Last week

I have reached my final week of maternity leave. As I've said before, I have mixed feelings about going back to work. Solomon is taking his morning nap right now next to me. He was giggly and smiley most of the weekend... such a sweetie.

My parents came over on Friday. We had pizza with them and Zoe. My mom decorated my tiny tree with Zoe. Zoe has started prefacing many of her sentences with the word, 'actually'. It's pretty cute. On Friday, they went to a local senior citizens center and sang some Christmas songs. Zoe kept telling us that "Actually, I went to sing for the seniors." At first, we thought she was talking about high school seniors. She's so funny. She's always very excited about what she has to say.

We went to KC on Saturday for my brother-in-law, Stephen's 50th B-day party. Solomon was passed around quite a bit. It's always weird for me to suddenly realize I have no idea who has my child. It was a nice visit. The food was really good. Alex videotaped the party for Stephen. We had a small ice storm on Saturday morning and on Sunday, but the highways that we spent most our time on were totally fine. The worst problem we had was that the windshield wipers kept freezing on the way up. It really wasn't a big deal though. We stopped on the way up and saw Alex's friend Adam and his wife Alyssa. Sunday morning, we had breakfast with my friend Cherie and her little guy, Eli. Solomon didn't sleep very well, but I'm not sure that it was being in a new place or just the phase he's currently in. Alex and I are contemplating the 'cry it out' method. For everyone (and believe me everyone seems to have input on this topic) who says it's a good idea to let them "cry it out", there's someone else who says to do something else. I'm not sure what the answer is, but hopefully this whole sleep thing works out soon.

Like I said, Solomon was pretty good, except for when we were driving home and he started yelling. We had to stop at a rest stop, feed him and change him. It seemed to work, at least until we got into the car again... Then, he started crying again. Since we knew all of his needs had been met, we just let him cry. He was just sick of the carseat I think. I don't blame him.

We exchanged gifts with the kids in Alex's family on Saturday as well. Solomon raked it in. My mother-in-law bought him some clothes and the singalong stage from Fisher Price. I've heard kids love it. He has to be just a bit older before he can use it. Alex's siblings bought him some clothes, toys, a cute blanket/pillow set, etc... Also, everyone gave him money for his college fund we've set up. It was pretty fun to open his presents. He was already asleep and wouldn't have provided much assistance anyway!

Today, I'm going to lunch with my cousin's Scott's wife, Kristen and need to run a few errands. The first thing I need to accomplish is a shower. There was a story on the Today Show today about how Americans take too many showers and wash away all of the good bacteria that helps prevent things like allergies, etc.. I don't care. The few times in my life that I haven't taken at least one shower in the day, I have felt disgusting and my hair becomes and oil slick. It's even worse for boys... they are gross without a shower.