Happy New Year!

So, what's been happening for the past 7 weeks? I'll just say it in one feared word...COLIC! We've been pacing, soothing, and sh-sh-shing pretty much non-stop. By the time things slow down for the night, it is a race to see how quickly we can go to sleep. It would have been nice to not have "mother of a colicky baby" on my resume, but it does speak volumes that Nathan is still living in our house and hasn't been thrown out on the streets!

Actually, we got a great start to 2010 when Nathan suddenly decided that he, in fact, did NOT need to be held 24/7 on New Year's Eve. He must have caught wind that I was frantically reading The Baby Whisperer and that his goose was going to be cooked sooner rather than later. He went more willingly than expected. Of course, he still needs to be held about 10 hours a day but we are currently tickled pink in the 58% reduction in holding hours per day.

We had a great Xmas season filled with gatherings with friends and family. It was a bit energy depleting to have to "do Xmas" in addition to the day-to-day chores. I've told many people that I can keep up with the day-to-day without too much hardship, but there is no time for "special projects", ie Xmas prep, Xmas clean-up, and folding laundry. Poor Dora has definitely suffered this holiday season, but it is my resolution to walk her at least once a week.

Here are a few pictures of the past 7 weeks. As always, I'll try to stay more updated in the New Year!

Our neighbors shared in our Xmas Eve dinner with us. This picture makes me laugh because Nathan is essentially getting strangled by Helen. Oh, the joy of having a big sis!

With John Dylan at the mall waiting to get a pic with Santa. I got a lot of sympathetic looks in the mall as people thought I was the mother of 3 small children!

Nathan as the Baby Jesus. As one of my friends said, "it's going to be hard to top that role."

At the Xmas lights house in our neighborhood. We enjoyed going many times, including with our Sunday School class. We knew we had zero percent chance of getting the kids to pose all together!
We finally got the joy of the Xmas lights at Hollywild, and it was fantastic!! It was cold and sleeting, but we dragged our good friends, the Taylors, and our very patient niece, Chloe, to see the phenomenon that is Hollywild.
Yes, that is an odd cow/buffalo thing RIGHT outside our car window. And, yes, it was TERRIFYING!! Alan got the window rolled up right before the thing tried to stick its head in!


The perfect New Year pic! Helen is 100% up for an all-night party. She stayed up until 1am at which time we forced her to go to sleep. Of course, Nathan spent most of the evening in the completely dark guest room. I'm glad Helen has a fellow partier in Isabella--this pic was taken right at midnight! Watch out Butler Station!!