I've got things to say but no time to say them. I had escaped the evil cycle of late nights, late mornings, late nights, but it seems I've slipped back down into the depths. I want to write about Christmas, post pictures of Christmas and I want to tell all about my 27th birthday, and I want to talk about Addie's birthday plans. No time though, maybe tomorrow?

Uggghhhh, I always hated family photos when I was a kid. My mom did my hair, picked out my clothes, made me look ridiculous, and then hung the photo in the hall where all my friends could see. Seriously, there was one in the 8th grade where I had these awful, huge, pink and white tortoise shell plastic glasses (that I'd probably love now!). She dressed me in this horrid black babydoll dress that buttoned all the way up and had gigantic yellow sunflowers all over it. Oh, I looked terrible, and then she rolled my short hair on hot rollers and sprayed the heck out of it. My hair doesn't hold curl and hairspray just creates this nasty glue when exposed to humidity. We lived in Biloxi, MS at the time, so of course there was about 110% humidity. Then, to top it all off the picture is of just my head with a big feather boa wrapped around me and my eyes are half closed. Seriously, did they offer this one to my mom at a discounted rate? I used to take that thing down every time a friend would come over. Then, my lovely friend, Andrea, would make sure to find it and show it to any boy that I may have liked. She even videotaped it once when we were trying our hand at film making. I believe this was at the same time that we were making our "Gold Rush" video for social studies!

All of this meandering is to say that family photos still stink. This is the third time I've tried this since Addie was born, the first time was horrible at JCPenney and they lost half our photos, the good half! Then we had Meagan Jackson take some, and the only sad part about that is that I'd never be able to afford all I wanted. Oh, Addie did break out it in a crazy rash that day after using hypoallergenic sunblock on her, so the sweet photographer had to photoshop it out for us. Tonight we went back to JCPenney for a "Holiday Photo," and I think it turned out okay. I was 15 minutes later for our appointment, Addie's tights were still wet and I was putting them, her shoes, and her jacket on in the parking lot before we went in. Freddy started throwing a fit about something before we even got to the portrait studio. He refused to smile or take pictures and then after getting two or three decent shots, he completely melted down and I told him to get up so Addie could take some more. On our way out of the picture taking room he said that he did, in fact, want a treat and was willing to take pictures. It was too late, then the fit, the drool, the crying, the end of the world ensued. I was able to get him calmed down and I picked out some sweet pictures of them to give to the family as Christmas gifts. Then I got home and received my email to view them online and realized that the last several frames of photos, I never saw. There were a bunch of them sitting together on the ground opening "gifts" and playing with ornaments. The dude showed some to me and they were adorable, but in the hustle and fit throwing, and baby girl sucking on my cheeks (these are kisses), I forgot all about them and didn't think to ask why they weren't on the screen. Now I feel sick to my stomach!

Whew, meltdown, huh? The point is though, that despite all this terror and agony I've been through, I put hairspray in both of the kids' hair! Traditions die hard! Merry Christmas!

P.S. Could have used a heads up that houndstooth would create a sickening vertigo crazy pattern in photos! Try to be still as you look!

Addie got her first "hair cut" last night! Freddy went in for a cut and with a lot of hesitation I asked if they could just trim her bangs. Like babies have bangs? Her mop of hair needed trimmed in the front because she was starting to look like a sheep dog or something. Anyway, it was just one quick snip while I held her and then a little thinning shear...yup they used thinning shears on the 11 month old's hair. I think she's got Jason's hair! Anyway, you'd never know if you hadn't seen the hair stuck in the folds of her eyelids before. That's how I wanted it. I was only able to save like 3 stray hairs before they fell to the ground. I kept them though, it looks like I'm saving a DNA sample rather than a lock of hair, but oh well!! Sorry no pics yet. Here's a before from last month, so you can imagine how much she needed it.





Now, on to the diaper rash. Addie has had a few bouts of diaper rash, but nothing too awful until last week. I took her to daycare last Wednesday for her first time since I started working at home and when I picked her up she was really red. The next morning it was so bad that all the skin was rubbed completely raw, looked like it was rubbed off, all shiny and sticky. She screamed just when the air touched it. I had to call the nurse at the pediatricians office and they advised me to just put her in the bathtub when she needed changed, only use water to clean her, and to let her be naked as much as possible. It was terrible for several days and is just now about healed. I have also grown to really love Johnson & Johnson's 3 in 1 diaper rash cream. Desitin and Aveeno were doing nothing, and I refused to buy anything else. This just happened to be in my supply drawer from a shower gift, thank you whoever you are! It doesn't have as high a zinc oxide percentage as Desitin, but it has soothing oat kernel flour, lanolin and some kind of synthetic beeswax (I'm not granola!) and NO IRRITATING FRAGRANCE (unlike Desitin). J&J, it's the stuff!

Okay, but the best part of this was trying to let Addie go without a diaper and not pee or poo on anything. I managed to leave her nakey for at least an hour or so a day and then during naps with a sheet saver under her with her only peeing on the sheet saver..oh and she may have pooed in the bed a little. Oh well. It's been cold around here and we have mostly tile and hardwood floors, so I improvised on the "naked" part...


I should re-brand baby legwarmers as some type of magical diaper rash healing pants. They could even be an elegible expense on your flexible spending accounts as a medical expense! Please take note that Freddy doesn't even notice!

I figured it was time to share some holiday love on here. I can't stand blogger sometimes, I can't change the order of these pictures now that they are uploaded. I should have remembered this inconvenience. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas time and nobody is stressed. We still haven't done any shopping but I'm not worried...yet! I can see the lights of our tree reflected in this screen and in my beautiful babies' eyes when they stare at it in wonder. I get to watch them play with the figures in the nativity scene and Addie puts baby Jesus in her mouth, which is not sacreligious at all. I so enjoyed teaching Freddy the story of Jesus' birth as we put the nativity up on the hearth together. This is a beautiful gift and while my sweet son watches Frosty the Snowman for the 4th time in a week, I feel grateful and overwhelmed with love and blessings. Freddy is learning a lot about Jesus lately.

We tell him that alligators got in his ears when he has a bad attitude, then we tickle him or blow in his ears to get them out. This often distracts him, but lately we've talked a lot about having a happy heart. He told me yesterday that alligators were in him trying to take his happy heart. I laughed and thought that we were genious parents. We've given a kid friendly and easily understandable name to the devil himself. He's an alligator, trying to steal our joy and our happy hearts. I told him that alligators tried to take my happy heart sometimes too, and I explained that the only way to get rid of them is Jesus. He looked confused, but I explained that when we ask Jesus to come live in our hearts, he "ha-yaas" and "psss psss psss, puts those alligators in his spiderman webs" so they can't stay. There's no room in our hearts for alligators and Jesus. He scowled at me because he was upset about something and shook his head. I laughed because this is very often the same attitude I have. Stankin' alligators, they can stay for all I care!! I just told him that he would have to ask Jesus to come kick out those alligators, but not until he was ready. I'm really enjoying being at home with him!

Family picture at the Historic Museum Christmas frolic

I try my hand at having the kids paint...Addie just ate hers! We made Christmas lists.

Freddy and Aunt Whitney having some apple cider made with real oranges, cloves, & cinnamon on a wood burning stove in a log cabin in the middle of downtown Little Rock!

I told Freddy to go put some clothes on this morning, and this is what we got! All little boys need cowboy boots, and his holidays are just a little mixed up!

At least one of us looks happy!

Freddy was great at tree decorating this year.

The finished product

Feeble attempt at getting the kids in a picture!

Well, as soon as I published the last post, it updated all my blogs. It has also updated again today, so maybe I should just be sure and post more often. Can I also mention while I'm writing that Adeline is hysterical? Today she has started taking a nursing break so she can look up at me and clap. I feel like she's saying, "Hooray for milk! Mom, you're awesome." I'm certain this is the message she's trying to get across!

Why isn't my blog roll updating? In the past, whenever someone published a new post, it would show up on my blog roll. That's how I'd keep up with everyone without filling my inbox with subscriptions. It hasn't updated in weeks now and I don't know why. Can anyone help?