Merry (belated) Christmas!

I hope that everybody had a joyous and festive Christmas this year. We had a terrific time. Liz, Greg and Isabel came from Texas, Meg, Tom, Emma and Harrison from North Carolina, and Uncle Bill, Den, and Katya from Malaysia. We spent a lot of quality time with the family. Now that we have so many children in the family, Christmas is more hectic and wonderful than ever and I love carrying on the traditions that I grew up with. Nate this year truly understood and enjoyed everything about Christmas, and even learned the words to most of our favorite songs (Rudolph, Frosty the Snow Man, etc). It is so cute to see him sing it! On a somewhat sad note, the past few days have not been as great. Poor little Anna got sick with RSV and spent the past couple of nights in the hospital in an oxygen tent. Although she and I are really tired, she's doing better and is home now, but it was a sad way to end the Christmas holiday.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Yummy squash!

Anna for the first time ate dinner with us. While we dined on soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, the baby got her first taste of squash and loved it! She kept crying everytime I took the spoon away. Although, to be honest, I am not sure if she was crying for more food or to chew on the soft plastic spoon. It is so hard to tell when they can't tell you what they want. She is such a good baby. Her teachers were telling me that Anna was the most easygoing, happy baby in her class. I told them that I deserve it after the first one! Not that Nate was a terrible baby, but he definitely had his moments. And yes, that's a banana puff on her forehead. Marc always did that to Nate. Now it is Anna's turn, I suppose.

Look what we made!

The most pathetic gingerbread house ever made. But Nate didn't seem to mind! He didn't much like the spearment gummies, however. We also ran out of frosting before we could put the little gingerbread people together. I want to know how Lizzie's always look so good and professional! Oops, got to run. The baby is screaming her little head off upstairs. I am starting to teach her how to fall asleep on her own rather than letting her nurse herself to sleep. Wish me good luck!

Christmas photos...blegh.

This afternoon Marc and I *attempted* to take photos of Nate and Anna for our Christmas card. It is so difficult to get a good photo of both of them! I swear we took 250 photos and maybe 3 turned out decently. If Nate was smiling, then Anna was crying. If Anna was smiling, then she has a big blob of drool on her chin. And Nate kept giving us a cheezy smile. I walked away from the whole situation feeling very frustruated. We will try again in the morning. Marc says.... oh goody, can we? In other news, despite getting our hopes up for snow, the storm has turned out to be a big fat nothing. We may get ice pellets, but that's it. I was really hoping to be able to take Nate sledding this weekend!! In the meantime, hope you get a laugh from these pictures. In the first, Nate looks like we are interrogating him. In the other, check out the drool and the jowls on that baby! I need to stop nursing her to sleep all the time. She's around the 55th percentile for height and the 97th for weight! But I must admit that I find her rolls awfully adorable.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Oh the weather outside is frightful.... and so of course we are outside playing in it! The first picture is Nate trying to hit me & Anna (safely inside) with a snowball. Luckily we have that glass door in the back of the house. Anna laughed and laughed and laughed. The second picture shows our house all decorated for the holidays. I remember going through Charlotte's parents' neighborhood 10+ years ago and just laughing at the outrageous decorations. And now here I am, fast becoming one of the tackiest houses in the neighborhood! And we would love to add on. Marc is looking for a miniature Santa in a sled, led by a couple of reindeer, for our roof. (Our inside decor is much more tasteful!)