I wrote a few blog posts through the week, but saved them in a word doc on my desktop, given the chaos of the travel we undertook this holiday. I’ll post them now that we’re back home! Here’s the one from Christmas Eve, written in the car on the way to Nashville:
We are seven hours into a seven and a half hour drive. Almost there. Jack sits behind me and is hollering excitedly about everything, which is both adorable and annoying. “Look at the cows! Excuse me, mom, it is 9:07. I see bulls, they have horns! Excuse me, now it is 9:08. Excuse me mom. Mom! Excuse me! It’s 9:09! What does s-i-r-i-u-s spell? What language do they speak in Indiana?” He is so enthusiastic and loud, and wants to know All the Things. At least he is polite, with his frequent use of ‘excuse me’. Liam is farther away, back in the third row, and not so obnoxious. Instead he is silent and devious, and while I am distracted with answering Jack’s zillion questions (“what does Birmingham’s flag look like? How much gas do we have? It’s 10:23!”), Liam is opening up and dispersing the contents of a ziplock of ‘reindeer food’ (oatmeal and glitter, assembled at school). He asks for markers to work on a drawing, and I throw them at him. When he wants a juice box, I have to pitch it overhand. Don’t tell anybody, but it’s kind of satisfying to throw things at your children.
The built-in DVD player has a feature that lets the kids listen to the movie on headphones while we adults enjoy lite radio Christmas classics up front. (So fancy!) Several hours into the drive, we set them up with Brave, then put on our own music up front. Throughout the whole movie, Jack hollered updates, inappropriately loud because of the headphones: “MORDU IS THE GIANTEST AND STRONGEST KING BUT NOW HE’S A BEAR AND NOT A HUMAN ANYMORE BECAUSE HE’S THE GIANTEST. MERIDA WANTS TO CHANGE HER FATE. THE BEARS ARE FIGHTING. SHE WANTS TO CHANGE HER FATE MOM. HER FATE IS GOING TO CHANGE, BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO CHANGE IT. WHAT DOES MEND THE BOND MEAN? DOES IT MEAN SHE WANTS TO CHANGE HER FATE?” Etc. We may as well have skipped the headphones and just listened to the movie as well. On normal volume, instead of Jack dialed up to 11.
Aside from a diaper experience that I won’t recount (but suffice to say it was horrifying), Craig has been a dream. Happily putzing with little teething toys, napping on occasion, no tears so far. Literally as I finished typing that sentence he let out a wail. Oh well. We only have a few minutes left.
This will be a nice visit. We have a lot of willing hands to help with the kids, leaving me some time to rest, relax, and maybe even nap. It’s been more than a month since I ran – I did a 5k just before Thanksgiving and have not laced up the running shoes since, and with the weaning and the holiday eating, my waistline has expanded. (Edited on 1/5/15 to add – confirmed on the scale this a.m. the unwelcome addition of 5 lbs – not just my imagination!) I’m looking forward to daily runs, some yoga (I have got to get the kinks worked out of my back), maybe a bath, maybe going to a movie with the Professor and my siblings. The packing and driving are not small tasks, but the pay-off of a holiday with family is worth it.
We will have some happy little boys tomorrow. I sort of do that “something they want, need, wear, read” thing, though not exactly. We stick to a firm and reasonable budget, and try to “wow” them within that. They received matching pjs (already opened, so we could enjoy them through the season), and tomorrow morning they’ll get a few things to read, a few things to wear, and each one of them is getting one pretty cool thing they really want. (Craig doesn’t know he wants it, but he does!)
“HOW MANY DAYS ARE WE STAYING AT NANA’S? IS AUNT AMANDA THERE YET?” I’m off to go answer a few more questions. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas (and for all my lovely Jews out there, enjoy your Chinese food on the 25th!)