Bringing Up the Rear

If you're still with me here, then you must be pretty interested in the Pulle family.  And if you are still with me at the end of this novella, then I am just not sure what to think!  Whoa.  I hate to admit defeat, but technical difficulties and too many photos to sort through have contributed to the lack of blogging of late.  Really...I wish I had more to say, but these days I tend to let the pictures speak.  So the blog minus the pictures does not an interesting story make.  

Excuses, excuses.  Let's just rewind about a month...yep, back to Thanksgiving.  You know, that holiday that is my very favorite?  We had a wonderful time.  MPs watched some football...

We had a delicious meal...

Nana and Papa were here for the weekend, and it was so great for them to see how much MP2 has grown and changed since they last saw him in early October.  On Friday, the weather was so nice that we decided to take a trip to a nearby neighborhood park.  We went on a walk along the wooded trail with MP2 and the dogs

and then took a trip to the playground.

Doesn't all of this sliding look like so much fun!?!?!

Don't be fooled!  Slides are dangerous - even when riding in your mom's lap.  In fact, I am not even sure why slides are allowed on playgrounds!!  Next time you let your child on a slide, be forewarned that your next stop may very well be the urgent care...with a bandage on your "sprained" foot and a recommendation from the doctor to say off of the foot for a few days.

Then, you may find yourself at a pediatric orthopedist a week later with a baby who still won't walk on his injured foot.  That doctor may tell you that he will be fine in a week.  Then, you may find yourself back there again...another week later (a week of very frustrated no longer mobile baby on your hands) to find that actually, while you were riding down the slide with your baby in your lap and his foot caught on the edge of the slide...yes, he ACTUALLY BROKE HIS LEG.

I am clearing a spot on the mantle now for my "Mother of the Year" award.  Thankfully, the broken leg may be a teensy bit exaggerated and it was actually a very small "toddlers' fracture"  (what???  they're common, even though your toddler never had one...and you've never heard of them before...I promise!)  He was up and about two and a half weeks after he was injured.  I won't say it wasn't a long two and a half weeks, but I am so thankful that this is the worst thing we've had to deal with as of yet in MP2's time with us on the outside.

While still not 100%, we did go out and get our Christmas tree.  MP and I have gone to the same tree farm in the mid-MO area both of the past two years.  The first year, it was so cold that there was NO chance we were cutting our own tree.  In the pre-cut tree area, we looked at about two that were frozen solid, and then just tossed one on the car.  We thought we may have sustained frostbite worthy of limb loss (okay, maybe just a pinky toe) in the five minutes we were out in the elements.  Then last year started off as a nice day.  We decided to head out in search of our tree, but instead discovered a wind and rain storm that dropped the temperatures by about a million degrees en route.  MP2 was only about 4 1/2 months old at the time, so again, we just grabbed the first tree we saw and it was a wonder that puppy made it home.

Third time's a charm I suppose.  Even though MP2 wasn't in a walking mood, we had great weather (note the lack of a coat!!) and we finally got to fulfill the dream of cutting our own tree (what, MP, that was never your dream!?!?).  We chose the perfect tree

MP cut that thing right down...

and we tossed it on the trailer with the rest.

Oh, how did we know which was ours, you wonder?  We just waited until everyone else claimed theirs since we weren't sure how to tell them apart :)

The next few minutes (okay, an hour) was spent with me trying to take cute Christmas card photos of MP2 and the tree, while MP2 was giving me poses like this:

and this:

Then, we spent the next hour tying the tree to the car so securely that had we driven through another Hurricane Katrina, that thing would still be on the roof.  (Starr Pines...please consider hiring helpers to get the tree tied to the car...I think you would save lots of $$ on using less twine and having more parking spaces available.  I am just saying...)

It sure looks pretty!

A lot of people ask me if MP2 messes with the tree.  I have heard lots of horror stories from friends of their toddlers breaking ornaments, accidentally pulling the tree over, and the like.  Fortunately, I have discovered the remedy for this - make your baby hate the Christmas tree by having him/her pose for 10,0000 photos in front of the tree as you aim to get the "perfect" Christmas card shot.  Then you can make your child feel like this about the tree:

In addition to injury and trauma inflicted by mom, we have had some fun social outings too.  We headed to our buddy's second birthday party.  MP2 has known this guy his whole life, and I think he loves to learn new things from E!

MP2 was also entranced by the electric train at E's house.  I think Santa may have noticed his interest :)

We had our first snow a couple weeks ago and took MP2 out for a walk to our neighborhood park.  He's always so serious, but promise, he had fun.

MP always knows how to get a laugh!

What a difference one year makes.  We are having so much fun, and so excited to celebrate MP2's second Christmas.