A Very Merry Christmas

Par for the course, our Christmas was CRAZY as usual!  Before having kids, Kirby and I both said once we had kids we wouldn't be running all over the place for Christmas.  Then when I was 7 months pregnant with Charlie, we swore it would be the last Christmas of the rat race.  The following year rolled around as well as talks of us moving to Vegas, so we agreed to do the run around again.  But this year as Christmas rounded the corner we embraced the crazy.  We were thrilled to soak in every second of the run around and the opportunity to see family.

On December 21st the holiday festivities began.  We celebrated Christmas with Kirby's mom side of the family. This included Kirby's grandmother as well as his Aunt Donna and Uncle Gary.

After a great dinner and some present opening, we capped off the night (or so we thought) by playing cards.  In the middle of the game Charlie woke up a few times and was crying.  When I went upstairs to check on him, it was quite a scene.  My poor little munchkin got sick.  And it continued all night long and when I say all night I mean ALL night.  Uncle John was kind enough to set up an air mattress so Kirby and I could take shifts.  We had anticipated a long night ahead of us because Jocelyn had been having some sleep issues, but this was more than we expected.  The last time our little love got sick it was 7am. Both Kirby and I managed to get 2-3 hours of sleep and all I can say is What a Night!

Ding Ding Ding Round 2!

Even Rascal liked the Elmo slippers

In the morning we opened presents with Kirby's immediate family. And once the kiddos went down for a morning nap (not Charlie's usual but he was recovering) we did our Elfster exchange.
Then in the afternoon/evening we celebrated with Kirby's Dad's side of the family.  And this would be a whole slew of people!

I know Kirby was very greatful to see everyone.  Late that night we returned to my parents house and on the car ride back Kirby was reminising about the regular gatherings his extended family would have at his grandmothers house.  He was also very thankful for a great gift from his cousin Todd, which was a picture of all the Miller boys at Kendra and John's wedding.  

We arrived back at my parents house, transferred the kids to bed and within moments my Dad returned with my brother from the airport.  We all chatted for a while but I could hardly keep my eyes open.  

Sunday the 23rd was a down day, which we desperately needed.  By the late afternoon Jill and Mike made there way over to my parents house and we all planned on camping out there until the 26th.

In true Heck tradition we had Christmas Eve dinner then took a family photo before heading off to Christmas Eve mass.  In my opinion this is one of our best family photos in quite some time.

And I managed to get a great photograph of Jocelyn with her Uncle Matt that night too!

Before heading off to bed, Charlie left cookies and milk out for Santa Claus.

Once you have kids of your own Christmas morning takes on a whole new meaning.  We knew of course that Jocelyn would have no interest in gifts, but we expected something completely different from Charlie.  Well, we were in a for a bit of a surprise.  Charlie would have been thrilled with just two or three presents.  Once he opened his first toy it was like pulling teeth to get him to open any other.

Matching pajamas bought on Etsy!

Once Jocelyn went down for her morning nap we did our Elfster exchange with my immediate family.  Elfster is essentially a Secret Santa website.  My family and I have been doing Elfster for seven years now.  One of the highlights was Jill getting these granny pantys from my Dad.

Early Christmas afternoon my Dad's side of the family came over.  Which like Kirby's Dad's side is a whole slew of people.  And in this case was a total of 28 people for Christmas dinner.

Do most sisters at 30 and 26 still try to dress alike?

Or better still do these same sisters buy their husbands matching shirts and make them sport the shirts at the big Christmas gathering. Hahaha!!!

 It was a crazy busy Christmas and our two little loves were spoiled rotten.  Even with Charlie getting sick, we enjoyed every minute we go to spend with family.  We were blessed to be surrounded by all those we love.

A few other adventures!

Here are a few more of our adventures.  Yes- I am combining them all in one because I got so far behind in blogging and I just wanted to catch up.

One day my Dad and I took the kiddos to the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester.  It was $10 each for my Dad and I and the kids were free.  It is a fairly small museum, but we ended up hanging out there for over two hours.  Charlie loved pretended to fly the helicopters.  He also enjoyed watching a helicopter land and take off outside.

The American Helicopter Museum has a cute kid section.  Charlie enjoyed riding the kiddie helicopter. 

On another great night we went to Longwood Gardens again.  In one of my earlier posts, I already professed my love for this place.  At Christmas Longwood is nothing short of magical and totally worth the $18 for an adult fee.  The lights are beautiful and completely mesmorizing.  When we went they had the outdoor train display still set up so of course we had to check it out again.  It was even better the second time around, especially with the lights set up.

Enjoying the beautiful smell of flowers and display of lights in the Conservatory.

Still more great Christmas adventures.  One night my mom and I drove to the Herr's Potato Chip Factory to see their light display.  Out of the kindness of their hearts they deck out the entire grounds. That translates to free for us in otherwords!!! I haven't been there in years upon years, but now I hope to make it an annual tradition on our visits home at Christmas time.   The lights certainly aren't elegant like at Longwood, but they are lots of fun! And just one other great thing about this light display is that you don't have to get out of your car to see it.  So on a cold night you can just drive through.

And although it wasn't an adventure out, another memorable evening was spent decorating the Christmas tree.  If you know anything about me, you know I LOVE Christmas!  It was down right depressing to not decorate my own house and continue our annual tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree.  Of course, I still enjoyed decorating my parents tree.

These two were a lot of help decorating???

Fantastic at Four Months

 December 16, 2012

4 months old

Happy 4 Months Beautiful Baby Girl!

Length: 24 inches

Weight: 15 lbs. 5 oz.

Head: 16 inches

Those stats are from Jocelyn's 4 month and last appointment at CHOP care network in Kennett Square.  We have been seeing Dr. Karcsh there since Charlie was born.  Dr. Karcsh is a family friend and he has been great with our little loves, as well as with me and with my millions of questions.

Every day our duchess gets cuter and cuter.  While I wish I could say things are a dream, we have been having big sleep issues.  After countless searches online, it seems that Jocelyn is being attacked by the 45 minute intruder.  Basically what  this means is she sleeps "like a baby" for 45 minutes and then wakes up with a terrifying cry and cannot get back to sleep.  What I've learned is around 4 months of age, babies begin sleeping in adult sleep cycles.  Apparently, we all have a light sleep cycle lasting approximately 45 minutes before we transition into a deeper sleep.  We transition by adjusting our pillow or the position we are sleeping in without waking up.   My precious little love can't seem to do this without further waking herself.  Even with that being said, she is nothing short of pure perfection in our eyes!!!

Jocelyn is still nursing only.  We got the okay to go ahead and start foods anywhere between now and 6 months.   Just as we did with Charlie, we will wait until closer to 6 months.  I plan on making her food just as I did with Charlie as well.  And this time I plan to get a jump start and stocking our freezer before feeding begins.

  We are getting a wider array of expressions these days and I love it!  Jocelyn loves to be sung to and she loves when people dance with her.  She seems to love her Grandpa lots and with ease he brings out her biggest smile.  No rolling here yet.  This little duchess prefers to be carried around, but we will keep working on tummy time.

Choo Choo!!

If you are ever in Lancaster, PA with kids you should visit the Straburg Railroad Museum.  Even if you are just driving by you can get out and take pictures of the kids by the trains.  They can also ride on a little Thomas the Train"  (pictures of that below).
While Kirby was out in Las Vegas working, the kids and I went with the rest of the Miller family to take a special ride on the train with a visit from Santa.  Before we went to ride the train, Nanny wanted to buy a train hat for Charlie.

Charlie is having trouble smiling and keeping his eyes open at the same time!  Hopefully this close up provides you with a few giggles.  Check out some of his other smiles in the other photos from the day.  He had us all cracking up!

Yes- that is another attempt at a smile from Charlie!

You may have noticed that I didn't post any pictures of the kids with Santa.  As Santa made his way in our train car Charlie was pointing and yelling Santa with the biggest grin on his face.  But as Santa came to our seats he became pettrified.   Not sure if it was just a coincidence but Jocelyn then broke into a fit of tears as well.  It was almost as if she was scared because he was.  Thus the reason these pictures are Santa free!

The ride itself was probably 45 minutes.  It included a Santa visit (who gave slinkys as a gift- loved this!) as well as two sets of carolers coming through.  FANTASTIC!!!!
After the ride, Charlie rode on the little Thomas train.  This is him waiting in line.  Followed by several photos of the silly faces he made while riding.  Literally, he went from looking like he was mad at the world to  grinning from ear to ear.  Even the other adults waiting in line with their kids were cracking up at Charlie.