Haha...that's kind of a joke.  I know lots of people pull it off but we haven't managed to do so since 2009.  Fortunately, there are many houses in town that give everyone something to see at Christmas.  And some of the most famous ones are right in our neighborhood!

Friday night was Ben's Christmas party for Boy Scouts which was a bowling party.  We knew Milo would cause trouble so we planned for one parent and Milo to leave when necessary.  After stopping him from running down the lane multiple times and having to physically restrain him from trying to lift bowling balls only to drop them directly on the ground it was time for him to go.  I stayed with the two older kids through a tedious game of bowling with four Kindergartners and their toddler and preschool siblings which took for-ev-er.  On the way home I decided to detour past the craziest house in town since it was a really warm night for December.

They usually turn on the display the night of Thanksgiving but they weren't ready yet this year (probably because they were still building that rollercoaster on the roof-that's a new addition) so this was the opening weekend and we had to park a block away and walk to the house.  Like previous years, it did not disappoint.  I took a few pictures although I hope to come back with the whole family another night before Christmas.

The kids loved the "Jesus scene".  There are a few in the yards on the drive to Ben's school and they always fight over who sees them first because they fight over everything. 

This old time pickup is also new this year.  

The famous sidewalk arch...this thing is made for social media pictures.  

Like I said earlier, we haven't put any outdoor Christmas decorations up since 2009...until now. Last year our neighbor got one of those "As Seen on TV" star shower projectors.  It is a little projector that projects green and red lights on your house.  It has a sensor that turns it on when it gets dark outside. After Christmas last year I found one on clearance.  Now there is a newer model that projects little pictures so now the one from last year costs the same as it did on clearance last year but oh well.  The star version is more tasteful...see for yourself.   

Isn't that festive?  

Allan did not know what to do about the little lights flashing through the window.  

He sat and stared at them all night. 

Then he realized they were coming through the basement window too so he sat on the stairs and watched them.  He's funny.  It will be a fun month for him between the star shower and chewing on the Christmas tree.