Lara's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 2/20/03 -------------------- 2/13/03 2/5/03 1/26/03 1/14/03 12/27/02 12/6/02 11/17/02 11/10/02 11/4/02 10/24/02 10/14/02 10/10/02 10/7/02 9/26/02 9/20/02 -------------------- Lara's Introduction

December 6, 2002

Short but sweet…

I really don’t even have the 30 min. I’m going to spend writing this diary entry, but I feel I must. So it will be short and sweet :o)

Thanksgiving was great! The DVD player we got the van was so wonderful and I highly recommend them. I feel a bit guilty letting my child watch 9 hours worth of movies, but alas I cave to modern day pressures and she loved every minute of it. The only thing we heard the entire way was “It’s over, can I watch _______?” In the old days our parents just laid blankets in the backseat and let us play to our hearts content. Now we strapped our children in like mummy’s and expect them to be happy for 9 hours. I think the least I can do is provide a little entertainment along the way. Maybe when the kids get older we’ll spend more time talking and playing games, but for now the DVD player worked like a charm!

We ended up going to FL a few days earlier than planned. At the last minute my DH had to be in Orlando for a meeting the Monday before Thanksgiving, so we left on Sunday instead of Tuesday. It was so nice to relax and spend time with family. On Wednesday I dropped Macy off at my MIL’s school (she teaches 4th grade) and she got to hang with the big kids all afternoon. She loved it and they were great with her. My MIL couldn’t get over how great she did with the older kids and was so proud to show her off to everyone.

Thanksgiving Day was really nice. We had done most of the cooking the day before, but we still found ourselves scrambling at the last minute. A word to the wise… when you freeze casseroles in advance make sure you thaw them out. Having frozen casseroles really set us back, but we managed to get a wonderful meal on the table for everyone to enjoy. After lunch, I crashed and took a nice long nap (my yearly tradition!). On Friday we were at the malls at the crack of dawn (with 2 kids in tow. DH and my BIL went to another town to look for something). The girls loved shopping and I got the rest of my shopping done. I only had a few things to get, but I managed to get more than a few things! We all met up for lunch and DH took the kids home for naps. I stayed at the mall for another 5 hours! I don’t think I’ve been at the mall that long in years and I enjoyed it terribly.

On Saturday we brought our Great Aunt over and we had exchanged presents with her. We put up the tree and had a nice dinner. She’s 92 and can’t travel and since my in-laws come here for Christmas we do Christmas a little early with her. She is such a dear women and I love spending time with her. Her memory is really fading; she must have asked me 10 times who Erin was. And every time I told her it was like the first time she had heard it. She remembers Macy, but this is only the second time she’s seen Erin. I fear this will be her last Thanksgiving, but I think I’ve said that the past 5 years and she’s still hanging in there.

We finally got home Monday night around 6 PM. We would have made really great time but having a bout of Mommy brain, I left my purse in a restroom on the FL Turnpike. We had gotten about 30 min away before I realized I had left it. Thankfully, I called them as we sped back and a really nice lady went and found my purse right where I had left it. Thank the Lord!!! Since we got home I’ve been cleaning, doing laundry, decorating, running errands and trying to get some rest.

I did get a plan in order for handling Christmas and I think everything is going to be okay. I was really pleased during Thanksgiving that I didn’t really feel like I had to do everything and I pretty much did what felt like and didn’t feel guilty. I have my SIL bringing some of the dinner and other than getting some things done around the house, I’ll be ready. I had a long talk with DH about Christmas expectations and he really shed some light on things for me. I might talk about that more in another entry.

I want to give a quick update on the girls…

Macy – As usual she is just wonderful. She was sick most of Thanksgiving but you wouldn’t have known it other than she took a few naps she normally skips. She was so much fun to have around. I have to say that I really do enjoy my children. They are not a burden to me and I really love who they are as little people and not just because they are my children. They are both so much fun and bring so much joy to all our lives. Macy’s little imagination is so much fun. She just goes into these long scenarios with characters and story lines. She loves for people to play Barbie with her, but if no one is available she’ll just sit and play for hours. She had been going through a whinny period, but I think it was just a phase and she’s back to her normal, happy, easy going self.

Erin – she is just such a little joy! I can tell she’s going to be really different from Macy but she is still so wonderful. In a 9 hour car ride she may have fussed twice for a few minutes. As long as she had her feet to suck on or a something to look at she was happy. She did great sleeping in a strange place and didn’t have any trouble adjusting to a new location (she did wake up a few mornings a little earlier than I liked, but it was fine). It took a few days for her to warm up to all the new faces, but once she did she seemed right at home. She does prefer her Mommy and Daddy over everyone else, but that’s to be expected at this age. She’s still not crawling! I know she can; she’ll get up on all fours and got about 4 “steps’ and then falls to her belly. She can all but pull herself up and she is very mobile, but not crawling. She is very adventurous and likes to test the waters. But, she will smile at anyone at the drop of hat and most of the time I catch her smiling at people who don’t even notice her (and that’s their loss!!!). We are still working on the sippy cup and hopefully she will master that soon. My plan is to take her off the bottle and switch her to milk when she’s a year old. She is down to 3 bottles a day and eating 3 solids with 2 snacks in between. I know we’ll get there, she just needs more time.

One more thing… I was so mad Wednesday night! I was watching The Amazing Race and it was right at the end of the first hour when they were racing the pit stop and thanks to the down pour of rain we were having the Dish goes out and I missed it!!! I totally missed the second hour as well. Needless to say we are looking into digital cable. That has happened one too many times and of course it happens at the worse times!! But, I did hear the John Vito and Jill were eliminated. I was really pulling for them. I really like Derek and Drew and Ken and Gerrad. I really hope one of them win. Also, just as I predicted Jake was voted off of Survivor last night. That was a no brainer. I think Clay or Jan will be next. I feel pretty sure that unless something happens, Brian will win and he’ll be in the final 3 with Ted and Helen. Who would have thought those guys would be in the final 3. Brian was a shoe in from the beginning, but Ted; come on!

Okay, I’ve already gone on longer than I planned to and my laundry is calling! I hope everyone is doing well!!!

Take care,
Lara, Macy & Erin