Christmas Catch Up

This Christmas has proved me two main things this year. One, I love having my husband home for holidays. Holidays just aren't half the fun without him around- even with a toddler that has limited attention span on an abundance of new toys. I think I had forgotten that after the last few years without him. Two, I'm the worst blogger and photographer ever. All photos stopped after 9:30am, after we'd opened all of probably 3 presents since it took Cheyanne days to get through opening her presents. And, I have ZERO pictures of our family. None. Nada one. Seriously.

Here's Cheyanne with Daddy.

Here's Cheyanne with Mommy.

See, we were all there, just not in one picture together. Fail on my part.

We had a nice Christmas together though. Knowing Cheyanne, I tried not to go overboard on presents because I knew she wouldn't be interested in quantity. We went for two big presents and lots of littler ones for fun. Santa brought her the Mercedes, yes my daughter now has a nicer car than we do. Mommy and Daddy got her an art easel. The Mercedes turned out to be a little big for her. She likes it but has a hard time reaching the pedal and steering at the same time. Mostly, she just hasn't tried to steer it much yet. She has a little growing to do. 

But, the art easel was a hit! Magnetic on one side, chalk board on the other. She spent hours designing both sides. 

Look at what Santa left for her! Pretty good I'd say.

She loved opening her stocking. She mostly got coloring books and crafts in there, which are always a hit with my little artist. Of course, the mounds of chocolate that a certain daddy through in there were a hit too...

All that chocolate may have very well been what led to her first bad behavior time out of her life (on Christmas of all days). After a little temper tantrum that involved pushing over the trash can filled with uncooked turkey junk while Mommy was prepping our Christmas dinner, Little Miss earned herself her first 2 minute timeout in her room. After that, she actually became our little angel again. I guess she just needed to get her crazy Christmasness out of her system. I felt bad that of all days, she got punished, but it seemed to do the trick and we were able to enjoy the rest of our day.

We did presents on and off. We took a Christmas nap. And then we got Christmas dinner ready just in time for Grandma and Grandpa (or Papa now as Cheyanne has renamed him) to arrive and spend a few days with us. Of course I have zero pictures of any of this… 

sigh.

Christmas pimp ridin'.

We hope you had a wonderfully merry Christmas like we did!! Oh and happy new year too!

Look at me!!

I'm shadow free!! Although I will say that if I had to have a shadow (which I'm glad I did) I'm glad it was her. Thankfully the temp agency brought someone in that is smart and pretty dang quick to catch on to new things. She'll be just fine without me ::fingers crossed::. Let's face it. It takes a lot more than two weeks of training at any equivalent level job to get the hang of things, but she seems to have a grasp of the fundamentals and will be able to figure things out on her own as she goes along. Sorry Replacement Me (I mean Temporary Replacement Me...) but no, unlike what my boss man might have said, I will not be available to answer all of the dealership questions that arise while I'm out. So, my words of wisdom to the work folk... figure it out. I will not be answering my phone to tell you how to report a Mercedes sold. No I will not be walking you through step by step of how to break down a deal and what financial instution gets what form and what blah blah blah. Nope. Not the plan. I'm not going on some mini vacation. I'm pretty sure vacations do not include watermelons popping out of your hoohah, reaking havoc in the nether regions (as I've been informed by my lovely mommy friends) and learning to function like a zombie without sleep. At least, my vacations have never been like that, don't know about yours.

Anywho. Did I mention in my 36 week post last week that I have started dialating?! Only one centimeter as of last Wednesday, but thank the good Lord for progress. I go back for my weekly on Thursday and let's hope their is major progress! I'm done being pregnant. I'm ready to meet her. I'm ready to hold her. I'm ready to not be me again, a new and improved me plus one. Oh and we now know my sister's on-call schedule in Cali so we're aiming for NOT those dates. Actually, big brother Dwarf's 30th birthday is Wednesday, which he has informed me he would be more than happy to share with his neice. I'm fine with that. Really, the odds are against me completely, but that's the direction I'm going in. Sooner than later. Let's make it happen Peapod.

So, early Merry Christmas to us! My in-laws played Santa early. ROCK ON! And look at what we got...

A fancy shmancy camera! Not JUST any camera. The Canon EOS Rebel XSI Digital SLR Camera. What all does that mean? Who knows?!!! But I'm gonna find out! I can't wait to start snapping away on this baby, as soon as I master how to turn it on. The Giant has taken some pretty good pictures on it so far playing around, but we're both still a little clueless. There are already some pretty pitiful blackmail pictures on it of me sleeping with my big ol' belly hanging out and some miserably swollen feet propped up on the couch, and by the pictures I was not sleeping comfortably. Yeah, those might disappear shortly. Anyone have suggestions on how to use this thing? Or at least how to learn to use it?! Come on photography friends! I know you're out there as secret followers... Come out of the woodworks and speak up! I need to figure this beast out before Peapod gets here in all her photographic glory. Thank you Giant In-laws too for the killer awesome early Christmas present! Oh back to my photography friends. We also don't have a camera case for it yet. Suggestions? Do you really need one of those huge megabags with all the pockets for everything under the sun? Does brand matter for the bag? I'm not trying to spend a fortune on this treasure chest or anything. I can think of about a billion other things I really need to spend the extra penny on more than that right now.

OK, that is all for now. Tomorrow, Survey time!!