Christmas fiddlyfart

Want to know how to save on your energy bill? Get a dog that scares the poop out of the meter reader. So much so, that the city calls and asks you to put your dog up, because the man refuses to get out of his car while he's out.

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Last weekend, when I wasn't totally cranky, we managed to do some Christmas-y type stuff.

Back story: my husband works an insane schedule. Most of the time, he's at work at 3am. He works 10-12 hours (on his feet). He'll then come home, take a 4 hour nap, then get up to hang out with us. Fyi, I try to get him to stay in bed, but he'll wake up and hear Noah playing. He keeps telling me he'd rather not sleep than miss this time with Noah and me. So he'll play with us for a couple of hours, then take another 3-4 hour nap before work. It's ridiculous.

Ok, so Friday.
My mom and stepdad, little sister, and her bff (my niece) were planning on going to "Christmas in Davidson". They were going to have horse-drawn carriages, Santa at the library, carolers, the whole deal. All of the little shops were going to have Christmas type stuff going on too. Brad mentioned that he'd like to go with us, but he says that about a lot of things, then decides he needs to sleep instead.
He hadn't slept well for a few days, and I didn't have the heart to wake him. He'd only been asleep for a couple of hours. I stopped by Target on the way to my mom's, and of course, Brad wakes up. His feelings are all hurt because we ditched him. Not on purpose, though. I really was trying to let him sleep. This town thing really wasn't up his ally anyway. He's not a big fan of Davidson people... they tend to be a tad snooty. And the boys at the college (for the most part) look like they're all about 12. His inner bully wants to give them all swirlies.
I knew he wouldn't miss much, so that was my reasoning.

So at the Christmas thing... it was FREEZING. I'd stopped by Target to buy Noah a thick jacket... but it was all poofy, and he hated it. He was sweet and wore it anyway for awhile, but he was definitely not enjoying himself. I took it off and bundled him up in mine, plus an extra blanket, plus his jacket behind him, plus his little hat. He was warm, but it was still really cold. I felt bad, because I knew he wasn't enjoying it as much as I'd hoped. We decided not to stay long. Turns out all of the people living in the surrounding towns showed up, so the lines for the carriage rides and Santa were insane. I found myself ducking into the shops and finally CVS to warm up.

I felt awful for the CVS employees. There were like 10 of them vs bajillion preteens. Basically, they were babysitting for the night.

Although it was so flippin cold and crowded, the town was still beautiful.

On the way back to my car, I was walking along the sidewalk. I realized that the sidewalk was going to run out, and we were on a hill. The only way down was the stairs. So I went a little further passed the stairs where the road met the sidewalk. I then noticed that our original path was going to take us through a massive crowd and saw that there was a road behind the crowd. I decided to take that, in order to get to our car faster.
What I didn't realize? Davidson is SO not handicap/stroller friendly. That back road went up... the parking lot I needed to get to was down. No ramps. Only steep hills and stairs. It was dark, and there was only me, Noah, and a couple other people that lived in the condos above the shops. I kept my cool, but inside, I was starting to panic. And what is it about those times that all of a sudden, you're imagining the worst possible scenario? Muggings, kidnappings, and all that were running through my head, which of course, made my heart beat a little faster. I was about to turn around... when an angel came. Ok, not really. But I'd said a prayer for the Lord to protect us in my stupidity, and lo and behold, a nice dad with two blond-headed little girls (because angels are always blond) came walking up a flight of stairs at the exact spot we needed to be. He said he saw me walking around and asked me where I was trying to go and if I had anyone with me. I told him no, and he instructed his girls to stay right there and not to move. He went around and grabbed the front of my stroller and helped me down the stairs with Noah. Oh my gosh, I was so thankful. He wished me a Merry Christmas and ran back up to his girls. The Lord is good. Can I get an Amen out there?? :)

As you can imagine, Brad was freaking. Not only did I ditch him to go to a Christmas function, I also took Noah out into too cold of weather and almost got us mugged on some back road of Davidson. He had every right to be upset. But we were fine. And I didn't mean to leave him. I really did have his best interest at heart. Plus, he would've hated it. And Noah was super bundled up, and we didn't stay long.

However, this face kinda says it all...

"Mom, can we pleeease go home now?"

Although, he did perk up when he saw his grandparents...

So yeah. Mommy fail.

Sigh. Lesson learned.
This may or may not have contributed the grumpiness of Saturday.
Brad told his coworker about it, and she replied, "So you're telling me that you got mad at eachother, because you both love the other so much that you had eachother's best interest at heart?"
Umm... yeah. Life could be worse.

***

The mice are winning.
Brad set up those glue mouse traps, so we wouldn't have to actually kill them. But we have magic mice. They're getting trapped and by magic, are escaping.
I keep getting this visual of a mouse being stuck, and all of the other little mice rallying and attempting a daring rescue, pulling on his little paw to get him out. Once they're successful, they all cheer and scamper, thus creating lots of noise.
So Brad had to step it up. He went for the old fashion kind. He's caught a couple. But again, they're magic mice. They steal the bait, set the trap off, yet somehow escape. For added measure, they hide the traps. We literally have traps that have disappeared. Try figuring that one out.

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Noah had his first moment of rebellion last night.
It was weird.
Probably not for most kids, but for Noah? He's not one to make a fuss if he doesn't get his way. I guess those days are ending?
Brad and I were watching something that he wasn't interested in. He wanted George. He kept giving us hints, but I told him to wait. Then all of a sudden, he tried to bite my knee. Um yeah. I don't think so mister.

So when that didn't work, he walked over to our little tree in the loft and started pulling the ornaments off! This kid hasn't given any of our trees or decorations a second glance. He doesn't mess with them at all. So this little act? Total give-me-what-I-want-now moment. (oh, plus he was getting tired).

He eventually got the point that this was our tv, not his. And then he got to watch George. :)

***

Noah loves his cousins. He and Ryan are now starting to play together a little more. They're noticing eachother more, which is cute. We thought Noah was totally oblivious to Ryan until Sara (sis-in-law) told us all to hurry and look:

 Aren't they cute??