The Start of a Magical Season

My dad went out of the way to make all holidays really special for us girls.  But he went over the top, completely crazy and totally extravagant for Christmas.  I now know why.

Friday night we decided to put up our Christmas tree.  Yes, it's early but we are traveling for Thanksgiving and have a jam packed schedule the following weekend so it just made sense to get it up prior to us going out of town.  I wasn't sure what little Kahn's reaction to decorating the tree was going to be or how much he really understood of Christmas, but his reaction and his excitement is something I will NEVER forget!  He seriously was so excited to put up the tree...he cheered as big Kahn took it out of the box, screamed when he lit the lights and couldn't get the ornaments out of the boxes fast enough.  He loved placing each of the ornaments on a limb and then checked in with me and Kahn to make sure he did it right and for our approval.  He was bummed when we were finally out of ornaments for him to put up.   I seriously don't think his smile left his face all night long.

That night he said good night to the tree before heading up to bath and bedtime and we said a special thank you for our Christmas tree in our prayers.  The next morning when he woke up, he was so excited to see the tree again.  He rushed downstairs, stood in front of the tree and said, "Mommy, isn't it the most beautiful Christmas tree in the world?  I helped you and daddy put it up."  I just hugged him and cried. I didn't want to let go..I just wanted to enjoy the moment and the magic of Christmas.  Kids really do make Christmas that much more special and magical!

So, I am especially thankful for everything my dad did for us at Christmas.  I now understand why he went out of the way to make it so special and to literally make our house look like the north pole at the holiday season.  I'm sure the reaction of us 4 girls year after year was as priceless as little Kahn's reactions this year.  My dad is loving having grandkids around now and being able to return to his over the top Christmas decorating.  I can't wait to spend the holidays at my parent's house this year and for Kahn to experience all of the Christmas magic that I did growing up there.

I am really looking forward to the Christmas season, teaching my kids about the true meaning of Christmas and all the wonder and amusement it will bring...

(And just to mention sweet Olivia (she was there too), but she's still a little young.  She loved taking the ornaments off of the tree, pulling on the lights and trampling on the train track.   She looked extra cute doing it though.  The bottom of our tree may have all the ornaments removed by the time Christmas actually comes around!)

Here's some pics from the night and the next morning.  Excuse the quality of the pictures.  Kahn was not home to edit them and if I wait for him to get around to doing it, I'd never be able to post on this blog!

 

 

Newborns...Exciting and Exhausting!

I had a work trip to Charlotte, North Carolina this week and got to spend the night with one of my best friends, Danielle, and her newest addition, Cole!  He was the sweetest, most adorable little boy in the world!  I fell in love with him!  Danielle has fallen into the mommy role quite well...I'm so happy for her and Ken!  She looked great, was so happy and so, so, so tired!  It totally reminded me of that newborn stage.  It's exciting...it's new...and it's f'ing exhausting!!!

There is really no other way to explain those first two months or so of having a newborn.  It's this really bizarre time because you are so excited about a new baby and so in love it is unreal, but at the same time, it is just miserable and exhausting!  Sleep deprivation is brutal!!!

It was definitely worse with Kahn.  He wasn't gaining weight when he was first born so I had to feed him every 2 hours around the clock!  That meant setting an alarm in the middle of the night so I could wake up and feed him.  And breastfeeding takes a long time...so by the time I was done feeding him and changing his diaper, I had about an hour to sleep and then I had to do it all over again.  It was awful!  Olivia was a little better, but I didn't have the luxury of sleeping during the day since I was chasing a 19 month old around too, so I was still always tired.  Bottom line...the lack of sleep is just a killer!

Don't get me wrong, I'd do it over and over and over again because kids are so worth it so I am definitely not complaining.  I just don't want any first time moms to be caught off guard!  Prepare for one of the most amazing times in your life, but also prepare for utter exhaustion!

But it definitely gets better.  If it didn't, I would have stopped at one.  I mean, who in their right mind would do that again...right?  In my case, my kids were sleeping through the night relatively early.  And when I mean 'through the night', I don't mean 10pm to 6am...I mean 7pm to 7am!  And to this day I have great sleepers and I am so thankful!!

But even when I was up in the middle of the night and so tired and miserable and sometimes in tears...these little faces kept me going!  They were the sweetest, most cuddly, adorable babies in the entire world!  There is nothing that adequately describes the love you have for your kids and the sacrifices you will make on their behalf.  Honestly, I'd forego sleep altogether for them!

Kahn Gregory II born January 21, 2009

Olivia Kathryn born August 30, 2010

So, to my friend, Danielle...it gets easier and you'll be getting a full night of sleep before you know it!  Thanks for letting me spend some time with you and Cole.  He's amazing and I love seeing you so happy!  He's the luckiest little boy in the world to have you as his mom.  I love you!

What Surgery?!?

Kahn had surgery last Thursday afternoon.  And last Thursday evening at 5pm you would have never of known he had anything done to him!  

The whole day actually went well.  I was really nervous about him not being able to eat all day so I kept him out of the house all morning, but had to be careful not to exhaust him so that he would ask for water and had to avoid any sort of store that sold food.  So we hung out at Toys R Us that morning playing with all of their toys and riding their bikes.  It actually worked as a great diversion and he never even asked for water until 12:15 and his surgery was scheduled for 12:30.  Success!

We headed to the surgery center at Children's Hospital at 11am to prep for surgery.  The surgery center was awesome!  Kahn loved the attention he got, the toys in the waiting room and the TV in the pre op room.  When it was time for him to go back to the operating room, I kissed him goodbye and big Kahn took him back.  I knew I would cry so Kahn gowned up and walked him back and held onto him until he was 'asleep'.  Here's a picture of them right before they headed back to surgery!  (Excuse the quality...camera phone at it's best!)

Before we knew it, the doctor came out and told us everything was great!  Once they got in there they realized that he actually didn't have a hernia, but instead, an isolated hydrocele.  They removed as much of it as they could but they had to leave some there since it was connected to his testicle.  They didn't want to mess with the blood supply to his testicles or interfere at all with his 'goods' so they were conservative when removing the lump.  We may have a reoccurrence at some point, but there's really no way around that.

And before we knew it, Kahn was wheeled into our room.  He did great in the recovery room and mainly just slept.  Of course, I had to crawl into bed with him...

And once he was awake, he enjoyed his lollipop and juice box and we were able to go home!

And as I said above, you seriously would not even believe he had surgery last week.  That night he was up and playing and running and dancing and being his same, silly self!  We tried to get him to lay low, but that's not entirely possible with a very active 2 year old.  I was able to catch this video of him dancing that night.  Don't be jealous of his moves...his mommy taught him all he knows!  He cracks us up!

As nerve-wracking as it was waiting for the doctors to say he was out of surgery and doing fine, the whole experience wasn't too bad.  We are so thankful everything went well!

We've very proud of you, Kahn!  You are such a big boy!

Kahn's First Falcon's Game

The Falcons may have lost, but little Kahn loved his first Falcons game!

The girls stayed home while the boys headed to the dome and from what he told me when he got home, he loved his first Falcon's experience!  I wish I could have been there to experience it with him...

But here's a picture Kelli took on her phone at the game.  It's not the best quality ever, but I think it about sums up what an awesome day it was for my boys!

Go Falcons!!!

Camping 2011

Last weekend a bunch of friends got together and went camping!  I think most people thought we were nuts because the weather was freezing, but we brought enough booze and fire wood to solve that problem. And it was a total blast!!!  And honestly, we were so bundled up (and liquored up too) that the weather didn't even bother us!

This was our first camping trip in a while. We went camping with the same group about 4 years ago and had an equally awesome time!  So, we got the crew together again, loaded up our cars and headed to the mountains!

We went to Desoto Falls in Dahlonega, Georgia.  It was a very nice campground with...a waterfall!  We even put down our cocktails for a bit to hike to the falls.  Oh wait, I brought my cocktail!  But nonetheless, the falls were beautiful and the hike was refreshing.  Upon return to the campsite, we made dinner, we ate birthday cupcakes, we played flip cup, we had dance party USA, and just sat around the fire telling stories and laughing!  And the fact that I fell asleep at 8pm had nothing to do with the number of cocktails I had, but had everything to do with the exhausting 1.5 mile walk roundtrip to the waterfall. Right?  At least that's what I tell myself...

Despite my early bedtime, it was one of the best weekends in awhile with the very best company in the world!  I can't wait to plan our next camping adventure!  We are definitely not waiting another 4 years before we hit the woods again!

Five Years!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Five years ago tonight, Kahn and I got married!  It was such an awesome night!  Sometimes I can't believe it was five years ago.

A lot has happened in five years...we've bought a house; we've started new job; Kahn went back to school for his MBA; we've traveled and traveled and traveled--Colorado, Utah, New York, Washington, Missouri, Alabama, California, Washington DC, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and all over the state of Florida; we've made new friends; we've lost loved ones; we've bought new cars; and most importantly, had two amazing children!  We definitely lived our lives to the fullest these past five years!!!

And through it all, it has been really nice to have my best friend and the most amazing husband and father in the world by my side!  Kahn, I love you more than you know!  Thanks for making me the happiest, most loved woman in the entire world!  I look forward to the rest of my life with you!

Cheers to our first five years and many, many more to come!!!

(And sadly, I couldn't find a picture from our wedding on my computer so I am posting another pic.  I have no clue what this pictures is from, but it has been posted because both Kahn and I look skinny...which sadly, after 5 years, we are no longer!)

Surgery Tomorrow...

...and I'm just sick about it!

I worry...a lot...and I am just sick about Kahn having surgery tomorrow.  I know it is a super simple procedure and I have been reassured by many that have gone through the same thing with their kids that it is a lot easier than they thought, but for some reason, I'm still worried as hell!  Big Kahn made me promise that I wouldn't cry when they took him away, but I honestly am not sure if I can hold up my end of the deal.  I mean, I'm crying now just thinking about it.

We have been talking with Kahn about tomorrow and his trip to the 'doctor' and trying to prepare him, but I'm not sure how much he actually understands.  He has talked with me quite a bit about it tonight...and how he can't eat tomorrow and the doctor is going to fix his penis and then the doctor will bring him back to mommy and daddy and he will get a lollipop.  I am praying it goes that smoothly.  I definitely can't forget the lollipop!

So tomorrow is the big day!  I know I have myself worked up over nothing and will be so relieved when it is over, but until he is in my arms tomorrow, I am going to be a ball of nerves.  Maybe I should call my best friend Liz and have her prepare me.  God knows her little miracle has been put under anesthesia way too many times for a 2 year old.  And he's had a million times riskier surgeries than this little procedure Kahn is having, but I guess as a mother, you worry no matter how big or small the procedures are or how big or small the kids are.

So please think of us tomorrow.  I'll be saying a million prayers until I get to kiss his sweet face in the recovery room.

We love you, Kahn!  You were the best thing that ever happened to mommy and daddy and we know tomorrow is going to go as smoothly as can be and you will be up running around like nothing happened before we know it.  We hope you like all the presents we got you for being such a big boy!  XOXO

Halloween!

Yes, this post is late, but I just can't seem to upload pictures in any sort of timely manner these days.

But we definitely had a blast this Halloween!  The kids were so excited and Kahn loved it!!!!

The Halloween festivities began on the Thursday before at their school.  They had a Halloween parade at school followed by a class party.  Unfortunately, I missed their very first Halloween parade due to Atlanta traffic!  Yes....totally sucks!  Believe me when I tell you that I cried the entire time I sat in stand still traffic, but I was able to at least say hi to Kahn in the gym before he went back to his class.  Thankfully, Tina and Star got lots of pictures of my kids though.  Olivia and Jane led the bye-bye buggy and opened the parade and Kahn followed up with the rest of the 2-year olds!  Their class parties were fun too and it was nice to meet all of the parents and talk with their teachers.

And Halloween night was a blast!  All of the neighbor kids were out and it was great to see the neighborhood crawling with lots of little kids dressed up in their costumes!  Kahn loved everything about trick or treating! I mean, who wouldn't? Olivia definitely didn't get the concept yet, but that will change next year when she is 2.  She was definitely the cutest pumpkin ever though!!!  She basically sat in her wagon all night while her big brother ran (and when I say ran, I definitely mean ran) from house to house!  Actually now that I think about it, she was the smart one...he did all the work and she got to reap the benefits!  But we are all super proud of Kahn...he scored us a ton of candy and for those of you who do not know, me and big Kahn LOVE candy!  We could barely wait for them to go to bed that night so we could break into their stash!  And as an update to a previous post, our neighbors really made us proud. I mean, we got a few pieces of cheap, crappy Halloween candy, but for the most part, there was a lot of quality candy handed out in the 'hood!  The Peterson's thank you, Enclave!

But here are some pictures from our fun night!

Kahn was Frankenstein...and he loved having his face painted!

Olivia was our little pumpkin!

And here's a picture of them with their friends before we headed out to trick or treat.  

Everyone looked so cute!!!

I hope everyone had as fun of a Halloween as we did!!!  

Wednesdays!

I am off work on Wednesdays!  It might be my favorite day of the week.

After I had Kahn, I realized that work wasn't all it was cracked up to be and decided to drop down to part-time.  I mean, I'm not 20 hours/week part-time, but it is a really, really nice to only work 32 hours/week and to enjoy a day with my kids.  When I originally decided to go part-time, I told my boss I only wanted to do it while Kahn was a baby and that I would come back to work full-time once he was a year.  Well...I'm still part-time and I really have no plan to ever go back to working full-time again.  Don't get me wrong, the full-time salary would be nice--really nice, but my kids are only going to be little once and I didn't want to work my way through their childhood and miss them growing up.

So, I love Wednesdays...a lot!  And every Wednesday, the kids and I do some sort of adventure in the morning (park, museum, playdate, shopping, etc) and then we always eat lunch at Chick-fil-A.  It's just our ritual...we order the same thing every time and sit in the same spot every week.  Pam, the hostess (who is wonderful btw), greets the kids with balloons, stickers and cow stuffed animals, and after our lunch, we all share an ice cream.  I love my Wednesday lunch dates!

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving...I am very THANKFUL for being able to spend every Wednesday with the absolute loves of my life!