Thanksgiving / The 1st Birthday

I have several blog posts to catch up so I'll try to do one a day for the next few days to catch everyone up on our last couple of weeks....now on to this story.

Flashback
Last year I spent Thanksgiving day in the hospital with my brand new baby boy.  Uncle Keevin and Uncle Shannon visited that morning for a short time and then Steve & big brother Ethan arrived and, of course, Aunt Katie, who had stayed the night before with me while Steve stayed at Eileen's with Ethan, was there as well.   We put Alex in a cute little outfit with his adorable little "Gobble, Gobble" turkey bib and, of course, sent pictures via text to Nana and a few others who can accept that type of message. 

I had wanted Ethan to have a good turkey dinner (and I wanted left overs, too) so Steve took Ethan to Eileen's for dinner with the gang just as Megan arrived to see us.  She had been to her in-laws for dinner and then sped to Frankfort to see her newest nephew (and me, of course).  Megan had planned to stay and with us while everyone else was at dinner.  She played with Alex and visited with me for a bit and Becky, Ani & Brian came up (with something yummy for me to eat but I don't quite remember what - pumpkin cheesecake maybe?).  I think Megan may have brought banana bread, too, because as I write, I'm tasting her yummy banana bread and, quite frankly, salivating for some. 

They stayed until Steve and Ethan returned with my turkey and pumpkin pie - the only things I really wanted for dinner anyway (pretty sure they brought me a few other things - but this was all I wanted).  After everyone else left, the Waters family of 4 spent our first night under one rooft, in my hosptial room.  Maybe we weren't all comfortable, but it was comforting not to send Ethan away for the night again....the next day, we went "home" - to Eileen's house for a few days before heading all the way back to Lexington.

Present Day
This year the four of us woke up together on Thanksgiving morning.  Steve and I woke up to Ethan coming in to tell us, "Mama, Owix waked up...the sun is up, Daddy."  I sent Ethan to potty and went to get the birthday boy.  "Happy birthday, sweet boy!"  "Ma Ma Ma"  Gotta love that response.  We headed downstairs with Ethan and let Steve sleep a bit long as he had worked late the night before.  I set about fixing breakfast while the boys played basketball and skittered around the kitchen and living room.  Alex's favorite - pancakes and eggs - ready, Ethan went to wake Daddy.  We had a nice birthday breakfast and then got showered and changed to head to Eileen's for Thanksgiving dinner with the family. 

We had a wonderful turkey dinner with aunts, uncles and cousins of all ages including sweet baby Amelia which comes out as "baby Camelion" when says it because there is a baby named Camille at day care and Ethan is putting that together with Amelia to get Camelia and somehow an "n" just pops in on the end there.  Sounds really cute. 

After dinner I started a game with my cousins while Steve relaxed and the boys, who hadn't had naps, played together and with everyone else.  A little while later, Alex was so tired he couldn't take a step without falling over.  Poor little guy.  It was getting dark out by now and and he had only had a 20 minute nap on the way to Eileen's since sun up - that's pretty good for a little guy only 1 year old.  Steve started getting together to go as I bounced Alex on my knee and hummed to him to calm him down.  Apparently he'd been waiting for just that treatment because just as Steve finished, Alex fell asleep.  Rather than bother him, I laid down with him while Ethan oh-so-helpfully worked with Eileen on the puzzle she had just opened.  If you've ever worked a puzzle with a child, you know that most the pieces end up on the floor.  I convinced Ethan to just work on picking the pieces up from the floor and ignoring his Daddy who was even more helpfully suggesting that Ethan put the pieces in his pocket.  Steve is lucky Eileen is the non-violent type or she would probably have hurt him.

Alex work up shortly thereafter and I helped put a few puzzle pieces in before we headed for home.  All in all a nice leisurely Thanksgiving and a very nice way to spend Alex's first birthday.  Once home it was time for bed ... we have a big road trip set for Black Friday.  I'll tell you how that went in tomorrow's blog.