A Holiday Recap - 2015

{Catching up}

The holidays were very good to us this year.

Mostly. (Read: norovirus, you are evil).

This time of year truly is wonderful. Decorating, baking, wrapping presents, Hallmark movies, sweatpants and slippers…I love it all. But best yet is time spent with family. We are blessed to have a lot of family in town, so we are never without good company this time of year. This year we had two gatherings Christmas Eve, one Christmas Day, one the day after, and one in early Jan. It was a whirlwind, and I think we took a long time to recover from it. (Also, illness).

Spending the holidays with Carter was really special. And tiring. Last year he was this snuggly little thing that slept through it all, and only cared about nursing and being in someone’s arms. This year, he was still oblivious, but much more fun in a lot of ways. 

I took the whole week off, as daycare was closed, and really enjoyed my extra time with him. Monday we visited Jon at work, then stopped by my office for a short visit show off (I won’t lie), and then had dinner with Alicia and crew. Carter ate Olive’s leftovers from the floor, both pined for the same toy, the older boys entertained us, and we learned Carter is afraid of even the most timid, skiddish of dogs. It was a lovely evening, one I wish we could repeat every Monday night. 

Tuesday Carter and I took the car for an oil change, where he had all the ladies (and even one very manly of a man) smiling at him. The rest of the day we hung out at home and played with his new birthday presents, which was a perfect way to spend the day.

Wednesday Jon was also off so we took Carter to see Santa. I wasn’t sure how he’d react, though I suspected he’d cry. I had hoped he would have SOME sort of reaction rather than indifference, and boy he delivered. He took one look up at him and immediately cried. Poor kiddo. It seems like a rite of passage to scream on Santa’s lap, so check!

I also pumped for what I’d hoped to be the last time that day and celebrated putting it away. (Since then I’ve had to pump only twice more, a week later, to alleviate a little pain). It is SOOOOOO liberating not to be tied to that pump anymore. Particularly when I did things like get home from cookie exchange at 11pm and realize I had left it at my friend's house 40 minutes away, and then have to make the round-trip immediately again while trying not to fall asleep. Anyway, I digress. Carter enjoyed playing with my pump parts before I confiscated it all for storage. The kid is obsessed with putting things over his shoulders.

On Christmas Eve, we started out by confusing Carter and arriving to his daycare (Aunt was hosting) to a slew of extended relatives instead of his daycare buddies. He couldn’t care less about presents, or unwrapping them, but did seem to enjoy playing with the toys and wrapping paper afterwards. And climbing on top of them. Always.

This picture above makes me smile. It will have been the last "4 Generations" photo we could get.

He survived his first really late night up (went to bed 7pm, then up 9:30 – 11:45pm), although it wasn’t exactly pleasant. He refused to go back to sleep at Grandma’s after he opened presents, like I planned, so instead I had to hold him the entire time. While standing of course. Side note, why is it that the whining seems reserved for just me? It’s like children save all their non-pleasant feelings for when mom’s around. He cheered up a bit for a while, but overall the late night just didn't feel worth it. Unfortunately, this schedule is probably here to stay so we will just deal every year.

On Christmas Day, we woke bright and early and opened a few presents we had for each other. Again, Carter couldn’t have cared less about the presents, but I was so excited for our little family to be together. Traditions! Photos! Hugs and kisses! Jammies and wrapping paper!

Then we went to church, running in with a minute to spare, and found ourselves a spot in the crying room. Carter befriended an older boy who was playing with his new toy, although I’d have to say the boy wasn’t too thrilled to be sharing with a baby. Then off to my parents’ house, where we enjoyed a lovely day of lasagna, presents, and playing with Carter. We also Skyped with our family overseas at some point.

That Saturday we had Christmas #4, this time with my dad’s side. Carter got sick right before we left for the party, but had seemed fine otherwise so we thought it was a fluke. To the party we went! Unfortunately, he became out of sorts most of the afternoon, very clingy and not happy. A couple hours in, he threw up all over me (and my brand new sweater), and we had to leave the party. Boo hoo hoo. I spent at least 30 minutes pacing my parents’ hallway with him to calm him and put him to sleep, which was hard because I think all he wanted was his bottle, and then I collapsed in front of the TV. I was bummed about missing the family Christmas, but the Lisa of 18 hours later would agree that missing the Christmas dinner would not be the worst of it. I did get to FaceTime and partake in the dice game gift exchange. And in a way enjoyed some peace and quiet amidst a crazy holiday week. I try to be all about the bright sides.

But then? Duh duh duhhhh. Carter woke happy as a peach with no signs of anything, but it seemed it was my turn. I felt SO exhausted all day, and by mid-afternoon, succumbed to the couch while Jon tried to keep Carter entertained (ie away from Mama). I made it to Carter’s bedtime, and then all things went very, very badly. I’ll just say I’ve never in my life been that sick. And trying to rock a crying child who wants nothing but you in the middle of the night while you are sick as a dog? Torture. You should get a medal of some sort after parenting while sick. It’s well deserved in my book.

By Monday morning, Jon wasn’t feeling well (let’s share all the germs!), and I was still very miserable. Somehow we got Carter up and dressed, plopped him in front of a cartoon with his bottle, and debated who could muster a car trip to daycare. Jon! We anxiously counted down the minutes until they could leave for daycare while trying not to freak out Carter with our pathetic worthlessness. That entire day I felt only a fraction better than I had the night before and both of us basically slept the entire day.

The virus spread to both sets of grandparents, some cousins, all daycare kids, and most daycare parents in a matter of days. Ufda. It took several more days before I felt like myself again, and by the sounds of it, seems like I had it the worst.  

But hey, cute little man kept our spirits up!

By the time of our last Christmas event, #5 with my mom’s family, a couple weeks later, we were all healthy and happy and virus-free. At least we ended the season on a positive note, and I'm hoping we never repeat that virus again.

And that is my very late holiday recap.