ah, what a difference an early bedtime for the kiddos makes! night before last, micah and rowan were asleep for the night by 7:30 pm. josh and i made some dinner, watched a movie, surfed the internet, chatted, snuggled... and somewhere around midnight, we crawled in bed next to the kids and fell asleep. perfect! next morning micah woke me at 8 am, i made eggs and bacon (burned it) and blueberry toast for breakfast, and we went to church. then all four of us napped from about 2:20 pm until 4:00 pm - i could not keep my eyes open. due to the nap, last night we were up a little later - i think micah was down by 10:00 pm. this morning, we all slept in until 10:30 am. tonight, micah fell asleep in the car around 8:00 pm on the way to the grocery store, and i was able to get her from the car to the bed without waking her. so far, she's woken herself up twice coughing (i didn't give her any allium cepa tonight) but i've been able to get her back to sleep. after the first waking, she needed to nurse. but just a moment ago, she woke up and i was able to just lay her back down and cover her up with a blanket... and she went back to sleep just fine. this is highly unusual, but exciting. :) micah falling asleep without nursing is rare, but it's something we've been working on. she is getting better and better at it.

today i took rowan to our pediatrician for his second half of the flu shot. he slept through the shot. that's right... slept right through it. i didn't know this could happen. he passed out in the car on the way to the appointment, stayed asleep on my shoulder in the waiting room and in the exam room, then slept through the nurse taking his temperature in his ear, wiping his leg with the antiseptic, and sticking a needle into his thigh. he kind of stirred when she took the needle out. sheesh...

tonight we put up the christmas tree at my dad's house. it looks so pretty. :) christmas is going to be small present-wise for everybody in my family, but i am looking forward to it so much. it's my favorite holiday. i love giving gifts, though this year i don't know if we'll have the money to buy any for all the people i'd like to. i love being surrounded by my family. i love the fresh start of a new year. i love reminiscing about all the adventures this closing year brought us, and giving thanks for all the tremendous blessings we received.

something else i love: having stuff to look forward to! this week and weekend are jam-packed full of fun family plans. beginning tomorrow with a movie, the kids and i have something fun to do with friends every day this week, with a few "me" plans and "whole family" plans thrown in as well. now i just hope no one gets sick...