Christmas Morning

Daddy brought Blair down to see what Santa had left him.

He headed straight for the gift Uncle Scott and his family sent.....he loves that truck!

He rode on all his vehicles that Santa brought (three in all) and then opened his stocking.

We gave Godiva his stocking.

We opened the big bag of building blocks and played away! Blair loved knocking them over.

...and then Daddy put Blair in the bag.

What a nice morning. It was quiet and uneventful, Blair was so wonderful all morning. He is now down for his nap and we look forward to this afternoon of more gift opening, and a trip to the airport to pick up Nana and Papaw!!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

....and all through the house. Alexa was baking, Chris was cleaning, Blair was helping, Godiva was playing.

This came in the mail the other day (Thank you Uncle Scott, Aunt Linda, Jenna, Jack, Emma and Ella!) Blair has been pointing to the box and making car noises everyday, he is gonna flip when it actually comes out of the box!

Our tree is ready to be worshiped tomorrow. If this morning at Nikki and Travis's is any indication, the present opening will take Blair HOURS, maybe DAYS....he likes to enjoy each toy.

This evening Blair opened his Christmas PJs. This was a tradition in my family and I intend to carry on with it. PJs every Christmas Eve (and if I am anything like my mother, I'll forget which box they are in, which means our kids will get to open more than one gift, LOL!).

It has been a nice day indeed. I am fairly disappointed we are missing church this evening, but we are thinking about why we are having Christmas and why we celebrate. We had a relaxing morning, and are ready for Christmas Day and Nana and Papaw to get here.

Avatar

Chris and I went to see Avatar yesterday. Amazing movie. It had this way of sucking you into the story line and not really paying attention to the fact that we were watching CG created creatures. I would for sure see that again, and would love to see it at a IMAX 3D location. I'll have to look that up.

I felt super terrible about overbooking ourselves. We were invited to dinner at Travis and Nikki's house and we were originally supposed to be there at 5, then at 6, but at 5:40 I realized that the movie was running MUCH LONGER than I had anticipated. In order for us to get down to their place it would have been at least quarter till 7, which is so late for Blair. He is in bed asleep by 730 each night. Chris and I rely heavily on this sleep schedule. In order for him to be a happy toddler that can learn and absorb the world around him, he must have his sleep. So, I reluctantly sent Nikki a text apologizing and asking if we could reschedule. I still feel like a shit for it. I knew if anyone would understand my need to keep Blair on his schedule, she would, and that is why you are an AWESOME FRIEND NIKKI! THANK YOU! Needless to say, after the holiday madness, I owe them a HUGE thank you dinner, which will involve their favorite foods (what do ya like guys? Filet's? Lobsters? Crab Legs? LOL).

Anyhow, I hear the toddler awaking now, calling for Daddy, but he is gonna get mommy. Have a happy 'Day before Christmas Eve Day!'

Monday Monday Monday....

Daddy reading with Blair, a book about (WHAT ELSE?!) planes!

It is the Monday before Christmas. We are so excited around here! I got the rest of my baking finished yesterday and already gave away some treats. I hope everyone enjoys them! Chris had a Daddy/Son day for the most part. I was so tired from the night before/allergy reaction crap that I needed a little relief and rest. They went out in the yard and did all sorts of yardwork, trim, mowing, moving. The yard looks great and ready for winter! Just in time, we got a frost last night, burrrr. It warms into the upper 60s each day and then cools at night. I think we are going to get into the 70s for a couple of days, then cool back down by Xmas. In the afternoon Chris took Blair with him to play disc golf with his friend Travis and Travis's brother-in-law Alex. Chris said Blair did really well, but was tired by the end.

I got a nice rest period where I cleaned a bit and rested a bit. I felt great by the time they returned. It was a quiet evening and I look forward to several more on this break! I do have some work to get done, but it is all a bunch of document reviews for the Constellation Program Design Review. My group reviews all the documents that are ready for this 'check point' in the design of the next NASA program. It is kind of exciting, but I am sure after my 3rd or 4th 100 page document, I'll be DONE. LOL...I do hope to get a few out of the way on this break though. It is nice and quiet when Blair is sleeping, so I have no excuses.

Friday the 'rents arrive and we couldn't be more excited! They are here for a nice long visit and Chris will be home the entire time! His plane is still down for maintenance and will be for a while he was told. It is sort of a bummer because my husband gets antsy when he has not flown for a while. There is something about pilots and their need for the air....I love that about him though. It is an amazing unique quality that I can only appreciate.

Friday

On Friday Chris and I kept Blair home. Wow, long day. I did some telework and then we hit up Costco with a friend. Blair slept for about 15-20 minutes in the car on the way home. The minute the car stopped, Blair woke up. Figures. I tried to take him up to his bed to put him down, that was a no go. Chris got in on the act and we both tried for over an hour. After much screaming in the crib, I got him up. By 530pm I needed a few things from the store and we all loaded up and went, Blair was OUT. We got home and Chris and I brought the stuff in, all the while Blair slept away on the couch. Now, if you know my son, you know that he DOES NOT SLEEP anywhere unless he is strapped in or locked in. That is why his crib is so important. I can't believe he slept while Chris and I banged away in the kitchen, amazing. I even took photos. He didn't move a peep, that is until it was about 630 and I decided to take him up to his room. The minute I put him on his couch, AWAKE. So, we got a bath and cuddled and he was back asleep by his normal bedtime, 730. Sweet pea....on another note, I have felt the 2nd year molars peeping up. His gums on the bottom are SUPER inflamed.

Oh, and last night I found out I am allergic to Avelox. UGH, GREAT. I took it at about 8pm and a couple hours later was COVERED (I mean it was in my scalp even) in hives. I called Chris up (he was watching the tube downstairs) and called my dad ASAP! I felt bad waking him up, but didn't know what to do (he is a doc for those unaware). I have never had an allergy to anything. It was TERRIBLE! I feel awful for anyone that suffers allergies. I took two Benadryl as instructed by my Daddio. I feel much better now, but that was a seriously weird experience. I was itching like CRAZY, my armpits, my head, my legs, my stomach. Thank God all is normal again on my skin. Weird...

JSC Holiday Party

SANTA!!!

An Elf Painted his face!

Miss Hannah after being tramatized by Santa.

A very sweet young lady (santa is totally coming to her house) took Blair in the moon bounce, he loved it!

A Santa airplane on his cheek!!

The Employee Activities folks at Johnson Space Center hosted a Holiday Party for the Kiddos! I was excited to take Blair this year. I hate the mall Santa thing, so I was stoked to be able to take him to see Santa at the party. Sure enough, the minute we walked in they had an awesome Santa greeting all the kids and walking around prior to taking his throne by the beautiful tree. He really had a great time. We hung out with our friends the Sultando's, Miss Hannah was not thrilled about Santa, but she got to see him!

Jingle Bells - The crying Toddler

Jingle Bells from Alexa & Chris Ramby on Vimeo.

RUN

Blair was very excited about Santa on Saturday, however, when Santa came BACK through and by our house and I tried to get him to stand on the curb next to the neighbor kids, he ran screaming when I walked away. Lovie (our neighbor kids' mom, don't you love her name!?) got the above photo from that. So funny! She commented on how he sure did keep a tight grip on that candy! HA! So cute. What's funny about that is he didn't even really eat the candy, he wanted a tootsie roll, but I wouldn't let him have it as late as he wanted it that evening.

Speaking of that evening, we had Nikki, Travis and Aiden over. I didn't get to hold Mr. Aiden as much as I wanted. I was nervous about how often I would have to hand him back over because Blair was having some jealous fits the last couple of weeks. He is usually remarkedly well about that, but not lately for some reason. Just another phase I am sure. We all went and watched the hubs play disc golf at a new local course at a nice park close by, however the mud made it SUCK. We only went 9 holes, hopefully they'll get to play again soon when it is nicer.

Sunday Chris and I decided to play Santa's helper at our friend Jacen's (whom has just moved in two doors away!). He has been on trip after trip after trip, so we went down and unpacked a few more things and put up his tree!!! Blair had so much fun running around helping us and when Jacen got home late last night, he was thrilled. We are so glad. Jacen has a big heart himself and it is rare for someone to do something for him. So, we are glad he was happy :). It felt great to do it.

Santa is Coming!

Santa Is Coming! from Alexa & Chris Ramby on Vimeo.

Our City's Fire Department does this every year for the kids. I remember them coming through the neighborhood last year and just wondering what it would be like the following year when Blair was more able to comprehend Christmas and Santa. We have been reading him a new book each night, The Elf On the Shelf. He is catching on quickly to who Santa is and he got SO EXCITED when I started to yell up the stairs that SANTA WAS COMING! I could hear the fire truck from about 3 blocks away and we all ran outside and spotted our neighbors right away. We all got together and waited for Santa's Fire Truck to swing around to our block. If you listen at the beginning of the video you can hear Blair say 'Hi Santa!'. How Fun!!!

Bear Bear!

When we took this photo we were laughing so hard. He is so mischivous these days in such a sweet sort of way. It is hard to get mad at him because he is smiling, laughing and giggling the whole time. He had stolen some of my wrapping ribbon here. He loved it, was running all around with it. If you check our Vimeo page you'll see a video I uploaded of Chris playing with him and the ribbon. I couldn't believe what Chris was doing at first, but then I heard the giggles and knew Blair was really enjoying it...silly boys.

I am sorry for the photo issues in the below posts. I am trying to get to know picasa and we are not getting along right now. I'll try at it as I can.

I got my Christmas cards last night. I started on them and hope to have them out by the end of the weekend, we'll see!

Chris is off to New Mexico till Sunday. We are gonna miss him. Last night we had so much fun re-doing our Christmas lights. I went up in the tree to remove what we had done in order to spread the lights out a bit more. It looks great now! I'll try to get some sort of photo tonight. I am not great at the night photos. I need a tripod.

Anyway, I am watching the taped version of Dr. Oz from yesterday. Not long ago my doctor told me I had IBS. I still question that diagnosis, especially when I see shows like this. Elizabeth from the View is on discussing her Celiac Disease. She was misdiagnosed for 10 years with IBS. Sounds familiar. I often wonder if I should try to go gluten free for 4-6 weeks to see what my body would do. I wonder if all symptoms would go away?

Day 3 Disney Photos

Day 1 & 2 Disney Photos

Day 1 Disney Photos

Behold the LIGHT!

Chris and I really enjoyed our evening with friends. I regret that I didn't have my camera when we did the 'baby line up' on the couch, but I did have it when they took the above! In the exersaucer is Faris, on the left is Ben, on the top right is Matthew. Cute boys!! Mattie is almost 11 months and we are fairly sure he took his first little step last night, we kept trying to get him to do it again, but he knew our game, he even got upset with his daddy at one time and cried on my shoulder! AWWWW!!! He is such a sweetie. Ben is so laid back, he was very inquisitive and just always wanted to explore each toy, adorable. Faris is a cutie pie, his hands are about the same size as Blair's. I kid you not. Faris is about 7-8 months old. His daddy wears like a size 17 shoe, so no wonder, that kid is totally football material.

Blair had a ball. He was very shy to start, but then I think he remembered Faris and he started playing with the toys with him on the exersaucer, then he warmed up even more and started to wonder around the Metro's beautiful home, which by the way is decorated so beautifully for the holidays. They have a front room where all the kids seemed to migrate. Blair was not the only older kid for long, a beautiful little girl only one month older than Blair walked in. She was so sweet and had many of the same traits Blair is currently sporting. Chubby cheeks, blue eyes, golden hair, adorable. She hid behind mommy for a short time, then she and Blair were fast friends. They wanted the same toys, wanted to explore the stairs together, it was very sweet. Blair seemed very smitten by her. When we did the baby line up, they sat next to each other and Blair was so funny! He was unusually quiet and was just staring at her. I think he really liked her! When they went to come down the stairs, she wanted to hold his hand, he wasn't having it then, shy baby came back out :).

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Chris and I were anxious to see what our new LED lights looked like in the dark. Well, THEY SURE DO LIGHT UP! It is like a beacon of hope through our neighborhood, it is like a huge fire in our tree. Crazy, we need more to go up through some of the branches, but we'll wait tell next weekend probably. It is so bright! The neighbors were out scrambling to get theirs done. Haha, our tree is hard to miss!

It feels a little like Christmas

Here is my wonderful family from Disney at Chef Mickey's! From Left to Right, Adults first - My cousin Michelle, My Mama, My Grandmama, My hubby, My Uncle Bill, My Daddy, My Aunt Sam, My big Bro Scott, my Cousin Evan, ME!. Sitting is my awesome sis-in-law Linda. On her lap are my twin Nieces Emma and Ella, I am holding Blair, next to me is my wonderful niece Jenna, on the Left are my nephew Jack and my cousins daughter, Samantha.

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Here are me and Bear Bear from yesterday. We made Cookies together! He is on his Tower helping me at the counter, LOVE THAT THING!
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Here are Chris and Blair. Chris is helping Blair decorate one of the cookies!
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This morning we bundled up (it is cold in Houston, only about 40) and went out to put the lights up! Blair loved helping! And YES, Godiva is on a diet. Poor old man...

This afternoon we are headed to a friends house for an annual holiday party, the Metro's host it every year. We are going to see lots of friends and I can't wait to see all they boys play together!

Our Trip - Part II

Blair on the slide next to our hotel on Clearwater Beach

I still don't have photos. Don't bug me for 'em. :). I know that some are in the mail (thanks Mama!), I am working on the others.

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First, let me just say that work is insane. I feel like I am chasing my tail. It is so much fun though. I never knew how engaging this madness could be. I feel like a sponge that cannot absorb enough information. There is so much to learn at this level, it is never ending. I don't know how people like Flight Directors do it. This overall Program/Project View is INSANE. Love it. Chris's job has been great. He is flying just the right trips. We can't believe the difference between his old job and the new one. The new one appreciates him, which in turn makes him WANT to work hard for them. It is amazing OTHER companies don't realize that if they would just throw a bone to their guys every once in a while, they would see a huge return in effort. Ok, off my soapbox.

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Next, my friend Chrissy is pregnant with their second child and I could not be happier for them. She is one of the best mothers I have ever met. She is one of the few people on this earth that will be such a good stay at home mom. She is a teacher currently, but will retire from it with this next baby's arrival. She is so patient and consistent and wonderful with her son, and she will be equally wonderful with the next. We look forward to meeting their new family member next summer.

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It is hard to believe that I was walking the beach with my son last week at this time. To say I am a little sad over it is an understatement. I really cherished my time with my family. Seeing him with my mom and dad was probably the most wonderful feeling. Blair is just in love with his Nana. He saw her on the video from Disney from last week and started crying and reached out to the computer for her to hold him. Heart breaking. He misses them. He would drag my dad around my one finger, so cute....

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Last Wednesday Chris had to fly back to Houston for a trip that didn't happen. I am not going to go into the whole story, we didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with him. I am thankful some friends adopted him for the day. It is a great comfort that Chris had so many options of where to go on Thanksgiving.

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When Chris was flying home, my dad was picking up a car and coming back to the hotel to get Mom, Blair and I. We went to Downtown Disney to get our shopping done and have lunch at one of my favorite's, the House of Blues. Great lunch, time to go to Clearwater. We hopped in the car and Blair promptly fell asleep while we enjoyed our ride in the rainy weather (and I ate like an entire thing of cotton candy and then got sick from it). It cooled way down in Florida. We got to the hotel and settled in, set up another crib and headed out for some AWESOME food. There is a great place on the beach called Frenchy's where we had dinner, it was low key and low stress, Blair was great, the food was mouth watering. Love those little places on the beach.

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Thursday morning was relaxing, my dad came and got Blair and took him down to the beach with my brother's kids. Our hotel room views were incredible, right on the beach and so serene. Blair loved it and ran all over. There is also a great park next to our hotel where the kids had huge playgrounds to play on with big thick soft sand. I have a small video I'll try to get uploaded to Vimeo from this time. Blair had his nap while I met my Uncle Fred and his friend Tom. My Uncle lives in Sarasota and came up for the day for Thanksgiving. I have not seen him in years and I was so thankful to catch up with him on this trip. He'll be spending Christmas in Australia, so it was good to see him for Thanksgiving.

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We drove to my Aunt Sam's place. She used to live in the Naples area, then Bonita Springs, and now has migrated to Tampa. Her new place is INCREDIBLE. She has always had beautiful homes, but this one takes the cake. It is right out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. How big a dork am I? But anyway, it is so beautiful, I love her taste and fully plan to emulate some of her homes design into my own. I loved the mirrored items the most I think, I saw that Target and Pottery Barn have some of these types of things and I am going to add a few into our home, just beautiful. Hopefully you'll get to see just a small portion of her home when I get the photos next week. I was so afraid of Blair hurting anything, but aunt Sam has her home set up to be kid friendly even though it is like out of an Architecture Design Mag. My cousin Michelle had a whole set up for all the kids to fill their time. They had a whole thing of arts and crafts, it was tons of fun and I barely saw Blair the whole day. I was lucky to see him for 10 minutes at dinner.

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Dinner was fabulous, there were like 25 of us or something. Michelle's in-laws came, they are Jewish, like my Uncle Bill and they brought the BEST casserole I have ever had. Noodle Coogle or some such thing. JUST WONDERFUL. I have already told my friend Nicole about it and she said she is gonna make it for me sometime (she also has Jewish Family), AWESOME! Like I said, Blair was a hoot all day just running with all his cousins. On another note, while I remember, Blair and my cousins daughter, Samantha, look like brother and sister. He looks more like her than any of his other relatives (besides his father of course). It is amazing how much they look alike. We have a great photo of the two of them, Blair just loved her so much. He followed her all over, and she totally mothered him. We hope to have more visits to Tampa in our future to spend time with them.

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Friday my mom, dad, Blair and I took a drive up to Palm Harbor, where my grandparents used to live. It was such a treat for me to see all the places I went as a child (I usually spent 2 separate weeks there a year). We even went to my favorite place to eat, Molly Goodheads. It was the best Grouper I have had in YEARS. Perfectly Grilled. We also drove up a few more miles to Tarpon Springs to see the sponges!

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Friday night we went to a fancy dinner with the weirdest sushi I have ever had, I was not a fan. Blair was not really up for the fancy dinner, so my mom, dad, and I traded off walking around with him.

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Saturday we went to see Uncle Fred's new place while Scott and his family started his trip home. We picked up Grandma Lois and did the fun drive an hour south. Sarasota is BEAUTIFUL. I loved it. It has been years since I have been there and things are so different and new. His place is beautiful, right on the main drive in Sarasota in front of the Hyatt and Ritz Carleton Hotels. I am disappointed to say that we forgot the camera on this day. We had so much fun. He took us to a fabulous nice, but low key place on the water to have some more Grouper! Blair had a blast watching the pelicans and the boats. We then ran over to the beach to let Blair run and he loved it! He and Uncle Fred walked down the beach and Blair had fun running his feet in the surf, and we kept swearing he was going to nose dive, he kept running really fast. He didn't, and then finally at the end, right before walking back to the car, nose dive. Soaked. LOL! We had to strip him down and dig out some clothing out of the trunk that was packed to go home that night. So silly and we all got a great laugh out of it. I am so thankful for our time with Uncle Fred, never enough.

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Mom, Dad, Blair, Gram and I all dropped off Uncle Fred and then drove back up to Tampa.

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Blair feel asleep (thank you) and they headed for the airport. I was quite early to get there, so they hung out with us for a half hour or so. When Blair and I headed through security I got very sad. Then, Blair's face lit up when he saw the play area ahead. The Tampa airport has a WONDERFUL kid area of these big squishy airplanes for kids to play on, perfect. Blair played for an hour and our gate was right behind us.

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The ride home was difficult for Blair, he was fussy cause it was so late. I am thankful we had our own row (even though I had bought him his own seat) so he could really play all over our row if he needed. He was good the first hour, sat in his carseat the whole time but, fussy the second, then passed out when the gear came out for landing. I couldn't have done anything to wake him at that point! Lol...Chris was waiting for us outside security. It was so good to see him. I love running into his arms after a few days apart. It feels like home.