December iPhone Photos

Here are some snippets from December according to my iPhone. 

Atticus and I got to make a gingerbread house while we were at the hospital. (we also still made our family gingerbread house which everyone was pretty excited about - will post photos of that later)

 We have loved receiving all the lovely Christmas Cards. We felt particularly spoiled when some friends of ours who live in Holland sent some extra special items for us to enjoy - Chocolate Letters! Thanks, Family Prins; they were enjoyed by everyone :). Man, we sure are spoiled with awesome, thoughtful, friends.

We got to sneak away from the hospital a few times and go to the Christmas market with the kids. And, once Keely arrived, we were able to have her along to join us as well. Keely snapped some more photos (and better ones, as they were on a real camera, not just the phone) and I will need to get around to posting those later.

I actually got around to finishing the Christmas Tree Skirt. I think I've had about enough of sewing ruffles for a little while. It took a lot of hours to make all those ruffles and sew them on and when it was all finished I put it around the Christmas tree and hesitated about whether or not I like the finished product. It has taken a few days, but the tree skirt has grown on me.

 Of course, Milayla and I were in the hospital for the first couple weeks of December. Thankfully, she is one positive Little Lady and enjoyed playing in the play room and falling asleep in Mommy's arms. Unfortunately, our time in the hospital has made it very difficult for Milayla to get back on a normal sleep schedule. 230am wake up calls are getting a little too frequent around here...but, she is eating like a pro and steadily gaining weight (officially over the 8kg mark!). We are pretty proud of how determined Milayla is, her ability to be happy in the moment and her consistent push to continually improve. She is incredible.

 We've also been kicking the Christmas activities into full gear around here. Christmas baking (photos coming...), advent calendars, Christmas books, crafts, movies, music, market etc. We've been having a lot of fun. Though, Keely's face in the photos below while we make Popcorn garland for the tree may not be very indicative of all the fun we've been having. She's a little distraught.

It was pure inspiration that we decided to put the Christmas decorations up a few days earlier than we had originally planned as we ended up in the hospital with Milayla on the day that was originally planned to put up them up. It was nice to be able to enjoy that together, and to have the decorations and lights up when we got home from the hospital. The kids loved unpacking all the ornaments and Atticus particularly loved having a chocolate treat after all the work was done.

It has been a difficult push to make time for family Christmas traditions as (even though we are home from the hospital) we have appointments most days of the week. Then, all the adults in the home (myself, Jason and Keely) have all taken our turn being sick. And with Milayla still not into a proper sleeping routine, we all tend to lose sleep. It has been a bit exhausting on all of us. A really big help has been all the help from friends and family (by way of meals, thoughtful calls, babysitting etc); not sure we would have gotten any sleep at all if it had not been for so many awesome people being so willing to help out (yes, we really do have awesome family and friends). Though, even with that, the site below still happened....

That's Jason, passed out on the floor, completely unaware that there is a lion on his face. We really ought to be a little bit kinder to those who are able to get some sleep :).

Things are still a tad stressful around here, which we're pretty certain is primarily due to lack of sleep, but we're trying to make the most of it and we are pretty happy to have Jason home for the holidays. And we are extra happy to have the incredible blessing of Milayla being home from the hospital and doing so well. Keely has taken some really cute photos of her adorable baby cheeks that I will need to post when I get a chance (along with an update on Milayla's progress). For now, it's time to go play some family games.

Hope you all are enjoying your Christmas season!