Christmas Chaos!

We loved playing Santa this year to Kylie and her little brother. Ky woke up around 6 am, we opened presents and she did not stop playing all day...seriously...it was quite impressive. Among her many gifts was a new camera from memaw, a drum set from "santa", a cupcake maker from nana, and of course a ton of new barbie stuff and littlest pet shop stuff. For some reason she wouldn't let anyone watch her open the gifts. If she caught you looking she would stop and give you a look you wouldn't imagine until you turned away, then she would proceed to open. I also found it quite humorous that she kept singing, "I'm ho ho kylie." If she only knew the filth she spoke. Although Beck received his fair share of the action also, he took it in stride, mostly sleeping in his swing. It was odd opening presents for him that I wrapped the day before, a little pointless maybe, but its Christmas so what other choice did I have? We loved hanging out with my family, and Kylie especially loved hanging out with her cousin Peyton, whom she ADORES!!!

Although Jason and I are both exhausted from all the holiday festivities, there's really no time to rest. This next week is filled with Beck's 2 month check up (stats to come), dentist appointment, and then my surgery to fix the belly button hernia I received when pregnant w/ Beck. Then J's brother and his three children are headed to Dallas New Year's Day to meet Beck and hang out. All that followed by Kylie's pajama birthday bash party! Whew! I only thought I'd have all this spare time when I decided to quit working and stay home...Although honestly I'm wondering what I'm going to be like come the end of January when all the hustle and bustle is over. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Kylie is still in her clingy mommy stage. I'm waiting as patiently as I can for it to end, which isn't easy. She melted down at home today when I decided to go shopping to exchange some gifts and such. I just have to remember that she's only 3 and trying to adjust, its just not easy because she's so mature for her age most of the time. Beck has been doing just great. I can't get over what a happy baby he is for the most part. True, he hates his carseat, and is so nosey that he rarely sleeps anytime we're out and about, but man...that smile could light up the darkest room. J's been serving as a pretty good laxative for him the last couple days. No joke I think 3/4 of the time he's playing with his daddy Beck decides to "take care of business." This of course leads to a couple blow outs and poop on some of J's fave. bball shorts. But hey...what are you going to do. Such is life.

We hope everyone had as wonderful of a holiday season as we did. We truly have so much to be thankful for. I can't even count all the blessing that have come our way over the last year, the biggest being the addition of Beck to the family. I can't express the joy I get when I look at my life and can only think 'man....I LOVE this.'

Weekend in Review

Busy, busy, busy! Jason got his early Christmas present which was a trip to the new cowboys stadium to see UNC take on Texas in Basketball. One of his good friends Gary came over from Phoenix to go to the game with him and hang out with Beck and Kylie. So, needless to say, I had both the kids for a good solid six hour stretch....alright, its true, my mom did come over to help for a good bit of that time. But both the kids did great and I really enjoyed focusing on spending time with them. Jason loved the stadium and enjoyed watching the game, but it wiped him out for the rest of the day. We're still not sleeping a ton at night due to Beck and we're just not used to actually "doing" anything like that, so it was pretty funny.

Sunday we went to church and watched Kylie sing Christmas carols with the other kids. Although it was more like watching Kylie stand there staring at us and everyone else singing. She said she didn't know the songs or motions, even though they've been working on them since Thanksgiving, oh well, can't win them all. Sunday night my friend Hayley came over with her husband and their two adorable kids. Kylie loved having Gabe follow her around since usually she's the one following around her bigger cousin Peyton. The two of them were like two peas in a pod. Here's a pic of them hangin out by the fire.

Kylie's Birthday invitations are done. And yes, I will toot my own horn and say they turned out ADORABLE!!! Especially since I'm not much of a crafter naturally. I can't wait to start on everything else for her party. She's inviting a few girls from church, a few from her school, and then some family friends and their kids as well. I'm hoping to have a full house to celebrate her turning four!...and celebrate how fast time is flying by and how old Jason and I are becoming!!!

Beck is laughing more and more each day. He seems fascinated with fingers. If he every starts to get fussy, all I need to do is show a little bit of "jazz hands" and he freezes in amazement. Its actually quite funny.

I'm looking forward to a short week for work for Jason, followed by a WONDERFUL Christmas with friends and family. I hope everyone feels as blessed as I do over the holidays. The sermon at our church on Sunday hit the point exactly: It is Jesus's birthday, and my family will be sure to be putting something under the tree for him as well...ourselves. Merry Christmas everyone!

Nothing like a sister's love...

There is no one in the world Beckham likes more than his big sister. Doesn't matter how much I do, even I can't get that boy to smile more than she does. The minute he hears her voice he's searching the room for her, and anytime he's fussy, all I need to do is ask Ky to stand in front of him and do anything....literally, she can jump, sing, or just say his name and the crying ceases immediately. It might be the cutest thing I have ever seen.

We took the family trek to the dentist this week. Kylie and I both had appointments right in the middle of the day all the way in Carrollton, which meant dad had to go to watch Beck and help with Ky while I got my teeth cleaned...AND Kylie stayed home with me and Beck all morning and afternoon...which went surprisingly well until about 4 p.m. when I hit my wall and became ridiculously exhausted.You wouldn't imagine how well Kylie did. She let them count, polish, floss, flouride, and even XRay her teeth. She did SO amazing! I was so proud of her.

Almost all the Christmas shopping is done, minus a little I still have to do for Jason...not really sure when that's going to get done seeing as I'm running out of time. Kylie, or should I say Nosey Rosey...already spotted the presents under our bed and wanted to know what was in the stockings I filled thinking surely she wouldn't notice since nothing was spilling out of the top. I really don't give her enough credit for how freaking smart she is. She's detail oriented like her daddy so these things never seem to escape her. She has her Christmas party at school on Friday and we're making sugar cookies and icing them like santa's, etc...I'll try to take a pic of them before the party and post it. Neither Jason nor I are much of pastry chefs, so it should be interesting.

Kylie has decided that she wants to do a pajama party here at the house for her fourth birthday, so I'm getting started making invitations and coming up with some ideas for the party. She's really excited and keeps asking me what kind of p.j.'s (fill in any friend name here) is going to wear, and I keep saying I have no idea and that we'll have to wait and see.

Smiles & More...

Beck is all smiles and sounds now...and there is nothing like a baby's smile to brighten your day. He seems to scare himself when he coo's...which is a pretty funny sight as well. Ky's Christmas program went really well. She stood up on that stage in front of a crowd full of people and shook her little booty and sang her little heart out. I'm trying to figure out how to convert video from camcorder to computer to show, since we don't have any pictures. Beckham was pretty freaked out with all the loud music and random clapping/hollering, so Jason ended up holding him and walking with him the entire time. He was up for over five hours STRAIGHT! Needless to say he pretty much slept the next two days away. But, this is the reason we have no pics, because I can only do one thing at a time. And to be honest, I'm pretty sure the video job is less than stellar since I was trying to watch her and tape her at the same time. Sometimes I would look down and I was filming the head of the person in front of us. Hey, no ones perfect.

I've been trying all week to get a good pic of Beckham smiling, but it seems that as soon as the flash comes on the camera the cute face goes away and he gives me the 'Duh what's that light' look. I've noticed that every time he smiles, he gives you stink eye. For those who do not know, stink eye is the one-eye half wink. I really think its because his cheeks are so big that something has to give with grins that large!

For now, you'll have to settle with a pic of the stage before the program began and I started taping, and a so-so pic of Beckham smiling. I'll work on the video clip and hopefully will post it soon. Christmas cards have been mailed out, and we have a couple of gifts to finalize, but I can't believe it's already mid December. I'm really looking forward to Kylie and Christmas. She has already redistributed the few gifts under the tree from family and decided that Beck should obviously get the smallest gift since he's the littlest, even though it is labeled to her. This should be interesting considering that gifts for young children (ie: 6-36 months) usually come in big boxes. I'm curious to see how Ky takes it.

Family Pictures!

Well...it's done! It took a lot of work too! Getting two kiddos bathed, dressed, fed, etc. for pics is no easy task. Jason has scanned in some of the shots so you can see. We used these to do our Christmas cards this year. After waiting about an hour (they were running late) and listening to all the kids screaming in the store, I figured if we just get one okay picture we'll be doing alright. Luckily Beck was in a really good mood and lasted probably 15-20 minutes before getting tired. Kylie did great, although it was tough keeping her looking at the camera. We got a ton of cute shots of her w/ her eyes totally not looking the right direction.

I think Kylie has just realized that Beck is here to stay. She has all of a sudden become quite the jealous child. She has always been pretty good at playing by herself in her playroom when mom and dad are busy. I was on the computer yesterday when Beck woke up from his nap hungry. I stood up to feed him and had a whiny four year old attached to my leg within seconds. Jason thinks it is because Beck is starting to smile and such so there's more interaction between us and him. Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't last long.

Big Sister Help...

As Beck is starting to become a little more hardy (in his old age of 7 weeks) Kylie is feeling a little more comfortable and has even started helping me pick him up out of the swing. This makes me both happy and nervous. Happy because she's becoming even more involved, nervous because all I can think of is the story my mom tells about my older sister carrying me off and feeding me sweet tarts at a couple months while my mom was busy in another room...this isn't something I really want to see happening. Beck is smiling and starting to coo so much now. Its great to see the increase in interaction, and truth be told, he'll smile at anyone or anything. He LOVES it when you sing to him...even me with my horrible voice.

Kylie's been trying to fight off a little bit of a cold and I think the dry weather is starting to get to her skin also. So we set up the humidifier in her room and are lathering on the lotion, so as not to dry out that beautiful face before we get family photos done tomorrow. I was talking to Ky on our way to school this morning when she reminded me that Dampa (my dad) was away for work (actually in the Phillipeans) and I told her that he was really far away and she responded with "yeah, far away like Makenzie's house"...which is actually a street away. It seems that she might have gotten my sense of directions...

Here are a couple new pics of the kiddos, I was trying to get a good one of beck, but he's just not at the good photogenic place currently...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jason's parents visit went really well! Kylie was ALL ABOUT memaw and the turkey and sides tasted delicious. My compliments to the cook...my wonderful husband! We were able to make a trip with the kids to downtown McKinney for "A Dickens of a Christmas" which turned out to be a lot of fun!

The fall decorations have been put away and we're in the middle of getting out all the Christmas decor. We decided to get Kylie a little tree for in her room this year, making a total of three trees in the Alcorn residence. Jason thinks I'm crazy, my response? There's no such thing as too much holiday cheer =)....The Christmas shopping has begun and we've realized that we're in sort of a bind as to what to do with the gifts. Last year Kylie wasn't old enough to piece together the whole gifts and santa idea, not the same this year. We're having to find places to hide gifts until I can get them wrapped, AND there's no such thing as putting the gifts out early, unless I want to explain why santa visited so soon! But that's alright, these are all problems I don't mind having as I'm expecting Kylie to really get into Christmas this year.

My dad is out of the country in the Phillipeans for work for the next three weeks, so we're expecting to see a lot of Nana over the next couple weekends. Family pictures are booked for next weekend, I'm hoping they turn out well, but with a four year old and a newborn, all you can really hope for is to get there on time with clothes on that aren't covered in spit up, or worse...Here are some pics from the Thanksgiving break!

Kylie's Thanksgiving Feast

Kylie had her annual Thanksgiving Feast at school today. We had a great time eating and hanging out with all of her friends. After the party we took both kids to the doctor for some FUN shots!!! Kylie finally got both her flu vaccines and Beck got his second Hep. shot. He's now in the 90-95% in weight and 75-90% in height. He put on THREE pounds in three weeks!!!!! The doctor said I could sell my milk on the black market...didn't really know what to say to that. =) Here are some pics from the party at ky's school.

A day in the life of a stay-at-home mom...

Beck had a rough night last night. After crying from 7 pm to close to 11, he awoke at 12:30, and then again at 3:30 as angry as ever. So I found myself awake at 4 in the morning with my head spinning of all the things that need to be done in the next couple of weeks. J's parents visit is around the corner, and there's so much to be done around the house. We're expected to provide a traditional thanksgiving meal while they're here, yet we've never baked a turkey...alright, the use of the pronoun "we" is less than accurate seeing as I don't ever cook, but you know what I mean. What to get the family for Christmas is still up in the air since money is tight (I thought teacher's got paid little, stay at home moms make even less =) ). And then there's Ky's bday...try getting a soon to be four year old to tell you what she wants to do to celebrate...not an easy task. Even jobs as simple as getting ready for our family picture day is turning out to be impossible. The other day we went up to Stonebriar in search for some outfits for the kids...came home hours later w/ a screaming baby, bored 4 year old, a sweater vest and part of an outfit for kylie. To say it was less than a successful trip would be an understatement, but I still contend that much of it lies outside of my control. Baby boys clothes are just not cute, and seeing as jason refuses to let me put him in anything plaid or corduroy, the options are pretty thin. Anyways, I found Beckham a white button down and jeans to match the sweater about 15 stores later, as for ky's outfit...still working on it, but it will get done eventually.

Jason and I are asked often now a days the difference between having one kid and two. And at the beginning, even though he made it sound like a miserable experience, I still contended that it wasn't that bad. I stand corrected. Now that I have graduated from the "new mom" bliss stage, I have come to realize that having two children makes like infinitely more difficult. Lets take going for a walk as an example...First, you must get Beck bundled w/ pacifier in tow (still no guarantee that he won't scream the entire way around the block) then you have to pull out ky's old stroller since she refuses to walk because brother doesn't have to walk. And there you have it, me following Jason down the sidewalk, trying to keep Kiki in tow while Kylie talks non-stop and Beck cries...any possibility of having a conversation with my husband over a nice stroll is long forgotten. Not that I would change it for the world. There are moments during the day that will stay with me forever. Like when Kylie strokes Beck's hair and tries to get him to calm down by singing to him. Or when I see the beginnings of a grin when Beck catches sight of his big sister. But man...it ain't easy, that's for sure.

So anyways, Beck's 3:30 wake up had me thinking about how fast time flies by. After noticing that he had peed through his clothes and blanket (an occurrence almost common place right now) and trying to get him in an outfit he wore just last week and has already outgrown, I realized that my little man is not so little anymore. We have a daughter prepping for kindergarten and a little man that doesn't even fit in newborn clothes anymore...and I'm stuck wondering where all the time has gone. As excited as I am to watch my children grow, to see them struggle and thrive, to learn and explore, a part of me wants them to stay little forever. Its the bitter sweet struggle of every parent. So what is a day in the life of a stay-at-home mom like? Right now, for this mom...its trying to cherish every sweet moment you have before it passes by, because like the song says, "Its never gonna be like this again."

Look-a-likes???

I have realized as Beckham gets older (I can't believe he's four weeks already) that there are moments when I look down and see a little baby Kylie again. His facial features are starting to develop and he's looking more and more like his big sister...What do you think??? We're getting ready for memaw and papap (j's parents) to come visit for Thanksgiving and meet Beckham for the first time, but we're finding it hard to find the time to get the house in order and cleaned up for their arrival. Kylie cracked me up the other day when she told me that they're learning a new song at school for the Christmas recital. When I asked her what song she replied, "feliz mom and dad"...I cracked up laughing and she wouldn't have any part of me correcting her...just like her father. I'm loving how warms it's been outside this late in the year...it's allowing Beck and I to take some nice walks during the day and get a little bit of fresh air. The holidays are just around the corner, followed by Ky's bday...much to do, so little time...

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a WONDERFUL Halloween weekend this year! I was able to take Kylie to her carnival at school and Jason and I were both able to see Kylie Trick-or-treat with her friend Makenzie. Having a friend around made all the difference, as this was the first year Ky really seemed to ENJOY the experience!