Christmas

Jed spent his first Christmas (outside my belly - though he was full-term last year) at my father's house.  We drove down to Woodbridge, VA in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and realized once we got there that we had forgotten to pack diapers.  So after Scott set up the pack 'n' play, he ran out to get some and I attempted to put Jed down for a nap.  He SCREAMED.  After a little while I went in to check on him, and as soon as I opened the door he reached for me desperately and whined, snot running down his face and his eyes puffy and red.  He rarely gets so upset about anything - it was like I was torturing him.  I hugged and kissed him, sang him a quick song, and laid him back down.  He cried more - especially when my uncle's dog got yelled at for eating the cat food - but eventually quieted down and went to sleep.  Unfortunately, he didn't sleep for very long, but I wasn't worried about it since he sleeps so well at night.  I figured we would just put him down a little early and that would be that.  We hung out the rest of the afternoon - I helped Debbie with various Christmas-y things around the house, and others watched football or did other housework.  Julie and Ayme arrived later that evening, and shortly afterward most of us left to go to the midnight service at a church near my dad's house (it started at 10:30 but ended at midnight).  Scott and Jed stayed home, since Jed was asleep.  If I'd known what kind of night we were about to have, I probably would have opted to stay home as well and gone to bed early.

When Scott went to bed at 11-something, Jed woke up - we were sharing a room with him that night - and had just quieted down just after 12 when the rest of us returned home.  I put a few things in stockings, talked with people for about 10 minutes, and went to bed myself.  Debbie went to bed at the same time as I did, but everyone else was still awake.  When I walked in the room, Jed stood up and stared at me.  When I didn't pick him up, but instead crawled under the covers, he started to cry.  I laid him back down but he stood up again and kept crying.  I ignored him.  He eventually calmed down again, but just as I was starting to drift off he cried again.  And then calmed down.  And then cried again.  This pattern continued every 20-30 minutes until 3am, when Scott and I sat up in bed, pulled Jed into bed with us, and attempted to calm him that way so he wouldn't wake up the rest of the house.  When that didn't work, we changed him.  We fed him.  We rocked him.  We sang to him.  Nothing worked, so Scott put him in the car seat and drove him around the neighborhood for an hour so the rest of the house could have some peace and quiet and I could get some rest.  We also hoped Jed would fall asleep and stay that way.  Unfortunately, Jed did fall asleep but did NOT stay that way for more than 15 minutes at a time.  Scott gave up and came home, and let Jed play quietly with some toys for a while.  After 45 minutes, Scott took Jed for a drive again.  They came home at 7, but hadn't been any more successful than the first time.  Jed finally went to sleep at 9am (his usual morning nap time), and shortly afterward we all started opening presents & stockings.  Jed missed the whole thing.  He opened his presents later, after he woke up (which was sooner than I'd hoped), and he didn't know the difference.

 Jed, of course, had way more fun with the wrapping paper than the presents. and a few hours after we had picked all the paper up and put it in bags for recycling, he spread it back out and sat in the middle of it, looking very pleased with himself.  I had a hard time getting a picture where his hands weren't blurry, because he was waving the ribbon around so enthusiastically.

Christmas dinner was simple but absolutely DELICIOUS - ham, mashed potatoes, broccoli with STC, bread, and egg nog.  There is really no need for anything fancy or complicated when just a few things are so good!

And we had pie, of course!

After dinner we drove home, opened some presents we had left there, and enjoyed a quiet evening.  Jed especially liked a magnetic barn his cousin Taylor gave him, and a fun "quiet book" made by his Granny!

Jed was very very glad to be home, and spent 20 minutes crawling around squealing with delight at Sofie, and every room he saw.  He enjoyed time at my dad's house (except the overnight part!), but it was obvious that he liked being home where he was comfortable.