Christmas Day 2010

I woke up to feed Oliver on Christmas morning at 7am.  What a good way to spend the first few moments of the special day.  We finally finished at 7:45am and although my boys were still asleep I knew it wasn't worth going back to sleep.  Evan and Rachel were coming over bright at early at 8am to share in the stocking openings of my kiddos.  So we began to wake the kids up so that we could all head downstairs to see what Santa may have left.  This is probably my absolute favorite part of Christmas Day is stockings in the morning.  We all get stockings and it's so much fun to all open them together and to watch the kids get that "ONE thing" they really wanted.  It was a little heartbreaking to have to put Oliver back in his bili box prior to heading down to open stockings.  We barely got down there before I heard him start screaming again.  So we got him out so he could eat while we got started.  I have to say that was one of the hardest things this year .. juggling my time with all the kids. Oliver clearly claimed most of it and I felt bad that I wasn't as present with the others.  I know it won't be like this again next year.  I'll only have my little Christmas newborn this one year.  It was still a little hard.  Jeramie is getting more efficient with the camera and being sure to take lots of pictures to capture these moments.

 They all loved their "main" Santa gifts.  Baylee got the iPod Touch

she's been asking for for months.  Jackson and Wyland each got

a new bike.  Now we can't wait for some warmer weather to

get to spend some more time outside with the new toys!

 Thanks to Aunt Rachel, Wyland had some one on one assistance to keep

him moving through opening his presents.  Although I must say he kept up

with the others must better than I expected!

 My sister in law Amber made the boys each their own personalized

Batman capes.  Kudos to you Amber!!  What a fantastic idea and they turned

out so darn cute.  On the other side than what is show is the superman symbol with a W

for Wyland and a J for Jackson on each. Such a great gift, I know they love them!

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, we took a trip to the doctors office at

noon on Christmas for another jaundice test.  He was released from the bili box

and this meant that we all enjoyed holding him for awhile.

 Winter, Jonathan and Jeramie

 Rachel and Jackson

 I love this picture of Wyland kissing Oliver.

 The very large Christmas dinner table.

 Love the Utes beanie.

 English tradition of Christmas Crackers.

 The crackers always include fun party hats inside.

 My dad and Jeramie's disturbing friendship!

 Love these guys!

 Merry Christmas .. Love Oliver!

I'm actually really proud of myself this year that despite everything going on I took more Christmas pictures than I've ever taken I think!  Best Christmas present ever was Oliver coming out of the bili box.  Looking back on the preparation for Christmas this year, budget, shopping, wrapping I'm really proud of myself.  I started saving for Christmas very early in the year which made shopping so much more fun.  I completed everything really early and had it all wrapped by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.  It made it so much more relaxing during the month of December. I plan to do the exact same thing this year!

Thanks to my parents for making it such a fun day and for all of the wonderful presents!  We had such a fun day and I already can't believe it's all over.  Here's looking forward to next year.

Christmas Eve

I almost think that I enjoy Christmas Eve as much as I do Christmas Day.  We always head up to my parents house on Christmas Eve packed to stay the night.  It's a lot of fun for my parents to get to see the kids open their stockings on Christmas morning.  We used to have a tradition of going to a late moving on Christmas Eve with the whole family but as people have gotten married and gained commitments to in-laws as well as adding children (which isn't much fun to take to an adult movie) this tradition has dwindled away for awhile.  I kind of think that as the kids get older perhaps we will pick this one up again because it was always lots of fun.  This year because of Mike's work schedule we ended up celebrating his birthday on Christmas Eve as well.  So the festivities began around 5pm.  Fortunately Oliver's phototherapy box was totally portable and we were able to just pack it up and take it up to my parents with us.  I was real grateful for this.  It would have been a shame to not get to participate. 

We began the night with a delicious dinner of ham, egg and chips (aka French Fries).  It's a popular English dish and definitely a Howard family favorite (referring to us original five of course, not sure what our American spouses think of it all).  After we ate my parents and Evan and Rachel were headed off to church with Rachel's family.  So this left us and Mike and his gang to kill some time.  It worked out okay since it gave the kids a chance to play together for a little while.  After they returned from church we moved straight into Mike's birthday.  This year I got Jeramie, Mike and Evan all some Sea Shepherd stuff.  I can't believe that I didn't order anything for myself as well, don't know what I was thinking. 

I don't know what it is these days but my

boys are constantly stripping down to their unders!

 You can barely see Mike's face in the background,

excited about his cool new shirt!

 My dad is handing out our Christmas tree presents.

For my kids this is the first gift of Christmas.

 My mum and I enjoying some dessert.

 Wyland very excited about his presents.

 Jeramie joining in as my dad gets ready to read,

Twas the Night Before Christmas to the kids.

I LOVE Christmas Eve!

Preschool Christmas Performance

I've really been looking forward to this this year.  I knew I'd be going after only being home from the hospital for a couple days but there was no way I was going to miss it.  I enjoyed it even more this year than last year.  Even though the songs will be the same next year when Wyland goes to preschool and probably the same again when Oliver goes, I won't ever get tired of going and watching them.  It's so adorable.  All of my children LOVE to sing and it shows.

Thanks to my Mum, Evan and Rachel for coming out to watch.  Also, to Grandma Robie, Aunt Gelasia, Dan, Big Mama and Big Papa.  We are so glad you could all drive all the way out there knowing it would be a short little performance. 

 Cute boys!

 It was cute seeing Jackson interact with his peers.

 He also did great with all the hand motions too.

 This is only half the stage.

 After it ended Jackson was the first one up and clapping with the audience.

 Proud Grandma Robie.

 Proud Big Sister.

Random Hospital Pictures

I have quite a few pictures left over from our hospital stay that I didn't get a chance to share yet because of all the chaos when we came home. I  have to admit that as of yesterday I actually physically feel quite a bit better.  Just as far as my recovery from surgery.  Besides an occasional ibuprofen when I overdo it I'm off all meds.  However I do feel like I am surrounded by mess everywhere.  It's that usual post-Christmas clutter.  With Jeramie back to work today and all four children at home I think my chances of getting on top of the clutter are slim.  I'm outnumbered without a doubt!  Anyway, Oliver seems to be doing really good now.  Wants to eat constantly and doesn't like to sleep in his bassinet.  In fact, he pretty much hates it.  We'll figure it out though I'm sure. 

 Jackson was much more interested in holding Oliver on his second visit.

 I love the adoration in this picture.

 Oliver's coming home outfit.

Jaundice Update

While there are several great things to post about today the best thing of all is that we went in to the doctors office at noon on Christmas Day for our jaundice test.  Got the best Christmas present ever!!!!  No more bili box!!!  Oliver's levels went from 21 to 13 having spending almost 2 days in the torture bili box.  Boy did he hate it.  It was a real bummer doing all of our usual Christmas traditions without Oliver participating in his first Christmas because he had to be in that box all the time.  BUT the diligence by which we kept him in there as much as possible even though it was hard on him and hard on us PAID OFF!  It was the best possible gift on Christmas we could have received.  So when we came home in the early afternoon he got to participate in all the rest of the day.  SO GREAT!!!

Here are some pictures of the little torture chamber:

I should also mention that apparently my children make a habit out of having big moments on Christmas.  When Baylee was a baby she crawled for the very first time on Christmas Eve.  We weren't sure she would ever actually crawl, she did the butt scoot for a really long time.