For every baby I birth, I like to permanently record their little hands and footprints in ink. I made Sage's frame back in 2012. His prints were taken when he was just days old. And I made sure to do the exact same for Kale. But...since Kale is not as deep of a sleeper as Sage, it took try after try after try to capture a good print. I even had to run to Michael's for more ink, despite the fact we took 6 or 7 inkpads from the hospital. Eventually we got something that was frame-worthy. And now both my boys are proudly displayed on my bedroom wall.
Sage in the frame above.
Kale below.
And now on to the week before Christmas....
Matt was still home on paternity leave. I was working my second week back at work. On Monday, as is the plan from here on, I grocery shopped and cooked. My first dish was sweet potato burritos. It sounds weird, I know. But the flavors really worked well together.
I mashed sweet potatoes and black beans, and added an assortment of spices, like cumin and chili powder.
Then assembled each burrito with a layer of cheddar cheese.
Wrapped and baked each one. Topped them with salsa, sour cream, and green onion.
And we had plenty leftover to freeze.
Just like last week, Matt sent me lots of photo updates while I was at the office.
On Wednesday, Sage's daycare asked all the kids to wear their holiday-themed PJs to school. And the kids decorated their own gingerbread houses!
On Friday we went to Bath Nursery to see Santa.
Despite how much Sage talks about Santa, he completely froze up when he met him in person. But...this Santa was a bit lame-o. He didn't really talk to the kids. He didn't ask them any questions. And there were no audible "ho ho ho's." He was just there for the pictures. I think next year we'll try a different Santa.
After Santa, we helped ourselves to free apple cider and popcorn.
Sage picked out a bracelet in the store, all by himself. He put it on his wrist, tag and all, and wore it around. I can kind of see how easy it might be to accidentally "shop-lift" with a toddler. But we saw the bracelet and put it back before leaving.
On Saturday we went to the Garden of Lights.
All the light displays resembled plants.
Sage was quite interested in the tomato scene.
We spent a lot of time at the free apple cider stand.
They also had a live string quartet. And we attempted to sit for a song or two. But a hungry toddler and an over-bundled infant, resulted in us getting up and down and up and down. Until we just left for good.
On Sunday we made peanut butter balls.
We melted two jars of peanut butter and mixed that with 4 cups of powdered sugar and some rice krispies. Then we rolled the batter into balls and dipped them in chocolate. Matt initially wanted to double the recipe. Thank god we didn't! We have more balls than we know what to do with!
I love this picture because of the fridge in the background. The fridge is a giant memory preservation machine. It has three available sides, and we use them all. In this picture alone, I can spot my wedding save-the-date from the Grand Canyon, an actual wedding photo, Sage's birth announcement, and Kale's birth announcement too! That's practically an entire life cycle - spanning almost fives years.
But now back to the peanut butter balls....
On Monday, Kale and I were home alone. We spent the ENTIRE day wrapping gifts and watching Christmas movies. I wanted the day to feel festive. So I popped a bottle of champagne, just shortly after 10am. All for myself! I got half way through the bottle. Then decided to take a nap. I had no desire to resume drinking upon waking up. Matt finished the second half when he got home from work that evening.
Kale has become a master thumb-sucker. He sucks his thumb all the time. Nearly 80% of the time I look at him, he's got his thumb (his right one) in his mouth. He barely ever cries now. He has mastered self-soothing. I'm sure the gals at daycare will greatly appreciate his new skill.
On Tuesday I took Sage to a free music class. I did this with him once before back in Spring (so about 9 months ago) and he was a little quiet and shy during the experience. This time, he was one of the loudest and most rambunctious kids. We played with parachutes, and scarves. We ran around with jingle bells and sang songs. I had a super fun time. And so did Sage! The teacher would set down a bucket of goodies in the middle of the room and ask each child to come grab one. Every time Sage would snag my hand and say "C'mon mama!" Just like we were best buds, doing this together. The class was holiday themed. We sang lots of popular Christmas songs. And Sage actually knows the words to a couple of them, specifically Jingle Bells and Santa Clause Is Coming to Town.
During class Kale quietly slept in the corner, despite the fact another little boy kept touching his face.... There's something about babies that toddlers just can't resist! Kale is like a magnet whenever I take him in to Sage's daycare. Like bees swarming honey. It's a dangerous place for a Kale!
