Christmas 2011

Last year at Christmas time London was just a little bobblehead. He wasn't doing much of anything but eating, pooping, crying, sleeping, and a little cooing. We remember him sitting in his bouncy chair in front of the glowing tree and being so happy he was there with us. We were extra excited this year to have him open presents, run around with his cousins, and be more aware of what fun Christmas can be.
My most favorite part of Christmas is being able to see my family. I love my parents' house at Christmas, my mom's cooking, the chaos that ensues after a few Chesleys get a good amount of wine, mimosas, and bloody marys in them.
This year Kary and I had a really hard time "getting in the spirit." When I was a kid, Christmas was the world's most fantastic thing! It was my favorite day out of the year and my parents made it so incredibly special. (Kary had the same experience) I remember that even if my parents didn't have a ton of $ to buy us all the expensive gifts, I was never ever disappointed. I was always so grateful and excited to play with my new stuff and I know now they made incredible sacrifices to give us that experience.
Kary and I have both kind of lost interest in Christmas as adults. We love the time with family but have failed to really get new traditions going. My family lost a lot of traditions when we lost our matriarch Grandma Jan.
This year we went to Pittsburgh and spent a day and night with the Filos. I was so excited to meet Jude and he is such a little cutie. Mason and Isla were so excited to play with London and he felt so comfortable there. He barely needed me for anything.
When we got to my parents he hugged my mom right away. He cried when he saw my dad and that wasn't a very nice way to greet his papa but, for some reason, men over the age of 40 freak him out. I am hoping this fear passes soon. It was great to have 2 days with just my parents. They got some good bonding time with London and my dad even was able to hold him a bit.
My Aunt Jeannie, Uncle Denny and cousins Becky and Jill came over one night and we got to meet Jill's baby boy, Bentley. He is exactly 364 days younger than London. They were almost birthday buddies. He is such a cutie, but like Jude, London showed no interest in him as if he did not see him...haha. By next year, they will be running around together.
Christmas day was great but didn't really get started until about 2:30pm. We do miss that excitement of opening gifts right away. Soooo, we have made the decision that next year (London will be 2) we are going to celebrate Christmas morning at our house. Then we are going to PA the next day. We want to get the chance to start our own family traditions and then get that special family time. It will work out much better because the Gray family party is the day after and we always miss it because we usually have to go home that day.
So, lots of fun traditions planned for next year. Kary and I are determined to get back into the spirit of Christmas, we have just have to~ for London!

Here are a few pictures from our visit to PA...

Here are some pics from home:

we need a new camera, BADLY!!

Christmas Photo Shoot!

Believe it or not, and despite the fact that I have taken thousands of pictures of London over the past year, we have never taken him to get his picture taken professionally. I have always wanted to but something always came up and I never got around to setting up an appointment.
The Sunday before Christmas we had an appointment at Portrait Innovations at 3:20. It was either that time or 8:10am. I knew both times were crappy but opted for the later one...big mistake. London was incredibly cranky by the time we got there and wanted nothing to do with having his photo taken. He was not crying or fussy, just not into it. He didn't smile at all for the first 30 minutes. The photographers tried everything and he just looked at them like they was nuts. Kary and I were dancing, singing, making faces...nothing worked. So, the photographer had us switch rooms and gave London a chance to take a break. During his break he played with a lego table and was obsessed. There were a bunch of other kids playing and one little girl started ti bully London. She was about 3 and kept stealing London's legos and saying, "No!"...and "Mine!" London was annoyed but stayed calm. The last time she took a lego he shot her a smirk, grabbed the lego back and pushed her face away and said, "pssssh." It was hilarious. We ended up getting some good shots but we could have done better. Kary hated his hair, was smiling awkward because he can't fake smile and London kept walking off set. I was sweaty, stressed, and we spent too much money on prints but we'll most likely do it again...haha.

Laid-Back Thanksgiving on the Road to Recovery...

We knew London would not be up for much this year on Thanksgiving so we planned to have dinner at our place this year. Kary's parents came here and brought a gigantic picnic of goodies! They made all the food (minus our tofurky and a few dishes) and went completely out of their element to be able to make sure their little guy was not overdoing it after surgery. We had a great day of drinking, sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather and eating until we could not move. Unfortunately, London did not have a good day. He had a few moments of happiness while enjoying the Macy's Day Parade but for the most part he felt awful. He didn't even end up eating a bite of Thanksgiving dinner and went to bed right after we finished. I ate my dinner with him on my lap...which was tricky but I didn't mind.
London has become very attached to me (more than normal) since the surgery. He has been giving me giant hugs, kissing me, and doesn't let me out of his sight. I'm sure it will pass soon and he'll be back to his independent self once he feels better but I sure am enjoying the cuddles and love.
We had a little scare yesterday where we thought maybe the surgery had failed and there was leakage (ick!) we called the surgeon and things seems to be fine, false alarm, we hope! If there is a problem, that means he would need another procedure and NONE of us want to go through that again.
I have been home with London for 9 days straight and I have been LOVING it! It's like I finally have my baby back, he is really digging waking up to mom everyday too. He finally started calling me "mama" this week instead of "dada." That was just getting confusing...haha.
London has added a few new phrases/ words to his vocabulary and we are so impressed with how well he is communicating. It is so awesome to be able to figure out what he wants/ doesn't want. He now shakes his head no, says "yeah", "cheese", "hi da", "good", "gol (goldfish crackers), "bye da" and of course he's still obsessed with saying "whats that?", "car", and "dog" All the words are used in context too :-)

He still is tantruming, screaming, and hitting when he doesn't get his way, but we are calmly redirecting him and hoping as he starts to understand the world around him a bit better, the behavior will improve.
London got an adorable elmo mohawk hat and mittens from his grandma and grandpa as a get well present and although he doesn't wear the hat, he loves to look at it and say, "was zat?"
My parents sent a get well package in the mail and London loves the stuffed bear they sent. My mom named him "Mr. Bear" and said she sent lots of nana love to him. I know it is so hard for my parents to only see him a few times a year. Babies just grow so fast and time flies! :-(
London is trucking along with recovery and we still don't know for sure how the surgery went. He'll get his catheter out next week and once things start to look a bit better, we'll see if it all worked. We are keeping our fingers crossed!