Sleep Drprived with Santa

Normally when you go to an event you want the best seat in the house. But since we only signed up for Breakfast with Santa at Hogle Zoo the night before it happened we weren’t surprised to be at a table in the back. In the end I was as blessing! A few minutes after sitting down I realized I hadn’t brushed Tyler’s hair on the way out the door – and of course we were about to take pictures. I rifled thru my purse but couldn’t find a comb so I had no choice - I had to use the only thing I could find. I would say that this was a low point except that while forking thru his hair, I looked down and noticed that a tag was sticking out of the side of my shirt. Yes – the kind of tag that hides inside when you don’t have your shirt on inside out. I tried to hold my head high as I walked past everyone on the way to the bathroom – but once there realized that there was no changing place for Cailin who also had a dirty diaper. (Big sigh…thank goodness we had brought our stroller which gave her a LITTLE privacy.) Just another day in the life of the sleep deprived…

Tyler, Cailin and Braden with Santa

Cailin's First Ritzy Christmas Party

Minutes after arriving at the Ward Christmas party, Aaron got a work page and had to leave. So when one of our friends offered to hold Cailin while I went thru the food line with Braden I was very appreciative. From my position in line I kept looking back to make sure Cailin wasn’t traumatizing him but she seemed happy. So happy, in fact, that I couldn’t wait to ask him what his magic trick was. When I got there, I did not have to ask. I saw the magic clutched in Cailin’s fist and all over her face. A ritz cracker – half gummed to death. I guess I should have thought to tell him she wasn’t eating solids yet … :)

Kids in Bloom Christmas Program

Stage fright doesn’t seem to compute for Braden. The first time he gave the opening prayer in Primary he grabbed the microphone and refused to accept any help. The fact that his prayer didn’t make a whole lot of sense and was particularly confusing because it contained an “amen” in the middle rather than at the end completely escaped his notice. Later, during a Primary Program practice, Braden was undaunted by the fact that he didn’t have his talk memorized. He marched to the podium, grabbed the microphone again and proceeded to inform everyone that he had recently been to the doctor to be tested for egg allergies. Needless to say, we were pretty sure that Braden wouldn’t be scared to participate in his preschool Christmas program – and he wasn’t. Just like every other time he marched up and took control of the situation – this time belting out the songs whether he knew the words or not. And in the end, just like every other time, we just glowed with pride while having a great laugh.

Christensen Christmas Song 2009

(An excessively long version of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” –
and tribute to Cailin who just loves to rock – even in her jumperoo!)

Rockin’ nearby the Christmas tree – hoping not to crush some toys
Trying to get Cailin to sleep - thru the wrestling of the “boys” 1
Thinkin’ about this silly poem - and events of this past year.
Stop singing now (and reading too) - if you just don’t want to hear

MANY months were spent on a remodel of the house 2
Bathrooms, carpets, stone tile floors
New trim, pant on walls and doors

With all the fumes we had to leave – so we “Walked with Dinosaurs” 3
Thomas the Train gave us a ride – and we did some Draper tours.
Breakfast with Easter Bunny and – both the May and Safety Fairs
Made Nat so tired that at the Air Show they had to buy some chairs! 4

Cailin’s due date came – we walked the Zoo and then saw “Up”
Then off to the U we drived
Half a push and she arrived! 5

After about a week of rest – off to fireworks we went
Then Disney Days and a parade - Aaron’s month off nearly spent
Still he found time to donate books - sell a mower for the lawn
Started “Net Flix” and canceled “Dish” 6 – and survived a salsa bomb! 7

Nat had 4.5 months off for her maternity –
Did some storage shelving swapping
Learned to do some smarter shopping 8

Braden received a “big boy bike” - potty trained to go to school
No longer has egg allergies 9 - and now thinks the dark side’s “cool” 10
He’s made new friends, roasts marsh mellows - and loves face paint on his head
He’ll eat tomato chocolate 11 - but prefers butter with bread!

Cailin, our new joy, finds Braden just hilarious 12
Was a tiger at the Zoo 13
And has two teeth poking thru!

Simba, with newly rationed food, - was compelled to turn to crime,
First she was caught with table scraps – but may have branched out with time
‘Cause then our TomTom disappeared, and the Van became “no more”
And after credit card fraud 3 – should we blame her? We’re not sure! 14

Looking back it seems that this has been a perfect year!
Who could ask for something more?
(Makes me worry what’s in store!)

As our goodbye we send our love - wishing you the very best
Hoping you’ve had as fun a time - and were just as richly blessed!
And since this isn’t our best poem – here’s a promise we will keep -
Next year we’ll do more editing - if we aren’t - still - low - on - sleep! 15

Footnotes:

1. Every night when Aaron gets off work Braden says “let’s fight!” and the wrestling ensues. You might think the yelling and flying bodies would scare Cailin but it doesn’t. You might think Braden would get bored and want to do something else but that NEVER happens either.

2. Aaron’s nesting present to Nat was our most extensive remodel. We redid the bathrooms, entry tile, front steps, basement carpet (no more pink!), and trim and paint. It was a lot of work to coordinate it all, avoid the fumes, and drive the project. In the end we were over budget and time - leaving Natalie only 2 weeks to clean before Cailin’s birth. But the beautiful house makes Natalie smile every day.

3. Technically “Walking with Dinosaurs Live” was in January before the remodel. Natalie was afraid it would be too scary for Braden but he loved it so much he wouldn’t even leave for intermission! His lack of fear continued at the Zoo’s “Breakfast with the Easter Bunny” where he tried to grab a snake and culminated at the May Festival where he decided that the Jedi were a bit dodgy but loved the Storm Troopers.

4. By the day of the Hill Air Show Nat was very pregnant and walking hurt. After the trek from the car to the entrance, without a place to rest it seemed it would be a very short event. Then Aaron’s dad disappeared – returning with a chair he had purchased– how kind!

5. Babies are rarely born on their due dates so on June 27th we ignored Natalie’s mild contractions and decided to have some fun. We walked the Zoo for 2 hours, had lunch and saw the Movie “Up.” At home the contractions seemed worse so Natalie took a hot shower until both the contractions and hot water were all but gone. The Christensens come to take us to dinner but Cailin had other plans. They took Braden to their house and Aaron took Natalie to the hospital where 80 minutes and half a push later Cailin was born – right on time!

6. Aaron took a month off when Cailin was born. His help made the transition much easier than expected. He also organized, de-junked and looked for ways to save money. Since we don’t watch mush TV now, he cancelled the dish and set us up on Net Flix. So far so good!

7. A few weeks before Cailin’s birth, Natalie heard a yell in the kitchen and ran in to find Aaron, the floors, the cabinets and newly painted walls all splattered with something that looked like blood but smelled like tomato, onion, and cilantro. Why would someone try to kill Aaron with salsa and, for that matter, how do you even get a tub of salsa to explode when someone is just trying to close it? Too bad we panicked and didn’t get a photo!.

8. Nat likes Black Friday so it’s not a surprise that she loved the Grocery Smarts class challenge to spend $50 a week on food. She is saving money and filling her new food storage shelves at the same time!

9. For Braden’s yearly egg allergy test we opted against the “feed him and see if he throws up” method in favor of a scratch test. Result: he’s no longer allergic, just sensitive, so Braden can finally eat eggs whenever he wants – but still prefers plain old bread and butter.

10. As Braden has grown, so has his vocabulary . Cute is so yesterday and “cool” is in. Darth Vader and Storm Troopers? The coolest ever!

11. Tomato-chocolate? This is something Braden invented to account for the delicious flavor delivered by red suckers. Red = tomato. Tastes good = chocolate!

12. Cailin has been a happy baby from day one. She loves to laugh at anything silly and no one can deliver silly better than Braden. Just yesterday he kept her laughing for the entire drive to the mall. Thank goodness she occasionally took a breath!

13. Costume problems continued this year. The Koala suit ordered for Cailin was too big but the backup Zebra costume fit. It was cute and got lots of comments such as “what a CUTE little tiger!” On closer inspection we saw that the ears were rounded instead of pointy and the tail was curled instead of fringed. Cailin was, in fact, looking darling in a little boy’s “white tiger” costume.

14. Yes - the TomTom was stolen out of the van, the van was traded away by Philips, and someone used our credit card to spend $500 at newegg.com. Simba’s fault? Not likely. She would have spent the money at Petco.

15. By 8 weeks Cailin was sleeping 8 hours straight. Then teething hit. Now she often wakes up 12 times a night! We’re tired, incoherent and incapable of writing a good Christmas letter. Don’t worry - we promise to feel terrible about that as soon as we get some rest. (Hopefully that will be soon since her first 2 teeth emerged on Dec 4!)

Some Omissions

Natalie’s pregnancy improved once she got rid of the “comfy chair” at work that was easing her hip pain but evidently causing her terrible back pain. Interestingly it had already been named after a soft chair used as a torture device by Monty Python. The week before Cailin was born, we attended our 20 year high school reunion. It was great to see everyone but odd that so many had married someone else from Viewmont, too On Natalie’s first day of maternity leave her job transitioned to another department and boss. For a while she wasn’t sure she still had a job or if that made her happy or sad. In the end, she was welcomed back after a beautifully long leave but can’t decide if she is happy or sad about that, eitherJ. Since traveling wasn’t in the plans this year, it was great that a few people were able to come for a visit. Elizabeth took Natalie out and kept her mind off her growing belly. Anna and Adam played pet shop and dino dogs with Braden during Mike and Becca’s trip. And Aaron’s mom climbed trees with Braden, held Cailin while Nat showered, and shared black licorice with Aaron. Braden held his first sparkler, shot his first pumpkin cannon and started preschool at Kids in Bloom. Aaron found several stroller accessible hikes that we did as a family this summer. Celebrating birthdays, Grandma and Grandpa Parker took us to a photography class from Leah Wright and then to the Dinosaur Museum. Braden roasted his first marshmallow while Cailin enjoyed her first campfire with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen. For Halloween Braden was Buzz Light Year while Cailin was a Zebra/Tiger. They went to Boo at the Zoo, a ward party, Gymboree (Braden ran, slid and did art while Cailin air-danced) and around the neighborhood with the Nelsons, Wikers and Bowers. And last, Braden turned 4 and got 2 Star Wars Jedi Training parties because he wanted to invite more kids than we could fit in one!

With love and Yoda Sodas

Black Friday

I wouldn’t have guessed that a Black Friday training program existed – until I unwittingly participated in one this year taught by my darling daughter, Cailin. At first when she started teething and waking at all hours of the night I thought she was trying to kill me. But now I realize she was all part of my Black Friday prep. When the day arrived, I planned to leave at 5am but Cailin woke me up at 3 so I got a jump on the day. When I had no shopping cart and had to hold my items in line, my baby carrying muscles kicked in and it was a breeze. Add to that the deals I got – like $12 Trio blocks for $2.50 and it was a perfect Black Friday.

Star Wras Birthday Party

We ended up having 2 Star Wars birthday parties foir Braden's 4th birthday - one after the oter - to accommodate the number of kids Braden wanted to invite. First was a neighborhood party with 12 kids (13 were invited). That party was defined by chaos. I have hoped it would be controlled chaos but instead it was just plain chaos. But the kids had fun doing little Jedi training tasks we gave them. They shot merf guns at a Darth Vader poster which we called "blaster practice. They used an Air Zooka to blow balloons around in order to learn to "control the force." With some dollar store light sabers they popped bubbles and tried to keep balloons in the ai as their "saber training". And in the end they had star wars cupcakes with Yoda Sodas while Braden opened his presents.

The second party had the same activities but with his small gorup of local cousins and the family that was able to be there. It was peaceful and calm and although Braden loved them both - I definately preferred the second one!

The calm between the storms. Not shown - Braden's Darth Vader Mask cake.