Lazy Day After Christmas

So let me tell you about the past three days, if you will so kindly indulge me. Christmas Eve I woke up when I felt like it and Jesse and I had a meeting at 930. Afterward I went to work for a few hours and had lunch with one of the MA's at Del Taco. I think I may have been there once before but I ordered the chicken tacos and it was a revelation. I love those small little tacos! And the french fries were so satisfying to this pregnant woman's craving for warm and salty. I was in lunchtime heaven.

I got to go home early and I ended up helping Jesse get Christmas Eve dinner ready and clean the house up a bit for our guests. We had a great time and great food. The turkey was divine, but then again I am pampered as far as turkey goes. My husband is a born-natural foodie and takes projects like turkey roasting & basting very seriously and to the utmost of its perfection. He is simply amazing to watch as he calculates and ponders these things and the finished product never ceases to amaze me.

I got to make the mashed potatoes, and I made a ton. I use my grandmothers recipe for mashed potatoes. I know mashed potatoes aren't generally hard to execute, but I love my grandmothers mashed potatoes above everyone elses. She uses evaporated milk instead of regular milk and insists you use butter. And they are amazing. I whipped them into a cream like consistency, knowing I missed a couple chunks... but the bowl was too inferior for the job anyway. And everyone loved them.

Jesse also made a delicious gravy with the butterball recipe that came with the turkey. He made so much I thought we'd be doomed for leftovers (I hate even the idea of gravy leftovers- yeck!) but it was so tasty we had not a drop left. His apple pie we had for dessert was amazing as well.

We opened some presents with Jesse's sister and brother & law and our neice Emma. It was a good time. We also got to open presents with our friends the Allen's. The Allen's got us our own nativity set that is durable enough to withstand Jesse Jay. It will be great to be able to tell him the Christmas story with figurines now. We gave out some homemade goodies (pickles, relish, jam, and meat rubs).

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Christmas morning was nice and we were able to sleep in a bit. We gathered around the tree with Melinda at 830 and began opening presents. Jesse Jay took his time ripping small pieces of paper off the presents. He was very good about the whole thing really. Even indulged us grown-ups as we decorated him with the boys and put them on his head. He liked his presents MORE than the boxes they came in and was so excited about all his new toys he excitedly would change from one toy to the other in a matter of minutes.

All in all, the kid made out quite nicely. He got numerous books, boats for the bathtub, a toy car, a wooden train set (that took Jesse at least 4-5 hours to put together), a Handy Manny patio set, a learning laptop, a Bible, The Incredibles, etc. He was so tired by the time afternoon came and he took the longest nap.

We had Jesse's sisters cinnamon rolls she gave us for breakfast and let our tummies try and get hungry for our Christmas dinner. We got to go over to our good friends The Reads' house for dinner and had the best Roast Beef ever. The food was delicious and I overindulged, which I try and avoid these days secondary to the diminishing room in my abdomen for a food baby with a baby baby. :)

The Reads had some presents for us, and we had some for them as well. They got Jesse Jay this really cute Ball Popper that he loves. It plays all kinds of music and he stands there massively swaying his hips to the music. Its a fun sight, thats certain!

We had dessert with the Reads and the Allens that night. We had such a good time we stayed pretty late for parents of a 15 month old. The dessert was amazing as well. I made a pumpkin cheesecake that was really good. There was a brownie mocha torte, butterscotch cheesecake, dutch apple pie, and a blackberry pie too. I think its taken all day for me to recover from that line-up.

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Today, my husband woke up and wanted to make pumpkin pancakes. I had a couple bites because I was still full from yesterday. But it was delicious. I have enjoyed all this good food but I cannot wait for the leftovers to be gone and I can resume my normal small meals that arent so decadent, so my stomach can recover from the expansion of the holidays.

We have watched movies, made turkey soup from our leftovers, played a lot with Jesse Jay and his new toys. And thats about it. My back hurts far too much to be of any use or any fun treking around. Plus, the day after Christmas is notoriously busy with shoppers and being in pain isn't a good recipe for me being tolerant of long lines and crabby people. I am airing on the side of caution and secluding myself with my boys for the day (and little miss Emma while her mama gets a haircut).

Hence why you're now reading about it. I needed an outlet. I get cabin fever so bad. :)

We hope you had a Merry Christmas as well.

Jesse Jay's First Haircut

This is the picture of what Jesse Jay's hair had become prior to his first haircut. Yes, it strongly resembles a young Albert Einstein, I am sure. It was getting too be a "hot mess" and very unmanagable with all the poofy-ness. Despite dressing him exactly like a boy, receptionists and people who do not know us well would comment on how beautiful SHE was. So my husband finally came to me, begging me to get his haircut.

Let's face it. He has beautiful long eyelashes that are the envy of any girl and has a lot of my features. He certainly is adorable. But we agreed it was time to make his hair more managable. Even at the risk we might lose the beautiful curls I have coveted.

So we took him to Maya. She is the wonderful lady who cuts Melinda and my hair. She is a lot of fun. She is the sweetest lady and I HAD to have her cut Jesse's hair. She is an amazing Bosnian hairstylist who runs a salon out of her home. And she knows curly hair! If anyone could ensure his locks would stay intact, it's her. She had so much fun with us cutting his hair. He was surprisingly good as he sat in my lap playing with Melinda's cellphone she so generously gave to distract him.

And this is what "magic" Maya worked.....

Awww... isnt he just dashing?!? He looked like a completely different child! Its amazing what a haircut can do for your credibility. I told my husband, I swear "I can't see him as a baby anymore. He looks like such a BIG boy!" He even just struck me as a completely different child.

Once Maya had cut away the baby hair and long hair, his hair underneath is undeniably blonde. He always was blonde, but exceptionally so now. It appears the old brown hair was still there, keeping him a shade or two darker than what he clearly is now.

We were so excited after his haircut that we HAD to go out to lunch to celebrate so we went out to Famous Daves. It was a really good time. We had so much fun with this milestone. And now I have to go track down our little bag of his locks to put into his baby book.

Did I mention, I absolutely LOVE his new haircut???

Announcing Baby #2.... AKA

Toby David Maddux. We are in love with the name. Toby means "God is good." David means "Beloved." David was the son of Jesse in the Bible. So we really like that the name has Hebrew origins, just like our names.

Toby is very active and I feel him more and more often. We are excited for another ultrasound here in a few weeks and get a chance to peek at him again and see how he is doing.

God is good. Life is good. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes.

Ultrasound and Details on Baby #2

We had our ultrasound yesterday. I like the OBGYN Center because they take their time and the ultrasound tech (Kira) is very chatty and always likes to tell you how beautiful and perfect your baby is. She also is very good at pointing out what she is doing and measuring. Well, this baby is a moving fanatic and I thought he would be very cooperative and mobile during my ultrasound. Boy was I wrong....

I had to literally run out of my clinic yesterday, jump in the car and get to my appointment exactly on time. Which was 1 pm. No lunch, nothing to eat since 9am that morning. And the baby was clearly snug like a bug in a rug, and was not going to move a whole lot.

We didn't get too much of the profile or too many details of the heart. So we are going to have to go back next visit for more ultrasound photos to ensure everything looks great. But what we did get to see after a half hour of leg crossing was "the parts." And sure enough, baby boy #2 is among us. I hate calling him that but we don't really have a name yet.

He seems to be lengthy like daddy too. The little bit of his profile we did get to see looks a lot like Jesse's did. So I am thinking another drop dead gorgeous boy. We are going to have to put these boys in cages when they hit puberty.

His heart rate was running 144 this time. I wonder if being wiggly verses sleeping affects that some. I'm sure it does, but likely the next ultrasound will confirm.

We are very excited. It's nice that we saved all of Jesse's stuff. Now we just need to buy a dresser for the new baby.

We talked to my doctor after the ultrasound and she (as always) is awesome. She offered to induce a week early. Which is super nice and I am grateful for. She also gave me an antibiotic and Robitussin DM because Jesse's cold he gave me seems to be moving into my sinuses and not moving. Being pregnant she'd rather keep me from getting a bacterial infection and very sick. So I am taking my medicine, and I am already starting to feel better. So I think it did turn into a sinus infection.

Jesse and I had lunch late afterwards and just spent some much needed date time together. Jesse's sister was kind enough to watch Jesse Jay all day for us so we could just enjoy the day. And it was definately a great day.

Now I need to find some little shirts that say "Little Brother" and "Big Brother." We already got Jesse Jay a new book about his new brother. :)