Santa Claus Hits the Westerhold House

After doing Christmas Eve at Deb and Dave's, the kids fell asleep in the car and we were able to put them straight up to bed. Scott and I got to work right away and started putting out Santa Claus gifts. We, luckily, remembered to take Chuckie down because he had to go back to the North Pole for the year. We also put out some milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Rudolph actually dropped a couple in the fireplace. They must have fallen out of his mouth!


I was really excited for Christmas this year. I could hardly sleep because I wanted to make sure that I was down here and had the camcorder going for when they came downstairs. I think Kanin was a little overwhelmed with everything and all Gracie said when she came down the stairs is, "I gotta scootah". It was really cute!


I had the toughest time figuring out what to get Scott for Christmas so I went against my better judgement and bought him a Wii. Of course, I knew that Kanin would love it, too, so I let both of them open it.


As for myself, I got the best gift ever--a new camera!! I am so excited with it. It is a Nikon D5000 and it is awesome. I am so excited to take pics of the kids on this thing.

After opening our gifts, we continued our new tradition of going out to eat at the Ameristar Casino. Deb, Dave, Alissa, Mom and Dad all met us out there and we ate and ate and ate. It is fantastic and there is no mess! We came back and put out pj's on and just laid around the rest of the day.

What a great Christmas!

Christmas Part 2

After having Christmas at mom and dad's last Sunday, we went for round 2 with the Westerhold side of the family on Christmas Eve.

This Christmas Eve brought changes. The biggest change is that Debbie and David were able to sell their house this past year so instead of being in North County, we were out in Lake Saint Louis in their new home. Since they are out here, they have found a new church, too, so we didn't go to Chapel of the Cross for Christmas Eve service. We also decided to try going to the early service instead of the late night one and it worked out great! We went to church with -Debbie, David, Sarah, Alissa and Ben out at Emmanuel Lutheran in Wentzville and then right after church we headed to their house to eat and open gifts. Jeff, Dayna, Kelsey, Kurt,Rick, Michele, Emma, Mindi and her friend, Jay, met us out there. It worked out so well because in the past we have always gone to their house and did the gift-giving and then went to the 10:30 or 11:00 service which meant that we didn't get into bed until 2am or after.

Since Daryl is currently in Iraq with the Navy, Mindi was able to set him up on Skype and we all said hi and Merry Christmas. That was kind of neat. He woke up at 4:00am to see us and he wasable to show us where he is staying.

Of course, we had to continue the tradition of taking each individual family's picture in front of the Christmas tree and then we took our big family picture, too. Of course, we had to take quite a few of these, as always, because someone is always blocked or not looking.

At the end of the night, we got smart and we put pj's on all of the kids so in case they fell asleep in the car then they would already be ready for bed and for Santa to come.

Along with the new house, new church and new church time, another big change that really started last year is that Doug, Susie, John, Sherri and Kenzie weren't there. Doug and Susie have decided to start doing Christmas in Chicago and, of course, Paul couldn't be here because he is in the Marines out in San Diego. With so many members of the family gone it does take away from some of the fun and chaos with that many people gone but we still had a great time!

Kanin's Winter Party

I am so thankful that I get to go to Kanin's little kindergarten parties. The kids are so excited about everything and even though they are in school, you can really see that they are still babies.

Yesterday was Kanin's Winter party. We divided the class up into 4 groups and we had 4 little crafts/games for them to play.

They each made a snowman ornament.

Played pass the snowball.

Blew a snowball across the floor.

Played walk like a penguin.

Then, we had an ice cream sundae bar set up where the kids could walk by and add oreos, M&M's, strawberries, chocolate and strawberry toppings.

Right before we were getting ready to walk out the door, Kanin was soooo cute. He walked around to every kid in the class and gave them a hug and told them Merry Christmas. Many of the children hugged him right away but some of them were kind of standoffish. I could tell the kids that he is good friends with because they stood up and hugged him right away. With the other children, I could see a bit of shyness come out of Kanin as he stood there and really wanted to hug that person but didn't know how to ask. It was so sweet.

Christmas Starts Early

We started our Christmas early by going to Mom and Dad's this past Sunday and opened up gifts there. A few years ago we decided that we would do my family's Christmas on the Sunday before Christmas Day.

Here are a few pics:

Just Another One of Those Days

Every year I say that I am going to start Christmas shopping early and every year I am running around like crazy trying to get it finished. This year is no different.

Things have been crazy around here this week. Scott has been super busy with work so I've been doing a lot of single parenting. You all know about the debacle the last time I tried to go to the mall with the kids so I planned all week long to go today (Saturday). I knew that we wouldn't get an early start because of Scott working so much and because he dj'ed last night but I was hoping to at least be out of the house by noon. Nope, that didn't happen. We decided to go to the mall and take 2 strollers so that we could split up which meant that I had to pack 2 separate diaper bags and everything that goes with them, get myself ready, get all 3 kids ready, let the dog out and put him in the crate, the list goes on and on.

We finally walk out the door at 12:38 and just as I am getting ready to put Gracie in the car, I smell something. That's right, she pooped. So, I take her back inside, change the diaper, send her out and take the diaper straight out to the trash bin.

Finally, we are on our way to the mall but little did I know that Scott had to Fed Ex something out to KC. So we veer off toward the Fed Ex parking lot. He gets out and gets the package and can't find the packing slip. He searches everywhere in the trunk and no packing slip anywhere. In the meantime, Jeff and Dayna had called and we were going to meet them for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. So Scott takes the package inside and has to fill out an actual slip, stand in line, etc. Meanwhile, out in the car, WWIII is approaching because apparently Gaga let Kanin wear his gloves but now Gracie wants one. I had 2 other pair of gloves in the car but they were screaming back and forth because they both wanted Gaga's gloves. Jeff and Dayna were able to get right in and get a seat at Ruby Tuesday's so they start blowing up Scott's phone wandering where we are. Wouldn't you know it? Who would have guessed that on the Saturday before Christmas at a mall restaurant there wouldn't be a wait.

25 MINUTES LATER . . . we finally leave Fed Ex and turn on Mid Rivers and are totally stuck in traffic. It is now after 1:00pm and the kids are hungry, Gracie's nap is approaching and Scott and I are both grouchy. We finally get there and eat a relatively uneventful lunch.

Now we have to decide what we are going to do. Initially the plan is to go to the mall, go to Costco and pick out my new camera and then head over to a car dealership to test drive a car that will actually hold our family comfortably. It is 10 after 2 now, though, and I'm thinking Gracie is not going to last long shopping so Jeff and Dayna took the kids and we just decided to go to the car dealership.

Get there and test drive a Traverse. Actually liked the car and decided to go get the Mercedes to bring back to see what we could get for it. Get all the way to our driveway and realize that we can't get into our house because we drove Jeff and Dayna's car to the dealership so we wouldn't have to remove all of the car seats and the only way into our house is through the garage door opener in our cars. We don't even carry keys to our house. So, instead of going back to the dealership, we just go over to Jeff and Dayna's.

Jeff and Scott have no desire to go shopping but I really need to get to the mall to get a gift for Scott so Dayna and I decide to go. It's about 4:30 and we don't plan on being there very long. We get all the way to the mall and I realize that I didn't bring my little wallet with my credit cards in it. I have a little bit of cash but not much. Dayna offers to drive me home to get it but, once again, I can't get into my house because we are in Dayna's truck and not our car and I don't have a stupid garage door opener.

I was able to get a shirt and tie for Scott and do some window shopping. Scott, Jeff and kids call and say they are hungry and we decide to go eat out at this new place that serves that buffalo chicken dip as an appetizer. Dayna and I get there first so we go ahead and order it and the rest of them show up a few minutes later with Caleb crying. It is 6:45 at this point and he is supposed to eat at 7. I get the diaper bag out and get ready to make a bottle but there is no bottle. When Dayna had fed him earlier in the day she had rinsed the bottle out and set in on her counter and when Scott and Jeff were packing everyone up to meet for dinner, they didn't see it. So, I grab Caleb and put him in the car and head home to get a bottle. It is only about 5 miles so it was really no big deal. After being in the car for about 30 seconds, he was asleep but I went ahead and went home and got the bottle and headed back to the restaurant.

So, I get back to the place and the buffalo chicken dip is gone. Scott asked if I wanted him to order more but I didn't want that whole appetizer just for me and they had already ordered pizza so I just decided on a bowl of chili. The chili arrives and I swear it was some of the most godawful stuff I have ever tasted. I tried putting in hot sauce and 3 packages of crackers to give it some texture and taste but it was just not happening.

Fast forward to now and I hear I sit. Christmas shopping still not completed, didn't go get the camera, didn't get the car and starving. Oh well, just another day in paradise. Next year, though, I WILL start shopping early.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

So today was the big day. The day that we finally got to go see the jolly old man. I was torn on what to have the kids wear. I could put them in their Christmas outfits but that would be way too easy so I ordered them matching Christmas pj's about a month ago. Since Caleb has turned into a chunky monkey with all of the rice he has been eating, this will probably be one of the last times he wears his 3-6 month outfit. We've graduated to 6-9 months, I think.

Anyway, of course, the day couldn't start off easy. Gracie decided that it would be fun to take her sippie cup and push the nipple part against her head which, in turn, left her with a head ful of milk. So I had to give her a bath and wash her hair. While I was at it I gave Caleb one, too, since he always has that smell of dried puke and formula underneath his double chin.

For some reason, Kanin wasn't really excited about seeing Santa this year. When I picked him up from school I told him that we were probably going to go take our Santa picture and he just kept saying that he didn't want to. I really, really hope that some little brat hasn't told him the truth about Santa already. He is only in kindergarten and I'm hoping that I get a couple more years out of him. He didn't make a big deal about wearing the pj's, though, not even out in public. I took care of that last week when I bought him a case of rootbeer at Costco. I'm usually not one to go with bribery but I really wanted these pictures with all 3 kids.

Gracie was not a fan of Santa Claus last year. Last year our Santa picture looked like this:

So I was anxious to see how she would react this year. This morning when I told her that we were going to see Santa, she was really excited. That is all she talked about all day. That could mean a couple of things: either she wouldn't be afraid at all and was really excited or it could have been a sign that she had no idea what I was talking about.

We waited for Scott to get home from work because #1 I didn't want him to miss it and #2 there was no way that I was going to try to do it by myself. We got there fairly early and I was happy because I hate waiting in lines, especially with kids.

Seeing Santa for the first time while in line.

Kanin was an old pro at this game and walked right up. Gracie was a little bit more hesitant.

I think having Caleb there made Gracie want to take on the big sister role.

The final result! Baby Caleb's 1st Christmas and Gracie not crying.

Why Do I Do This to Myself?

For anyone who knows me very well you definitely know 2 things: I love pictures (especially of kiddos) and I ALWAYS try to coordinate the whole family when I can. Well, this Christmas is no different and I finally was able to get the kids Christmas outfits together last week. I had a heck of time this year, though. I don't know if it was because I had a 3rd one to coordinate or if I waited too long but it was really a huge hassle this year.

After looking online at several stores and googling everything from "sibling Christmas outfits" to "matching clothes for the family", you can imagine the items that were popping up, I decided that I was going to have to brave the 30 degree rainy weather and head to the mall. Of course, this couldn't be an easy task because first I had to get up and get Kanin ready for school while I also getting myself and the other 2 ready for shopping which included packing a diaper bag, bottle, water, juice cup and snacks. Then, I had to decide which stroller to take. We are at an in between stage right now. I want to leave Caleb is his carseat and just sit it on the stroller but that would mean that Gracie gets to sit unattached in the back of the sit-n-stand stroller. This is never a good idea, especially when you are by yourself. So, I opted for our old individual stroller and I just put Caleb in the Ergo carrier.

So, I get Kanin dropped off at school and head to the mall. Of course I drive up and down the aisle about 20 times looking for a close spot because I'm going be dealing with the babies and that is never a fun thing. I finally found a spot that was kind of close and decided to take it. Get out the stroller, get Gracie out and in the stroller. Pull Caleb's carseat across the backseat so that I can get him out of it. Put on the Ergo carrier and finally get him in it. Meanwhile, this old man walks by and says, "Ha, how many kids are you gonna pull out of that car?". I don't know if he thought he was being funny or what but, let me tell you, I had a few choice thoughts for him. I grabbed the diaper bag and finally make my way up to the mall. By this time, I'm sweating profusely because I wore long-sleeves and a coat.

We get inside and pull off the coats and tuck them underneath and I am finally ready to shop. I start off at Bath and Body Works and make a successful purchase. Then, I come across Children's Place and think that it will be easy to find outfits. It was only the first of December and I had plenty of time, right? WRONG. There was nothing. They had one little, bitty rack that had a vest for Kanin and a dress for Grace but nothing for Caleb. So, I go into second plan mode and think that I'll just get the older 2 and surely I will be able to find something for Caleb to match. So, I pay for the stuff and nonchalantly say to the sales lady that I couldn't believe everything was already gone. She kindly told me that they were sold out in October! Are you kidding me? Who thinks about this stuff in October?

So, I leave there and walk by Gymboree and I thought that I would see if they have something to match Kanin and Gracie's outfits in there. Naturally, they had 3 matching outfits in Gymboree and they were clearance--SCORE! So, I buy the 3 outfits, minus pants for Caleb, and head back to Children's Place to return the items I just bought. While standing at the register, I look at the stroller and realize that I walked out of Gymboree with 2 other outfits that I didn't pay for. So, here I head back to Gymboree. I walked in and said, "I'm so sorry. I walked out of here without paying for these items" and the lady looked at me and says, "Oh". That was it. No "Thank you for being honest" or anything.

By this time it is time to get Kanin from school so here I go back out to the car and do the same thing only in reverse order.

Jump ahead 2 weeks and I happen to be in Wal-Mart and think, "I should make an appointment to get Christmas pics done". Normally, I don't use Wal-Mart studios, which is now Picture Me, but they were able to get me in today (Monday) and the pics will be back this Saturday so I made the appointment.

So, yesterday I am looking at their outfits and realized that Gracie needs tights, Caleb needs a pair of black pants and Kanin is good. I head to Kohl's--nothing. I head to Gordman's--nothing. I finally decide on a pair of just cottony looking black pants for Caleb that are definitely not dressy but I don't think anyone will be able to tell and I remember that I think Grace has a pair of white tights.

So, picture day is here. Take Kanin to school. Give both babies a bath. Pick Kanin up from school. Feed everyone. Make diaper bag including bottle and water and diapers for 2. Put on their outfits and Kanin's white shirt doesn't fit and his shoes are too small. Are you kidding me? So, off we head to Wal-Mart early to walk through the store and find a white shirt for him and a lint brush to get the little fuzzies off of the red tights that I found for Gracie. We breeze into the photo place literally 2 minutes before our appointment.

Finally get started and, of course, Gracie doesn't smile and Caleb cries. Such is the life of having 3 kids. And to top it all off, I thought they were really expensive so I didn't even get as many pics as I normally would have but I figure at least I got one of the 3 of them together and some of Caleb since it is his first Christmas.

When we got home I had the kids let me take a few more pictures of them. This is pretty much what we were dealing with at the store, too, but I guess I can't complain. At least I've got pictures of them and at least they match;)

Caleb Rolled Over Today

Today marks a big day in Caleb's life, he rolled over for the first time. I think he probably would have done it earlier if he didn't have 2 older siblings who are constantly in his face, trying to make him laugh (or cry) and kissing him.



I knew that he was getting pretty close as he has been rolling over on his side for a while now. When I got home from picking Kanin up from school today, I laid Caleb in the floor while the rest of us settled in to watch Survivor. I happened to look down and saw that he was on his stomach so I quickly grabbed the camera and waited . . .

Old Blog and Old Posts

I finally figured out a way to import by old blog, stlouisgirl, into this one. If you go to the sidebar where it shows previous posts you will now see 2007 and 2008. Click on those to read old posts.

What is this stuff?

Caleb has been getting cereal in the bottle for a while now but I thought maybe I'd try to feed him out of a bowl and maybe fill his belly before bedtime (it didn't work).

Caleb and the nebulizer

As most of you know, we have been dealing with baby Caleb being sick the last couple of months. I took him to the doctor last week and he was put on a nebulizer every 6 hours "until he gets better". The good thing is that he is happy and is still playing but, most of the time, he doesn't like the nebulizer very much. The doctor put him on Xoponex and, for once, our insurance actually helped out. The negotiated price for Xopenx is $639!! We only had to pay $35 so I was grateful for that one.

Gracie was put on the nebulizer, too, when she was about a year old. She absolutely hated it and screamed her head off the whole time. We finally had to switch her to just a regular inhaler. Well, now she WANTS the nebulizer. I've been giving Caleb most of the medicine and letting her have the last little bit. I figure it couldn't hurt.

I Don't Want to Be a Big Girl

Ok, so I need some HELP!!! Gracie did so good the first week of potty training (see previous posts) but she is refusing to even go near the potty chair now. I've tried to bribe with fruit snacks, candy, cartoons and nothing. Should I keep pushing or just give up for a while?

I'm a Baby, Too!

After a very successful 2 days of potty training, I think Gracie is starting to feel a little threatened about all of this "big girl" talk. She was very, very cranky right before bedtime and was crying about every little thing. She said that she wanted some water in a bottle so, naturally, Scott thought she meant a bottled water so he went out to the garage and brought one in. "No" she screamed. "I want water in Caleb's bottle." We kind of laughed at her at first but let me tell you, she was serious. So instead of fighting her I just told Scott to do it. She wanted to drink out of the bottle, wanted held like a baby and she wanted burped!!!

I told Scott that I think she is feeling left out. Caleb takes up a lot of my time on a normal basis but he has been sick lately and I am really having to put a lot of effort into him. Before Caleb came along, Gracie was definitely my baby and I think maybe the change in attention is starting to get to her.

Although I would never want this to become an everyday thing, I think that, secretly, both Scott and I enjoyed holding, kissing and loving her again like the babydoll that she is.

Elf on the Shelf

Last year for Kanin's 5th birthday, Debbie got Kanin The Elf on the Shelf book for his birthday. I had never heard of it and didn't really know if he would enjoy it or not but thought we would give it a chance. The premise of the book is that there is this elf that lives with Santa Claus all year long and on Thanksgiving night he comes to your house (or anytime that you buy the book) and from that time until Christmas morning whenever the family goes to bed, the elf flies back to the North Pole and tells Santa if the kids have been naughty or nice. He also reports on what the kids might like for Christmas. Every morning when he returns, he lands in a different spot.

The first time that you read the book you are supposed to name your elf. Ours is named Chuckie. I have to tell you that if you do not have The Elf on the Shelf and you have small kids, you have to get it! It is so much fun. Every morning the first thing that Kanin and Gracie do is search through the house and look for Chuckie. It is such an adventure for them. When we leave the house, they both tell him good-bye and sometimes I will walk in and Kanin is talking to him. It is so precious. Even after Chuckie leaves on Christmas morning, Kanin asks about him all through the year.

It makes me kind of sad that there is probably only a few more years where Kanin will relish in the magic of an elf but I hope that it will become a memory that he loves and, hopefully, he will do it with his kids someday, too. I also hope that he doesn't ruin it for Gracie and Caleb-LOL.

Potty Training

DAY 5: Well, on Day 5 we hit a hiccup. It was not a successful day at all. I made Gracie sit on the potty this morning and wouldn't you know that as soon as I said she could get up, she pooped in her diaper. So, after shopping all morning, I made her sit on it this afternoon and same thing. I'm hoping that this is only a minor setback and we can get back on track. We'll see.

DAY 4: Once again, I would classify today as a success. Gracie did both jobs on the potty again and was proud of herself. I'm just wondering, though, how long will it be until she starts telling me that she has to go rather than me making her sit on the potty. I haven't been through this with a girl before but I can tell you that she is already starting off to be easier than Kanin.

DAY 3 UPDATE: SUCESSS! Gracie pooped on the potty again today and although I am really excited, I don't think that she would do it on her own. I pretty much make her sit on the potty (while watching cartoons) until something comes out. I don't know if this is the best way or not but it seems to be working somewhat.

DAY 3: Well, I didn't think that Day 3 was going to start off very well. Gracie was kind of reverting into babyhood last night (see other post) and I told myself that I wasn't going to push her today. I did get her up and had her sit on the potty but no luck. Oh, well, I said and we just went on our way. We were at the mall this morning so I didn't even bother trying to take her to a public restroom so, of course, she went in her diaper-A LOT. When we got home she sat on the potty while watching Tinkerbell but, again, nothing. She just now woke up from her nap and she is sitting back on the potty but we'll see what happens.

DAY 2: The first thing I did when Gracie woke up this morning was put her on the potty. I gave her cup of milk and had her drink and then told her she needed to go potty so we could take Bubba to school. Currently, she has been sitting on the potty for about 45 minutes. She started off in the bathroom but after so long I needed to come back in the family room with Caleb so . . . I brought the potty into the family room and she is watching cartoons while sitting on it. If it works, I'm all for it.

DAY 2 UPDATE: SUCCESS . . . another poo-poo and pee-pee on the potty!

DAY 1: Day 1 of potty training was exciting and productive. I really didn't think that I would get anywhere but after sitting there for about 20 minutes Gracie pooped in the potty! I was so excited because that is usually the hard one to accomplish. Later on, she peed in the potty, too. I kept telling her that she was my "potty buddy" and every time that I needed to go I would tell her that I needed my potty buddy. After she did her business, we wa

ved good-bye to it and flushed it down the toilet--hey, if it works, I'm all for it. Then, we GOT to use toilet paper AND wash our hands--LOL.