Happy birthday Amber! Gretchen and I were lucky enough to see Amber and Jeff briefly during our visit to Iowa City.
We had a great time in Iowa. Gretchen got to meet a lot of family and family friends, and she got to see her first snow!
We drove to Chicago to see Betsy and Henry, and catch a glimpse of Pete, before heading to the airport to pick up Jean-Philippe. We're eagerly awaiting news of the new baby!!
My cousin Arnie's wife Cheryl made some amazing cookies. Lots of amazing cookies. I was super impressed. This is just half of them. My favorite are the ones that look like canolis in the upper left-hand corner. Yummy.
We got back home in time for Christmas Eve with Don, despite a number of obstacles thrown in our path and otherwise frustrating travels on the way home. I don't know what I was thinking putting Gretchen's extra clothes in the bag I knew I would have to gate check for the first leg of the trip. I've never seen so much poop come out of her before and it was quite tricky keeping it from getting on me and everything else while waiting for the fasten seatbelt sign to go off so we could run to the tiny jet bathroom. Thankfully I had her leg-warmers and sweatshirt with us so she was able to be mostly clothed. By the end of our trip we had experienced enough that I was just happy we made it home at all.
Don had already pillaged the restaurant before they closed for the week, but we went back for some more Christmas pillaging so that we could have us a hanger steak and eggs breakfast. Yummy! Then we saw something that apparently hasn't happened in these parts for 70 years--a white Christmas! I like to think that it was all for Gretchen's first Christmas. She's just that special. Hehe.
We had a nice quiet Christmas. David from Toast gave us all of the seasons of Northern Exposure on dvd recently, so we watched some of that. It's been a long time, I forgot how much I liked that show. We also spent the day working on bottle feeding, which was fun. I'm happy to say it's working though. The sitter no longer has any problem giving Gretchen a bottle. Still not as easy for Don to give her one, but they'll work that out on their first full day alone together.
The rest of the week has been pretty quiet too. I'm trying to get things done around the house prior to going back to work this week. It will probably be quite a shock to have to be in the office after 14 weeks at home. Luckily it's our busiest time of year so I will have plenty to keep my mind off of little Gretchen.
Yesterday I created a dog-free zone. In what will some day be only Gretchen's room there is now a gate to get in and more evidence that a baby lives here. She's already been getting more floor time since I know she won't be trampled by Katie and Banjo. I don't know what took me so long.
Happy New Year everyone!
We had a great time in Iowa. Gretchen got to meet a lot of family and family friends, and she got to see her first snow!
We drove to Chicago to see Betsy and Henry, and catch a glimpse of Pete, before heading to the airport to pick up Jean-Philippe. We're eagerly awaiting news of the new baby!!
My cousin Arnie's wife Cheryl made some amazing cookies. Lots of amazing cookies. I was super impressed. This is just half of them. My favorite are the ones that look like canolis in the upper left-hand corner. Yummy.
We got back home in time for Christmas Eve with Don, despite a number of obstacles thrown in our path and otherwise frustrating travels on the way home. I don't know what I was thinking putting Gretchen's extra clothes in the bag I knew I would have to gate check for the first leg of the trip. I've never seen so much poop come out of her before and it was quite tricky keeping it from getting on me and everything else while waiting for the fasten seatbelt sign to go off so we could run to the tiny jet bathroom. Thankfully I had her leg-warmers and sweatshirt with us so she was able to be mostly clothed. By the end of our trip we had experienced enough that I was just happy we made it home at all.
Don had already pillaged the restaurant before they closed for the week, but we went back for some more Christmas pillaging so that we could have us a hanger steak and eggs breakfast. Yummy! Then we saw something that apparently hasn't happened in these parts for 70 years--a white Christmas! I like to think that it was all for Gretchen's first Christmas. She's just that special. Hehe.
We had a nice quiet Christmas. David from Toast gave us all of the seasons of Northern Exposure on dvd recently, so we watched some of that. It's been a long time, I forgot how much I liked that show. We also spent the day working on bottle feeding, which was fun. I'm happy to say it's working though. The sitter no longer has any problem giving Gretchen a bottle. Still not as easy for Don to give her one, but they'll work that out on their first full day alone together.
The rest of the week has been pretty quiet too. I'm trying to get things done around the house prior to going back to work this week. It will probably be quite a shock to have to be in the office after 14 weeks at home. Luckily it's our busiest time of year so I will have plenty to keep my mind off of little Gretchen.
Yesterday I created a dog-free zone. In what will some day be only Gretchen's room there is now a gate to get in and more evidence that a baby lives here. She's already been getting more floor time since I know she won't be trampled by Katie and Banjo. I don't know what took me so long.
Happy New Year everyone!
Comments
Sorry your travels turned into a challenge. Glad you got through it and had a happy Papa at the other end waiting for you.
I'm sure the snow came for Gretchen! She is that special!
Looking forward to more photos...
But I'm writing about those cute juice glasses, Ellen! Are those at the restaurant? Or are they at home? Are they 'new' depression glass? Very sweet little glasses.