Christmas party, outings and sweet baby!

Hello! Alot going on in the Darney casa... Sweet Hazel is continuing to sleep better. She now wakes up once a night. The longest she has gone is 9 hours! She goes to bed early (around 6-7) and gets up between 3:00 - 4:00. She also is SMILING! Not consistently but every morning this week she is a happy girl and shows us her little gums. It is adorable. Not sure if her dimple will be that visible. You see it sometimes but most of the time you don't. We tried the bumbo seat...still a bit little for it and she is not really a fan.

Hagen is very interested in the breast pump. He is my cheering section and when I'm done always asks, "How many pumps Mom?" He has heard Ryan ask how many ounces and has turned the words around.
Noah spent the night with us on Thursday since it was Adam's work party. The boys played around in bed for an hour and then went off to sleep. The following night Hagen stayed at Noah's house. The sweetest thing is that they fell asleep holding hands. How adorable is that?! I'll try to get a picture to show. It is so sweet! They love each other. BUT they are fighting more and more...about toys, what cup they get, etc. Hagen is bossing quite a bit and Noah is starting to fight back. One thing that Hagen has picked up is shooting pretend guns and telling people they are dead...not very happy about that one. My brother said he pretended to shoot one of Santa's reindeer at his house...nice.

Ryan's company party was Friday night at Maggiano's. My parents kept the little lady for a few hours so Ryan and I could go. Pia got to see just how much of a handful Hazel is to put to sleep. BUT she didn't mind because she got to hold her while she slept for a few hours. Good thing she is cute. At Ryan's party I had 1 glass of Chardonnay...and woke up feeling like crap. I have lost it. I use to be able to drink alot more than that...not anymore. I was dragging on Saturday.

Saturday we went to Grapevine to ride the North Pole Express! It is like the Polar Express! It was so neat...we walked through a maze of Christmas trees while snow (bubbles) blew around. On the train a conductor came around and punched our tickets and then Santa came by to say hi! The boys were in awe...we dressed them like twins...we never do that but thought it would be cute! I love the photo above of Hagen shaking Santa's hand...Noah was mesmerized!

Hazel even got her turn with Santa! Look at that little chub. She is not a fatty at all but compared to Hagen she has some meat on her bones. Love it! We went to get cupcakes afterwards and walk around. It was such a nice day! Love that Adam lives so close and the kids can grow up together.

I did figure out that I will be starting back to work on January 3rd...it is earlier that I had hoped for but it's OK. I am just not mentally prepared to go back. I will be but just kinda panicking a bit. Dr. upped my meds a bit...I'm very anxious. I will be fine once I have a new normal set. It's just getting to that new normal part that freaks me out! Things I don't have to worry about? I like my company and what I do, I like Hagen's school and Hazel will be there, and I only work till 3:00 most days. Parts I don't like? Ryan going out of town...boo! BUT we will make it through this

Today I took Hagen on a date to see the new Yogi Bear movie...it was terrible but it was good for us to spend some quality time together. We came home and napped and then decorated a gingerbread house! The time it was out of the box and into the trash was 20 minutes. It was a total disaster. Lesson learned. I'll use graham crackers next time!

Ryan and I got in the attic to check out Hagen's baby toys. We are cleaning them up to put out for Hazel from Santa. I can not imagine buying all those plastic ring toys, etc. again and Hagen's are in good shape. MONEY SAVED...amen...

Lots to do this week...bake cookies for decorating at Adam's on Wednesday, call the electrician to fix (maybe replace) the oven, shop in downtown McKinney, Doctor on Thursday, Christmas Even and Christmas. Should be a fun week and then Ryan is off all next week! Woo Hoo!

Love,

Carrie