Sean and Aleece

So, last night Leif and I went outside to play in the snow. Aleece snapped some pictures of us. Here is the full web album. I included some of the good ones below.

First we had to shovel out the back a bit.

Then we got to slide down the piled up snow.

Can’t just slide once!

I was trying to show Leif how to make snow angels, but he had a different idea.

What a fun night.

Before I get into the post you are all invited to view my whole Christmas web album. I will also link to individual pictures that will pop up in a new window through out this post. Enjoy.

Ah Christmas time. What a fun holiday to have with kids. This year Leif is JUST old enough to know that this is an exciting time of the year. Leif loves to open presents, and he even likes what is inside of the wrapping this year! Kalven is a great baby and is so laid back, he just enjoyed watching everything.

Ok, now to re-count the events of this holiday…

Things started out with the traditional Santa visit. Aleece’s Mom’s Group had Santa come visit them at one of their meetings. Leif was scared at first but eventually warmed up. Kalven even got in a wish or two to Santa.

Kalven really got into the spirit of the day. He loved having a chat with his Godfather.

What’s a holiday without the dice game. We all had a blast rolling the dice trying for those elusive doubles. Leif was a floater and helped everyone with their luck. Kalven had so much fun he had to take a short break.

When the family gets together we have to take a family picture or two…or three. But afterwards Papa likes to fool around.

Eventually Santa comes to visit and hand out presents. If you are lucky Santa even sticks around to help open up a few and play with them. However be careful where you put the mistletoe, you might get caught!

After dinner it’s time to open up all the rest of the presents. Leif loves opening presents, and giving presents…so he can help open them. Of course there is the very best toy in the world, every kid loves it. Leif gave Aleece and me each a finger painting picture he did, he has opinions on where it should go. Summer got a favorite toy, horses. Tommy is so much fun that the kids think he should be a present himself…they wrapped him up so they could unwrap him and play. Everyone had fun playing with toys, even Kalven and Aleece. But this year I believe that one of the favorites is the train that Leif got. After he opened it he just wanted to play with it.

What a fun time we all had.

Ah, 2year olds have lots and lots of energy, and they love to use it. So much so that when they get tired they try to pretend that they can still keep going. I love to watch Leif play and play and play. Sometimes I can just sit on the floor and Leif will climb all over me like I am a jungle gym, I don’t have to do a thing.

The other night Aleece and I brought the kids of the Chris and Michelle’s house. We had some great chili over there, but the best part of the night was watching Leif and Ayris play together. Both kids are just in the beginning stages of using their imaginations and they were playing off of each others imaginary play things. Sure they would often want to play with the same toy at the same time, but a gentle word from a parent and all was right. At one point Leif got so excited and had so much energy that he started running circles. Not running around anything, he just picked an open spot in the middle of the living room and ran in circles. Round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round. Ayris just sat on the side and watched him, I am not sure if she thought he was crazy or if she was memorized by it.

I really love night like that where we can hang out with good friends and the kids have so much fun playing.

The other day Aleece and I were sitting out the couch and Aleece asked me if we were mean parents. We both started laughing. Let me explain. Aleece and I were on the couch with Kalven, he was napping. Sometimes Kalven starts crying when he is about to wake up. He is still asleep but just starts crying. We have to coax him awake, but when we do he is in a state where he can start crying again real easily. In this state Kalven will be all smiley and happy and then his face can suddenly transition into crying. During the transition Kalven sticks his lower lip out real far and his face gets all crunched up, no crying yet, just a sad/mad face. This sad/mad face is really, REALLY funny. When Kalven is in this in-between state Aleece and I just can not help ourselves, we bust a gut laughing. I would post a picture of it here for all to see but we have not been able to capture it. If we do I will post it, ’cause it is really funny. That’s what prompted the question about being mean, are we being mean for laughing at our son when he cry’s? I don’t think so.

So Kalven has been sleeping through the night, sort of. Kalven’s idea of “through the night” usually ends about 3:30ish am. Now this does not happen every night, some nights Kalven likes to get up between 11:30pm and 1:00am. I am starting to like those nights better. let me explain…

When Kalven wakes up between 11:00 and 1:00ish, it is because he is hungry. I get up with him, change him, go downstairs and feed him. he usually falls asleep within 30 min and I am back to bed 45 min later.  Sleeping.

When Kalven wakes up a 3:30ish am it is usually because he wants to talk. I still get up with him, I still change him and bring him downstairs, but he usually does not want to eat too much. Oh he will eat a little, and he will be very excited when he starts. that usually gives me the false hope that he was hungry and will go back to sleep. But what actually happens is after about 2oz. he is not interested in eating much anymore and sits there and talks to me. And what a talker that little guy can be! The end result is that I am up with him until Leif gets Aleece up at 5:00am, at which time I have to get ready and go to work.

So, all of you new parents out there…getting up 1, or 2 times a night might be rough, but if you can get back to sleep it’s not that bad. If you can’t get back to sleep, well then just try to get some naps in later in the day and make sure to enjoy the alone time with your kid. That’s what I do.

I have turned on the users function for this blog. What does this mean to you? Well, now you can create a user and subscribe to this blog, the biggest advantage is that when a new post is published you are automatically sent an email, if you are subscribed that is. I have made the process a little bit manual because I want to make sure that if you receive an email you really want to receive an email from this blog, I hate being spammed from websites. For those of you familiar with how things work you can begin the process here, for the rest of you, read on.

The first thing you will want to do is create a login. You can do that by registering from the login page, there is a link on the right hand menu under the Meta heading, or go to this link here. From there you can choose a username to use when logged into this blog and you have to supply your email address. A password will be emailed to the address you provide.

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