Everyone else is asleep

I've been up since 430 when William woke up hungry.  Since then, I fed him, finished my book club book, played on the internet, ate breakfast, fed William again, and took a long shower ending with painting my toenails.  Its very hard for me to believe that I've been awake for more than three hours and everyone else is still sleeping.  William is snuggled in bed next to Mike, and Natalie, though she cried out several times in the night, is still quiet in her room. 

Natalie continues to be up and down.  We think that most of her behavior now is using the attention she got when she was hurt to get more attention now when she is jealous, sad, tired, or just uncomfortable.  We've determined this by how quickly she goes between being happy and saying she feels better to saying "I hurt" and touching her neck.  She's also said many times that she is afraid of the dark, so we moved her night light.  Doesn't seem to have made a difference long term.  Neither did cutting out any Christmas movies that had scary stuff (the Bumble, the Winter Warlock).  She had an awesome day on Wednesday.  I don't think she cried once.  But then Thursday and Friday were back to how its been lately.  There are lots of up times where we snuggle, make crafts, and read books.  But there are lots of whiny times, too.  And not all of them are when I'm paying attention to William, either. 

One nice part of yesterday was that Natalie and William did not nap much at the same time.  While I missed getting a break, I got to spend time alone with each of them uninterrupted.  William got a lot of him with me helping him sit and stand, which he loves.  Natalie and I painted and colored with markers, read a few books, had lunch, and snuggled watching A Muppet Christmas Carol.  I'm hoping that I can duplicated it again.  What I did was had William rocked to sleep in the infant set on the bed in his room, rather than nursing to sleep in my lap in the living room where I would have to move him and he would then be where Natalie would be yelling. 

There isn't too much else happening here other than the kids.  My book club meets tomorrow, but this time we read a short children's Christmas story, so I don't expect much discussion.  We are doing a gift swap though, so I have to get a $10 gift today.  Natalie and I are going to our neighbor's second birthday party this afternoon.  The plan is to leave William with Mike.  I'm hoping it works out okay since Natalie didn't have a good time the last time we went over there a month ago.  As far as Christmas preparations are going, we have almost all of the shopping done.  We also have everything in the house wrapped (except Mike's gift since he was helping me wrap some).  Our Christmas cards came in the mail yesterday, and I have them in the envelops and the return stickers on.  But the address labels is the part I hate because I always feel like there are wrong addresses and names left off.  We mailed our package to FL for Mike's family.  One morning Natalie helped me decorate the box with stickers.  Since I couldn't come up with any gift ideas that fit my idea of the correct amount of money to spend on my parents, instead I've gone with making them a basket of things. There are a few purchased items - a couple of things they wanted and a couple of every day items they use a lot.  But there are also going to be several made items.  There is a  photo collage of the kids.  An ornament Natalie and I made together.  A painting of Natalie's in Christmas colors.  Sugar cookies for my dad and fudge for my mother (which I've never made before or tried).  Lastly, I'm making a throw pillow using a Christmas needlepoint sample I've been wondering what to do with.  I have the front panel complete, but now I need Mike's attention to detail to help me pin the back on.  I've had the gifts for the kids done forever, but I still seem to keep finding little things to add, especially for Natalie. She is easy to shop for because she has clear likes, though she hasn't played withher toys much recently. 

Speaking of Natalie I hear her crying now.  Since its 8, I guess I should go get her up.