Feliz Navidad!

Hello! This is my first real post on the new blog. I don't have any pictures to post right now, but when I do, I'll make sure to leave good instructions on how to access them. It will also be easier for me to post links for people on this blog.

I'm writing this on Justin's laptop in the dining room at Dad and Helene's house in Flemington, NJ. Emmy is sitting across from me writing some tips for Kira and Mom when they go to D.C. next week, Dad and Kira are working on putting the lights up on the tree, and Justin and Sam are upstairs taking a nap. It's been a pleasant day so far, and tonight we are going to the Shaker Cafe around the block for Mexican Night. Dad goes there every morning when he's in town to get his daily egg sandwich.

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. The last couple of weeks have been a little crazy with celebrating Christmas with a few people, getting ready for our trip, and the big storm that hit Washington and Oregon last week and knocked out power for thousands of people, including ours for a while!

The weekend of the 9th was busy and fun! On Friday we went down to Tacoma and went to see the Zoolights at Point Defiance Zoo. It was pretty cool, and it made me wish that I had a better camera since that kind of thing is so hard to take photos of with an ordinary camera. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see more animals - although we did see a racoon in the trees while we were looking at the lights! After that, we popped over to Tacoma General Hospital to visit Brie and the babies and drop off some hand-me-downs and lots of bottles we're not using, and to see them for the last time until next year. That night and the next night Brie and Kyle were rooming in at the hospital with Ginny in preparation for her homecoming that Sunday! It's very exciting, she's been home for almost 2 weeks now and things are going well so far. Roman is not quite as advanced and is still in the hospital as far as I know, but they're still hoping that he'll be home for Christmas. On Saturday the 9th we headed up to Bellingham and went to Mom's Kulshan Chorus Holiday Concert, then on Sunday we all headed over to Rob and Susan's house for brunch and to exchange Christmas gifts. We had a really great time, and it was really wonderful to be able to spend time with Rob, Susan, and Mom all at once. I think I've been really lucky in life to have parents who value family so much and have such good relationships with each other. We had a really great time! Then that evening we got to spend some time with Leela, Esme, and Ty. It was a really great weekend.

Last week we spent a whole day over at Brooke and Dave's while waiting for our power to come back on after the storm. Brooke, Lorelai, Seamus and I decorated Christmas cookies and we had a cozy little Christmas gift exchange in the evening. We also had Laurie over for lunch last Sunday and she got to see how big Sam has gotten and hang out with us. It was really great to see her.

Now we're in New Jersey and looking forward to Christmas Eve and seeing our families that evening and on Christmas Day. Kira's looking forward to a short trip to D.C. with Mom next week, and I'm looking forward to lots of people passing Sam around and enjoying taking care of him while I have a little R & R! Woo hoo!

Sam is doing pretty well. He did wonderfully on the flight out here. He was a little fussy, but didn't really cry, and took a pretty good length nap during the flight. We did curbside check in again, which is very convenient with so many suitcases and a carseat and trying to carry Sam around and keep him happy!

Since we got here he has been a little under the weather. The last couple of nights he has had a pretty high fever (102.6 and 102.4) and has been a little fussy and clingy. We're not sure if he just has a fever because he's teething or if he has caught some kind of bug. His fever was definitely better in the middle of the night last night, but he did feel a little warm this morning when he got up.

The biggest change is that he's definitely army crawling now! He can really get going if you give him some incentive like a remote control or a video game controller. He can get up on his hands and knees and take a little crawl, but he hasn't gotten it down very well yet.

That's about all that's going on! I will definitely get back on during our vacation and post more updates and some pictures as our vacation goes on. I'm sure that Sam is going to get totally spoiled and there will be TONS of pictures of his first Christmas!