Holiday Season 2013 Wrap Up

I enjoyed one more year of a simple holiday season.  Next year, Evie will be three, which is apparently when kids start to remember.  And she will, Lord willing, be in preschool, so I will have that mommy pressure to do more things.  Plus I am going to make 2014 the year I get my $hit together!

Here's a few of the things we did this year:

Our elf came back this year.  We (and when I say "we" I mean "Jason and I") named her "Penny" this year.  Jason really wanted to use Penelope as our daughter's name.  As huge LOST fans, we liked the idea of naming our child the same name as one of the characters.  Luckily, there was a Penny on the show.  I like Penelope too, but there is no way I was naming our daughter Penelope Hollencamp.  Way too many syllables and letters.  So our elf will take the name that will never be for a breathing child in this house.

This might of been the most creative spot we put Penny

Evie loved finding Penny in the morning and chuckled at some of the places she sat.  She didn't understand the idea of Penny watching her behavior, which is ok with me.  I want the elf to be more of a game than a form of discipline.  Evie knew to look high for Penny.  She said "good morning" and "good night" to her.  Evie's tot clock automatically turns blue for bedtime at 8 PM if we don't manual start it before then.  One night, Penny happened to be near her clock that day and Daddy was a little late getting her to bed.  She was amazed that her clock was already blue when she came into her room.  That Penny is a sneaky one :)

Penny went back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve night when we went to church.  We plan to raise the bar next year with Penny.  Thank you creative people for giving me lots of ideas for next year!

We attended a few play dates where Evie made cookies or decorated an ice cream cone into a Christmas tree.  I am really excited someone else volunteered to allow the kiddos to make a mess in their houses :)

Decorating cones with Mommy's mom group

Did I mention my neighbor, Lisa, is the best neighbor EVER?  I think I have a few times.  But I seriously could not ask for a better neighbor that has become one of my best buds.  She bought and assembled gingerbread houses for the girls so they were all ready for us to decorate.  Two cheers for Lisa!

A little icing for the house... A little for Evie's mouth

Making gingerbread houses eating candy with her BFF

Hobby Lobby I gave Evie one project to do at home-  make a wreath for her bedroom door.  What did we do before peel and stick foam projects?!  Use GLUE?!

I hung pictures of her buds on her door-
"Omi", "AmyTJ", and "EmieLisa"
Translation- Naomi, Amy AND TJ, Emily AND Lisa

The highlight of our holiday season was attending the Cole Show Christmas Pageant at Uncle Sam and Auntie L's church.  I haven't laughed, smiled, and cried that much in months.

Hannah is the angel on the far right and Cole is the one on the floor.

Can you guess who stole the show?

Apparently Cole was a riot at the dress rehearsal.  He decided to break out into his signature dance moves (which look like aerobics moves) front and center.  This two and half year old loves to have an audience.  He smiled bigger and clapped louder when the audience cheered for the crew at the end of the show.  Cole wasn't in full out Cole mode at the main event, but he definitely made the row of Stefany's, Hettinger's, and Hollencamp's laugh so hard we cried.  He was the most animated shepherd on stage, that is for sure.  And to be fair, our sweet angel, Hannah, did an awesome job singing and keeping her thumb out of her mouth this year.  We were just as happy to watch her perform this year!

In addition to this stuff, we also went to see train displays at the B & O Railroad Museum in Baltimore two times (once with the mom group and once with Daddy!!), B & O RR Station in Ellicott City, and the fire house in Ellicott City.  Trains are so fascinating to me.  I can see why kids love them so much; I still do!

Another holiday season in the books!  Bring on 2014!

Goodbye Crib

Evie had one more surprise on Christmas night...

... Daddy took off the front rail of her crib and put up the toddler rail.

Evie did not know about this change until bedtime.  In fact, I changed her into her pajamas after bath with her back to her bed.  It wasn't until I picked her up that she noticed her bed.  She pointed to it and smiled.  We didn't make a big deal about it.  We just went through our normal bedtime routine.  Daddy put her in it, just like her bed.  We didn't hear a peep from her until morning.

Someone else thinks he is sleeping in there

So how is it going 4 days in?

No different than when she was in her crib.  She has napped her usual 2 hours, slept 11 hours overnight, and hasn't gotten out once.  

Proud of her new bed

Jason and I will admit we haven't handled some situations with our kids correctly; however, I think we knocked this transition out of the ballpark.  We've been listening to our friends and family transition kids to "big girl/boy" beds for months now.  We quietly made a decision about how we wanted to do it.  

Here's why we think Evie's transition was so smooth:

1.  We did not force Evie to move to a big bed when Braylen was born.  We bought a 2nd crib for Braylen

2.  Evie climbed out of her crib three times.  All of these times were at the end of her time out or as we were walking into the room to get her up from nap.  The last time she climbed out she bit her tongue.  I think the blood scared her enough not to do it again.  We decided to move her now since she wasn't making a conscious decision to escape it.

3.  We trained her for 6 weeks with this clock.  When the clock has a yellow face, Evie can call for us/be up.  At bed and nap time, she presses the respective button to turn the clock face a shade of blue.  The clock is set for 2 hours at nap time.  As long as it is blue, she knows to stay in her bed (with her crib she couldn't get out anyway).  Her clock stays blue until 6:45 AM.  She knows when it turns yellow, she is allowed to get up.  Again, she was in her crib, so she couldn't escape, but she understood the concept.  She was eating this concept up.  

"My Tot Clock" bought on Amazon

4. We did not bride her or make a big deal about moving to a big girl bed.

5.  Nothing really changed- her bed is in the same room, same spot, same sheets... just the front rail changed slightly.

Showing us how she can get in herself

6.  We picked a week when Daddy is home to give me extra support.  Plus Daddy gets the kids to stay in bed much better than me!

7.  We upgraded to a video monitor to be able to see what she is doing.  We can also talk to her through the monitor to check if her clock is yellow.  She will yell back "yes!" or "NO!".  She is responding well to Daddy's instructions of laying back down.

I was really nervous about this transition.  She is still a great napper and I need that time to regroup.  I am thrilled with how well Evie made this change.  I hope she will continue to nap once Daddy goes back to work in the new year! 

Christmas 2013

Was this really only a year ago?

Christmas morning 2012

We had a 10 day old baby.  Gez, that feels like ages ago!  Here we are Christmas morning 2013

All smiles

I took a video of Evie coming down the stairs hoping to capture her excitement over all the gifts and her trampoline.  Instead of smiles, we got one super shy little girl.  She clung to Daddy for a good 5 minutes.  Maybe the gnarly carrot scared her :)

We had a very relaxed day, opening gifts throughout the day.  We opened a few then let the kids play with those toys.  What's the rush anyway?  

Her mother must be a child of the 80's.

Evie enjoyed opening her gifts and also liked handing out gifts to all of us.  Evie definitely takes after us with her meticulous way of ripping the paper.  She took off a piece, then handed it to Daddy to be put in the trash bag.  We taught her well :)

Her big gift from us was a mini trampoline.  Uncle Sam has said since about 5 months old that Evie will be a gymnast.  She hangs off the tables, jumps off the steps, somersaults over the couch, all doing so very gracefully.  Our hope is that Evie will "jump, jump!" and swing on the trampoline instead of our furniture now.

This picture might show up in 16 years
when Evie is on the USA gymnastics
team at the Summer Olympics

Gracie gets in on the action

Braylen loves it too

Look at those pig tails flying

And of course there is tackling

Evie took a strong liking to this moose from Great Aunt Betsy and Uncle Bruce.  The book, The Moose Belongs to Me, is about a boy that claims a stray moose is his.  He names it "Marcel".  

Evie reads with Marcel

Evie doesn't really have a lovie.  She sleeps with a certain blanket on top of her and baby, but I think she could do without them.  So far Marcel is looking like a contender for her lovie.  He has gone more places than any other animal has gone before.  Evie requests to see the horses, likes to scour the neighborhood for baby deer, and thoroughly enjoys her reindeer pajamas.  Marcel seems to fit the mold.

The kids really like everything they received.  Some of the toys are still out for play, others are up in the attic for another day.  We have a huge bin in the attic with toys that will come out in a few weeks when we need to mix things up.  It will be like Christmas year round!

Round 2 with Mema 2 days later

Between the plastic heels and the trampoline,
we are bound to have a broken ankle

And as mentioned in my previous post, we had homemade crab cakes for Christmas dinner.  Yum!

I loved being at our house the entire day.  Evie stayed in her pajamas all day (I think Daddy did too).  I kept things relatively simple this year and it was just right for the ages of our kids.  It was a wonderful 2nd Christmas with my little ones!  

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

I think Christmas Eve is the most exciting day of the holiday season.  I love that building anticipation of the next morning, the crowded church service, the warm glowing of candles as we sing "Silent Night", the way the lights outside seem to twinkle a little brighter, the cozy feeling of putting on pajamas after wearing stockings to church, the warmth of the house with just the Christmas tree lights lit and one other light, and the reading of The Polar Express snuggled up with my family.  I love Christmas Eve!

This year, again, did not disappoint.  It was a really special day for our little family.  For the second year in a row, we stayed at home.  Not traveling makes a huge difference, especially with kids.  My parents were our only guests this year.  It was a small gathering.  It was perfect.

In the past, my mom's family celebrated Christmas Eve with the 7 fishes dinner.  Well, they still do, we aren't able to attend as easily with kids.  It is one of my favorite family traditions.  I thought about keeping the tradition, on a smaller scale, but when my friend Amy mentioned going out for Christmas Eve dinner, I was easily swayed to start a new tradition.  I moved our crab cake dinner to Christmas dinner and made a reservation at The Outback.  Now, if you know Jason and me well, you know we poo-poo chains.  My first choice place was closed and there weren't many other options close to church.  So The Outback it was.

G and Poppop arrived around 3, Daddy came home from work about the same time, we got all dressed up, and headed out to dinner around 4:15.

My angel in gold

This is what happens when you ask a
two year old to say "cheese"

My little loves in holiday attire

Just for the record, The Outback in no way compared to Mommom, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Bill's fish dinner!  But I had no prep and no dishes, so I can't complain too much.

We arrived a few minutes early for the 6 PM church service.  It was just enough time to let Evie and Braylen play in the lobby (with all the other toddlers) and burn off some steam.  We typically put our kids in the nursery during church so it was the first time since last year we had both of them with us.  My normal mindset is to sit close to the back to allow for a quick exit and hopefully no one will be distracted by us (ha!).  This time we went with the closer to the front, the better.  We sat in the second row back.  It worked perfectly!  Evie stood in the aisle with her song sheet belting out her own tune as she watched the worship leader sing.  Picking a seat where she could see everything made a big difference.  She also really liked the LED candles...

This girl loves to sing about Jesus

While we were at church, Penny (our elf), went back to the North Pole and left a gift for the kids.

One gift showed up under the tree when we got home

A note to Evie from Penny.
Penny told her to leave some snacks out for Santa
and the reindeer.

New pajamas for the whole family from Penny!

Evie loves her reindeer pajamas!  Evie suggested we leave out carrots for the reindeer.  We sit in the car almost every day at watch the "horsies" on Frederick Road.  We talk a lot about what horses eat- grass, hay, apples, carrots.

Snacks for Santa and his reindeer

I think we all know who really ate all the food

While I was snapping pictures, we noticed Evie holding her pajamas next to the plate.  We finally realized she was trying to feed the reindeer on her pajamas the carrot.

So naturally we ran with it...

We were crying we were laughing so hard at this point

We put our little ones to bed, both in red, reindeer pajamas.  Braylen was too tired to hear The Polar Express, but Evie and Daddy kept up this tradition.  Evie kept talking about the reindeer coming.  I am so excited that Evie is getting older and starting to "get it".  Christmas with kids is so much fun!

The adults poured some egg nog, ate some cookies, and brought up all the gifts.  

All ready for Christmas morning!

Good night!

Braylen is ONE!

This little guy...

1 month

is now this big guy...

12 months!

Getting a good giraffe shot was nearly impossible this month.  He will not lay still.  Having someone else wrestle him to get his diaper changed is such a relief to me.  I wish I knew this stage would end, but since I am still fighting with Evie to lay still, it will be another year or two.  Sigh.

But I digress...

Braylen is ONE!  No measurements until 13 months.

(I left my brain in the delivery room at HCGH about 36 months ago... so please bear with me on all the random thoughts in every blog post.  That's why it takes me so long to get anything written- I have serious mommy brain.)

Tidbits about my one year old boy-

Fine Motor Skills
The more simple the toy, the longer Braylen will sit and figure it out.  He likes stacking cups, blocks, stacking rings, and pulling all the pieces out of every puzzle on the shelving unit.  Daddy's old Blackberry is another favorite toy and major source of tension between the kids.  BOTH of them have Blackberries and still fight over them.  I don't even have a Blackberry or Smartphone!  It does amaze me how he will sit there and look like he is texting.

Without fail, the Eagles sweatshirt :)

All 3 of them on their darn phones

My favorite kind of toy- simple, no lights, no sounds

Braylen is getting into one of my favorite phases- putting objects in a box/container.  That means I will have a clean-up helper!

Gross Motor Skills
I thought Braylen was going to walk before Evie did.  He still has a few more days to prove me right though.  He can get around very well holding onto furniture.  No standing alone or walking alone yet.  At this point, I am ready for him to walk on his own.

Braylen is very steady and efficient on the stairs.  He knows to go down backwards and has followed Evie's example of how to lift up your feet to get maximum speed going down.

Luckily Braylen doesn't have that kind of speed yet, but listen as his coach encourages him :)

Sleep

I am trying to get Braylen down to only one nap for selfish reasons (i.e. being able to get out of my house in the morning!), but he is still a solid two naps/day type kid.  He wakes up around 7 AM, naps from 9:30-11 AM, naps again 1:30-3 PM, and goes down to bed around 7:30 PM.  He is still waking up once a night for some mommy snuggles.  For the most part, I can get him back down within 30 minutes (usually with the help of some teething tablets and a few drop of milk- there really can't be much left at this point).

Food/Drink
I packed up the pump and bottles on December 1st.  Neither of us were interested in those things any longer and it was a perfect time to say good-bye to that phase in his life.  He drinks formula, water, and whole milk from a straw cup.  He tried whole milk a few days before his birthday and didn't bat an eyelash.  There are a few scoops of formula left, so he'll get a little bit more over the next few days, then adios formula!  Thank you Braylen for making these transitions so easy!  I still nurse him in the morning and bedtime, but I think he would do fine if I didn't.

Braylen eats four meals a day.  With that mid-morning nap time, it's hard to squeeze in a snack before lunch.  He enjoys mac n cheese, all cheese products in general, chicken, peas, pancakes, toast with butter, straight up hummus, guaco, banana, apple pieces, green beans, and crackers.  Eggs and yogurt are hit or miss.  I need some new ideas for him!  Moms- please pass on some ideas, especially quick snacks.  Raisins give him belly aches.  I will admit that I am slacking on offering veggies since he stopped purees.

Social
As with most babies, Braylen prefers his mommy; however, he really didn't go through a major stranger anxiety/attachment phase.  He stayed in the nursery at church two times and was an angel.  I have a babysitter once a week for the kids and he is content with her.  He's fine while I am gone, but as soon as I come back, he wants me immediately.

Evie is obviously his first (play)mate.  He likes to see what she is doing and be near her.  He puts up with a lot of hits, shoves, and pins from his sister.   Evie will always be the boss, but soon enough he will be pinning her.  On 90% of our play dates, Braylen is the youngest one.  I guess that's the deal with two kids.  I wish Evie had school or something to allow me some alone time with Braylen at a library class or play date geared towards his age group.

Randomness
Braylen loves to imitate his sister.  I will hear the two of them fake burping for minutes.  So inappropriate, but I love hearing them giggle at each other's burps.  Evie is helping Braylen learn to clap.

Even though I give him teething tablets 3 times a day (oops!), no new teeth have popped through.  One year, 6 teeth.

Braylen doesn't have an extensive vocabulary.  "Uh-oh" is about it.  Being around other boys, I know boys tend to be behind girls in this department.  One chatty Cathy is all I need right now.

Braylen is a serious right thumb sucker.  His thumb is raw and chapped from all the sucking.  I try to distract him by giving him a spoon or something else to hold (you might have noticed in video).  Now Braylen hangs out with a spoon or fork hanging out of his mouth.


Excuse me for yelling at Evie... Just keeping it real

Braylen is such a sweetie and has totally changed my heart about wanting a sister for Evie.  He balances out our family.  I am excited for the next year of his life because I know LOTS of changes are coming!

ROAAAAARRRRR'N Good Time

December 14th nicely fell on a Saturday this year, which allowed us to throw his birthday party on his actual birthday.  The theme of his birthday was a lion.  The invitation showed a picture of B in a lion costume (borrowed from Cole), which he didn't end up wearing for the main event.  Guest were encouraged to wear animal print attire.  The guest list included family members and our neighbors, the Smith's, who pretty much feel like our family since we spend so much time together.

Look at me- I even printed up REAL, tangible invitations!

He hammed it up when I put on his birthday outfit.
Outfit made my Daddy.  

I want to make a point of separating Braylen's birthday and Christmas in our house.  Even though Braylen doesn't realize this year the 14th is a special day, celebrating him, I want to start some traditions now about how we are going to handle the two events.  The main one being not decorating for Christmas until after his party.  This was very easy this year since a one year old near a Christmas tree is rarely a good thing.  (The decorations are already at our house, ready to go up tomorrow!)  The decorations were simple this year- a few streamers and balloons.  Set the expectation low when they are young is my motto

Daddy, on the other hand, likes to set the bar high from the start.  After successfully creating a stellar Elmo cake for Evie's 2nd birthday, Daddy took on the cake baking and decorating responsibilities again.  Fine. by. me.  We copied Aunt Jen's lion cake idea from Luke's first birthday (who found it on.....wait for it... Pinterest).  Daddy followed her example of using a round cake for the face, then placing cupcakes around the perimeter to mimic the mane.  He took it up a notch by adding "texture"

Cake preparations begin Friday afternoon

Evie makes cupcakes out of rice crispies and water.  yum!

Finished product!  So proud of his work.  He just
got himself hired to do all cakes from here out.

Texture AND cute little ears. 

To minimize mess in the kitchen the morning of the party, we went out for breakfast.  We were at Beans and Burgundy Bread at 7:25 AM.  (Local friends- check out this new place on route 40 in Ellicott City.)  I had the best breakfast sandwich EVER.  Braylen and Evie were happy with their breakfast platter of sausage, pancakes, and scrambled eggs.

In his bow tie and suspenders for his birthday breakfast

One and already addicted to his phone

Booths with pillows?!  yes please!

After some last minute preparations, it was time to get dressed in our animal prints.

Evie and MeMa matched in zebra prints

Proud of these ladies for coming dressed in theme.

The first thing we did was open a few gifts.  

Braylen feeling a little overwhelmed.

Luckily Braylen had plenty of 2 year old
helpers anxious to open cards and gifts for him

Bring on the boy toys!
(even though Evie is the one playing with all his toys)

While Braylen had some alone time to play, the big cousins and Emily made a lion craft.  Notice our example in front of Auntie L.  Also notice how nicely the 3 girls are sitting, completing the craft.  And how, well, Cole is being Cole :)

Auntie L and Lisa (an elementary school teacher) can handle
the craft table with ease!

I kept lunch simple- chili, cornbread, and veggies.  I suddenly love having a child with a winter birthday.  

After lunch, more gifts!

He showed the most interest in his own name stool.

We like cake eating to be the last event so everyone can take their sugared up children home :)  

I love his expression.  He warmed up and ate
a few bites.

Evie, on the other hand, knows this kind of treat
only comes about 3 times a year, so eat up!

And of course, the obligatory family pictures.  Luckily we had Karl to be our photographer.

Braylen's loving family (minus Aunt Jen, Uncle Matt, and Luke)

I think we correctly grabbed the child that most resembles each of us.
What do you think?

Just as our party go-ers started to pack up, it started to snow!  Perfect timing!  We got one last burst of energy out by giving the 2 year olds the balloons.  

Our two hour birthday party was just right for Braylen's big day.  He started off a little shy (just woke up from nap), but by the end he was a party animal.  Hehe.