Christmas managed to stay merry despite the fact that my house was once again struck by the plague. Mom and Dad showed up suffering from head colds, which they passed on to me and Dave. Then Christmas morning Brayden woke up with stomach flu, which he eventually shared with almost everyone. Fun times in the Lee household! Miraculously, Justin and Chris escaped unscathed (although Chris hasn’t actually eaten anything today…)

Seriously, though, the kids seemed to have a blast. Justin really seemed to get the idea of Christmas this year, and he was so sweet, wishing everyone a merry Christmas and telling Grandma “I’m having a wonderful Christmas — thank you!” Brayden ran around and giggled even though he occasionally stopped to puke, so even he had a pretty good day considering.

This is a holiday week. Yay. That means the library is closed, play school is closed, play groups are cancelled…in short, we’re bored. Chris is off, which helps because I don’t know how I would keep the boys entertained all by myself. On the up side, while there is still a ton of snow out there (I spent an hour this morning clearing the snow the plow dumped at the end of our driveway), at least temperatures are getting back to normal. So how long until spring?

After some unexpected challenges, the family is finally here for Christmas. My parents showed up a day early to avoid the nasty weather that was forecast for this past Sunday, but Dave got stranded in Vancouver due to that same bad weather. His flight from Whitehorse to Vancouver was fine, but then I guess he sat on his next plane on the tarmac for four hours before they finally cancelled the flight. He never did get through to Air Canada to rebook. We got him a hotel room in Vancouver for the night and he got himself a bus ticket to Kelowna the next day (he almost couldn’t get a cab to the bus station, but that’s another story). So he ended up being 26 hours late — but on the up side, it’s the first Christmas in a very long time that he arrived at the same time as his luggage.

Justin’s new obsession is the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which he recites approximately 426 times a day. That show was one of my favorites growing up, but it’s wearing a little thin these days. Still, it’s better than watching endless episodes of Dora or something.

Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! Merry Christmas!

Brayden has always hated getting his hair cut. He objects far more to a haircut than he does to a needle in his arm. Unfortunately, his hair grows so fast that it has to be trimmed every month or so. This generally involves at least three adults, plenty of ear-splitting screaming and a very large tip for the poor stylist. So this time around we took him to a special hair salon that’s specifically designed for kids: the chairs are actually cars with steering wheels, there are TVs showing cartoons next to the mirrors and there’s even a ball pit for the siblings to play in while they wait. The stylist even produced toy cars and trains for Brayden to play with and gave me the task of blowing bubbles to keep him occupied. And lo and behold, the little guy hardly made a peep. (And Justin had a blast in the ball pit.) You’d think a place like that would cost a bundle, but it was only about $2 more than our regular salon. Awesome.

Just yesterday I was saying that I couldn’t believe December is just around the corner cause it still hadn’t snowed and temperatures were consistently above zero. That would normally be a good thing, but we bought sleds for the boys for Christmas and I was getting a little concerned that we wouldn’t be able to use them. But it’s been snowing all day today, so at last I can believe the holidays are really approaching. I’m not a big fan of winter, but it does seem a lot less dreary when it’s at least white outside, even if the sun isn’t out.

Brayden is starting to make more distinguishable sounds, which is cool. Last night he said “mama” but he wasn’t even looking at me, so I don’t think it meant anything. He likes to point to things and then look at us like he’s expecting us to fill in the word for him. It’s very cute.

Both boys have always loved music, but lately Justin has started singing songs he’s heard on the radio or on Sesame Street or wherever. It was a little surreal the first time I realized he was singing an old Van Halen tune. His tastes are obviously shaped by what I let him listen to (i.e. MY favorite music) but his current favorites seem to be Old Time Rock and Roll and anything by Eric Carmen. He also has a collection of videos on the Sesame Street website that he and Brayden both love to watch — everything from Ernie singing about bathtime to LL Cool J doing a song about addition. I spend at least an hour every day dancing around the living room with my kids. Good stuff.

I love Christmas shopping (although I don’t love doing it when the stores are full of crazy crowds, so I do it in November). Thinking about how excited someone will be when they open the gift they’ve always wanted gives me the warm fuzzies. So when my family decided to draw names this year, I thought it would bother me. But actually, it’s been a blessing. As the family expands, it’s becoming more of a case of just buying a gift for the sake of buying a gift, rather than finding something thoughtful and meaningful. And with fewer people to buy for, we can afford to spend a little more on the gifts we do buy. All good.

The sun is shining today, which also puts me in a good mood, despite the fact that Brayden was up at 5:30 this morning. Chris is taking Justin to see Franklin’s Family Christmas at the community theatre tonight, so we’ll see how that goes. Justin is a big fan of Franklin but we’re not too sure how he’ll do with a live stage show that goes for an hour and a half. (And no, we didn’t even consider taking Brayden — sitting still is really not his forte.)

Both boys are napping, which (yawn) sounds like a good idea to me…

I know it’s been a while since my last update, but our family spent the last half of October suffering from various ailments, from head colds to croup and ear infections. But now that we’re all healthy again, I have some time to write.

Halloween was no big deal around here. Justin refused to wear his costume and had no interest in going trick-or-treating, which was fine by us since it was raining. I put Brayden’s costume on him (he was the cutest little cow — check out the photo gallery) and the four of us just played in the house all evening. Pretty low-key.

I’ve started leaving Brayden with the grandparents while Justin and I go to play school each week. For a few weeks I brought Brayden along too, but that meant I spent all my time keeping him out of the paint, and the sand, and the Play-Doh…Justin would get frustrated and cranky cause I wasn’t available to read him a story or pay any attention to him at all, really. So this is working out much better. Justin now actually says his name during circle time (for the longest time he was too shy) and participates a bit in the group. It’s not quite preschool, since Mom is there, but it’s a good start.

Justin can count to 100 now and has even started printing all his letters. He’s mastered the computer mouse and pesters us constantly to let him play Sesame Street games online. It’s very tempting to give in, cause he can use the computer all by himself and it keeps him occupied for quite a while, but I try to limit his time on there in favor of more active pursuits.

Brayden is babbling a lot more than he used to, but no real words yet. I’d be a lot more worried about that if it wasn’t for the fact that Justin didn’t start talking until he was well past age two. It’ll come. Brayden’s current favorite toys are the Word Whammer and the Alphabet Town, so he’s very interested in letters. (Maybe Justin’s alphabet obsession has rubbed off.)

Our baby just keeps getting bigger. Brayden got weighed and measured a few weeks ago — he’s half an inch shorter but three pounds heavier than Justin was at this age, so he’s still a tank. We’re having trouble teaching him to be gentle: he can take a fairly good lickin’ and keep on tickin’, so it’s hard for him to grasp that other people might not be the same way. He’s also far less cautious than his brother, so he’s not inclined to hold back. Sigh.

Both boys are napping (yay!) so I should get some stuff done…

Boredom has not been a problem for me recently, mainly because the kids’ activities are keeping me uber-busy, plus we’re exploring the wonders of Wii Fit (which means I’m currently so sore that it’s tough getting up and down the stairs). I never thought a video game would give me such a workout, but it’s actually pretty cool — not least because Chris and I compete to see who can get the best results. Kudos to Nintendo, I say.

Justin started a new soccer program yesterday, and I’m pleased to report that he actually showed some interest in playing soccer. This time it’s indoors (at a state-of-the-art facility across town I hadn’t seen before…very cool) so at least the kids weren’t off chasing butterflies or digging for worms. But at any given point at least half the players were wandering the field aimlessly — I feel sorry for anyone who tries to coach a group of three-year-olds. Justin seemed to enjoy the warm-up stretches and the running-around-and-kicking-the-ball portion, but he wasn’t much into the organized drills, and he lost interest entirely about halfway through the class. Still, we called it a success.

A last-minute business trip took Chris to Calgary for a couple days, leaving me and the boys on our own. I wasn’t looking forward to doing the single mom thing, but I had a lot of help from the in-laws, and it actually wasn’t too bad. Justin is very attached to his dad and I thought we’d have some trouble that way, but neither kid really seemed to care that it was just Mom. Justin would occasionally ask where Daddy was, but I just said Dad was on a trip, and he seemed to accept that. If Chris was expecting a joyful welcome upon his return, he was slightly disappointed — Justin just looked up from his bedtime snack and said, “Oh, hi, Dad,” as if he’d never been away. Kids.

We’re well into the fall activities now, and it’s making me appreciate the days when we don’t have to rush out of the house first thing in the morning (I can only imagine how much worse it would be if I was trying to shlep the kids off to daycare every day). I’ve started leaving Justin with a babysitting service once a week while Brayden has a play group, and it’s working out really well — I’ve never left Justin with anyone besides family before and I wanted him to get used to being without Mom for a while. I’m also taking both boys to a drop-in play school thing once a week, and it’s nice to see how they just start playing and take no notice of me at all. So at least we know there are no separation issues!

All of which is good, because Chris and I are off to San Diego in a couple weeks. I can’t wait for this vacation, even though Chris has to leave it half a day early to fly directly to Regina for another business trip (sigh). If the boys are OK with Grandma and Grandpa Kingwell staying with them for a few days, we might have hope of doing another short getaway sometime next year. Dare to dream.

Now that my kids are a little older and can keep themselves occupied without my help, I’m noticing that I don’t fall into bed drop-dead exhausted at the end of the day anymore. In fact, I actually have a fair bit of free time. I vaguely recall getting to this stage when Justin was about Brayden’s age, but of course at that point I was pregnant again, so I knew I’d be busy again soon enough.

So I have some free time, but the problem is that I don’t know what to do with it. In months past, when I spent most of my time chasing kids around, if I did get a free moment all I wanted to do was have a nap or just relax in front of the TV — I had no energy left for anything else. But now I need something to engage my mind. I’m really looking forward to the San Diego trip, not only because it’ll be a nice getaway but also because I can make a scrapbook of the trip. It’ll be a good creative project to keep me busy.

I can totally understand why so many stay-at-home moms go back to work once their kids are in school. It’s not just because Mom gets bored. For me, it’s a validation thing. Right now, when anyone sees that I’m a stay-at-home mom with two young boys, they look at me with a bit of respect, because God knows it’s an intense job. But later, when my kids are more self-sufficient, and people ask, “So what do you do?”, I think I’d have trouble answering them. It just doesn’t seem nearly as impressive to say you’re a stay-at-home mom when your kids aren’t even home most of the day. So we’ll see what happens in a few years.