Best Christmas Ever

As always, I have to begin with a picture of Viv.

Now, on to Christmas. I really think this has been my favorite Christmas since being married, which is probably because it's the first year I have a child who understands the magic. Savannah fully embraced the concept of Santa Clause for the first time, which is good for bribes, but not good for sleeping on Christmas Eve.

Savannah has a book called The Sweet Smell of Christmas. It tells about a small bear whose Christmas experiences are chronicled by scratch-n-sniff stickers. We've read the book so many times that the stickers have no more sniff, but we still love it. I thought it would be fun to bring the book to life this year by recreating the bear's experiences for Savannah...starting with...

Sugar cookies! Grandma sent Christmas cookie cutters, so we had no choice.

Apple pie came next. It's the first time I made pie from scratch. The crust recipe called for 1 1/2 cubes of butter, but I read 1 1/2 cups. I was so proud of my pie until I realized what I had done. Now, when asked what my favorite flavor of pie is, I will say butter.

Then, we made gingerbread men. Most of the men were decapitated soon after they were decorated. It's their own fault for having 5 M&Ms per face. (If you need a visual aide, there is a poor little cookie corpse on the table.)

Next came the part where we hung candy canes on our dead tree. How dead was it?? It was so dead that the branches snapped off when Savannah touched them.

The dead tree put Savannah in a melancholy mood, which probably explains why she was not excited to show off her dilapidated gingerbread house. On that sad note, she quickly went to bed after biting the head off of each cookie she left for Santa.

Santa came! Look carefully at the dolls in the dollhouse. They are crime scene evidence.

Savannah woke up at 4:00 ready to go. However, Hyrum and I were not so willing. We told her she had to wait. She chose to "wait" on our bed and didn't fall asleep again until about 6:00. Ugg.. When we finally went out to see what Santa had brought, we realized that she had already been out, because the doll family was in a different arrangement. Gotcha!


Good thing we hid her main present behind the recliner, so we were able to see her face when she saw her bike for the first time. For months, she's been saying that Santa was bringing her a bike and a "hat" (helmet). Luckily, a very generous person left a gift card to Toys R Us on our door, so we were able to make her dreams come true.


Savannah wasn't the only one who got what she wanted from Santa. Vivian got a cool new book from Jake & Danielle, and Hyrum and I got matching Snuggies. If you think a Snuggie is nerdy, it's because you don't have one. Ever been working at the computer, and your blanket keeps slipping off your shoulders -- leaving your arms exposed? You need a Snuggie!!

After presents, we went over to see Grandpa Berg and the family.

Then, we went over to the Torgerson's for Christmas dinner. They had also invited the McFaddens and the Rolls. Marty taught us how to make amazing snowflakes. It took me about 30 minutes to cut one out, and anyone could see that a boring accountant had done it. It was nothing like the ones Marty made!



After dinner and snowflakes, we sat around and talked for awhile while Bella played with Savannah and her princess dolls. It was a Christmas filled with love, excitement, friends, family, and magic. I'm already excited for next year :)

Guess Who?

Can you tell which baby is Savannah and which is Viv? Same age (8 months), same weight (17 pounds), same length (28 inches), same hairdo ("alien baby" as the Allens call it) and the same crazy mommy (me).

The Big Berg Turkey Party

Viv woke up with a smile on her face, because she sensed that the day was somehow special.

(PS - My mom wants me to point out that those are not her teeth , but rather, shiny lips)

Savannah is eating again - not just powdered donuts and chocolate milk - but actual food. (Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) So, we decided to give thanks by having a Big Berg Turkey Party.

According to Savannah, a real party has candles and hats. So, Hyrum made "turkey" hats with Savannah for all of us while I made dinner. Don't turkeys have feathers in the back????
(Note the burning candles in the mashed potatoes.)

Savannah's favorite part - blowing out the candles. I think I got all the wax out...

All is right with Savannah's world now that we have finally celebrated the life of that particular turkey. Although, I don't think the turkey was too happy with the outcome of the party.

And all is right with Vivian's world now that she has peas on her tray.

To eat or not to eat?

This Thanksgiving took the prize for the strangest and most frustrating so far. It's usually one of my favorite holidays, but this year, I couldn't wait for it to be over. Over the past three years of Savannah's life, she has gone through spurts of refusing to eat. This usually starts with several days of chewing food and then letting it dribble out of her mouth onto the floor (or my shoulder), and then several more days of full blown fasting. As fate would have it, Thanksgiving coincided with one of these bizarre flare-ups.

Since I can't fathom Thanksgiving without gluttony, I tried every trick to convince Savannah that eating is more fun than not eating. We made pancakes for breakfast, but she refused to touch them. (Seriously, are we related?)

After many other failed attempts at even getting her to taste something, I whipped out the Holy Grail of kid bribes in our house -- olives! She did go as far as to put them on her fingers, but not in her mouth. Hyrum was kind enough to eat them for her.

So, to distract myself from going crazy with frustration and worry about Savannah's "diet", I decided to trim Vivian's Gollum hair. The mullet had to go!

Ahhh...much better! (And thank you Hyrum for vacuuming while I cut her hair. Nothing hypnotizes Viv like that frightening appliance.)

My next project was to pack up my maternity clothes. Yes, I was still wearing maternity clothes, and yes, Viv is 8 months old...and yes, I miss them. (Don't judge.) Hyrum was nice enough to do all the heavy lifting and didn't even complain about having to reorganize the dreaded storage closet. What a gem!


When it was finally time to go to Grandma's for dinner, Savannah threw the loudest and most intense tantrum I've ever seen. This really confused me, because she had been very excited about going to the "Turkey Party". I kept glancing down the street for the inevitable arrival of the police, but Hyrum was able to wrangle her into her car seat before they showed up.

I always liked the song, "Over the river and through the woods", because of the cozy image it provides. But in real life, there should be a verse about a crying three-year-old. Kind of ruins things.


During dinner, Hyrum and I took turns holding Savannah and / or Vivian, so I didn't get any pictures of the food (or really get to eat much of it for that matter). However, after a couple rounds of Lady and the Tramp, Savannah's spirits were lifted and she agreed to be in this picture with Viv, but she still refused to eat.

We were able to get her a doctor's appointment on the following Monday, but by then, she was eating again. We still aren't sure why she does this. Possible theories range from sore throats to teething, but no one is sure. I just hope it's the last time!

How was your holiday?

Six months!

I can't believe that our little Vivian is 6 months old! In the short time that she's been with our family, we have gotten to know her pretty well. For instance, we've learned that she really likes to eat pears, applesauce, red peppers, cucumbers, puffed cereal, and cupcakes (oh, dear). She likes taking baths, being outside, squealing when happy...or bored...or upset, watching Signing Time with Savannah (jab my eyes out now!!!), playing with Ramen Noodles packages, and playing on the floor with and being held by her awesome daddy.

Here are some of the things that she doesn't like: sleeping all night, being on her tummy, having her hair pulled (Savannah), being stepped on (Savannah), having her toys taken away (Savannah), and waiting to eat (Mommy), sitting in a dirty diaper (wouldn't anyone hate that?)

Even though many of the things that make Viv cry originate with her older sister, they are still crazy about each other. Savannah still asks to hold her all the time, and Viv enjoys watching her sister play more than anything else. They sure are cute together!

PS - a friend commented that Savannah always has her mouth open when she smiles for the camera. So, I told her to show me her teeth. Hmmm...now Viv's mouth is open!!

My Best Helper

Savannah Grace is my very best helper. I had no idea someone could enjoy doing chores so much. If she hears me open the broom closet, she races over and insists on sweeping. This usually means that the dirt on the floor gets moved from one end of the floor to the other.

She's also seen a commercial on tv where a mom makes a mess on her bathroom mirror, which she quickly resolves by reaching for nearby disposable disinfecting wipe to clean it with. Savannah doesn't have access to these magic wipes, so whenever she feels that the mirror in the hall needs cleaning, she gets some of Vivian's baby wipes and smears them around on the mirror.


Her current favorite is washing dishes. But in order for a dish to qualify as something she is willing to wash, it already has to be clean. My clean dishes are usually coated with a thick layer of crusty bubbles after being hand "washed".



After so much exhausting work, my happy helper takes a well-deserved nap, and it's my turn to secretly clean up after her helping :)

Blackberries

I love living here in Western Washington where blackberries grow wild everywhere. They don't seem to require a lot of maintenance. Take, for instance, these huge bushes that grow behind our apartments. Our backyard neighbors ignore them 365 days per year, and they still produce what looks like thousands of gorgeous berries every summer. It drives me crazy to look out my window and watch them go to waste, since no one harvests them.


Well, it bothered my dad, too. So, while he was here visiting last week, he slipped out of the house with a grocery bag, climbed up on the retaining wall behind our apartment and started picking any berries that he could reach. Unfortunately, the sprinklers started while he was there and he got drenched!

Here he is all wet and upset that I am taking his picture.

The good news is that we made a delicious blackberry poppy seed cake with what he was able to pick. I did have to supplement it with a few blueberries, because Savannah was eating them so fast that there weren't many left over for the cake :)

Vivian's Blessing Day

My mom and dad were here from Utah this weekend to be here for Vivian's blessing day. It was so fun to have them here! It was the first time they had seen Vivian, so it was really exciting. They had come up a couple weeks before she was born, hoping to be here for the birth, but she had other plans...like coming 3 days late!

Savannah was ecstatic to see Grandma and Grandpa again - and not just because they bring treats and lots (and lots and lots) of presents. I think I may need a yard sale now.

The blessing was very sweet. I was terrified that she was going to cry through the whole thing, because she was very fussy up until it began, then she calmed down and was quiet. What a miracle!

Some Firsts...

Vivian enjoyed her first taste of real food -- a cucumber! We eat a lot of veggies, and she was salivating watching her dad eat celery. So he gave her a cucumber spear, and she sucked on it until there was nothing left but the skin.










A few days later, she was really fussy around dinner time (note her red, swollen eyes) and she finally stopped crying when we gave her some baby cereal. Unfortunately, the better mood didn't last too long, so she was sentenced to a bath and to bed.

And speaking of bed, we got her a new crib! I had been looking on Craigs List for a long time, but couldn't find a decent one for the right price. On Saturday, I found a nice one for $50 - including the mattress, pad and a couple of sheets!!

She has been sleeping in Savannah's room for the past few nights. She still wakes up, but not quite as much. I will put pics up once I figure out what to do with the stuff that was displaced by the crib. Some day, I will have adequate storage.






Even bigger news is that Savannah is now potty trained!!!!! If you have never had to deal w/ diapers (both the mess and the price), you can't fully appreciate the enthusiasm we have at our home. Every time she goes in the potty, you would think we had just won the lottery. We jump up and down, clap, cheer, etc.

Savannah likes to sing, "I'm a big kid now." Every time she says her prayers, she always includes how thankful she is that she goes in the potty. She must have heard that from us.


Probably her favorite part of her new skill is washing her hands afterwards. I've decided to let her make huge bubble messes for now. I think she deserves it! Hopefully, it will eventually replace the chocolate chips we were bribing her with...

It sure is fun to watch our little girls grow and hit milestones! Some day, I will catch them smiling at the same time :)