Obligatory 'what we got' Christmas post

Another Christmas come and gone. I'm both sad and excited that it's over. 

Thankfully this year was no where as hectic as last year. 

Madi came over the night before Christmas eve and opened a few of her presents. Eric has the pictures of that. I worked at 6am on Christmas Eve morning and we drove to visit family that evening. We stayed in a motel room at the motel Eric's mom and her boyfriend run. Chloe was with us, obviously. We hung out with his family and saw mine for about an hour that night.

We each opened a Christmas eve present at his Moms, and opened our stockings in the morning in our hotel room. We cooked breakfast at his moms then the rest of the family got there and we opened presents. They spoiled us a ton. 

From his family, Eric and I got:

PJs each

Griddle

4 slice toaster (finally!)

A tin filled with pasta utensils, along with some pasta and sauce

Wal-Mart gift cards

Chloe got:

A play house with little people
Pop-up princess hamper

PJ set with a bathrobe

A storage ottoman

Play-doh kit with cutters

Hair ties

And probably a lot more than I'm forgetting. We opened a few of our gifts to each other there, but saved some for when we were with my family. We ate turkey dinner with Eric's family then packed our car and went to my sister's to meet up with my brother, nephew, mom, aunt and uncle, cousin and their significant others. 

Stuff Chloe got from us and my family: 

Princess Little People castle from Uncle Scott

Lalaloopsy baby from Uncle Coady

A sick baby with doctor accessories and candy from Grannie

Portable DVD player from us that we've been using in the car since October

Minnie Mouse with a convertible car and dress up accessories

Innotab with Dora the Explorer game (Bubble Guppies game is still wrapped to open later)

Sled from my brothers girlfriend

Lots of clothes from me

Play-doh and coloring books, crayons and finger paints

Dora and Bubble Guppies movies (one Dora movie from my best friends in NB)

Toddler bedding I bought brand new from someone in town who didn't need it

She seemed to enjoy playing with the toys my nephew and Eric's nephew got though. I think it's time to branch out and get them a few cars and racetracks to play with. 

Eric got (from me):

Case for his 3DS

Mario and Luigi Dream Team Game for 3DS

Mod Nation racing game for PS3

Loot Crate that included an Ewoking Dead t-shirt & Zombie Survival Guide

New pair of jeans (he knew about) from Old Navy as well as a regular t-shirt and boxers covered in pigs

Axe body kit

Beef jerky (maybe his favorite gift)

I got from Eric:

Pj bottoms

Starry Night puzzle

Light for my Kobo

The Emperor's New Groove dvd

Coconut Lindors (didn't know they existed! So good)

Lipgloss

Ardene gift card

Shick Intuition shaver refill kit (came with St Ives body lotion, loofah etc)

Nail polish and body lotion

(All things on my list, he got)

And we got ourselves a Rachel Ray pot set when they were on super sale at Wal-Mart a few months ago.

Overall, a pretty great Christmas. At times it didn't really feel like Christmas, but still an enjoyable time. 

Today, for Boxing day I get to hang out alone with my little girl. Eric is at work until 8:30 so it'll be a long day. I'm hoping to take her out in her sled later and mostly just relax. She's got a bit of a cold so her nose is running like crazy and her voice is extra squeaky and she's a little extra cranky. New toys are helping, but they don't kill the whine completely :p

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well! Glad this obligatory Christmas post is done. I love to have these things documented, but I hate doing the work. 

My best friend is a two year old

My best friend is a two year old. No lie. There's no one I have more fun with, who makes me laugh more, and makes her happier than my two year old. 

***

A couple of nights ago she was lounging on the couch, teenager-style, watching some Bubble Guppies. She was in a complete trance when I asked her if she wanted to come shopping. It's like that's all we do lately. But she hopped off the couch immediately and said "Yeah, shopping. I come too." And off we went. Such a trooper. Maybe she's just catching on that she ends up getting treats on 1/3 of our frequent shopping trips and that's why she's so happy and willing. But I think it's because she's my bff. 

***

I think she gets sarcasm. I called her my Chloe bear a couple of nights ago. So she called me her Mommy bear. The way she said it with that glint in her eye leads me to believe that she's teasing me with sarcasm, but who knows. 

***

She sleeps in a big girl bed now, full time. Eric and I converted her bed last Sunday and she's been going strong ever since. She is very proud of it, too. I'm glad she was never a climber. We switched her bed because she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed, not because we were scared she'd break her neck. Madi's been in a toddler since she was like 18 months because she was a climber. Strange how two children can be so polar opposite. 

***

I love what daycare does for my daughter. I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas music. There are only a few of the classics that I can stomach. Luckily, daycare managed to teach my daughter Jingle Bells and I had no idea until she belted it out like a star one random afternoon. 

Having a two year old is fun. I'm still waiting for the terrible twos *knock on wood* but so far she's just amazing. That's why I'm in no rush to have another child right now - I'm just drinking in every moment with Chloe right now and loving every minute of it. I'm glad I don't have to divide my attention. And my next child might not be as easy as Chloe is now. Chloe was a bit of a terror as an infant, but she makes up for it so much now. I'm scared of what another child might be like. I'm okay with waiting a bit longer to find out. 

I'm so over Christmas shopping

I typically love shopping, especially when it's guilt-free and for someone else. But this year Christmas shopping is getting to me.

I've already searched all stores in town for one present for a friend, only to have it not in stock when on sale, or extremely expensive otherwise. After buying and returning two things, I ordered something online that I KNOW will probably come late.

I've already returned two things for Eric and bought something else to replace them.

I've unwrapped and returned two gifts that were under the tree, and now I'm considering doing it for a third.

I bought Chloe a Minnie Mouse dress up toy - a little plastic toy that comes with snap on dresses, shoes and bows and purses. It's adorable, and comes with a car. I bought her a smaller version of this toy (less accessories, no car) for Eric's family Christmas exchange. She likes it, but enough that her and Madi each need a Minnie? I wasn't too worried about it until I saw a bunch of Dora the Explorer toys on clearance at Target. There's this one Dora toy she plays with everytime we're at Target or Toys R Us. Now that it's really cheap, I'm wondering if I should switch Minnie for Dora. It's exhausting. I should just leave well enough alone.

We've over spent, and since overspending I have yet to look at our budget. I'm scared. I know we'll make rent and bills, but winter tires are on our list of things we need to buy this month and I know we've dipped into that money. I have all season tires, but I don't they don't feel me with much security when I'm driving. They do a lot of sliding and getting stuck. I need winter ones. They are so expensive.

So yeah, that's where I stand on Christmas shopping. I just can't wait for Christmas itself to get here so I dont have to worry about shopping and returning and wrapping gifts. I'm over it. I just want to see Chloe open her presents.

10 Things I've Done in the Past Week

1. Almost finished all my Christmas shopping. Just need a couple of stocking stuffers and small things for one or two people and I'm done. I'm also waiting on an Amazon order to arrive, but that's already paid for :) I love shopping for other people. 

2. Finished the book 'Finding Emma' on my Kobo. It's only the second book I've finished since I got the Kobo in October 2012. My goal for 2014 is to read a lot more. 

3. I started season 4 of Desperate Housewives. I'm so addicted to it now. Can't believe I never tried to finish it sooner. Eric is a little into it too. 

4. I want to go back to my old job, insanely badly. I wish it was up to me. I messaged my old boss to see if we could work something out. 

5. I've started cooking more for me and Chloe. Now that I have my breaks at work around 10:30 am (for a 7am-4pm day) I'm too hungry to wait for Eric to get home. It's both a good and bad thing, since it means I'm eating better food, but since I'm not a huge veggie fan I tend to have to go out of my way to throw a veggie in for Chloe. 

6. Chloe's been waking up through the night more nights than she sleeps through the night. I don't like it. 

7. I get to listen to our upstairs neighbors music most nights. One night it kept me awake later than I wanted. Another night it was on so loud earlier in the night that we could barely hear our tv so Eric went up and asked them to turn it down. They don't listen to it as loudly since then, but it's still annoying. 

8. We've been working a lot at trying to get our place organized. I can't wait until its done. 

9. An unexpected payment came out of my bank account for one of my student loans. That was a big chunk of money I would've liked to not have to lose the month of Christmas, but we can live without it. 

10. I can't think of 10 things. 

Moving, Christmas Shopping and Lost Purses

We have finally moved. 

Actually, it was all done a week and one day ago. Chloe spent the day in daycare and my friend Sarah and her sister and boyfriend helped us move. I'd say the day went pretty smoothly. Luckily Eric and I both had Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, so lots of time to put stuff away. Still not enough time but whatever. We're still working at it. 

Madi's been over once since we moved - for the night for the first time since she moved out. And she slept through the night. It was magical. Chloe didn't though. She's been waking up once a night a little often lately, but luckily she goes back down super easy. 

She never stops talking anymore and I love it. 

Things she's told me lately:

"Mommy, shut up." - Said to me as I silently cut grapes for her. Wasn't sure where it came from but her father said he taught her it. 

"Mommy I tired. I cranky." She wasn't. She was actually in a great mood when this was said. 

Thanks to Halloween, she now thinks all treats are called "trick or treats", and she asks for them constantly. 

She can count to about 14 and sing the entire ABCs, I think I may have mentioned that before. 

She just so much fun. They call the twos terrible (and I don't want to jinx it!) but so far I love the twos! 

We've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping lately. As of today, I'm almost completely done. Last night I stupidly left my purse hanging on a chair in Wendy's. Even worse - I'd had my credit card and bank card in my coat pocket all night so I didn't have to drag my purse into every store. I'd put the cards back in my wallet just before I went to Wendy's. Call it a Christmas miracle, but it was untouched and I got it back today. I'm so happy about that. Luckily I had no cash in my wallet at all, so maybe someone would've tried to rob me but didn't want the hassle of credit card theft so they just turned it in. Either way, I'm so grateful to have everything back intact.  

Anyway, here are some pictures of us lately.