Christmas.

I usually love this time of year (aside from the snow, I think I could honestly never see snow again and be perfectly content). This year is a little bit different though. I feel like I have about a bijillion things that I need to do and just about zero time to get them done. Yesterday Ben and I spent all day Christmas shopping and I think we are about done, at least I hope. I love that our family seems to be growing every year but man, with so many people to buy for, Christmas is EXPENSIVE!  I planned on making most of the gifts this year but with my increasing work schedule and my unrelenting migraines, it just hasn't seemed to happen. And Christmas cards, well I have just about given up on that front. Maybe you all should just expect New Year's card (heck, I probably won't even have them ready by then).







I hope that sometime between all of this business that I am able to sit back and ponder on the true meaning of Christmas. I am really excited this year that Cora will be able to be a more active participant and look forward to teaching her as much as an almost-two-year-old can know about what Christmas is really all about.

Santa.

It has been many years since Santa has visited my house. My youngest sibling is only 17 months younger than me and we both pretty much figured out Santa wasn't real (sorry for the spoiler if you are reading this and haven't already gotten the memo about Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc.) when we were about 8.

I guess I need to learn up on Santa. This year all of the presents are already under the tree, labeled from mommy and daddy. Luckily for us Cora is not old enough to know about Santa yet and we have got about a year to figure out how this whole thing works.

How do kids find out about Santa anyway?

I'm in desperate need of some advice on how to play Santa.

I used to blog...

until I found Pinterest. When I have a minute for myself (when I am free of mommy duties, work, and migraines consecutively) I would much rather peruse Pinterest than blog.

Anyway life for this Spalding has been B-U-S-Y. Just when we think life is as busy as its going to get, we seem to some how get busier. I have recently taken on more responsibilities at work (which also come with a pay raise!) which means Ben is busier too. Now instead of just his hectic, already stressful enough job he gets to have lots of one-on-one time with Cora. He comes straight from work to my office and picks up Cora. This is great for me because I am able to get a few hours of uninterrupted work done; truly a miracle! I am not sure how this is going to work out when Ben starts school in January. In January I am set to assume even more responsibility at work. Ben will be busy playing college student. I am worried Cora is going to be stuck in the middle of two busy parents. This would not be so bad if she had siblings (which we are not planning on for a while longer) so I we are really going to have to work to make sure Cora has all of her needs met.

Cora is getting bigger and smarter everyday. Seriously I don't know how it is possible that she gets more and more fun as the days go by (I am not sure if this trend will hold true through the teenage years...). This isn't to say that everything is always fun and games. I have been having a hard time lately with Cora. She has a real problem communicating and she gets really frustrated because she knows what she wants but cant communicate it (can you blame her?). Luckily for us she is starting speech therapy next week and we have heard nothing about good things from the program she is starting. Needless to say, I am hopeful.

Also I can tell that Cora is getting close to being two:
1. Although she doesn't talk much she does know how to say NO!
2. She's a super picky eater (Ben blames this on me, but I don't believe it).
3. She likes to ignore.
4. She gets called a boy all the time because she has no hair (even when she is dressed very girl-y). 

Ok, maybe that last one has nothing to do with being a terrible two...except the bigger she gets, the more people seem to assume she is a boy. It doesn't help that she will not wear a single bow/headband/hat/ponytail/anything to save her life.

Cora still sleeps through the night. Hallelujah. Life is good!