Christmas 2008

we had a great Christmas with way too many toys and treats! lilli got more stuff for me to clean up and jack got some noisy toys to keep him entertained. dan & i also celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. we don't too much for "our" part of the day just yet. right now, it's all about the kids.

our adopted "yaya and papa" had us over to spoil our children post-Christmas due to an illness. i don't know what we'd do if we didn't know them. i can't believe i didn't get a picture of that day. doh!

i've made a note to self: buying too many things only means more for mommy maid service. i'd like to personally shoot my purchasing hand for all the stupid things i've bought for lilli already. i now have to spend my time purging crap to sell and/or give away (all while she's not looking). that's a miracle close to baby Jesus! ha ha!

i always wish my mom & dad were around to celebrate their grandchildren. each year it gets a bit easier but my loss of both of them will hurt me always. it makes me sad for our kids that they are missing that beautiful love from grandparents. i only knew one grandmother on my mom's side. she died when i was 15 and lived in staten island. i didn't get to know her very well. her heavy italian accent used to be awesome to listen to even when i was so little. i love that part of my heritage. i am proud to say that my italian grandparents treked across the waters to make a better life in the United States in the big rush of europeans in the early 1900's. i've even had relatives tell me my grandmother's name is etched in the stone at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island. how cool is that?

i can't seem to find the pictures from Christmas morning. i'm trying to organize my photos and in doing so, i can't find them anymore. ha ha!

wrapping paper

it's been 4 1/2 years since my Mom died, and i still struggle to finish off items that were once hers. as i was wrapping lilli's birthday present, i found some shiny star wrapping paper that was Mom's. i hesitated to actually use it because it would be one more thing of hers that would be gone ~ just like she is. i had to talk myself into using it and that it's ok to finish off something like wrapping paper. simply that wrapping paper does not signify any signs of love from her and isn't a reflection of her death. it seems so silly but it's so difficult at times. the holiday season is a great trigger for all those emotions, i know. it was just odd to be stunned by wrapping of all things!

a summary of what's been cooking

as we round out 2008, it's been quite a year. a tough pregnancy with jack was the start of the year. i picked lilli up one too many times and tore a hole between my uterus and placenta. we thought we lost the baby because i bled horribly in the middle of the night. it was such a scare. the sonogram showed the tear, and it put an immediate end to picking anything up the entire pregnancy. ah, these were the days that lilli used to be well-behaved and enjoyable. upon jack's precious arrival on july 20th, 2008, lilli swallowed an entire bottle of jealously pills. we are STILL battling the effects of this. each day is a new challenge. *sigh* mommy nixon here is working hard to figure it out and give jack a fair shot at naptime, chow time and life in general. she has mommy-itis in the worst way. every kid is different and this is just her thing. thank God jack is the greatest baby on the earth or i would be locked in a soft padded room singing softly to myself at this point! lilli starts school on january 6th, 2009, so this should be quite interesting. please pray for a good transition!

the other big stress was lilli's throat surgery on december 5th, 2008. we noticed a bump there around age one. asked her doc who chucked it aside and said it's fine. argh. then in november is just seemed too big and not right. i took her in and sho' nuff... a cyst. the pediatric surgeon said it needed to come out and that it did. we took lilli to the surgery center and worked hard to explain lilli's current character. after an hour they realized what we were saying and dosed her with some versad. didn't do much but at least helped her get back to the operating room slightly calmer. what torture for parents. i didn't chew my gum - i merely abused it in the waiting room. my jaws were sore from it! she was fine - too fine. it was like nothing happened. the kid didn't even nap that day. bounced back like nothing. phew.


daddy dan is doing great! his job is challenging but going well. as i've said before, he cares so much for his patients. i wish every healthcare provider worked and did so much for their patients like he does. he's an awesome dad too. he helps me so much around the house, taking the kids when i'm at the max, grocery shopping --- you name it. now if i could only get lilli to be a daddy's girl... we are planning a trip to new mexico to see his natural mom and g'parents SOON! he burned all his days off when jack was born.

texas is still wonderful. while i do miss parts of old virginy, i love what we have here. so many great friends from here to dallas to austin. hey, we even had snow here on december 10th. ok, it was a dusting but still. then 4 days later at lilli's birthday party it was 80. crazy.

jack is doing great. at 5 months, he's in 9-12 month old clothes. he's loving his baby food but not a fan of the baby cereal. i'm still nursing him too. he's the happiest baby that just goes with the flow. he enjoys watching lilli play and LOVES when she talks to him. he'll light up and smile at her. it's just the cutest. i should say that lilli does love her brother and does cute things with him. she'll put blankets on the floor, pick out diapers for him, give him a bath with me, kiss him and help him eat. she just doesn't always like when i spend too much time (on her clock) with him. anyway, jack is a doll. i am so blessed to have him in my life - our lives. God was gracious with this one after a long colic battle with lilli.

i actually have a relative moving to the woodlands of all places! my cousin, peter, and his fiancee, debbie, are moving here! my delirious family tree is hard to explain but pete is my 2nd cousin and we are 5 days apart. my mom was 39 when she had me and her niece, christine (peter's mom), was 18 when she had peter. isn't that right, pete? anyway, it's crazy. we are excited to have family here in texas. congrats peter and debbie! see you guys soon.

jackie, my sis, and her hubby, lynn, are in west virginia. she's doing well and working from home. she has the best set up! her office overlooks this beautiful pond and all this land. i would never get anything done but she does. we haven't seen them in a long time and hoping they'll get to visit us before too long. i'm not about to travel with a toddler and an infant! especially lilli in her current state of scream, spit and denial of authority! ha ha! jackie & lynn, GET DOWN HERE!

well, that's prolly more reading than you needed, if you even got this far! so no new pregnancy update, no lottery win to announce --- just the regular stuff of life.

let me say this because i feel like i'm not speaking fondly of lilli. she's still an awesome bright silly funny little girl. she's full of energy and just a wonderful little thing. she's funny and super artistic. i'm hoping that she's so smart and that she's just bored. her cute smile with that dimple and those golden shiney locks can melt a heart a million miles away. :)

and no, i'm not on facebook anymore. here's a summary why:
viruses
it was a time suction for me (lack of obedience on my part)
drama

you'll just have to bookmark my blog to find out about me now. hee hee!

lilli & the scissors

well, it was bound to happen. i peeked over the kitchen sink/bar and there was lilli with scissors in hand. she had a big bouncy girl already captive by the shiny blades of her safety scissors (apparently the ones with not enough safety). i screamed, "nnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooo... lilli don't cut your hair." um, a minute too late. i looked on her little table in the kitchen to find locks of beautiful hair on the top. i won't lie ~ i cried. i think it was the horrible memory of me and scissors in the 8th grade streaming at full speed into my moment of shock. in the weirdest way, her hair actually doesn't look half bad. i had been debating about bangs for a bit because her hair has wild adorable curls and keeping it up or back is next to impossible. i couldn't believe she actually managed to cut them in an okay way and accomplish a good thing ~ a clear line of sight!

lilli's 3rd birthday

this is a great way to start the blog ~ celebrating lilli's 3rd birthday on december 14th, sunday. i managed to pick another hot sunday in december. not hard in texas since the weather is absolutely unpredictible. on december 10th it actually snowed here. crazy. we rented a moon bounce and had 13 kids here. *sigh* we managed to keep them outside for the most part but man, it was so windy. lilli was blessed with wonderful presents and great friends. texas is full of warm and great people. :-) oh, we also went crazy and got a tinkerbell pinata. thanks to tamara r. we got a quick lesson in this department. we got the kind that you merely pull the strings. we still let the kids take a healthy swing at it though. i think it was a bigger hit than the bounce house!