The Life of a Running Momma: Topeka Christmas

Ty's brother, Paul, and sister-in-law, Amanda, flew in from Florida for Christmas. Their son, Wyatt, was born in October and we were so anxious to meet him. Thanks to modern technology we have gotten to watch him grow over his first two months, but were definitely looking forward to holding him for the first time. Ty took a half-day on Tuesday and then took Wednesday through Friday off work so we could go visit his family for Christmas. I picked Carter up from school on Tuesday and we met Ty at home to head for Topeka. Tuesday was a relaxed evening with just the nine of us at Ty's parents' house. Wyatt was asleep when we arrived. Carter was so excited to see him and say hello, but we had to ask him to wait. That was very hard for a 4 year old who had been talking nonstop about meeting his Cousin Wyatt, but he did really well. By the end of our visit he was hushing us when Wyatt was sleeping! Leina made taco salads for dinner which were delicious. I ate dinner and then held Wyatt while Amanda ate. Oh man, did I love those baby snuggles. Ty was worried that holding a baby would give me baby fever and renew my past desires for a third child, but I am happy to report they did not. I absolutely loved holding Wyatt and adore babies, but the chaos of Carter and Elise running around while I attempted to get baby snuggles was not desirable to me. While I was holding Wyatt both Carter and Elise attempted to climb on my lap and, of course, neither of them were quiet. Elise actually got really jealous which surprised me. I did not expect that from her because she typically loves babies and has no trouble with me holding the babies of my friends in our playgroup, but she even slapped Wyatt once when I was giving him attention while Amanda held him. I love babies and still dream of holding them, I'm just finally content with them not being mine!

Wyatt sleeping on Amanda when we arrived.

Me trying to keep Wyatt asleep while Elise climbed all over me!

Wednesday morning I took off for a run first thing in the morning. Ty got up with Elise at 6am and let me sleep until Carter woke up. Once Carter was up a little before 7 I got dressed and ready for my run. My plan was to run speed work at the track. It's about 2.5 miles to the track so Ty dropped me off there and I ran my mile warm up on the street by the high school. When I headed onto the track I was disappointed to find mounds of snow about 2 inches deep in some areas and other spots that were frozen. After my first two repeats I decided to abandon the track and ended up doing my repeats in the high school parking lot which worked out great. From one end of the parking lot, looping around to the other end was a half-mile. When I got back I showered and got ready for Christmas with the Shupes, Ty's mom's family. They arrived around 11 and we did lunch along with small presents. Ty's grandma gave us a toilet paper roll decorated to look like a snowman. It was so cute, I sent a picture to my mom and she ended up using the idea for a few last minute presents she was sending off. We had a nice visit with everyone, just relaxing and chatting. Everyone enjoyed the kids and oohed and ahhhed over Wyatt. After naps Carter asked to hold Wyatt so he sat in Uncle Paul's lap with Wyatt in his lap. He just loves holding babies and it made me think back to right after Elise was born and Carter would hold her and talk to her. That night I offered to sleep with Wyatt on my chest in a chair in the living room because Wyatt is used to sleeping in a Rock N Play which they didn't have room to pack so they weren't getting much sleep at night. I loved getting to sleep with him on my chest. The feel of a tiny baby on your chest is one of the best things in the world. He had an awesome stretch of sleep from around 7pm until 1am. When he started to wiggle around and seemed like he might wake up I decided to change his diaper to wake him up a bit so he could eat the bottle Amanda had pumped for him. I was hoping I could get him fed before he started crying so he wouldn't wake Amanda up. He slept through his diaper change and when I went to feed him his bottle, he just cooed at me and never once cried. I couldn't believe it! He was such a good baby. He ate all 4 ounces of his bottle without ever fully waking up and then slept until 4am. There were a few times he'd start to stir so I'd rock him and he'd go right back to sleep. It was such a wonderful night spent with my sweet nephew and I was so thankful Amanda and Paul let me do it!

I couldn't help myself and snapped a couple pictures of Wyatt while he slept.

Thursday was our Christmas celebration just Ty's immediate family. I slept in until Elise woke up. When I went upstairs Carter was helping his Gma make french toast for breakfast. We had a delicious breakfast together and then headed into the living room. Ty's mom read the story of Jesus' birth from a book and had Carter and Elise help put the pieces of the nativity set into the stable as she read their part. Elise immediately grabbed the cow and yelled, "Moo!" Carter tried to follow along and put the right pieces in but Elise was more interested in just holding them and pulling the straw out of the stable. When she was finished reading it was time to open presents. They did things a little differently, passing out one present at a time so I would be helping Carter pass out presents as Elise started ripping into her present. I missed her open most of her presents because of that. I think it works out better with kids to pass out all the presents at once and then have the kids open them one at a time. I never miss them opening presents that way. I just want to remember that for the future. The kids really raked in some awesome stuff and cute clothes! When we were done with presents I headed out to run. This time I tried out a new paved running path less than a mile down the road at the community center. I really enjoyed it and kept thinking how awesome it would be to run mile repeats on the mile loop. When I got back we ate lunch and then put the kids down for a nap. Paul got sick a little after lunch with what sounded like the same thing we had all had the week before. Everyone was super bummed Paul was sick and none of us felt much like celebrating after that, but we went ahead with our traditional chocolate making. It was fun but not as much fun as it is when everyone is able to participate. Elise did pretty well considering her age. She grabbed a paint brush in each hand and tried to paint up the sides of two liners at the same time. It was pretty funny!

Carter helping his Gma make french toast.

Elise adding pieces to the nativity scene.

Carter posing with his new sunglasses.

Elise fell asleep on me at naptime and it was wonderful!

Preparing to make chocolates.

Gpa had taken Carter out to play earlier in the day and I thought their boots next to each other were so cute!

Friday morning we had our Christmas celebration with Rocky's parents and sister. I had one last Topeka run first thing in the morning so I'd have time to get ready when I returned. We ate breakfast at Gigi and Papa's house and then opened presents afterward. Carter loves their dog, Muffin and was really excited to see her. Elise surprised us by being afraid of Muffin, who is a small dog, but loving Aunt Tina's dog, Dexter, who is quite big. I have since found she prefers big dogs to small dogs. We think it's because my parents have little poodles who growl at Elise while their big dog and Thomas' big dog are very sweet to her. This week I've been dog sitting for some friends of Thomas' and Elise loves their dog that is so big Carter is even a little leery and he loves all dogs. My dad even calls their dog a horse instead of a dog because he is so big! We left from Gigi and Papa's house to come home. Paul was still sick so he stayed at Rocky and Leina's house to rest and not spread germs. I was really disappointed we didn't get to say good bye but Ty felt it was best not to stop back by and possibly pick up more germs. The kids were really worn out and slept all the way until we stopped to eat dinner on the road! We had a wonderful visit with family and are already looking forward to the next time we will be able to get together again!