The weekend before Christmas, we took a family vacation to Moody Gardens and stayed in the hotel. I thought it would be a good chance for us to be together as a family and enjoy each other uninterrupted by the busyness of life in a home. I was trying to avoid housework, grocery shopping, meal planning, laundry, social planning, animal tending, etc. I wanted to focus on us. We had some good times. We had some hard times. It's hard to be in a one bedroom hotel room with two little ones.
On the first night in Galveston, we checked out some of the damage that still remains in Galveston:
Joshua and I on the way to look at the Festival of Lights:
We ended up leaving the hotel before spending the 2nd night because Joshua was so sick and miserable. We knew we weren't going to get any sleep, so, we came home so everyone could be in more bedrooms.
On the 23rd, Stephen, Joshua and I went to a gift exchange with some of our dearest friends from the social Moms group. Joshua was still really sick. We had a good time, but we scooted out pretty quick. We didn't get any pictures.
On Christmas Eve, I ended up taking Joshua to the doctor and found out he had a double ear infection. He got some antibiotics. That night we went to our church's family service and then went to Aunt Beth's house for Christmas fun with famiy and friends. Joshua threw up on himself and me in the church service. He did alright at Aunt Beth's house. Stephen had a great time at Aunt Beth's house and sent everyone home with memories of him screaming excited because Santa Claus, aka Grandpa in costume, made an appearance. Once again, I didn't get any pictures. This is going to become a recurring theme.
On Christmas morning, Sean and I opened gifts in the morning with the kids. This is the first time in our married lives that we have waken up without extended family being around first thing in the morning. It was fun. We were able to keep Stephen upstairs while we showered and dressed because he didn't remember it was Christmas! He only wanted downstairs because he was hungry. He forgot all about food when we got downstairs and saw that Santa brought a play kitchen! He agreed to wait for breakfast until after we opened presents. Cutie pa-toot.
Daddy opened his gift from Stephen:
Joshua and his stocking:
Joshua's First Christmas!!
After we opened our gifts, Margaret, Dennis, Jason and Britten came over for breakfast. And, guess what? I forgot to take pictures.
Christmas, after naps, we headed to Margaret and Dennis' house for Christmas dinner. We supped with Margaret, Dennis, Jason, Britten, Brandon, Beth, Will and Abby. We had a wonderful meal and present opening. You will never believe this, but, I forgot to take pictures.
On the day after Christmas, we travelled to San Antonio. We had kept in contact with my family about Joshua's condition. My Christmas evening, Joshua had pretty much kicked the fever and was looking a lot better. So, we decided to keep our plans to travel on the 26th.
Once we got to San Antonio, we rested for awhile and then hit the riverwalk with my Aunt Kathy, Mom and Dad. We met up with Lisa and Tom. We rode the river barges and then went to broadway for a fantastic Mexican dinner. My sister sent on picture of us on the barge! But I didn't grab any pictures! LOL!
On the 27th we opened presents with my family and enjoyed a nice dinner at my parents house. No pictures!
On the 28th we ventured over to Lisa's house. Tom shared his Christmas gift with us: Guitar Hero. I am now completely hooked to the game. (update-I have now bought the game for myself) I would love to play it some more! Alas, I didn't take any pictures! BUT! I did get some video!
I have been thinking about this blog post for awhile and what I was going to do. Usually I write posts because I got *that* great picture. Obviously, I lost a lot of photo opps this time around. It's hard to do this many different things, keep the baby fed, get the sick baby to get sleep, make sure the toddler is enjoying himself, talk with family...I was always running mentally!
So, now it is January 10th and I can say that the clothes have finally made it out of the suitcases. The Christmas decor is put away. The new is put away, some of the old has found new homes. Things are getting back to normal AND the baby is sleeping better!!!! I am starting to feel as in control as I can be.
2 comments:
Great "real life" post! I got pics, but not really any of me on Christmas morning because I was trying to force myself to "be in the moment" but my mind was trying to figure out how to get everything done for the family that would be arriving soon. And... we still don't have all the Christmas stuff put away! :)
i'm laughing my butt off at tom! stephen totally showed him up.
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