Christmas with two: 2019

Christmas this year was wild. There were two kids to buy for. It was a bit surreal, wrapping presents in two different patterns to differentiate whose was whose.

We spread out the Christmas festivities this year, starting with the prior Saturday when we celebrated with my dad’s side of the family. I have no photos as it was a bit chaotic managing two in my parents’ house among the crowd. Emelia wanted to nurse the whole time, making it hard to not flash all my male cousins because I didn’t want to sequester myself in a room in case someone barged in and saw me in various stages of undress. We got home that night around 9:45 and Olivia immediately spiked a fever. She had a cough over the last few days, but this got really bad that night so we felt like parents of the year.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent entirely at home with just the four of us (and Toby!). The night before, I had Olivia open a present for her and her sister, and they each got some pajamas: Olivia a purple Frozen nightgown (which spread glitter all over her face and throughout my whole house) and Emelia a fleece unicorn sleeper. The next morning, we did presents under the tree. It was something my family did growing up due to having a party that night. But it was fun having the morning for unwrapping and the rest of the day for Olivia to trash the house with all her opened presents.

I got Chris his first Dad mug, which he loved, while Emelia looked on.

Olivia generally loved everything we got her but kept saying, “I hope I got some Jasmine stuff!” which was annoying because she had never spoken of wanting anything remotely Jasmine-related before. And then when I asked her if she loved her presents she replied, “Well I didn’t get any Jasmine things.” Four-year-olds are assholes.

She did love “helping” Emelia open her gifts, which delighted her because it was opening double the presents. She sort of cooperated for a picture under the tree (read: not at all), and was not enthusiastic about getting a picture with me in her mermaid robe.

I got some Instant Pot supplies (non-stick pot, slow cooker lid, and an extra ring), ridiculously expensive North Face gloves that were equally as warm, body wash, and glass food prep containers with silicone bottoms. It’s amazing, the things I get so excited for but I’m all ready to prep some decent lunches and eating them over the baby’s head in the new year.

Chris got a bunch of running gear and Bath and Body man lotion which smells amazing. The baby stocked up on toys for the next year and some books. Olivia got a sketchbook from her grandparents, and we spent time trying to convince her not to use the higher quality paper so frivolously. She got a Toy Story bank, a Frozen tie blanket for us to put together, Frozen Legos from her cousin (her first “big girl” set with small pieces), PJs, some Melissa and Doug toys, and arts and crafts.

Afterward, Chris and Olivia went to take a nap since both of them had colds, so the baby and I settled on the couch to catch up on The Bachelor.

I had Beer Cheese Soup going in my Instant Pot (trying out the slow cooker mode) and we didn’t end up eating until later since I timed it poorly. But Olivia and I wrote a note to Santa, and she and Chris went downstairs to leave it with a plate of cookies and carrots. Emelia slept almost the whole day and blessedly into the evening, so we could set up stockings and I could start filling out my new Passion Planner for 2020.

Christmas Day

Everyone slept in until 8:00 the next morning (even though I was still up twice with the baby) and Olivia was delighted to see that Santa forgot to close the fireplace all the way and even left part of a cookie. She was initially disappointed there were no gifts under the tree until we showed her the stockings on the couch.

Olivia was luckily satisfied with her makeup “for her lips” and loved the Frozen mirror that came with lip balms and nail stickers. Emelia didn’t know what was going on. Both got unicorn tin cups with their names on them, and personalized ornaments. I got some lotions and slippers with candy (that I stuck in there last minute) and Chris got some more outdoor gear. He had actually forgotten to put in both our lotions into each of our stockings and I reminded him that I bought LITERALLY everything else so there’s that. I made a show of exclaiming that I found some more presents deep in my stocking for Olivia’s sake.

Then it was a mad dash to get ready and to my parents by 9:30 for brunch and family presents.

By far one of the best presents Olivia got was a tiny digital camera from my sister and her boyfriend.

We tried to get some family photos and it made me laugh seeing the result. I know I’m going to look back on these and know these photos showed exactly what life was like at that point in time.

My parents didn’t fare much better.

After loading up the car with gifts and driving home, Chris and Olivia went to nap again and once again I found myself in the company of an 11 week old. This adorable Christmas outfit didn’t last longer than this as I had accidentally nicked her skin cutting her razor nails and as I was trying to clean up the sudden burst of spit-up amidst flailing limbs, she swung blood specks all over her white onesie. It was quite traumatic for both of us.

I had a spare, but it wasn’t the same.

I didn’t even get any photos of Olivia in her Christmas dress, but it was the same one she wore for her Christmas program last week:

Christmas at my aunt’s on my mom’s side was spent juggling a baby between nursing sessions and making sure Olivia was eating her food and not using the stairs as a ski slope.

It was fun, honestly, it was, but it was also really freaking exhausting. Christmas with just our small family in our home is relaxing and full of good feelings, but parties are just not the same since kids and definitely not the same when it was just Olivia. It didn’t help that Emelia had a shitty rest of the evening and screamed her head off from the time we got home until just before 11:00. I was exhausted. Chris was exhausted and still battling his cold. She was too frantic to nurse and so that left Chris walking the halls with her until she could calm down enough to nurse to sleep.

The Aftermath

Chris spiked a fever last night, resulting in him putting on an N95 mask from out in the garage so he could walk her around since she was inconsolable with me. This morning I took her to the chiropractor and our chiro said this fussiness/colic could be from the torticollis we’ve been treating and suggested we really start trying to keep her head to the right (she favors her left as you can see below).

So far, she’s been sleepy and I’ve been holding her most of the day, trying to keep her head turned to the right. It doesn’t leave me with much else to do except sit on my phone and take umteen selfies of us. Note: neglected skin and hair. Slight darkness below my eyes. Actually, I think was due for a shower yesterday.

I’ve been trying to get the house put back in order and find places for all the things we got. Olivia got so much art stuff that I need to think of a new way of storing them and give them to her one by one. I still have piles all over my house, but luckily Chris was able to get all of the trash and packaging out to the bins. Olivia’s already broken one of her toys and both ears are now missing from Toby’s new dog toy.

Christmas with two is chaotic. It’s stressful, but amazing at the same time. These were the moments I waited for. If I thought Christmas with my first miracle was incredible, Christmas now with two of them is even better. Still, my life is in chaos. The house is trashed despite my cleaning and organizing for hours yesterday in between nursing sessions and holding the baby. But I’m weirdly looking forward to doing it all again next year.