2011 Christmasness

This year, we played host to Jeremy's mother ("Bubba") and step-father ("Cappy") for Christmas 2011.

Bradford was all too happy to have some different people to show off his latest tricks (i.e. tantrums) to.
Christmas Eve Day we went for a nice, long holiday calorie burning walk in Hollywood Cemetery, which you might remember from this post. It was fun seeing the different ways people had added some holiday flair to the cemetery. We also enjoyed sharing the urban legend of "The Richmond Vampire" and the tomb of W.W. Pool where the vampire supposedly hides out. Going to a cemetery may not be the usual way people spend their Christmas Eve day, but it works for us.

Bradford enjoyed opening up his presents from Santa. He opened them while squatting, standing, laying down, and sitting. The novelty of opening presents quickly wore off, and Bradford had no interest in opening the majority of his presents. He was perfectly happy to play with them completely wrapped up. Obviously this child is good with just 5 presents.

The day after Christmas, we headed to Colonial Williamsburg for another nice, long, holiday calorie burning walk and dinner at a tavern. We were joined by my parents ("Mina" and "Billbo") and my brother Andrew, so we had a nice group of 8 people (including Bubba and Cappy) and 2 dogs, Brodie and Mindy. Mindy opted to sleep in the car for most of the day, while Brodie was happy to walk around Duke of Gloucester Street sporting his jingle bell collar. Bradford thought he was the coolest kid in town to have a dog wearing jingle bells walking along with him. Bradford loved the horse-drawn carriage. He also loved running around collecting shells and rocks.

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year at Colonial Williamsburg due to the holiday decorations. People come from all over the country to get a taste of how the Loyalists and Patriots decorated their homes and businesses with elaborate wreaths and garlands made from natural materials (fruits, shells, plants, etc). Pictured above is Chowning's Tavern (opened in 1766) where we feasted on a tasty Colonial dinner.

Bradford was too hungry for dinner at Josiah Chowning's Tavern to bother to pose with Jeremy.

A few bites into dinner, a fife and drum parade strolled down the street outside. Bradford was frightened by the drums and spent the rest of the meal sitting in my lap.

The meal wasn't a total loss for Bradford. He discovered a love of ketchup, as his face shows.

Legendary Santa

During "The Week of Fun," we took Bradford to meet Santa Claus for the first time. We decided that we would only take our kids to see Santa if they wanted to go. Since Bradford can actually say, "Santa" and "Ho Ho Ho," we took that as consent that Bradford wanted to meet Santa, and so we took him to meet Legendary Santa. Everyone in Richmond knows that Legendary Santa is the real deal. He is, after all, the "same" Santa I saw as a kid. This also happens to be the 75th anniversary of Legendary Santa.
While Bradford was perfectly content to sit on Santa's lap, not once did he look at Santa. Poor Santa tried to engage Bradford in conversation, and even man-handled him a bit to try to get Bradford to look at him, but Bradford wouldn't budge, probably because he is on the "naughty list." Also of interest, Bradford's double fists.

December 1984. My first trip to see Santa. I was Bradford's age, and clearly I did not want to meet Santa. You can see in the photo that, like Bradford, I rocked the "Santa fists" too. Some things don't change though- Legendary Santa sits on the same "Santa Throne" and perches his hat on the same side of the chair after all these years.

The Week of Fun

Jeremy just had a lovely, much-needed week off of work. In contrast to our usual marathon road trip vacations, we happily opted to stay at home and enjoy what we officially dubbed "The Week of Fun." We made plans to do something fun every day, and we had so much fun that we neglected to take pictures of all of our fun.

We started our week of fun by going to the Richmond Christmas Parade. This parade is the real deal, and lasted a full two hours. Jeremy was impressed with the variety and pageantry. I told him we do things like parades proper in the "big city."

The parade featured local celebrities like Mayor Dwight C. Jones and big time celebrities like Curly from the Harlem Globetrotters (who was joined by two other current Globetrotters). Jeremy got to shake Curly's hand. Noted celebrities missing from the parade included the cast of Spielberg's latest film, "Lincoln," (filming now in Richmond!) starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Oh Spielberg, I'm glad you've recognized the awesomeness of Richmond and chosen it as the place to film what will surely be one Oscar-bait worthy movie, but is it too much to ask for a float in the parade?

Last year, Richmond's Christmas Parade made national news when Rudolph got stabbed in the forehead by a traffic light. Hit up Youtube for your choice of videos documenting the massacre. One year later, Richmond celebrated the humor of the situation by parading the same notorious Rudolph around, this time with the addition of a bandaid. And so it was that Bradford and other small children of Richmond came to see Rudolph as a holiday treasure noted not only for his red nose, but for his bandaid as well.

When the Rudolph balloon came by us, Bradford was granted the honor of holding one of Rudolph's ropes. I'm sure he will cherish the memory.

Nerds of Richmond sported their Star Wars finest. Even bad guy storm troopers felt the Christmas spirit.

Chewbacca!!!! Oh and look, it's fat Han Solo.

On Thursday, we headed to the Children's Museum for some fun with Bradford. He loved playing in the playhouse kitchen and enjoyed setting and unsetting the table about 50 times.

Bradford fell into a daze while spinning this wagon wheel around. I think he looks like a cute little pioneer.

Saturday night we went to the annual ortho fancy holiday party. The group pictured above are the PGY-2 ortho residents (aka Jeremy's ortho residency class) and the group below are the significant others of the docs and One Big Fat Fatty Preggers McGee.

The highlight of "The Week of Fun" was that my dear friend Carrie got engaged to a wonderful guy! Two of our "Week of Fun" events involved hanging out with these two: a going away party for Carrie's sis one night and a double date another night. We are so happy for Carrie and Josh!

Other highlights from the week of fun include playgrounding with Bradford, dinner and toddler flirtation with our friends the Bishops and their daughter who is about a year older than Bradford, Jeremy's first trip to library story time to witness how Bradford is no longer a good story-time guest, holiday shopping, holiday decorating, ortho night at the bar, watching movies, sleeping in, and otherwise enjoying a week full of fun and quality family time.

Happy Birthday Dr. Ross!

Yesterday, Jeremy celebrated his 29th birthday. He spent the morning doing things he doesn't love (getting up at the ass crack of dawn), the afternoon doing doctor stuff he likes (including tending to a 90 year old WWII veteran), and the evening doing the things he loves (eating the dinner of his choice: lasagne, drinking beer, hanging out with his wife & kid, and falling asleep on the couch while his favorite comedies ran on the TV.)

Bradford worked as the official taste-tester while I baked Jeremy's cake (red velvet) and cooked dinner (lasagne). Side note: Bradford started to say "please" over the Thanksgiving weekend. Every time he says it, he cocks his head to the side like in the picture above. He says "teeeeeees." So cute.

Jeremy requested red velvet cake. What he didn't know is that my recipe suggests topping the cake off with shredded coconut. Jeremy hates shredded coconut. I substituted mini chocolate chips and the cake was a hit.
Since 2012 is a leap year, Jeremy will get to enjoy one extra day of being 29. How lucky is that? He gets 24 bonus hours to put off the dirty thirty and celebrate being a twenty-something just a little longer than folks like me. Happy Birthday indeed!

Thanksgiving and Leaves

We enjoyed a deliciously wonderful Thanksgiving in Richmond this year at my parents' home. We were joined by some out of town guests like my dad's brother and his family (aka "The Lynchburg Baldwins") and my brother Doug & sister-in-law Jaime.

Bradford was so excited to see his Auntie Jaime and Unkie Doug. He was the only person who didn't ask them about the Penn State scandal and their thoughts on Joe Pa (Doug and Jaime are both Penn Staters who live in the State College area).

The calm before the storm. My mother even made a place card setting for Baby Deuce. Bradford sat at the "children's table" in the corner (aka his high chair).
The grown-ups: Uncle Steve, my mumsy, Aunt Leila Lou, and my pops.

Bradford waited calmly for his Thanksgiving feast. He was pretty excited for his first Thanksgiving dinner where he would be eating the same thing as everyone else and not baby food mush out of a jar.

Bradford's share of dinner: cornbread pudding, sweet potato deliciousness, creamed carrots, turkey, mashed potatoes, and green beans. He cleaned his plate up and had seconds, and even some thirds just like the rest of us. I should also add that our turkey this year was The.Best.Turkey.Ever. It was honestly perfect and the most delicious turkey I have ever had. Thanks Mom!

The kids: Isabel, Andrew, Jaime, Doug, Heather, Bradford, Jeremy, Ella V, and Fletcher

Moving on from Thanksgiving, you've got to burn the extra calories some how. Looks like raking leaves is the trick.

Bradford and I made a big pile of leaves in the backyard. He loved it. I would like to add that all of these leaves came from the big oak tree in our neighbor's yard. If it wasn't bad enough that they leave their dog and cats outside 24/7 regardless of the weather or that one of their cats died in our front yard last spring (reporting the cat's mysterious death was the first time we ever met them after living here for a year), they have a giant oak tree that has the audacity to drop all of its leaves in our yard. Oh well.

Bradford likes to carry this bucket around the yard and collect pine cones, sticks, rocks, holly leaves, or whatever the object of his desire is on a given day. This day, he was collecting small sticks which he loved to play with in the leaf pile.

I felt like I needed some cool mom points, so I got into the pile of leaves with Bradford. Now Bradford can never tell his future therapist that he had a rotten childhood because his mother never played in the leaves with him. I have photographic proof that it happened at least once. Technically, Baby Deuce can't say I never played with him or her in the leaves either since I was pregnant when this was taken. Two birds, one stone folks! Truth is, it will be harder to get a photo of Jeremy playing in the leaves. He declared war on Nature last weekend, so I don't think he'll be embracing the fun of a leaf pile any time soon. That's Jeremy's battle with the kids though, not mine. I did my fun parent part.
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Video: In Wich Bradford Plays in the Leaf Pile

Meet Baby Deuce

Since I'm 24 weeks pregnant, I guess it's about time we posted some photos of "Baby Deuce" on here.

It is clear from this photo that Baby Deuce is a future celebrity. Back-off, paparazzi! So much for the thrill of the 3D ultrasound since Baby Deuce is making sure no one gets a good pic.

Baby Deuce at 12 weeks. Our first view, and wouldn't you know, Baby Deuce is blocking its face with its hand again.
Baby Deuce is a lazy lounger. The ultrasound technicians thought it was hilarious how stretched out Baby Deuce was at 12 weeks.

Here's Baby Deuce at 20 weeks. Not much to see since Baby Deuce is shielding its face yet again.

A close-up of Baby Deuce's face at 20 weeks. Kind of skeletal looking.

Today we had a third ultrasound (because Baby Deuce was very lazy and uncooperative at 20 weeks) and got some much better pics. Above is a side-by-side comparison of Baby Deuce and the Rosslet (aka Bradford). Do you think they look like siblings?

Please note that once again, at 24 weeks, Baby Deuce's hand is lurking around its face.

Baby Deuce looks a lot cuter at 24 weeks than it did at 20 weeks. Although I'm detecting some attitude. Is that a loser "L" sign the baby is flashing at the ultrasound camera?
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Game Time! So who does Baby Deuce look the most like at 24 weeks?

(clockwise from top left) Wolfman, Ra from Stargate, Tom Brady's biceps, or Casper. So who's the Baby Daddy?
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In other news, Baby Deuce is measuring TWO WEEKS bigger than the average 24 week old baby. At 20 weeks, Baby Deuce was measuring 6 days ahead of schedule. Lord help my uterus, for it looks like another giant baby is on the way. Also, it should be noted that Bradford was only measuring 3 days ahead of schedule at 22 weeks and was 11 pounds, 8 ounces at birth. Baby Deuce is measuring TWO WEEKS ahead of schedule which means it will probably be 30 pounds. Michelle Duggar may have had 20 babies living in her uterus, but I think that my uterus will be as stretched out as hers by the time my second child is born. Donations towards my future tummy-tuck are gladly accepted.
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For Bradford's ultrasound pics and Baby Daddy options, click here.

Howdy Halloween

Bradford dressed up as a cowboy for his second Halloween. We got him the hat in Durango, so obviously it's the real deal. Bradford wasn't overly fond of the hat, but he loved the bandana and has tried numerous times to put it on himself. Brodie wasn't into the hat either, but he's better at following directions than Bradford, so he stayed still long enough for a photo-op. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!