Christmas!

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Our Christmas holiday started the minute Philip got home from work on the 23rd. A friend of mine from work who has one-year-old twins insisted we come to his Christmas party. Those of you with children know how involved those first few trips feel- getting you ready, getting baby ready, packing the diaper bag, making sure baby has been fed and changed... Imagine this drama with two. To me, it's always a brain fry just to figure out what time to leave and return when considering their feeding and my pumping schedules.

Anyway, we got dressed up and into the car somehow. The car ride was pretty painless, and Philip and I were excited and proud of ourselves for getting everyone out of the house. We arrived at my friend's house, and I warned everyone that Maddy was the social one, but Gabe might get fussy. WRONG. How about, just the opposite. Maddy was screaming inconsolably for the first hour of the party, while Gabe was being passed around with a huge grin on his face. I swear he was mocking me, but he was so cute doing it.

Of course, eventually the party became Philip and me with babies on the couch, but we enjoyed our brief chance to mingle and graze on appetizers.

Christmas eve was probably the hardest night we've had with the babies to date. Gabe woke up screaming with terrible gas. I thought about taking him to the ER for a minute. And Maddy felt left out, I guess, and decided to throw a temper tantrum of her own. There were no shifts that night- all hands were on deck. So no one got a good night's sleep and everyone was stressed and cranky.

But somehow we found joy and energy to show our kids a good time on Christmas morning. Thanks to all who sent gifts! We are still having fun with them. We spent the rest of the week cooking and baking, watching the Christmas Story marathon on TBS, and enjoying each other and the babies. It was great. Hope yours was as well.