Beginning of December 2017 - let all the festivities begin!

One of like 20 (I'm not kidding) Christmas outfits that have been passed down to us.  I don't even know if we ended up wearing them all.

All the kids playing outside

Emmalyn had a play date at her friend Hudson's house (his mom is Katherine - my walking buddy).  She's been really wanting us to get our Christmas decorations up.  Well, I get a text from Katherine that when Emmalyn walked into the house she said, "Oh, your house is decorated!  Our house is not decorated yet."  Yup....shamed by my daughter.

I had to go out of town for my last trip of the year.  It sure is nice to be able to say goodnight to the kiddos with facetime.

Still committed to walking!  After our team dinner, I put my workout clothes on and walked the halls of the hotel before I went to bed.  I'm in a good place with staying committed to the walking, which feels good (Both physically and mentally)

Proof of the walking - BOOM!

We had our Perfetti end of the year meeting at the Bengals stadium.  

Peter sent me this pic of Emmalyn all dressed the next morning

He did her hair - way to go, dad!

Me and my friend, Oscar, the airhead.

I found this eggnog made from almond milk.  It's so delicious!! (and only 50 calories a serving!)

Maxwell brought home a book to read from school that was a recipe book for making salsa, so we mad it.  He did a great job!

We finally got around to putting up the tree at the beginning of December.

Never a shortage of helpers when it comes to putting up the ornaments.

Good job kiddos

Whew - the tree is done!

Ugh...now for the rest of it (so many boxes of stuff!) 

I finally got a set of stockings that all match.

Emmalyn bit me!  She's never done it before.  She wasn't doing it out of anger but holy moly it hurt.  

We took the kids to see Santa at a local church.  You have to buy tickets to get it but it includes breakfast, crafts, and of course seeing Santa.  The best part is that there are a ton of volunteer teenagers that wait inline for you - they text you when they are getting close to the front.  It was great because we were able to eat and do other things while a poor teen just stood there for us.

Making a beaded bracelet

Ta-da!

Group shot!  Emmalyn is standing next to her friend, Hudson and her other friend Michael is sitting on Santa's lap. (I don't know the rest of the people)

More holiday fun - we decorated Gingerbread houses with my friend and old boss, Michelle.  She brought Baby Jack who just hung out in the high chair and watch us.

Maxwell did it all on his own

Decorating the little tree in his room

We went to see Santa again (for our usual photoshoot) so the kids prepped some letters.  I wrote Emmalyn's and she decorated it.  She would like Peppa Pig toys, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Trolley (she rarely watches the show), and something from "Shimmer and Shine" (All tv shows)

Maxwell wants a karaoke set, a drone double wing, a pokemon book, electric ripstick, some type of wheels, and a delux morpher.  I don't even know what all of that is.

Ready to see santa

I snuck a couple shots - Maxwell was so excited

Emmalyn hung back and watched Maxwell go first.  She wasn't scared at all.

The boys

First night away from Emmalyn

I had been able to avoid any overnight travel for work until this point but I couldn't avoid it any longer.  I finally had to spend my first night away from Emmalyn (hey, I made it 7 1/2 months).  I had a team meeting with my entire team and my clients that would require 2 nights away.  It was incredibly hard to leave.  I had planned to pump the entire time so that my milk supply wouldn't be affected but once I got into that hotel bed, I lost all drive to get up in the middle of the night and pump when she would normally eat.  A good night's sleep totally won out.  Luckily when I got back, my supply was still okay.

The first night we had an appreciation dinner right off the river front in Cincinnati at the aquarium.  

This is the cute pic Peter sent me of Max ready for bed.  I missed him so much!

They brought in a penguin for us to pet.

I tried it.

One of my clients, Ted was all about it.

Mike and Dave (client contacts for another client) presenting an award

Ted's commonly used phrase

Britt sent me this pic the next day of my cute baby.  It was nice to get pictures of what my kids were doing even though it made me miss them.  I tried to Facetime with them every night.

After a long day of meetings, the next night we went out for another team activity.

These characters were excited to wear the Kool-Aid shirts we all got

I thought this centerpiece was festive, pretty, and super simple.  I need to remember this!

Facetime with Emmalyn.  She was so happy to see me.

The meeting went well.  The clients were pleased, my team was pleased, and I was pleased.  AND I was super excited to come home even though it was nice to get away from it all and have a little break.  I really do enjoy work travel but I don't enjoy it enough to sacrifice time at home unless I have to.

This is what the clouds looked like on my way home from the airport.  It's like someone up in the sky was watching me....kind of creepy.

Yeah for being back with my kids!  Here's some of what they are up to lately:

Max is certainly keeping me doing what I "should" like when I am driving with one hand he will remind me to keep two hands on the wheel.  Or, if I cough he will tell me to cough into my elbow.

He's whiny more and more and has started throwing more fits (with tears!).  His whining really gets to Peter.

He continues to shock me with what he remembers and will bring up something from awhile ago.

I don't like his hair short but you do see his dimple more when it's short...

He will make comments on the weather.

He knows when his birthday is.

He still hasn't learned how to recognize a compliment and so I have to prompt him by saying" so and so just paid you a compliment, what do you say?" and then he will say thank you.

He is really polite.

He has no interest in being pushed to play with someone or pushed to play a certain way if he doesn't want to.  He is stubborn in that.

His independence is growing.

We make Maxwell only use the big potty now, where before we would let him pee in the little training potty and poop in the big potty.

He's not tall enough to reach light switches yet.

He's a timid boy.

I love them I catch him singing to himself.

He really wanted us to put up the Christmas decorations, which was fun.

On the plane right home from Utah he asked then the girl was going to bring him food (He was referring to the flight attendant...we might regret having him fly first class if he expects flight attendants to always bring him food!)

Since we got back, Maxwell has been really focused on Utah and says things like, "I want to go to the other Utah" or "Are we still in Utah?" or "We have a Utah car" - - referring to the rental car with the Utah license plates.

Emmalyn is moving all over now.

She will pull up to standing on me.

She has big smiles for everyone but that doesn't mean she wants them to hold her.  She was super clingy to me in Utah.

I learned, in Utah, that she really needs time to just play by herself with her toys rather than having to engage with people constantly.

She is banging things.

Emmalyn does a great job swallowing pureed food.

She HATES it when other people are eating and she isn't.

She wakes up multiple times every night but usually I can pop the binky in and she will go right to sleep.  She has been getting up to nurse at 11 pm and 4 am every night.