Nelson and I woke up super early the Friday before Christmas so that we could be on the road to Southlake before the rest of the holiday travel traffic hit. We left at 6:00am and I35 was a breeze - best decision ever. We got in around 9:30am, and Ben and the boys were going to Lego Land. Nelson joined them and I did some last minute shopping with Lindsay. We also had a nice, leisurely lunch, something she doesn't often get these days :) We spent the afternoon just playing at their house, mostly on Jackson's new trampoline, and my mom and John got in that evening.
Saturday was Christmas Eve, and we started the day with the Children's Christmas Eve service at Lindsay's church. Dean is really into music these days and, whenever he hears any beat, he starts dancing. The children's choir and some other vocalists sang some songs, and he had a blast groovin' along.
We got lunch at a BBQ place nearby afterwards, and then went back to their house for nap. My dad got in that afternoon and the rest of the day was spent - you guessed it! - playing with some of the toys Jackson was already starting to open. During bath, Jackson dictated a letter to Santa that I wrote. You can tell what parts I contributed ;)
Then the boys went outside to leave the reindeer food in the front yard, and ended the night with a dance party. I think this is the new routine most nights.
Christmas morning was the best! Watching Jackson and Dean in excitement over their new things was so cute. Even if it was just band-aids or Sixlets in a big, plastic candy cane, they were thrilled. It was a full house of just watching them: us, my mom and John, my dad, and Kyle and Steve. The boys were definitely the center of attention and none of us could care less about our presents. We were content just watching them.
We did eventually open our's, and Nelson and I did great in the baby department! We had told my family we didn't need anything and to just look at the registry, so we go some car seat / stroller stuff, a cozy blanket, the crib and mattress, money towards her dresser, and my BOB! I'm most excited about that and will probably start practice pushing it around the house.... because I think I should practice so I'm perfect at it when Baby Girl arrives.
Jackson got some pretty fun toys this year, and Nelson totally agrees. You're never too old for Hot Wheels.
But you're also never too old for a toy xylophone, either!
Most of us took naps, too. I didn't sleep well the night before because my throat had started hurting and I was getting congested, so I laid down for a bit. And then Nelson ended up resting his eyes, too :)
The hostess with the mostess! In other words, me still trying to perfect that stupid filter on my phone.
Ben's colleague that moved to Texas from Utah came over that evening with his family for Christmas dinner. We've met them a few other times when we've been in town, and they're the sweetest and most precious family. There are two older girls, Bailee and Sadie, a little boy Jackson's age, Liam, and a baby, Max. We took a sisters picture <3
And Dean decided he wanted to be a sister, too!
Let's just say I hope Nelson is as into princesses as he is into Hot Wheels....
Getting a picture with these boys is getting harder and harder these days!
And the out-takes, excluding those that were absolutely terrible.
Monday just before nap, we headed out to Houston. Again, I slept pretty bad and was feeling worse, but we were thinking it was the fireplace smoke and allergies. We got to Clear Lake that evening and had dinner with Nelson's parents, and then I went straight to bed.
Unfortunately, both of Nelson's parents had to work. His mom didn't want to use vacation time so she would have more saved when Baby Girl is born, but Nelson had to do some work, too, so it all worked (no pun intended! ha!) out in the end.
Tuesday was my dad's 60th birthday! We joined he and Patty, Christy, Valerie, and their friends Tony and Carolyn for a birthday celebration dinner at a yummy seafood restaurant in San Leon, Topwater Grill.
Happy Birthday, Daddy! 60 never looked better :)
Wednesday I woke up feeling the absolute worst. I'd been sleeping with four pillows to prop myself up more, but my head was completely clogged up, I was coughing up a storm, and my nose was like a waterfall. I texted Audrey (who just graduated from Emory as a Nurse Practitioner!) to see what she thought and she informed me that an upper respiratory infection - or really bad cold - was going around and that's what I had. So lots of fluid and rest was the only thing I could do. Ugh.
Since everyone was working, that meant I just laid on the couch upstairs and watched movies and napped. Luckily everyone was very understanding that I didn't feel good (it was very obvious), so they took extra good care of me and made sure I had everything I needed. If you're going to be sick and not at your house, the second best place to be sick is at a mom's house.
The only productive thing we did - and it was a big one - was clean out Nelson's closet. There was so much stuff in there that you couldn't walk in it nor hang clothes in it. I snapped a few pictures of some things that made me smile :)
Mother knows son best!
And I REALLY hope I get something like this when Baby Girl is in preschool!
We took a bunch of stuff to the dumpster and Goodwill, and you can now walk in the closet and hang up clothes. Success! I also wanted to look at Nelson's baby pictures to see, again, what he looked like as a baby. It's fun to imagine what Baby Girl will look like, but I really have no clue. The only thing I do know is I hope she's not as big as Nelson was - eek!
Momma's 10lb 11oz baby boy!
One month old and already filling out the car seat!
I caption this one: Two Months, Two Chins.
I was still feeling pretty miserable on Thursday and Friday morning, and we were kind of worried because Nelson and I had a trip to Phoenix planned for Saturday morning. Nelson had an inventory that afternoon at the Phoenix office he had to be there for, and RMN offered to pay for me to join him since it was a holiday. On the drive back to Austin Friday night, I miraculously started feeling better, and then I had the best nights sleep in about a week that night. So off to the airport at 7:30am on Saturday we went!
As we sat on our American Airlines plane, ready to depart, they informed us there was a mechanical failure. We were all de-boarded, and then they announced they were re-routing all passengers. Nelson had to be in Phoenix by 2:00pm and all of the AA options were terrible, but I noticed a Southwest flight leaving in about 45 minutes. Nelson called Southwest and they got us two seats for that flight - woohoo! Not only was that a huge relief, when we checked in at the service desk, she noticed my pregnant belly and said that qualified us for pre-boarding. We didn't have to wait for C62 and C63 to get on the plane - mega woohoo!
We checked into the hotel, grabbed lunch, and headed over to the RMN office. I got a little tour of this one and, while it's not as big and fancy as the Austin (HQ) office, it had some pretty amazing views from the 30th floor.
I went back to the hotel to nap while Nelson worked, and then we went to a fancy NYE dinner at The Fat Ox in Old Town Scottsdale. We had scallops with caviar, squid ink pasta, wild game hen, and lemon tart (Nelson) and mussels, tortellini, filet, and pistachio gelato (me). It was all delicious!
We went back to the hotel room and rang in the new year from the comfort of our pajamas in bed and were asleep soon after. I have no shame, though, because it was wonderful :) And I look forward to more fun and low-key nights with Nelson in the coming year!
This morning, we got breakfast and walked around (desolate) downtown Phoenix before heading to the airport to be in Austin at 7:30pm. We went straight from the airport to my mom's because Lindsay and Ben are in town (sans kids) for the funeral service of a dear friend's little girl. Even though we had just seen them for four days, it was still good to chat over dinner without having one kid running around avoiding eating and the other kid throwing his food on the floor because he was done :)
It's so good to be home in my own bed and get back to a normal routine. But it really was a wonderful holiday week with family in every city - even if I was draining snot from my nose half the time ;)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I can't wait to see what all 2017 has in store for us and already know that it will be one of the best years yet <3
And just so I remember what Christmas morning with Jackson and Dean are like when they're three and one:
