I skipped all of December, but for good reason! We had lots of fun things planned and were on the go! This year William really got into Christmas and understood it in a very different way than last year. He was very into Santa, reindeer, baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Frosty the snowman, Buddy the Elf, presents and parties. He had a little manger scene that he played with this year and we had an Advent calendar countdown. It was a lot of fun to talk about Christmas with him and he was excited waiting for Santa.
Our Advent calendar
Manger scene
We kicked off the holiday season with friends in town. William LOVES playing with the Helies. They have so much fun together. We roasted marshmallows together, went down to Park Ave to see the holiday lights and we even got our Christmas tree with their help.
Thank you Law for the Christmas tree help!
Parker, Grace, William & Wes love each other!
After the Helies left, our first Elf from the North Pole arrived at the house and he's a great thing to have around! We named him Buddy and William looked for Buddy every morning. He got a real kick out of finding him and it was the first thing on his mind every morning. He couldn't believe where Buddy would end up - on the chandelier, on the Christmas tree, on top of a lamp. He'd laugh and say Buddy was so silly. Buddy was very useful with all those simple requests... "William, if you don't eat your breakfast then Buddy will tell Santa..." Chomp, chomp! William didn't want Buddy reporting any bad news.
Buddy on top of the Nutcracker
For the first time we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party with William. Grace stayed home. It was a parade and night event that I don't think she would have appreciated as much as William. William knows all the characters names and loves Frozen, so when the castle lit up like Elsa's castle in Frozen, he was very excited to say the least. It was really pretty! William laid on his stomach watching the parade from the sidelines with his cousin Max.
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
Winter Park had a couple fun Christmas events too. We went to the Christmas tree lighting then the parade the next morning. William as you can see was very excited to see Santa's sleigh by the tree. The kids did great the parade lasting an hour and a half. At that point Grace wanted to run into the streets and become a hazard, so we headed home. We missed Santa at the end, but they had fun while it lasted.
Winter Park tree lighting
Waiting on the parade and wanting balloons
Merry Christmas from Grace!
William and I painted a couple ornaments and made a plate for Santa's cookies. He painted a star ornament at school too.
Ornament painting
We visited Grandpa Tony and Daniel down in Naples. It was very festive down there and a very pretty beach. Matt and I had never been to Naples before. We had a fun couple dinners out and the sunset there is gorgeous.
Beach in Naples
Best we could do here.
William's class had a Christmas party and the craft for the party was cookie decorating. William went the simple route and got right down to business eating his cookie. Some of the other kids made mountains out of frosting and sprinkles. It was hysterical!
Couple squirts of frosting then time to eat!
Santa was a very important person this year. We got to see him a few times. First at Seaworld. The meeting went fine. Pretty anti climatic. William was shy and Grace was shy too. Then at Interlachen with their cousins. William needed some convincing and was shy again then Grace cried. I love those crying Santa photos!
Grace not sure of the big guy.
Not so happy here...
But then we waited till the very end of the season to see the best Santa of all! He really is amazing. My mom and I took them to the mall and thankfully Grandma Doreen volunteered to go early and wait for us so the kids didn't have to go crazy waiting as well. What a great help! We laughed so hard once William and Grace got up there. Grace did awesome and Santa's elves got her to smile. William immediately walked up to Santa and was talking to him before I even got up there. I don't know what he was telling Santa! I think he was asking about a scooter for Christmas, but I could see him just chatting away. William did everything the elves instructed him to do. It was the funniest thing... from wearing Santa's extra glasses to pretending to pray for a good report from Santa. Hysterical!! I have so many photos from that session. They really had a great time with this meeting.
So sweet!!!
William happy to see Santa!
The annual Secret Santa with breakfast club was right before Christmas Eve. As you can see it was a warm one! There are SO many kids now that we have to meet at a park. Last year I hosted at our house and I think that was the last year for that type of venue. Can you say destruction? Kidding! But they are getting bigger and need more room to run free.
Secret Santa 2014
Grace got a Minnie Mouse book and girly puzzles from Madison. Then William got a construction site kit from Clayton. They both loved their gifts!
Christmas Eve we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Orosz's house with the cousins. We left a little early to get to Mass. William was excited to see Baby Jesus. It was obviously tough being at church with both of them. William was good, but Grace has no interest in being restrained. I brought about 500 lbs. of snacks and we made it to Communion. A success in my mind!
"Can I open my presents now??"
Sonni, Frankie (her 1st Christmas), Helen, me and Grace
Grandma and Grandpa Orosz with the grand kiddies
Christmas Day was a blast. William came downstairs and was in awe. He was also shocked by the tray of cookies and carrots being gone. I made a video summary of the morning. See below!
We exchanged gifts with the rest of the Orosz family later that afternoon, and everyone made out like bandits. Lots of beautiful presents! We do Secret Santa and that is a lot of fun. The rest of Christmas Day was nice and relaxing. Lots of scootering!
An amazing Christmas and to put it in the words of William this year... "This was the BEST Christmas ever!"
Grace is now 16 months, but she did have her 15 month wellness visit last month!
Waiting for our time with the doctor
I remember William picking up this same dinosaur book (above that she's holding) with the googily eyes while we waited for one of his wellness visits and he was scared of it at first! I am pretty sure Grace just growled at it like she does! Funny girl! Fearless as usual.
Then we waited for the doctor and Grace ran around the room trying to discover as much as possible.
Up the chair, down the chair, up the chair...
Grab markers and GO!
The appointment was quick and uneventful. Her ears were still clogged (this appointment was right before her tubes surgery), so guess we were glad we had the surgery scheduled for the following week. She's right on track with everything. Starting to feed herself with a spoon, only drinking whole milk a couple times a day, talking and saying some words. She's very still while the doctor checks her ears and other body parts. A very good patient. A few shots that of course she doesn't like and we were on our way.
And the stats were:
Weight - 23 lbs 6 oz / 78th%
Height - 32" / 91st%
Head - 48cm / 96th% (which I don't usually mention, but Grace still has a big noggin ha!)
We will go back at 18 months for another wellness visit.
Grace had surgery in early December and it was very quick and very easy. It's still worrisome (since she would get gas), but it is such a common surgery to get tubes. I don't know how many friends that had them as kids, and how many friends' kids have had the surgery - but it is a lot.
Pre-op appointment
We had pre-op the day before and Grace as usual was super happy. He checked her ears and sure enough, still full of gunk.
All smiles, even before the sun comes up!
We had to get in the surgery building by 5:45 a.m. - for surgery at 7:30 a.m. That was fun. Not really. Matt even asked the doctor if one of us could show up earlier than Grace to fill out forms (knowing full well that is all we would be doing), but no, they wanted us all there. So Grace ran around the office smiling and squealing at everyone (that probably didn't want to hear those noises at that hour). We went back with her and sat with her to speak with the doctor. They took her from us (which didn't phase her one bit) and literally five minutes later the doctor came out to get us. I thought there might be a delay or something was wrong, but nope, ALL DONE!
They warned us when kids come off anesthesia they are usually NOT happy. I thought if there was to be any anomaly it would be Grace. She's ALWAYS happy! Nope, she was P-O-ed. It was horrible. I felt so bad. It really confirmed that Grace is never upset because we've never heard her cry so sadly or for so long. She couldn't open her ears yet and she seemed so disoriented. Matt was trying to console her as the nurses gave me the information. She cried until we got home and cried herself to sleep, which was conveniently nap time any way. By lunch she was semi normal. Seemed a little groggy, but by dinner was completely normal. Running around and getting into things as usual.
The saddest and most crying we've heard from poor Grace
Grace didn't have any noticeable problems (such as ear infections or not hearing us at a normal voice level), so we didn't get to really look forward to any changes exactly. All we know is that she hears clearly, for sure.
BACK to normal that evening - causing mischief!
We go back for a post-op appointment very soon. In the meanwhile, the tubes will sit in her ears for 6-12 months then eventually fall out. She can take swim lessons and go under chlorinated water a couple feet (not like she needs to be diving or anything), but we need to watch bath water not getting into her ears. No dirty water. Other than that it's an easy thing to deal with at home.
Baby's first surgery. Poor thing, but she was a champ!
