Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas this year! We had Christmas music playing and a plate of cookies for breakfast. When Jack woke up he came out to see his new tent and tunnel. I don't think he even noticed the presents under the tree. He did great opening his toys and playing with everything. It took a little while for him to grasp the concept that there was a toy under the wrapping paper but he caught on. Of course in the first minute of his Christmas he went right for his older toys. We moved them out of the way and he didn't understand why they weren't in their proper places. The Elmo chair definitely has a place in the living room.
We weren't sure how long his attention would last but Jack stuck with the presents all morning. He didn't even seemed too overwhelmed. He had a blast! Jack's favorite gifts were his tent, an aquadoodle, a cell phone and all the Elmo things. I was completely spoiled this Christmas. Tom surprised me with portraits of Jack. He had them done a month ago and I never even knew it!



It was such a great surprise and I cried like a crazy person. He also got me a few new kitchen gadgets which I love and a blackberry. So exciting. :-) I was totally surprised and loved all of my gifts! Tom didn't make out so well. I got him a Sony E-Reader which we already returned. (I seem to flop every Christmas.) He got a watch instead which he's very happy with. :-) He also got an electric toothbrush, a Nerf gun, and a new motorcycle helmet. I think the only way I could have wowed him like he wowed me was if I got him a '68 Camaro. Maybe next year....??? Hahaha.






All in all we had a great holiday. I cried, Jack had so much fun and Tom gathered all of his return items and then we had lobster. Good times!!! :-) hahahah. It's a shame the day doesn't last longer!






We hope everyone out there had a great holiday too! We're sorry we couldn't be with family for the holidays! That would have been the only thing that could have made our Christmas better. (that and me getting Tom a gift he actually loved) Happy Holidays everyone!

Quiet house....

Today is Friday. I actually left work early today. I earned over 3 hours of comp time this week for working late nights due to meetings and SKIES classes. So I decided that I was taking 2 of those hours and coming home to see my guys and hang out with my mother-in-law. When I got home, the other car was gone and I walked into a very quiet house. They were all off shopping. It's just me and lazy Sadie. I have to say, I don't like a quiet house. I'd much rather hear Jack setting off all his musical toys, laughing or trying to talk. Noise is much better than silence! :-) Never thought I'd utter those words. Hahahaha
Speaking of Jack....the poor kiddo's been sick. Sandy, Tom's mom, flew in on Sunday and Monday morning he woke up with one of his eyes a little gunky (that's the true medical term...heheheh) Tuesday morning it was worse but through the day seemed to get better. Wednesday morning was not good. So we called the doctor and got him an appointment for that afternoon. Tom had his afternoon free so he and Sandy took Jack to the pediatrician. (I was bummed I missed out. This is the first time, knock on wood, that we've taken Jack to the doctors for something other than a well baby appt.) The results were that Jack had pink eye and an infection in each ear. I couldn't believe it. He didn't have a fever, he didn't show any signs of pain with his ears but sure enough....2 infections. So he's been on eye drops and the lovely, pink, bubble gum flavored, amoxycilin. He's doing so much better. His eyes which were swollen shut and all "gunky" have completely cleared up and he's great with taking his medicine. With Sandy being here I didn't have to take any time off work, which was great, but I wouldn't have minded staying home to take care of my baby!

Pictures

So I finally had the chance to sit down and load all of our new and not so new pictures on to our shutterfly site. I take a million pictures. If any one's interested (I know my family will be happy) head to our site.There are new pictures from October, Halloween, a visit from Oma and Pop Pop, Thanksgiving, an FCC kiddo party, Jack first haircut, Christmas lights, and of course more pictures of Jack in a box. Hahahahah! Here are a few of my favorite. Enjoy!

Paging Dr. Jack.....

So the fly swatter has been replaced. Of course it was only a matter of time before the swatter became a weapon. Oh yes....we have Tom's college roommate to thank for that one. Mike was here for a short weekend visit a few weeks ago and in the breaks we took from playing Guitar Hero he managed to teach Jack the proper use of a fly swatter: SEEK & DESTROY. So thankfully we found something to replace Jack's first weapon. A stethoscope. Don't ask me where we got the stethoscope. We found it with unpacking from the move. Just one of those things. So Jack now walks around with it properly placed on his neck. This will be a classic picture for his year book. God, I love this kid! Hahahahahah!!! Everyday something new!

Turkey day and decorations...

Well, it's been way too long since I've gotten the chance to blog. I technically don't even have the time right now since the pile of laundry is giving me the stink eye, but still, I choose blogging over laundry anyday.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Tom, Jack, Sadie and I had a great weekend. Tom had all his classes canceled on Friday and I took the day off so we had a long weekend. I cooked way too much food, Jack loved all the fixings but wouldn't have missed the turkey. It was fun cooking a huge meal. With working we don't get to have good dinners everynight like when I was unemployed. I love cooking so it was fun for me. Plus who doesn't love the left over turkey sandwiches? So that was our Thursday.



On Friday we did some shopping. HOLY CRAP! I hate freakish holiday grumpy shoppers. There were 2 shootings around our area in CA on black friday. One of them was in a Toys R Us. Are you serious people?? My goal was to do all my shopping on line to avoid such crazies, I should have stayed with that original plan.
SO after recovering from that we spent all day Saturday decorating our house. We had to buy everything this year. All of our lights were German and we were in desperate need of some real decor. Jack loves the lights. We go outside every night to see the lights before bed. The weird thing is we were wearing shorts and t-shirts when we decorated. It was in the high 70s this weekend. Crazy when you're used to having seasons.


Sunday led us to the tree farm. Oh yeah...the tree farm. Funny thing about living in CA.....it's pretty darn expensive. We've had a fake tree the whole time we were in Schweinfurt so we were really excited to get a real tree for the first time. In good ol' PA an 8 ft tree runs about $30.00. Here in CA...that same tree, (I hate to admit that this is what we spent but I really really really wanted a real tree for the Christmassy smell)that same tree, $100.00. They even charged us $3.00 to have it wrapped up in a net. Are you kidding me?? But we wanted that tree. I love having a real tree. It's all about the pine smell. So all in all we had a great long weekend.





I have so much more to blog about....stay tuned!

Silence = Trouble

Being parents Tom and I have learned many things. One thing is that silence is never good. You may think silence is one of those rare things you may cherish when you have a kiddo in the house. It's not. It usually means he's doing something he shouldn't be doing. Silence = unrolling all the toilet paper in the bathroom. Silence = pulling all of the clothes out of the laundry basket. Silence = hiding toys in the fireplace. And the latest.....Silence = Pulling all the diapers out of a box laying obviously too close to his crib.
Since today was a holiday we all got to sleep late in the McMurtrie house. Jack woke up around 7 (his usual time, and yes this is sleeping late in our house). We thought he fell back asleep since we fell back asleep for about 20 minutes. Then we heard him again. So we wander into his room and find him sitting in a sea of diapers. Hahahahah. I guess it could have been much worse.

All kinds of stuff....

Well there's been a lot going on in the McMurtrie house the past 2 weeks. I started working. I'm loving my job, but it's A LOT of stuff. I hate getting home around 6pm and not having more time with Jack before we put him to bed but that makes our weekends all the more special. Jack is doing great at Ms. Liliane's FCC home. He really does have a good time there. Tom picks him up earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays so they get in some daddy/son time. Anyway, so I started work last week then my parents flew in on Wednesday. Of course this trip was planned long before I started working and my timing is just perfect with this stuff. So they kept Jack on Thur. and Fri. We got dressed up and handed out candy for Halloween.




I was told to buy a TON of candy. That was a lie! We had about 20 kids and that was it. Those kids really made out at our house. I had about 20 lbs of candy. ARGH! Back to my parents....with them being here Jacks is being spoiled rotten. They bought him a little quad power wheel. I can't believe the age on this thing was 12-36 months. It took him a while to figure out what it was and that it moved with the touch of a button but he actually rides this thing....


So my parents are traveling around Napa Valley and San Fran this week and coming back to us on Friday. They're here for the weekend then they fly out on Monday. It's great having family around. Especially with Jack. This past weekend Jack had his first haircut. I can't believe how much a hair cut could change a little boy. He was baby going in and now he's my little man. He looks so grown up now. He did great too. Squirmed a little, but was cooperative to say the least.






We also drove 17 mile drive again. My dad is a golfer and I think he teared up when he saw the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. It was cool to see him so excited. Of course my parents brought the rain and cold with them but we still had good time!




So with starting work and my parent's visiting and trying to figure out our new schedule there was something else that came into the mix. Like I said before my timing is perfect. This something else is pretty big news. We found out this news a week after I got my job. Tom and I are expecting our 2nd kiddo. That's right. We're pregnant. Holy crap! Hahahaha. We're really excited. I've told my boss at work and he was beyond happy and supportive. He actually told me that if they would have known before, they still would have hired me. That made me feel much better. I was very nervous to tell my boss. Here I am starting this crazy job trying to prove myself and I'm pregnant. Everything works out though. Tom kept saying to me...."You work for CYS, I think they'll understand" Hahaha. I work with really great people. I am really enjoying the job. I miss Jack desperately but I know that day care is good for him too. Plus it will prep him for having a little brother or sister. :-) I'm only about 10 weeks along. I'm due the first week of June. Send happy preggo vibes our way.
Hope everyone is doing well out there! I'm going to try and blog as much as I can. Work is cramping my chances to blog. :-) Just a note, this blog is probably all over the place since I typed it while watching the election results, and I'm kinda sleepy. hahaha
Miss you all!

Good times!

Today was a great Saturday. For some reason Jack slept late, which means we got to sleep late :-), then we had cinnamon buns for breakfast, built a fort, lounged around, watched the Penn State game (YEAH LIONS!!!!), Tom went for a motorcycle ride, we video chatted with Oma, then had a great dinner at home. Oh yeah, the best part of the day....the fort. It so took me back to my childhood. How much fun was it to build a fort out of rearranged furniture and sheets? Good times!! Hahahah. This was Jack's first fort. Tom insisted I had more fun in it but I think Jack liked it too! Sadie sure loved sitting on the fort and digging out the corners of the blanket from the couch cushions. She was a party pooper. Anyway, lots of fun was had in the Murtie house today! I'm thinking we should build a fort everyday.

Tears

Since I'm about to start working full time we decided to get Jack started with going to day care every day. We're using an FCC provider who we love! Ms. Liliane is sooo great! We've been taking him for 2 hours randomly before, not every day. Since I'm not working full time just yet we're taking Jack from 8am-2:30pm everyday. He needs to get used to eating and sleeping there. The times before it's only been when he's wide awake, fed and ready to play, otherwise known as his HAPPY mood. :-) hahaha. So last night Tom and I were talking about everything new that's going on and how I feel like I'm stirring everything up. Jack had a schedule, we had a system and know it's all getting rearranged. I'm all about change and I'm very excited to work but I realized last night how much I love being a mom! I'm having a little bit of a hard time (understatement) coming to terms that I won't be with Jack everyday all day long. I know he's going to be safe and well taken care of and I really do believe that day care is great for social development but it all breaks my heart. Today I dropped Jack off to Ms. Liliane's around 8am. He was all excited to see her house and knock on the door. As soon as she opened the door he got this super sad look on his face and I broke. I'm crying and then he started crying and grabbing on to me for dear life. (Now I know this is normal. Tom's mom told us that all of her boys, Tom included, had to be peeled off of her for the first month of going to day care) It's just the saddest thing. So I'm a big believer in saying good bye and not sneaking away so I give my screaming tear filled child a kiss and I head towards the door and they head towards the kitchen for breakfast. The funny thing here is that once Jack saw that he was heading towards the kitchen for some food, he calmed right down and stopped crying. Me on the other hand....I cried until I was half way home. I think I shed more tears than he did. Pathetic, right?? So now I'm sitting here trying to make myself be productive and not stare at the clock waiting for 2:30 to come so I can go pick him up. I miss my crazy kiddo!!! I guess I need to start this job soon because I need to be busy!

A walk to the park

So our little development of Del Rey Oaks has its own little playground and dog park. It was in the high 70s today and we thought why not head to the park. Jack's uncles (Luke and Bruce) bought Jack a wagon for his birthday this year. I love this wagon. It's come in handy on a few occasions. We can load it up with more stuff than a stroller and Jack loves to ride in it. I recommend a wagon for every family with a kiddo. So out the door we went and we headed to the park in the wagon. Notice what came along for the ride....Sadie was with us of course, and the fly swatter. Oh yes, we still have an undieing love for the swatter. Some kids have lovies that are stuffed animals but we have a fly swatter. Hahahahah. You have to love the mind of a child!!! :-)
Hope everyone had a great long weekend!!!