December 12 - December 18
It was another busy pre-Christmas week at the Archer house! I've been busy working on getting everything ready for the holiday, and Sarah's been busy perfecting her bag of adorable tricks to wow the family with. This week's trick - waving "bye-bye"! Daddy got a wave from her when she was dropped off at daycare last week, and I got one when I was leaving the house to go to work Tuesday morning. Now she waves all the time! Sometimes we're really lucky and she waves "bye-bye" with both hands! It's super cute...
In the spirit of NOT decorating for Christmas, Pickle reminded us on Tuesday that wrapping paper is just there to be torn off. We're still not sure what provoked this attack or why she stopped at destroying just one corner of just one gift, but I'm guessing she just couldn't wait to see what Sarah was getting this year!
On Friday, I had my first experience with being sick AND being a mom! I had a stomach bug of some sort (pretty much the flu without the runny nose), and I quickly figured out that Sarah doesn't give me time off for recovery! Luckily, I have an amazing husband who totally stepped up and helped us out. He gave me nap times and made me grilled cheese once I could finally face food again - he's the BEST!
Unfortunately, the illness coincided with our Christmas trip to Paris (Missouri). I slept in the car and tried my best to fool everyone, but Tom's mom totally called my bluff. I still managed to keep it together, and it was great to see everyone.
We started the visit at Grandma Linda and Grandpa David's place. We opened gifts before lunch, which was Sarah's first Christmas gift exchange! Although she had the most fun with the tissue paper, she also got a cute Minnie Mouse outfit, a couple of books, a doll, and a stuffed horse. Linda and David sent me and Tom home with a box load of delicious Amish-made treats - bread, peanut brittle, chocolate clusters, a pie, noodles and a cookbook!
Linda also slipped in a couple of non-Christmas gifts: a teddy bear with a Northwest Missouri State University t-shirt (that's where Tom went to college), and a quilt that was made by Tom's grandma. It's beautiful, and it will be such a special thing for Sarah to have in the future!
When we were done with gifts, we had lunch while Sarah played on the floor. We took some photos with Grandma and Grandpa, and then it was on to the next stop.
After having lunch with Grandma Linda and Grandpa David, we went to visit The Buies. This is usually a fun stop - I really like Doug and Christine and their kids, Owen and Savannah. Savannah is only about 3 weeks younger than Sarah, so it's been fun to see the two girls together (those few times we've been together since they were born!). This trip, Owen and Savannah were napping, so Sarah entertained herself with Savannah's toys while the adults talked. And also, she taught herself to CLIMB STAIRS. That's right - she climbed stairs on Saturday! (My camera was, of course, in the car.)
The Buies live in this great old farmhouse, and they have two big, wide stairs leading from their family room up into their kitchen. Sarah spent about 15 minutes figuring things out (it's harder to climb stairs if you take toys up with you; some stairs are wide enough for you to lay on and take a break before attempting the next one; fleece pants on hardwood are very slippery), and then she climbed right up to the top of those big stairs! It was so fun to watch the delight on her face when she finally made it to her final destination!
We left the Buies and went to visit the Billings. Joey and Dana are great, and their kids, Miranda and Max, are super cute and full of personality! We exchanged gifts for the kids (Sarah got some fun new blocks and a fuzzy new set of jammies) and then rushed over to see Joey's parents before heading out of town before Sarah totally melted down from lack of a nap. We were on the road back home by 3:00, and Sarah was asleep by 3:10...
Sunday was spent recovering from the trip. We all just laid around watching TV and napping. Daddy watched football, and I tried to watch "The Wizard of Oz" with Sarah. She looked at the TV when people were singing, but that's about it - she was just too busy teaching herself to pull up on the couch!
The other amazing thing that happened this week was the arrival of our family Christmas photos. Shannon Lockwood of BabydayPhotography does such a beautiful job - and these are no exception! So...to make up for the lack of other pictures in this post...feast your eyes upon
ARCHER FAMILY CHRISTMAS 2011!
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