I love that I have my followers and friends so well-trained now that when they ask me, “How was your Christmas?” they know to immediately follow up with, “Crazy, right?”

Truthfully, nothing amazingly catastrophic occurred. The kids were a bit overwhelmed by all the family and activity and that led to some hyperactivity and tantrums (Holden) and some clinging and shyness (GB). There was also some last-minute Christmas magic involved.

Let’s recap.

All season long, Holden has been telling me/Santa that she wants “ballet shoes, ballet socks, ballet dress, ballet coat.” So “Santa” went ahead and obliged… as well as signing up for dance lessons in 2016.

Tuesday night, Holden came home from school with this:

 

Nothing like last minute requests #lettertosanta #weefees #ohbotherblog

A photo posted by ohbotherblog (@nomiddlenamemeg) on Dec 22, 2015 at 5:11pm PST

That’s right: the kid was now requesting a rainbow. Luckily, I have awesome Facebook friends and this happened the next morning:

So my Christmas Angel was able to help make this happen:

The kids got up at a reasonable time on Christmas morning and waited patiently for Mommy to give the go-ahead.

Somehow that photo didn’t turn out as sweet as last year’s:

 

#waitformommy Merry Christmas #ohbotherblog A photo posted by ohbotherblog (@nomiddlenamemeg) on Dec 25, 2014 at 5:31am PST

The Mondo Bloxx that took “Santa” forever to fold were a big hit.

 

I hate myself. #mondobloxx #ohbotherblog

A photo posted by ohbotherblog (@nomiddlenamemeg) on Dec 4, 2015 at 5:58pm PST

I was super excited for the Bell Charm Necklace I found on Etsy. Who remembers these from the 80’s? Holden wore it to school this week and has already broken two charms.

And, of course, the ballet stuff made an appearance. She hasn’t touched any of it since.  

But the rainbow was the star of the show:  

GB did not know what to make of the whole “Christmas thing” so I have lots of photos of him looking confused:

But he got a lot of “hucks” (trucks), his current favorite thing, so that elicited some smiles.  

I’ve been trying to breed Star Wars fandom, so I was pleased when the kids stole someone else’s Light Saber gift for some Christmas morning fun.   Surprisingly, GB was the one who turned immediately to the Dark Side. 

Goes to show you never can tell with The Force.

Overall, a lovely oh bother Christmas indeed.

 

Christmas Kids #ohbotherblog

A photo posted by ohbotherblog (@nomiddlenamemeg) on Dec 24, 2015 at 6:34am PST

We had a bit of a scare today. While playing with Holdy at Gymboree (more later on why it’s our new favorite place), I felt some shooting pains in my lower left abdomen.

I’d felt round ligament pains occasionally in my first pregnancy and there have been one or two times during this pregnancy where I’d feel a sharp pain when picking Holdy up. But I’d never felt them as strongly or as many times as this, so I freaked out a little bit.

We left Gymboree; I called my OB’s office and explained the situation to the messaging service so that they could relay my symptoms to the on-call nurse. In the meantime, we went home so Holdy could nap and I could rest.

The nurse called back and we talked through what I had been feeling and she agreed that it sounded like round ligament pains. I’m to try to take it easy and keep an eye out for more pain or bleeding. Tonight I just feel sort of a dull pain down there.

It’s easy to forget to take it easy when you’re running after a wild 16-month-old. As I’m getting bigger (and she’s getting bigger), I’m going to have to remind myself to be careful when we’re playing. I’m guessing my huge belly will start making it harder to forget.

Here’s some info on round ligament pain from BabyCenter, in case you were wondering:

You may feel round ligament pain as a short jabbing sensation or a sharp, stabbing pain if you suddenly change position, such as when you’re getting out of bed or out of a chair or when you cough, roll over in bed, or get out of the bathtub. You might also feel it as a dull ache after a particularly active day – when you’ve been walking a lot or doing some other physical activity.

You may feel the pain starting from deep inside your groin, moving upward and outward on either side to the top of your hips. The pain is internal, but if you were to trace it on your skin, it would follow the bikini line on a very high-cut bathing suit.