Christmas has come & gone!

It's hard to believe Christmas has already come and gone! I am 3 days late in documenting the babies' first Christmas (as well as 6 month update!) but truth be told, I've been too busy! Well, I can't say I've been doing anything all that thrilling or productive (HAHA), but Jeff has been home since December 22 so aside from my normal daily "Mama Duties" I've been really enjoying his company, and putting off my blogging! Without further ado, I will now update with plenty of pictures!

The babies turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve. 6 MONTHS OLD!! How on earth has it already been half a year?! Time is flying by at warp speed now, and as I say in every post - I feel like I just wrote last months' update! Here is a pic I took of them on their '6 month birthday':

Christmas Eve we went to Mass at 4:30pm. Well, actually we arrived at 4:15pm thinking the service started at 4:30 but it didn't start until 5:30. Woops. Somehow 10 of our family members all trusted that we knew what time the service started and we in turn counted on them to save us seats since we figured we'd inevitably be late. My mom called me as we were rushing out the door, "We're the only ones in the Sanctuary and the pastor just came in and told us it doesn't start until 5:30." Oh for cripe's sake. I was so mad. I had even told myself to check the church's website earlier in the afternoon just to be sure of the time. Obviously I forgot to do that. I was completely flustered by the fact that we were running very late (LOL, or so I thought. I'd hoped to leave our house at 3:40, Jeff was just getting in the shower then...) I had already loaded up the car by myself with all the gifts, the diaper bag, the bottles and the babies, when the bomb was dropped. I started half-panicking and telling Jeff, "We can't stay for the 5:30 service! The babies are going to need a nap!! They need to be fed at 6pm!! My mom needs to get back home to put dinner in the oven, we have to open gifts at their house and be back at our house in time for baths and bedtime! Christmas Eve is RUINED!!!" Deep breaths. We decided to try our luck with the babies in the 5:30 service and even took some nice family photos before hand. Believe it or not, both Jozlynn and Jeffrey were absolute angels during the entire service!! Jozlynn entertained herself by pulling her pacifier out of her mouth and putting it back in. When that game got old we grabbed a toy from the diaper bag to keep her occupied for the remainder of the service. Jeffrey was perfectly content sitting on Grandma Lynn's lap, and when he started to fuss ever so slightly, she handed him to me and he settled down instantly (just as I was prepared to leave the Sanctuary!) Thanks babies, for the best Christmas Eve ever!

We headed to my parents' house and enjoyed dinner with them (and my brother and future sister-in-law!) and then exchanged gifts. Usually we exchange gifts Christmas Day but not until late so we decided we'd do it on Christmas Eve instead. Here's a pic from the evening!

Somehow Dad always forgets to open his eyes. Oh well!

The babies got lots of awesome gifts on Christmas Eve and even more on Christmas Day! Santa was so good to them! Christmas Morning, Jeff's parents came over around 11 and we exchanged gifts then headed over to his grandparents' house. Here's a few pics:

Jozlynn and her first Minnie Mouse!

I think this was the only nap he took all day :(

As I mentioned above, neither Jozlynn nor Jeffrey took a decent nap all day long. I think they got a cat nap on the car ride over, then both fell asleep briefly while we were there. They also got a little (longer) nap on the way to my aunt and uncle's house. Needless to say, by the time the day was over they were extremely overtired and overstimulated. While Jozlynn crashed as soon as we got her home and into bed at 9pm, Jeffrey could not settle and would wake up and have a screaming fit every 40 minutes or so until 1am. At that point I gave up attempting to soothe him and got him a bottle in hopes he'd fall asleep. He did (finally!) and crashed until 9am, when Jozlynn woke as well. She didn't make a single peep all.night.long!

I'd give an update on the babies' 6 month stats, but they haven't had their appointment with the pediatrician yet. Due to Jeff's wonky insurance plan, we had to wait to schedule it until after January 1. Can you believe his insurance only covered the equivalent of 4 months' worth of well-baby visits in a given calendar year? Are you kidding me? Do they know how often babies go to the doctor when they're less than a year old? Thank goodness they weren't born in January, or else we'd be paying out of pocket after they turned 4 months old! Completely ridiculous! And don't even get me started on their immunizations (which are covered...but ditto the well-baby visit stuff). Sigh, I guess it could be worse..

Ok that went off on a little tangent. I'll leave you with pics of the babies and their Christmas loot!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Jozlynn & Jeffrey's first visit with Santa!

Jeff had taken last Friday off and we had initially planned to take the babies to see Santa that afternoon. (I figured the mall would be less crowded, smaller line for Santa, etc..) Well, we never got around to it since the contractors were finishing up the work on the bathroom in our basement & then the plumbing inspector didn't show til about noon. Anyway, yesterday we got hit with a pretty substantial snow storm - the first one of the season! - and I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to go see Santa. The roads were pretty slushy on the trip there but luckily the mall we decided to go to wasn't very far from our house. Just as I predicted, not many people were at the mall and we were able to walk right up to Santa!! Aside from Santa's "helper" thinking Jeffy was a girl (???) we all had a good time 'visiting' him!

Look at Jeffrey's face, is that priceless or what? He had that look on his face the ENTIRE time he sat there! We had a little harder time getting Jozlynn to smile, but I am completely happy with the way the picture turned out! Neither baby is looking at the camera, they were looking at Santa's "helper" because she was holding up toys and ringing the sleigh bells, but whatever...at least they're smiling. :)

I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!