Christmas and Birthday Weekend

Finally, a chance to update about the weekend. It was super busy, but lots of fun too.

Friday
After some flight delays and changing flights, my parents and brother made it into town 1 hour later than their original scheduled arrival time, but about 7 hours before their luggage finished the trip. They rented a car, checked into a hotel, and went to Wal-Mart to finish their shopping for Grace and to buy some wrapping paper to wrap gifts before meeting us at home after work. We visited and had our family Christmas. Eric was the proud recipient of a PSP, I got a portable DVD player and Grace got a Weebles Treehouse and Ball Popper among other gifts. After opening presents we gave Grace a bath and put her to bed and ordered pizza for dinner. We visited for a while more before they left to go get their luggage at the airport and head back to the hotel to go to bed.

Saturday
Eric had to work for a couple of hours, so when we got up, he went to work and Grace and I picked up my family and we headed to First Watch for breakfast. Grace had a Chocolate Chip Pancake and fruit cup, she is such a good eater! After breakfast, we stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up the cakes and ice cream. Then I dropped off the family to shower and change and Grace and I headed home. Grace napped for about an hour while Eric and I did some final cleaning touches and he took the dog to get his nails trimmed. I managed to get a shower in too. My family came back over around 11:30 or so and Eric's Mom arrived about that time too. Mom and I left Grace to play with Nana (Eric's mom) and we went to the party store to get a helium balloon, some plastic spoons, bowls, and some ice and drinks for the party. We also picked up lunch for the crew. After we fed everyone lunch, I put Grace down for a nap around 1. I hoped she'd sleep until 3, so she'd be fresh for the party. We decorated while she napped, but she decided by 2:00 p.m. that she wasn't interested in napping. As a result, she started getting tired eyes just before her party. She managed to pull through. Eric's Dad and girlfriend arrived right around 3:30 p.m. My neighbor April stopped by and dropped off a gift before the party too. Our only other guests were Will, Samara, and Ava. Samara's sister Sunny was in town too, so she joined us as well. Once everyone arrived, we wanted to get things started as Grace was looking really tired. First she opened her gifts. She was mostly interested in the wrapping paper, but she got a lot of cute clothes and some more fun toys that I'm sure she'll get lots of use out of. When we finished opening gifts, we had the cake and ice cream. Shortly after that, the entire family decided to head out as a group to Champps for dinner. It was good as always. We got home from dinner around 7 p.m. Grace was exhausted, so my Mom took her up for her bath and to put her to bed while Eric and I did Christmas with his Dad and Christie. I felt bad that Grace didn't participate, but she won't rememeber anyway, so we opened her gifts for us. My favorite gift from that Christmas exchange was a beautiful Sapphire bracelet. Very pretty. Once we finished Christmas, Gary and Christie headed to the hotel. My parents stuck around for just a little while, and then they left too. Eric's mom stayed with us.

Sunday
My parents flight left at 7 a.m., so we didn't see them before they headed out. We went to church and Donna came with us. Eric and I were scheduled to light the 4th Advent candle at our service. Once church was over, we came home. Eric's Dad had said they were going to come by around noon, but when we checked the messages at home, they decided to head back early, so we didn't see them on Sunday. Eric's Mom isn't working this week, so she decided to stay Sunday and Monday too. Since we had a grandma in the house, I decided to go with Eric to BW3s to watch the Colts game. It was disappointing that they lost, but it was nice to be able to do something on Sunday afternoon and know Grace was still getting her nap and being well cared for. After the game we went home and then I realized I should probably go to the grocery store before the weekend was over. I didn't get my list together until almost 5, but I got to leave Grace at home, so I wasn't rushing to make it home for her dinner. I got home to a clean baby in her PJs waiting for Mommy to put her to bed.

Monday
Eric's mom was still in town, so Grace stayed home with her instead of going to daycare while Eric and I went to work. We came home and visited for a few minutes and then we went shopping. The gifts I wanted for Christmas this year were better suited to me picking them out, so we went shopping together. I got a new purse and wallet. I also got 2 new pair of work pants and 2 sweaters from New York and Company. It was really fun. Once we finished at the mall, we headed to Outback for dinner. Eric and I had some really nice conversation and I think we both enjoyed our date. We came home around 9 p.m. and just hung out with Donna until time for bed.

Donna left this morning when we left for work. Tonight I'm going to try to pick up a bit and start working on some of my New Year's resolutions. I think I've got some big ones and I want to be ready to go on January 1. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted.

Plans for the rest of this week include working. Friday morning I have to get my CBC done and then our office closes at 1 p.m. I'll pick Grace up and spend the afternoon with her. I think we'll go to the Christmas Eve service at church on Saturday evening. We don't have any plans for Christmas except opening gifts together and going to church. We may try to get together with Will, Samara, and Ava, but nothing's set yet. Next week I'm off on Monday, I'll work Tuesday and then Tuesday afternoon Donna's coming back for the rest of the week. Wednesday I've got chemo again and I'll hopefully feel better by the new year.