Christmas/New Years

This year was by far Lily's most exciting Christmas yet. Every day we got up and searched for Willy, who this year came on Deceber 2nd and stayed until Christmas Eve. Lily opened her advent calendar and then Owen's advent calendar every day at breakfast. Lily talked to Willy every day, telling him all about school, the good things she did, and any additions or subtractions to her list for Santa. We celebrated with Breakfast with Santa with our PTA friends, a really fun morning, and toured Cleveland on Lolly the Trolley too. We took in the lights and saw "The Christmas Story" house so Lily saw her first Leg Lamp. When in Cleveland...

It was a long month and we thought that Santa would never come but finally the big night arrived. Lily sprinkled reindeer food outside in the snow, we left cookies and milk (which Cooper promptly ate and we replaced), carrots for the reindeer, and big red sacks for "the big guy" as Lily says, to fill. Nana and Grandad were here to visit of course, so we had more gifts than we could ever imagine! We had bought Lily a doll house for Christmas from mommy and daddy so Steve spent the night assembling and I spent the night wrapping.

Christmas morning came and the flurry of gifts and unwrapping began. Lily was thrilled with her presents, although tearing through them this year, unlike last year when she moved slowly and it took all day. She loved her sleeping bag, her Barbie Cash register, her big girl suitcase for her next flight to MA and her "finger paints", which was on the top of her list to Santa. Owen preferred the wrapping paper and specifically the bell that Auntie Kelly attached to her gift bag, but he got somea dump truck walker, a ball popper, a ride in truck, stuff that involves hammers, and overall every boy related toy we could find. We spent the day playing, eating and hoping that daddy would feel better soon as he came down with something in the morning and spent most of the day in bad. :( He soon arose and Lily kicked his and grandad's butt in Wii bowling though, which now is par for the course, she's really good!! All in all a GREAT first Christmas for Owen, one we will never forget of course.

There are so many firsts flying by these days it's hard to keep up with them. He's so close to walking, today he took probably 4-5 steps on his own. He's eating everything you put in front of him, he has 7 teeth and more on the way. He knows "more" in sign language and possibly "all done" and "drink" too. We sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and he emphatically "washes" the spider out, arm movements and all. He is a happy happy boy and you just can't help but smile when you're around him. He has my whole heart in his hands and I can't snuggle him and kiss his little face enough. His tiny hands and his little chubby knuckles holding his bottle just make me melt, it's amazing to watch him grow. He loooves his froggy and holds onto him just as Lily did when she was his age. We can now say "bye bye paci and bye bye froggy" and he'll throw them into his crib. He loves books, especially the lift the flap peek a boo type but his favorite toy may be Lily's Barbie guitar which he carries around Eddie Van Halen style. We are in the process of planning a 1st birthday party for him on the 24th, I just can't believe how fast the year has passed. I hope I can remember every special moment and if I can't that I can remember just enough of them.

Thanksgiving/Christening/Birthday

Where does the time go?? It's already 2010, Christmas is over, Owen has been baptized, Lily is 4, and I haven't posted anything since October! Shame on me. Anyway, here goes...

Lily celebrated her 4th birthday in Massachusetts with a dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (which she absolutely hated) and cake back at Nana and Grandad's house (which she loved of course). She got some great gifts including a lot of games, Barbie stuff, Polly Pockets and a Tag reading system. She is so grown up I just can't believe it sometimes, the words that come out of her mouth. She is talking a lot about her feelings, I think Lil Bears teaches that a lot, "I feel so angry" is much better than just hitting me or Owen or anything else I guess. :) She is just a wonderful big sister, she entertains Owen a lot and likes the built in captive audience. We're trying to teach her that it's not her playroom anymore and that Owen is going to be taking over half of it very soon. She's a big help for me, getting diapers, even feeding him sometimes, and she loves every minute of it.

Owen was baptized on November 22nd, Robert and Kelly are his godparents and now officially members of our family. We had a lovely day, everyone came to St. Joseph's for the ceremony and then to the Pinkerton Tavern in Derry for the brunch following. It was a beautiful day and everything was great. Owen is a very lucky boy to be surrounded by such great family and friends. Mamie and Papa and Auntie Traci flew in for the occasion. Nana and Grandad put up with us at their house for 9 days, and we're quite a large group now!

Thanksgiving was quiet but nice, just the 6 of us on Fox Run Road, just like old times. Auntie MK and Bobby came by later and then Uncle Justin stopped in while he was working. Owen had his first Thanksgiving dinner and both he and Lily wore their special thanksgiving hats, Lily had made hers at school this year. We finally decided to drive home on Monday the 30th, 12 hours in a car with two kids feels like a week and a half, won't be doing that again for a while!