Merry Christmas From the Family

The twins first Christmas is in the books; it was fun and exhausting and I am sure that we will not make it a habit to travel for Christmas. This year we spent our Christmas with my family in Arlington at Nana and Pop's house. The kids were excited to have a new place to explore and by the end of the first day, I was worn out because I'd spent all afternoon chasing Harper and Jack around- I'm still trying to recover!

While we were at Nana and Pop's before Christmas we gave the kids their first bath together and I snapped this funny picture of Jack while he was eating breakfast.

Our Christmas this year was dampened by sickness, thankfully not anything too serious, but my mom, my aunt, and my Granny were all feeling under the weather. Our normal holiday schedule was turned on its ear with the combination of relatives not feeling well, and Harper and Jack's eating/sleeping schedule (which dictates everything to us right now). We spent Christmas Eve day cooking and having an early dinner, followed by church at 5:30. Our family normally goes to the 11pm service on Christmas Eve, so this was big change for us. We arrived at church to find all the seats taken downstairs and being forced up to the balcony- this turned out to be a great place for our kiddos. We watched the children's Christmas program and Harper and Jack loved all the singing, and they loved being able to crawl around and squeal with minimal distraction to the rest of the congregation.

After the kids went to bed, Tony and I spent hours getting ready for Santa and wrapping presents for the kids that we hadn't had a chance to wrap earlier. I knew that Christmas would be different as a parent, but I didn't realize that it would be so tiring. I told my mom that it didn't even really feel like Christmas this year. Last year I spent Christmas day in the hospital resting, I should've been more thankful for the rest then, because I feel like I spent this Christmas running around and chasing two little tots. I shouldn't complain- they are adorable little ones. Little Harper is determined that she's going to keep us on our toes; she figured out how to stand on her own on the 23rd; here's a shot of her standing tall (she's so proud of herself).  It seems like walking will be around the corner and then I will really know what tired is.

Thankfully, Christmas morning the kids slept until 7 or so. I woke up to hearing Jack singing on the monitor and Harper's giggles- a great Christmas morning wake-up call.  Jack and Harper had a bottle before going to see what was waiting under the tree. The kids managed to open all of their presents (with Tony's help and my help) before going down for their nap around 8:15. The kids didn't know what to do with all of the gifts and spent more time playing with the paper than anything else, but I think they had a good time overall. Jack's favorite present at first glance was a new Wub-a-nub in his stocking. Jack knew what it was immediately and pulled it out of his stocking and popped it in his mouth. Harper really likes a ball that Santa brought; she loves to crawl behind it and bat it around and chase it. Santa also brought the kids a two seater wagon that they took a ride in on Christmas morning. They seemed to like it and I know that we will get good use of it in the spring.

Jack and Harper received so many nice gifts that we haven't even begun to unbox and assemble all of them. I can't imagine what our house will look like when we get everything all put together. Here are some shots from our first Christmas as a family of five- enjoy and Merry Christmas!