A Thompson Christmas

 Yes it's cliche, but I can't believe Christmas has come and gone.  Cordon really got into it.  He frequently talked about Jesus' birthday and when Santa comes.  Christmas morning the first thing he said was "Santa's cookies?"  When we went upstairs to see if Santa ate the cookies he looked a little disappointed.  I think he was hoping they would still be around so he could eat them.  The first few presents he opened he loved it.  By the last 2 presents he was getting really annoyed at us.  He just wanted to play with his new toys and be left alone. 

 Christmas Eve at the Cheesecake factory.  This has been a tradition for the last 6 years.  It's our Christmas Eve dinner/My birthday dinner.  Holy smokes I'm 30!

 It took about 30 tries but we finally got a cute picture of the kids. 

 Eliza's new beanie and gloves.  I think babies are so cute in beanies.

 Cordon is pretty pumped with his loot.

All tuckered out from a long day.  Eliza has become a daddy's girl.  Her favorite thing to do is to snuggle on his chest and sleep. 

Merry Christmas

Cordon was trying to make a break for it. 

Impressive

 If your going to stub your toe against furniture, you might as well do a good job of it. Well done Chris

Eliza's Blessing

 We blessed Eliza at church today.  She squawked a little bit during the blessing but overall she was great.  Chris' sister and her family made the 2 hour drive from D.C before our 9 am church.  Then drove back down early afternoon.  It was a long day for them, but we are glad that they came to share this day with us. 

 Eliza's dress came with a pioneer bonnet that was huge on her.  She was mad when we first put it on her but once we all started laughing she joined in.  I'm glad that she has a sense of humor and can laugh at herself. 

 Cousins

Cute kids cuddled up watching Dora

Check out Cordons 'Vogue' pose. 

Christmas in Hershey Part II

 Hershey amusement park opens for 2 months during the Christmas season.  We enjoyed it last year so we decided to go again this year.  We had a BLAST!!!  Last year Cordon was amused by the rides but he would get bored quickly.  This year he couldn't get enough.  He laughed hysterically during each ride and after each one yelled "again, again!" Three days later he is still telling us about all the rides at the 'anument park.' Why is it so much fun to stand back and watch your kids have fun?

 I saw this ride and couldn't help myself.  I ditched Chris and the kids and had my own fun.  But then I was dizzy for 30 min afterwords.

This frog hopper is Cordons favorite.  I think he rode it about 5 times.  I love his smile in both photos.  He knows whats coming and is already starting to laugh.

 Rocket man

 I took this shot just as he started to fall off the carousel horse.  Don't worry, I caught him. 

Dinner break

 Eliza was perfect.  We bundled her up and she slept the whole time. 

Home Movies

Here are some video clips that always amuse me.

 Slow down Cordon, you might hurt yourself.  

  I love the random dog and his bed flying out of the darkroom room

I don't know why this scares Cordon

Photos of the Kids

Halloween

Our health conscious boy really didn't care about trick or treating.  Apparently it was much more fun to 'fly' around the parking lot

Nanna

My mom flew out to help with Eliza and I talked her into staying for 3 weeks.  She recently returned from an 18 month mission in Nauvoo so it was great to spend the last few weeks with her and catch up.  Plus Cordon got to spend time with Nanna and see that she is more then a face on Skype.  My mom was WONDERFUL!!!!  I am so blessed to have such a sweet caring person for a mom.  She completely took over all the household chores so I could veg out and be lazy before Eliza came, then veg out and be lazy and recoup after Eliza came.  She even got up with Cordon every morning so I could sleep in.  Here are a few pictures summing up her visit.

She took Cordon and Bud on lots of walks so I could nap in peace. 

 Eliza's Mad Scientist hair.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but imagine Doc from Back to the Future.  She has a great mullet. 

 We have a thumb sucker. 

 We went to Chris's work so my mom could take a tour of the plant.  It's always fun to see how things are made.  Cordon working on his phone skills.  He picks up a phone says "who is it... ok bye bye"

 Lots of drives to look at all the fall colors. 

 Hershey's Chocolate World.  We left with 4 HUGE cupcakes and we ate them in about 3 days, (plus pounds of kisses and other chocolates) I think I've regained all my pregnancy weight. 

 A statue of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. 

A knight at the Renaissance Faire flirting with my mom

My mom spent most of the day trying to take pictures of all the great costumes people wore to the faire.  The one above was our favorite.  What does a fairy have to do with the Renaissance?

Eliza Anne Thompson

Eliza was born 10-3-2010.  She was 7 lbs 10.5 oz and 19.5 inches long.  She came 11 days early and I couldn't have been happier about that.  The last two weeks of pregnancy were really hard for me.  I was exhausted, achy, and my hormones where all over the place.  I had had enough, so when I suddenly had regular contractions one day I was thrilled.  I went to the Dr and was told that I had started to dilate.  Yahoo!  My mom changed her flight to come early and then I took maters into my own hands.  I looked up all the ways to naturally induce labor and tried everyone one of them.  Including the dreaded Castor oil.  For 3 days I had several false alarms, including false labor and bleeding.  Each time I rushed to the Dr. or hospital they said "sorry, it's not time" and sent me home.  Finally, my water broke and the hospital had to admit me.

Now I know you have all seen movies and heard stories where a women's water breaks and it's a big undeniable gush. Unfortunately for me this was not the case.  Saturday night I woke up to use the bathroom and on the way a little bit of fluid came out.  I thought I had an accident.  When it happened two more times I started to wonder if my water had broken, however there was nothing coming out in between bathroom trips so I was extremely confused.  8 hours later I finally called my Dr.  She said odds are that my water had not broken but to be safe I should go to the hospital.  A nurse checked me, but she couldn't tell, and neither could the hospitals high tech strip of paper to see if my water broke.  Two hours later the Dr. finally came to check me and it was at that moment that I finally got the undeniable gush.  Apparently the slow leaking with dry spells in between is called a high leakage and is rare. 

Anyways, I was only dilated to a 2 so they hooked me up to the pitocin.  Fortunately, they let me have the epidural whenever I wanted.  90 min later that wonderful numbness kicked in and I spent the next few hours watching movies.  20 min of pushing and Eliza was here. 

 Headed home in the air jordon outfit that Chris bought 5 years ago.  Cordon has the same one in blue

This picture cracks me up. Usually it's the child that is not looking at the camera.

 The first time my mom and Chris brought Cordon to the hospital he completely ignored Eliza and anyone holding her.  He spent the whole time eating my food. 

Baby Shower

 A couple weeks ago a women from church called and said she was planning a baby shower for me and just wanted to know what date was best for me.  When I started to protest a bit, telling her I really didn't need one she informed me that everything was already planned, games, food, etc, and everyone was already invited.  Being the center of attention and playing generic baby shower games is a form of cruel and unusual punishment for me.  For 2 weeks I stressed about this shower and wanted nothing to do with it.  But once again I was given a lesson in pre-judgment and not focusing on the negative side of things.  The shower was a blast.

Most of the women that came are stay at home moms with young children, so having a night off with friends was like winning the lottery.  Everyone let loose and really got into the games.  People got very competitive, and it was hilarious to watch. 

 

My friend Rachel is amazing talented when it comes to making cakes.  The detail on this was amazing.  

  

Blind folded 'moms' feeding their 'babies.'  Check out the face on the blond to the left.  Blindfolded and still making the 'mmmm' face.  I guess it helped though because they won. 

 Who can change the doll the fastest?  New mom or experienced mom?  Experienced mom won, because she cheated.  Mormon women sure can get competitive. 

 We got a lot of really cute girl clothes. 

 When I finished opening the gifts a friend informed me that she had written down everything I said while opening gifts.  She then repeated the list and called it "Things Jannie said while the baby was conceived"  I laughed so hard that I thought the baby was going to join us.  I had never heard of this game.  Not everyone there appreciated it but I sure got a kick out of it.  

mmmmmmmm!