Christmas Cookie Season is here!

Wow what a week. Honestly, so much has happened we can't even remember it all.

This week we tackled more ventures out with Mommy and the girls. No more trips to the library this week but to the stores instead. Kiersten is starting to feel more and more like herself and during her 6 week checkup she was cleared! Meaning cleared to be herself again meaning exercise! Yes! She's starting slow and trying not to do too much. But usually the most exercise she gets is chasing Mackenzie or picking her up and walking. Lots of walking.

All buckled up and ready to sleep.

  

Loving her dinner from Chipotle.

Mackenzie has been feeling better this week. Just a little runny nose remains. So she got to have a play date with our friends in Reston and had a great time. We are so thankful for the friends we still have in the area.

And then she fell asleep in the car all the way home.

On Friday all the girls got out of the house for a trip to the mall. The only thing purchased was lunch from Cheesecake Factory. 

Saturday was a very special day. We went downtown to DAR Constitution Hall to hear the Army Band American Holiday Concert, one of our favorite Christmas traditions. Mackenzie had a terrific time looking at all the decorations, pointing out the lights and dancing to the music with her cousin. Finley on the other hand didn't enjoy her earmuffs or trying to eat with all the noise. Luckily there was a quiet and comfortable location in the basement where Mom could feed her and still watch the concert. When it was over we walked to the National Christmas Tree which was dark when we arrived. A few minutes later all the lights came on. Electrical issues apparently. We then walked a few blocks to Elephant & Castle for dinner.

Sleeping before it started.

Mackenzie couldn't hold still long enough for a picture.

The fife and drum corp.

Quick pic holding the girls in the cold in front of the National Christmas Tree.

Sunday after all three hours of church (yes we finally made it to all of church), we drove to Daniel and Ashley's house in Reston for a delicious dinner. Their home is terrific and Mackenzie, who hadn't napped, was very well behaved and loved their cats.

Poor Pippa. Mackenzie had a great time playing with the cat toys too.

One other trend from this week we'll mention is bedtime. Almost every night this week bed time got later and later due to getting home late or because Mackenzie needed to use the potty or wanted water or cried or... you get the idea. Now since last blog post Mackenzie has gotten better and more comfortable sitting on the potty and going number one but she hasn't pooped since... back to the drawing board I guess. She is very close to being fully potty trained so that's a plus. Then there is the figuring out how to put two kids to bed as a single parent. Finley doesn't have a set bed time but we're trying to get her on some kind of a schedule but I don't think it'll happen until we are back in Asuncion and Daddy is around to help.

Mackenzie's creative use of the Boppy nursing pillow.

Speaking of Daddy, he has had a usual work week. At home things were a little different. He ordered Christmas presents on Amazon and did regular chores. One of which is cleaning the pool. That was a bit of a challenge this week when he found something that didn't belong in the filter and long story short, the pump is broken so he hasn't been able to properly clean the pool or swim in it. The contractor is coming soon to fix it. So grateful we don't have to pay for that.

And now for the exciting news of Monday. Grandma is getting ready for her Christmas piano recital so the kids are coming here for the lessons this week which meant Mackenzie had some new people to play with. This freed up Mommy to start Christmas shopping with Finley along for the ride. When we got home both girls were napping so Mommy starting practicing her cooking decorating skills. That evening after bath time we got the girls dressed in their new Christmas jammies and in to the car to go to Bull Run Park to see the Christmas lights. Right as we were getting to the park, Mackenzie unexpectedly threw up so we turned around to go home. She threw up one more time then fell asleep for the rest of the drive. We got her cleaned up and in new jammies at home but then Finley needed to eat so Grandma took over. Hoping its just a 24 hour bug and not the flu.

After Mackenzie's sickness episode yesterday and a rough night in which both girls kept Kiersten up half the night (her admiration of actual single parents is soaring) we opted to stay home today and bake a lot of cookies. Mackenzie was her usual self so perhaps it was just car sickness. She also slept in until after 8 so thats a good thing and we made sure she went to bed at a more reasonable hour.

So many gingerbread men!

The perfect assistant baker. She did great adding the peppermints to the tops of each cookie.

The Mackenzie Update:

• Her new favorite expression is, "Look at this" which she says, "Look dis" usually followed up by Mommy. We went to ACE to mail our Christmas cards and there were holiday lights and decorations everywhere and everything was, "Look dis, Mommy!" A 5 minute trip turned into 20 due to a curious and awed toddler.

  

  The blow up Storm Trooper was just a little bit taller than her.

• She must be going through a growth spurt because she is eating more than usual. At dinner on Saturday she ate 3/4 of a normal sized burger and had eaten a lot during the day. After getting home that night she had some more food before bed!

  

  Different burger but she did well with this too. I think burgers are her favorite food.

• Not sure if it's due to the late bed times and a few days without naps but she is getting a little more disobedient with Mommy. Let me re-phrase. She has her moments of disobedience when she is set on doing something her way that Mommy doesn't want her to do. So she's pushing the boundaries more and it hasn't been a lot of fun for either party.
• She still associates all candy with Halloween and that it belongs in her pumpkin. She has been calling her advent calendar candy her pumpkin.
• One of her favorite things to do is hide. "Hiding!" she'll say at random times during the day or play. Mommy taught her how to really hide during a game of hide-and-seek with Grandma and that you need to be still and quiet. She caught on quickly and now we might need to be careful when she disappears...

  

  She put these on herself without prompt.

• Since she wasn't sick this week she was allowed to go near baby sister again and her love for her abounds. She likes to pat her head and rock her in the bouncy seat under the close supervision of Mom.

  

  First bath together! Finley was only in it for about 2 minutes.
  Mackenzie held her hand without being asked.

• She is starting to do more and more imaginative and make-believe play. Almost every morning at breakfast she declares there are bears outside. One morning they were green, another day it was pink. (There are no bears outside, not even statues.) She is also good at pretending.
• She is so smart. We saw a Coca-Cola truck one day driving and she saw the red truck and white writing and said, "Daddy juice" which is what we call Coke at our house which means she isn't allowed to have any. It was hilarious and also amazing that she recognized the image from the can.

The Finley Report:

• She is almost officially out of newborn clothing and into 0-3 month clothes! Still in newborn diapers.
• She is still sleeping most of the day. Her most wakeful times are around 10am and 6pm.
• Her stretches of sleep during the night hit a high at 5 hours between feeds this week.
• We worked on tummy time. She is very strong and can lift her head pretty high and turn it. She also enjoys tummy time and will probably become a belly sleeper in the future.
  
• Her eyes are looking a little lighter, almost blue. We think they will take on a hazel hue but only time will tell.
• We took her one month photos this week! One month! Wow.

  

  Just a little bit bigger than the bunny.

• She turned 6 weeks old today (Tuesday)!!

It's officially Christmas season but the last few days have been too warm for my taste. We are hoping for more snow and *fingers crossed* a white Christmas this year before we go back to the hot, humid Paraguayan summer.

Finley's first Christmas!