Happy New Year 2009

Anna went to school the Monday in between Christmas and New Year's allowing Dave and I to get some things done around the house. But another party was upon us - New Year's Eve!

We went to the Major's house in CT for a party with all of the ski club friends. Anna was thrilled to hang with Ryan again and seemed to play a bit better with Sienna this time around as well. But Ryan is still the true attraction right now. I'm sure as they grow older, she and Sienna will ban Ryan from their play time, but only time will tell.

Everyone at the party was staying overnight so we let the little ones go to sleep first and didn't put Ryan and Anna up until 10:30 pm. Definitely the latest she has ever gone to sleep. It was worth it though because she barely put up a fight as I rocked her briefly before putting her down in Sienna's crib for the night.

I finally had a chance to do some nonstop relaxing as we ushered in 2009. But everyone else was pretty partied out by midnight and quickly said their good nights. Dave and I waited until closer to 1 am before sneaking into the room where Anna was already asleep.

We both fell asleep but were awakened by Anna later in the night. Unfortunately the bad combination of being over tired and not knowing where she was made it impossible to get her to go right back to bed. First I tried to hover over the crib for a little bit, but she wouldn't lie down. Then I tried rocking her, but that just kept her awake. Dave tried next but to no avail. She came in the bed with us (a full sized air mattress!), but I knew I needed another solution when she started saying, 'hi daddy'!

So I took the mattress out of the crib and placed it next to me so she could sleep near us but not on top of us! It worked even though I kept finding her head/chest still on the mattress and her legs dangling over the side! She slept with us until close to 10 am.

After breakfast and some more play time with Ryan, we decided it was time to get home for some quiet time. Normally an hour and a half drive isn't much of a problem, but Anna was not having it! I finally sat in the back with her to keep her occupied. A quick stop for lunch, and we were home by 2:30 pm. Anna gladly went right in for a nap and didn't stir until close to 5 pm.

Although she was being really grumpy, we decided to risk it and go to Grandma and Granddad's for dinner. Well, you'd never know she was over tired and grumpy because she was thrilled to see them and was on her best behavior, for the most part, all evening!

We played a game for a little while and had dinner when Nay Nay and Uncle Jimmy (finally) showed up. Then after some yummy banana and pumpkin pudding, we hopped in the car for an early night. Happy 2009 everyone!