Merry Christmas

To all our family and friends, near and far...

We send our wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a blessed new year!

Christmas Pictures

Here are a few images of the Roszak family Christmas so far. Last week, Mason participated in his preschool's Christmas program. His two-year-old class joined the three and four-year-olds in a couple of songs. He didn't sing much, but he did stand where he was supposed to the whole time which was more than I was expecting. He does sing at home, so I'm sure he was just a little shy in front of everyone. I thought the kids looked cute in the Santa handprint shirts they made at school.

Here's Mason in his snowman pajamas the day we put up our little Christmas tree. He loves sitting in that chair to "watch the Christmas tree".


Lauren loves the tree's lights.

Two Month Check-Up

Lauren's two month visit with Dr. Smoak was today. The latest length and weight stats are:
22" - 50th percentile
12lbs, 15oz - 90th percentile

Yep, still a big baby. Dr. Smoak thought she looked more like 4 month old than a 2 month old but said she looks great. He's still not concerned that she's not a pooper, (she's only pooped three times since our last visit a month ago) so we'll just keep going with the flow at this point. We did have her first two vaccinations today (we're on a somewhat delayed\altered schedule) and of course that was the worst part. She only cried for a few seconds though, and hopefully there are no ill effects.

Potty Time or an Excuse to Get Out of Naptime?

It was just this morning at playgroup when the Moms were discussing our 2 1/2 -3 year old childrens' potty training status. Mason has peed on the potty several times, pooped once, but nothing recently. Usually when we try to get him to even sit on the potty, he says "No Potty!" and tries to get away. Sometimes he's willing to sit down, but nothing has come of it for awhile now.

So today, a little while after putting him to bed for his nap, I heard Mason saying "Change pullup!". I figured he must have pooped, but when I went up to check, there was nothing. I asked if he needed to go potty and he said "Okay." I hesitated because I wasn't sure if this was a ploy just to get out of taking a nap. (It's happened before.) But not wanting to discourage the use of the potty, I let him go.

At first, nothing happened. We went back and forth for awhile and after getting on an off a few times, he finally sat down and said "Go away, Mommy. Go see Lauren." I thought, we'll maybe if I just leave and let him sit for awhile by himself, he'll go. So I walked out in the hall so that he couldn't see me, but I could still see his reflection in the mirror. After about two minutes, he turned to look at me in the mirror and said "Hi Mommy, all done". And what do you know, the boy pooped! I believe it was the first time he's done something on the potty since I last blogged about back in September! We called Daddy at work to tell him the good news.

And of course Mason got a cookie.

A Star is Born

Last night our 9-week-old little girl was the star of our church's annual Live Nativity. She of course played none other than Baby Jesus. Each year, the newest baby in the congregation usually gets the honor of playing Baby Jesus, and by default, her parents play Mary and Joseph. So of course Dave and I joined in to complete the Holy Family. Dave even grew out his beard so he would look more authentic. But having the youngest baby in the church wasn't our only qualification - we also have experience. Two years ago, Mason, who was then about 8 months old, was Baby Jesus, so Dave and I were reprising our roles. (However, this time, we didn't have any lines to memorize.)

To prepare Lauren for her role, I nursed her has much as she would allow so she wouldn't be hungry during her big moment. I also made sure to change her just before we went on because she hates a wet diaper. And because we were going to be outside, I wrapped her up in a beige baby blanket, er... swaddling clothes, so she would be warm. After Dave and I were dressed in our costumes, we were all set. She fell asleep as we started walking outside, so I was thinking she was going to be the best, most beautiful Baby Jesus ever.

Sitting down on the bale of hay beside the manger, with Joseph beside me, the angel behind me, the three wise men and the shepherd and donkey looking on, I thought we must have looked like a pretty good picture of the nativity. The congregation started singing Away in a Manger, and just then, she started crying. I stood up with her to try to calm her down, but it wasn't working. I whispered, "Lauren, didn't you hear what they just sang? 'The little Lord Jesus, NO CRYING He makes'!" But she wouldn't stop. She continued crying through the scripture reading and through the singing of Silent Night. It wasn't until we were walking back into the church that she stopped crying and went back to sleep.

Who would have thought a 9-week-old could get stage fright?

Laundry Day

The other day I went up to do laundry while holding Lauren, and I needed to put her down for a minute. I looked around for a good spot, and not wanting to put her down on the floor which hasn't been vacuumed for two weeks, and not wanting to go find the bouncy seat, I just plopped her down on top of the laundry in the basket (which was clean) while I did another load. She didn't seem to mind. In fact, I think she quite enjoyed it!

Thanksgiving 2008

Since Dave and I started dating in college 11 years ago, I have enjoyed Thanksgiving at his family's house in Orlando every year. But this year, it was a little too hard to travel with a toddler and a newborn, and Dave's family was able to come here, so our annual gathering was held at our house for the first time ever. His Mom and Dad got to meet their new granddaughter for the first time, and his brother and sister got to meet their new niece.

Over the past week we've enjoyed a nice morning walk on a trail at the McDowell Nature Preserve, had fun with Mason on the new backyard swing set, played some games (Apples to Apples is the current family favorite), but mostly we did a lot of eating.

Thanksgiving at the in-laws always includes the typical Thanksgiving fare so I knew I needed to do that here, but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to cooking all of that. I've never in my life made a turkey, and I don't remember my mom ever making one (we usually had an atypical Thanksgiving meal or was travelling somewhere). I've certainly never made dressing or cranberry sauce. Thank goodness my dear mother-in-law helped me take care of everything. She took care of the main stuff while I made sides and dessert. We broke out the good china and had a nice meal in the dining room which I timed just right so that both kids were in bed asleep when the eating commenced. When everything was ready, it looked like this.

All in all it was great week spent with family. And this year, it's family I'm truly thankful for. I have two beautiful and healthy children; a loving and hard-working husband; plus wonderful parents, brother, nephews, in-laws, and a host of extended family. There are so many out there less fortunate than me, and I thank God for all the blessings in my life.