Merry Christmas

Greetings everyone! I hope that your various Christmases were as wonderful and cheery as mine. It was very nice to have had some days to recover BEFORE Christmas arrived. I was able to have as much fun as I pleased, and Kate looked completely adorable at her first Christmas celebration. We had lots of relatives out for the holidays, and it couldn't have turned out more perfectly. I love a crowd, especially of my nearest and dearest ones. Everyone wanted to hold the littlest one, but the Grandma's were especially high on the "Let me!" list. The amazing thing is that Kate, who had arrived so few days before Christmas, actually cashed in on quite a few presents. :-) Yeah, Kate! Regrettably, as I survey the pictures, I see that we didn't get a really GREAT Christmas picture of Kate in her most adorable outfit. Grandma Lisa went shopping and bought a little just born or preemie red & white striped outfit that had a penguin on it. So cute! Kate had also been gifted a Christmas blanket that says Noel all over it -- how apropo! (Good job, Deanna!) So, she was Christmas from head to toe.

Josh & I gave Lydia her first dollhouse by Little People. She opened her gift with glee and proceeded to put the people into the house and pull them out through the front door AND the windows. Perhaps she was planning the fire escape routes.


Kate has had a slew of visitors since her arrival. She met lots of Uncles & Aunts for the first time and got to spend some serious snuggle time with Auntie Susie.



It's been so wonderful to have my parents at my house during my recovery time. Mom has cooked, cleaned and whipped my house into shape PLUS she has ministered with her two spiritual gifts (newly discovered) of bathing babies AND changing diapers. She has ministered equally unto Lydia, who has had more baths & diapers in the last few days than perhaps in the past month! That's only a slight exaggeration. Seriously, Josh & I are so grateful that everyone has helped us out and really allowed us to enjoy the holidays instead of Christmas just adding extra stress to the newness of parenthood.



Dad asked Lydia if she wanted to go on a walk. She sure did! After she got bundled up, she looked a bit like the younger brother in A Christmas Story, her arms had a little bit of trouble getting completely down to her sides. The cutest part was that she immediately went and got her purse before going "bye-bye" and " 'side."