festive

Had kind of a really awesome day today.  Early in the morning we headed over to Kathy's for nutella-filled crepes and yummy coffee.  D had a BLAST playing with their kids' Hess trucks, giving Zach and I a chance to actually socialize with everyone else there.  Kathy also gave me the great idea of giving D his "own" Christmas tree that he can play (aka destroy) however he likes, with the understanding that he then leaves the "real" tree alone-- this is something she did with her own son when he was 18 months old, and has apparently worked pretty well (her 2 kiddoes are now almost teens).

We got a short break at home for a few hours where I succeeded in getting about half our packing done but failed miserably at my attempts to get D to nap (he woke up at 4:30am and then slept maaaybe 30 mins in the car on the way back from Kathy's... and that's been all for today) before then heading out to Karen and Benjamin's holiday shindig.  More fun to be had, lots of friends about, great food, and played a fun gift exchange game where everyone seemed pretty satisfied with what they got (particularly those who have future "white elephant" exchanges to attend this season...).

So now, home, exhausted, D is asleep, Zach is about to head out to make an appearance at a farewell party for the interns at work.  We're about 98% packed and set to leave tomorrow morning for two weeks of holiday family fun.  I am VERY much looking forward to this trip, for many reasons, though I can't deny I am dreading finding out what will happen with D's sleep.  He always regresses a bit when we travel, and already his sleep this week (after a few weeks of being pretty good) has completely gone to pot-- he's waking up super early (see previous paragraph), and also won't go to sleep without me lying down next to him which is odd and he hasn't needed in FOREVER other than when he's sick... which I'm pretty sure he's not.  But then again, who the hell knows.  So I'm wondering how much earlier he'll start waking up, and how much needier he might become, for the next two weeks while away from home.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.