maddi's first xmas

Well, here we are, our first Christams morning as a little family. We're all still in our jammies (see, now that I'm a mom I use cute words like "jammies" and don't even think twice about it). If you look at the clock you'll see it's actually almost afternoon. Let's just say it was a very relaxing a.m.!

I think Madison enjoyed her first Christmas. We spent Xmas eve (actually, the day before the eve) at Kevin's folks' and Xmas day with my family. We had to teach Maddi how to unwrap her gifts, and after a while she caught on. I'm sure next year she'll get the hang of things a little better and will be tearing into stuff like crazy. I hope everyone reading had a nice holiday...happy New Year!

xmas time is here

I cannot believe Christmas is in one week. While I'm doing pretty good with shopping this year, I have not started baking the customary cookies I dole out to friends and neighbors (I should be doing that now...guess it'll be a late night) and we have yet to put our tree up. Sigh.

But one holiday mission has been accomplished...we finally got our Christmas cards mailed! It was a pain in the neck this year, actually. Instead of hand-writing 50 cards (there's no time for that this year!) I wanted to do a family photo card. We had a nice portrait taken at Sears, but since they charge an unreasonable $1/card and you can get prints at Target for a "that's more like it" .34/card we thought we'd just scan our pic and make a stop at Target's photo center. Here lay an obstacle...you can't scan n' print professional photos unless you have permission to reproduce them from the original source. I guess in a way this is a no-brainer, but on the other hand, why can one spend $50 on a CD of prints and make all the copies you want, but potentially spend $300 on a package of prints and not be able to make additional prints outside of Sears? Makes no sense to me. (We didn't spend $300, by the way, we're way to cheap for that.)

So anyway, we took our own pics. And to be honest, I like them better than the "professional" portraits! We made up 2 different cards, so if anyone reading this wonders what the other card looks like, here are both photos.

I may not get a chance to post again before the holiday, so I'll wish everyone a Merry Christmas now!

here she grows again

I can't believe M is 8 months...and she'll be 9 months on Dec. 21! I was thinking odd thoughts the other day and it occurred to me that, if you count her age from conception, she's actually going to be 18 months. Weird, huh? I guess that means she's technically an "older" baby.

Anyway.

Today was the last day of the Lapsit program at the library. We've been going on Tuesday mornings for the last 4 weeks and M seems to really enjoy it. Story hour is a combination of singing and movement activities, a couple of books read by the group leader, playtime (a box of toys comes out for the kids to play with for a short while), and finally...bubble time! Her favorite part is watching the other kids...with the exception of one little boy they're all older than she is (age is 0-23 months). As big as she seems to me, she looks like a real baby next to these toddlers...they have hair and she still doesn't have much, although it does seem to be getting "whispy-er." They can walk and and she can't--on her own--yet. But she doesn't care...she's forever watching and learning, drinking everything around her in. I think she's going to be a very observant, thoughtful girl.