Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the VG family.  :)  May this season be a time to reflect, love, dream and hope of all the happenings in this past year and all the things to come.

JVG

Christmas Eve

The night before Christmas Eve I thought it would be nice to try and sleep upstairs with the rest of the fam.  I had slept on the couch before and the kids and Gaetan had a little set up there... however, it was a hard night for us.  Lucy has been waking up to go potty (which is great!) but then she is very attached to Momma... which is great and not at the same time.  In this instance she wanted to be awake from 3-6 in the morning... oof.  I wanted to keep her quiet because my sister's family was asleep as were my parents, and my Dad had to work on Christmas Eve.  She fortunately fell back asleep, but it was a hard night for this preggo.  I think because of it I started to feel sick Christmas Eve which was a bummer!

My sister's family had plans for the morning which was kind of nice because that meant that it was a lot quiet at my parents.  We took a chill morning and tried to recover from the hard night before.  We actually made plans to see a friend's parents!  So, that gave us a little time out as well which was good.

Gracie's parents wanted us to come over because they were so thoughtful in getting the kids gifts.  I also think that maybe they wanted to see them again :)  And really, we can't blame them for that.  We went over there and their sons dog, Lu was there to greet us and he is HUGE.  Dude has met him before when he was smaller but he didn't remember and this time he was pretty scared of him.  But then the Dude warmed right back up to them.  He remembered that they were the people who had a lake and a fun boat!  :)  We had a nice time just chatting and talking.  It's so nice to be low key with them and not worry that they're going to do something weird or inappropriate.  :)  So, thank you Ullrey's!  We had a lot of fun!

Goose showing off her peek-a-boo skills

She was pretty proud of herself that she could take off Papa's hat and put it on herself too

We decided that we weren't going to go to Christmas Eve service.  I was exhausted, feeling the beginnings of being sick and I wasn't ready to chase Lucy around for the entire service as there was no childcare going on.  Jon and his wife Megan also got in so we wanted to spend some time with them too.  After the kids went to sleep we thought that it would be nice to all play rummy royal together.  Its one of my favorite card games, and normally the more the better, but this time I think everybody was pretty tired.  We wanted to spend time with everybody so we tried to put on a good face.  Eventually I was just getting frustrated because this game isn't complicated or difficult but everybody seemed so ADD the game was taking FOREVER.  We did have fun, but to me I like a more efficient game... :)

I did end up making this spicy chex mix that my Dad wanted and it made a TON.  Like a whole turkey roasting pan full of it, and by the end of the night/game it was almost all gone!  They had made a comment earlier about how they didn't think I made enough but then after they saw how much everybody ate they were happy I did!  I also prepped what I needed for tomorrow's breakfast since I had volunteered to make Christmas breakfast for the family so Mom could have a break.  :)

It turned out to be a nice day with the family, but very tiring.  I was hoping to get a few more hours of sleep that night to make it through the next day for Christmas!

JVG

Tangrams

Do you remember those puzzles you did in preschool or kindergarden that were the different shapes and sizes and then you got to make different pictures out of them?  Well, the beautiful thing about having kids is you get to start playing with all those toys again!  While Gaetan and I were Christmas shopping for the kids we had run across them numerous times but didn't know if Dude would be able to do it yet so we held off but my sister got them for him and he's a champ!  He is so good at them!  And it might be because he's a bit OCD and meticulous about things, but he took to them like ducks to water.  My sister got Lucy these alphabet flashcards that has english and spanish on them and the ring is a teether ring... smart!  You can definitely tell when people have/had children because of the practicality of toys they give other people with kids... it's great!

He as pretty excited about getting his gift

Working together 

Clapping for himself upon completion

Hard at work

Good work Dude!

Lucy doing her flashcards

We have been enjoying the tangram puzzles immensely and even Lucy is getting good at understanding  colors, shapes and directions.  :)  Dude loves helping her out so that she can help too... its also nice because that means she's not bullying his puzzle, perk!  :)

JVG

Last Sunday of Advent

This last service of Advent was about love.  I mean, isn't being a follower of Christ ultimately about love?  Again, I would highly recommend listening to the podcast if you have a chance :)

I have to say that after taking a more serious delve into what Advent means to me I feel more confident about what I know about the Advent season... and not only for the season but what it means for us a Christians throughout the year.  :)

So, as Advent is coming to a close, think of love, joy, hope and peace throughout the entire year not just in the month of December.

JVG

Friend visit #4

Sunday was also a day we were debating on whether we were going to drive back to Kalamazoo and then come back later on Monday for Christmas Eve service.  After thinking about how well Lucy had been doing with her training, putting her for a fairly long car ride didn't seem like the best idea... so we did have enough stuff to stay at my parents for another night so we just did.  It was a good thing too because my good friend Beaker wanted to meet up with a few other friends for drinks at Founders and this way we could both go!

I really like when Gaetan can come with me on these things.  We discussed in the car how I feel like, especially during breaks, I get to go on all these outtings and I leave him with the kids a lot.  It is fortunate for me that he loves being with the kids so much and that he can handle both of them too!  Which is no easy feat let me tell you... they run you ragged!  But, since we were staying with my parents they could watch the kids and we could go hang out.  We put the kids to sleep before we left, and I was just hoping that they would stay asleep.  They usually are good sleepers at my parents but with my sister's family there too it's a bit louder, there are kids up still so they think they're missing out on something and they're in different sleeping arrangements then we usually are.

However, we both got to go and it was really nice.  :)  He had met Beaker a handful of times before, so it wasn't to awkward.  There were a few others that showed up that we had nice conversation with.  I have to admit one of my favorite things was when they made bars and public spaces SMOKE FREE.  I mean, it's a little strange being pregnant and being at a bar, but having it smoke free makes going out such an easier choice.  :)

Let me tell you I got my money's worth of water out of Founders haha.  Pete Hall and his wife were there and we haven't seen them since their wedding!  Brent showed up and the last time I saw him was when we were potty training Tristan... such a reoccuring theme.  Eric was there but I had seen Eric fairly recently since he and his girlfriend just moved to Kalamazoo.  And my beloved Beaker when I ran the half in Seattle last March.

The crew

After a bit we did get going but it was fun going out.  We discussed that this was WAY better than any high school reunion because we got to choose who we wanted to talk with.  :)  Glad we could all get together still and have a few drinks, lots of laughs and catch up.  Until next year guys!

JVG

Potty Training Turn Around

I know you guys are probably thinking I'm a little obsessed with potty training, but trust me, when you are parents and going through this you will be just as excited!  As I mentioned earlier Lucy's training was pretty discouraging for the first couple of days... however, something just clicked on Saturday while we were at the Schampers that really made the difference.  I'm not sure if she just didn't like the potty that we were using at home or what, but whatever it was, I'm thankful!

Sunday we decided that it would be easiest to keep Lucy home from church to continue on with the training.  We were debating on whether we would take her to church and just keep her with us but Gaetan thought it would be easier to stay home.  That gave the kids a chance to play with the cousins some more and in case there was any emergencies we would be home.

The previous night (Saturday night) she got up and was pretty unhappy... she cuddled with me for awhile, as the adults were still up chatting, and then said that she had to go potty.  And she did.  :)  That was something that was really different with Dude.  He never wet the bed at night.  Even his first night training he stayed dry... so when Lucy wasn't it was a bit of a downer waking up every morning thinking she was going to be wet.  After a little while I put her back to bed and she stayed dry until the morning!  Another big victory for our big girl!

I am happy to say that ever since then she has been waking up in the middle of the night, if she has to go, to potty, or better yet sleeping through the night and still being dry!  She has gotten a little smart streak in her where she will use having to potty as an excuse to stay up a little later, but she generally doesn't give us false alarms.  :)

The little potty part that she can get to easily.  The nice thing for us is that its magnetic and will stick to the seta so we don't have to worry about it hitting us in the back randomly!  :)

We did get her a different potty seat at our place since she really seemed to dislike the potty we had.  She was THRILLED about it.  I think it's pretty clever, and it makes things easier.  So hooray for a potty trained big girl!  Gaetan said that he was going to have to trained by the end of the year, and he did it.  Good work!  This Momma couldn't be prouder or happier.

JVG

Friend visit #3

Saturday began our busy little weekend/next couple of days.  I'm not gonna lie, that morning I was feeling quite overwhelmed with what the next few days could hold for us and it was daunting.  I'm glad that I could wake up a good friend and have the talk with her that I needed about how I was feeling and by the end of the conversation I felt much better.  :)  I was feeling uneasy about taking Lucy out and about for the next couple of days when her potty training had been less than encouraging... and Gaetan and I were just talking about it the night before about how discouraged we were with the progress and if we had started her to soon.  But, he said something and I should just know by now that he's always right but he said that its just gonna click all of the sudden so we just have to keep on it.  And, lo and behold, after her nap time right before we had to take off for the long weekend she was beginning to show promise already.  :)

First stop, the Schampers.  They had invited us over for a little Christmas get together at their place, and the drive is what worried me with Lucy.  I'm sure that every Mother looks forward to the idea that she might be changing clothes multiple times in public, not to mention having to launder a car seat cover... but Lucy said right as we were getting off the exit that she had to go and when we asked her if her pants were dry she said, "yuck" which is what she says when she's wet already.  :(  I was already thinking this trip was gonna stink... but when we got to their house she was dry!  :)  She even made it inside and went to the potty in their place.  It. Was. Awesome.

Lucy pushing Dude around

The Schampers!

Lu getting into the microphone...

Sakura with hers

The girls!

Doing some arts and crafts with Tomo

The Schampers got the kids some gifts which were great.  The boys got wooden cars that they got to build together with Papa and the girls got these echo microphones that they liked for a minute.  They were much more interested in what the boys were doing!  Apparently, Lowe's makes these little do-it yourself kits every month and you can do them together for a few bucks... and Dude loved it. They got safety glasses, a little hammer and a work apron!

Kai showing his hammer... he wasn't hammering his head

Dude is all ready to go!

Dude being the big boy hammer machine!

This is when the Papas were getting nervous for their fingers.... haha

Kai and Michael

Decorating their cars

Finished product!

After that we decided to make some treats.  I wanted to do something easy, and yummy, but most of important something the kids could help with.  We decided on making these little 'turtle' treats, and the boys did a great job unwrapping all the Rolos that we needed for them.  They even did a great job with not eating one until the end :)

Doing a great job unwrapping Rolos

Putting them on top of the pretzels, almost ready to go into the oven!

At the end of the visit Lucy had kept her pants dry the entire time which was all I needed!  When we got to my parents house they went to bed and she even woke up to tell us that she had to go to keep her pants dry til morning.  Whoo!

I even got some lotion from them as well, that I'm happily using.  :)  The kids always have so much fun together over there, and the parents are so laid back it's nice.  It was a much nicer way to the begin our long weekend than I could've imagined!

JVG