Theodore turns 1!

Last Christmas, Santa brought me this.

To this day, best Christmas present ever. :)

I know right?? 1 year flies fast!!! I seriously can't believe He is 1 today! Oh how I remember the day He was born as if it was yesterday. His labor was by FAR easier than Charlene's. His pregnancy was much harder than her's by far between sensitivity to light and having to wear sunglasses even at night to drive, to the gestational diabetes, to the sever pinched nerve that made me not be able to walk...oh...it was a joyful pregnancy. ;)

The day he was born started out not so unusual. For the first time in 9 months I woke up pain free, could walk with out limping, and felt 100% good as if I wasn't even pregnant! It was our 3rd week in the new house. I decided since I felt so good, I would take our 9 month pregnancy family photos. Joshua was hanging the blinds as I lay on the bed. I felt a little "wet" in the undies and thought maybe I held my pee too long, LOL. So got up, changed and laid back down. 5 minutes later I felt this weird watery feeling starting to move down my belly. I stood up FAST and then all of a sudden "GUSSSSHHH" oh goodness...did this just happen?? seriously...weirdest feeling I have ever felt still to this day! We were just given a couple days before, a small list of people to help with Charlene once we deliver, so we started calling. Of course....NOBODY was home.

Umm...well, fast thinking Joshua called our lovely friend Roxeanne who just happened to have the day off and She came over and got Charlene and took her home with her. Might I add this was about a half hour after the water broke. :) Off to the hospital we go...no pain yet with the contractions...good. We get to the hospital and had to do all the admin paperwork which of course takes forevvvveeerrr and my water leaking still (seriously...can't believe how much was in there,) Finally got to my room. About an hour later...our little Theodore Lucius Weikel was born. 7lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long Hardly any pushing and pain this time around was manageable which made it much easier. He just walked out on his own. :) I couldn't hold him for a while after since coming off the diabetes through my body into shock and my whole body was shaking uncontrollably for a couple hours. Joshua went and got Charlene and brought her to the hospital. She was so excited to have a little brother, but I think more excited and proud to be a big sister.

We had to stay in the hospital 2 1/2 days and didn't get out until 6:30pm on Christmas day! Joshua was determined to do Christmas the next day, so we got home, He threw on the Santa suit, set up Christmas and on the 26th we celebrated Christmas. Theodore is the best Christmas present I have ever had.

He is defiantly a Mama's boy!

Since He was born in December, we have decided for his birthday that on his actual birthday we as a family would take him out for dinner, then he could open up his presents from us that night and in January we would have a birthday party for him so he wouldn't feel like he got ripped off.

This year, Joshua wasn't sure if He would be home for his birthday, so we celebrated it during the 2 days he was in town. Since Theodore LOVES meat, we took him to a steak house and ordered him his own steak.

We got home and Charlene wanted to give Him her present first. She was so excited to give it to him and picked it out herself!

His favorite thing: a Ball! Perfect gift Charlene! :) Charlene helped him open Mommy & Daddy's gift but while it was still in the box...all he wanted to do is throw his new ball.

Joshua assembled his new learning train and pushed him around on it.

He learned He could use it as a walker too. :)

Now his final monthly update until next year: This past month He has learned to crawl backwards, say "bye bye", gained 1 more tooth (total of 7 now), learned to throw everything out of his crib, loves to put objects into things, and has learned to close or put a lid on items. He has also learned to fight us during diaper changes and found if he is naked (diaper only), how to take the diaper off to find his private part. LOL (boyz) We have found He is lactose intolerant so as we make the transition to normal milk (soy or almond) we as a family also might be making adjustments (cheese and so forth) Other than that....we are excited that after his remaining 3 cans of formula, He will be bottle free and in 4 more months he will be pacifier free. :) My boy is a happy, loving and silly boy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN!

Gingerbread boys & Girls deliveries

With Joshua being gone the past 2 weeks, I was determined to still get my gingerbread boys and girls done for our friends. So right before he left, I backed up 3 large batches of ginger dough and then the next day started baking away! I usually make 200+ but this year only made just barely 100. Earlier in the year I found these cute little boxes on clearance and I bought them right up since they fit so perfectly with my boys and girls. :)

Charlene help me assemble the boxes and put stickers all over them. We put tissue paper in for some extra stuffing.

Inside the bottom we put 2 snowflakes and some goodies.

Then on top were the girls and boys. We always put 1 boy/1 girl per person. Decorating them was a little tricky this year since I developed arthritis during Theodore's pregnancy, I had a hard time gripping the frosting tubes. It usually takes me 3 days to decorate 200+ but this year it took over a week for do only half. :( I could only do about 20 minutes at a time with 1 hour breaks between since my fingers hurt so bad and not having help to decorate them.

The final product was little milks to go along with them.

This year we decided Santa's sleigh might be faster to just bike around since all of our friends lives within a 2 mile radius of us. We loaded up the kids, Santa hats, milk, and filled up the back of their trailer with all the boxes of gingerbread.

Charlene got to hold the next house's box so I could just run it up to the door really fast.

The only bad part about the whole bike deliveries is that it was only 58 out, so our ears were frozen and hurting and then also when you don't bike in a week....your out of breath and stink of sweat as people opened their doors. LOL Taking a week off of biking I went from 125lbs to 131 lbs.....so yeah...back to taking the kids for bike rides daily again is my plan. :)

Polar Express

Joshua got called out to work the last minute so I had to find a replacement to take the kids up to Williams Arizona for the Polar Express. Luckily my good friend Roxeanne was willing to come with us. It was Her & Theodore's first time experiencing the Polar Express.

We left Friday around 1:30pm thinking we would have a little time to get up there. We stopped by Hilton to drop off our luggage and got the kids in their pj's and then headed to the train station. We start walking up and I noticed that there are kids on the train already. I RUN inside to grab our tickets and met Charlene & Roxeanne by the train. We had BARELY made it! Talk about cutting it close!

After we got seated the train started and they served hot chocolate and cookies.

The conductor came around to punch the kids tickets.

About half hour we pulled up to The North Pole. It was a cute little town all decorated in lights and that is when Santa boarded the train.

We had to sing a couple Christmas carols in order for Santa to come.

Santa wasn't allowed to sit and take pictures, so I could only capture a couple.

Charlene spotted Santa coming her way. She was SUPER excited!

Charlene got her bell!

and little Theodore?? Well once he figured it range, he was super exited too!

Sinterklaas

Yet another Weikel tradition is celebrating Sinterklaas. Growing up we always celebrated this holiday with the Folsom's. It was awesome! So after we had our kids, we have decided to keep it alive. :)

Charlene laying out the carrots for Sinterklaas's horse. The first picture is her telling me what they are for. We decided not to leave the shoes outside since it was below freezing. We pretended the door was the chimney to sing up.

After the kids went to bed we set up the "loot"

The kids woke up the next morning and ran/crawled out to see what they got. Theodore who loves oranges was excited for his orange, and Charlene was excited for her chocolate letter C.