2006 Family Photo

Here's Ian, E and I! Isn't E cute in her Christmas dress and hat? This is one of the fortunate pictures where her hat is not falling over her eyes (the outfit was just a tad too big). Everyone loved it!

E's first Christmas

What a whirlwind Christmas! Ian and I returned home late Wednesday afternoon. We were thoroughly pooped!! We let E continue sleeping in her carseat (where she had fallen asleep from the drive home) while we took the chance to unpack all the clothes, toiletries and presents. This Christmas was quite exhausting, not because we did anymore than we usually do for Christmas (which is usually us going to see both sides of the family over the course of a couple days)... but because it was E's first Christmas! On the surface, this wouldn't seem to change much, but and boy is it different. Gone are the days of just throwing one bag together and jumping in the car for a visit. Gone are the days of showing up whenever, staying up late and mostly just being free with Christmas plans. Now instead, there is "time" planning involved (when does E need to eat, so when can we leave, so when do we need to arrive so she can eat again). And on top of that, there is a lot more extras to pack and consider when just staying over one night - add a carseat, a whole bag of clothes to herself and a portable crib just to start. Don't forget diapers and wipes. Then add the little sleep you get normally when spending time with family on top of the little sleep you get with a new baby. And that's the whirlwind that we've just emerged from. Don't get me wrong, we had a great Christmas with family, but we are also really glad to be home!

So this is what we did:

First we went to Dublin (California) to visit some friends (the Rosendales) who had just moved down to the East Bay. Then we spent Christmas Eve with the Yee family. My siblings and I (and Ian) made Christmas dinner for the family. This was a very large dinner (soup, salad, lamb, roast beef and roasted vegetables, scallops, shrimp, and green bean casserole) which then was finished off with several dessert options (mango pudding, angel food cake and strawberries, and low fat cheesecake). At the end of dinner, we cleaned up and took some family pictures. E fell asleep by this point (go figure, asleep for the family pictures)... so we tried to put her down to sleep. Of course, when it was time to actually lay her into the portable crib, she awoke. But all in all, we got a decent amount of sleep. It probably helped that she was awake most of the day and ready to get some ZZZs by the end of it.

Then on Christmas morning, we rounded up the family (this takes a while with the many siblings, grandparents and parents)... had some breakfast and opened some presents. We took some more pictures, especially of E in her cute Christmas outfit (to be posted). Then we packed up and headed over to Stockton to see the Spencer-Bossert-Thompson Clan. In my rush to pack up though, I somehow forgot to give my sister Gigi her Christmas present... oops!

Then around noon we got to Stockton. Only G&G, Uncle Rob, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Sandy were there (oh, and Colleen - who lives there). I think we just sat around waiting for others to show up. We had an inkling that most people would be there late, but I guess we didnt' figure it would be 4pm before everyone came on over. So much for rushing over to Stockton on Christmas morning. When we finally rounded up the Spencer-Bossert-Thompson family... we opened presents (I, while trying to feed E , which meant Ian opened most of the presents). It was a very nice, with a few surprises - including a new color printer from Yvonne (aka "Mom") and Terry. E by far got the most presents out of anyone - toys, stuffed animals, a growing collection of books, hair clips, socks, a stocking of her own, money, clothes... and more. And of course before, during and after all of this, we ate ... and ate ... and ate. Ok, I snacked most of the day and still had breakfast, lunch and dinner... but I need the calories, right?

The rest of the day is a blur... actually the rest of the extended weekend was a blur. I think there was more eating, some visiting with Ian's mom at her work (to show off E ) the day after Christmas, some game playing, some rice crispy treat making, some TV watching and of course, taking care of E . Oh, of which (E I mean) I think has caught some of the illnesses floating around the two families this last weekend... not good :( !

So that was E's first Christmas... a bit crazy, a bit "pulled" (by family, circumstances and time constraints) and very full! Maybe the first year is always the craziest... we're still figuring things out, our families our wanting to spend as much time with E )and us) and we're still learning how to care for our baby girl. By the way, this was subsequently also E's first nights away from home, a big step for us all!!

Next year... I think it might be better to plan to do some family traditions that focus more on the real reason for Christmas... have some time just the three of us (maybe before the traveling)... and give more meaning to Christmas than just family, food and fun (oh, and presents) - not that those things are bad in any way. In fact ,we are quite blessed by it all. But I don't want this time of the year to be a whirlwind that we're glad to be out of.

A True PhD Candidate

That's what Ian is as of Friday, December 15th. I've been trying (*cough* nagging *cough*) to get him to blog about it... but alas, he has not. It couldn't be that he's too busy helping me take care of E (naw... really) or that he wanted to wind down a bit after the school term ended (who would have thunk it?). So, taking matters into my own hands (which I often do, hehehe), I'm letting everyone know Ian passed his oral exam and now is an official PhD Candidate. He also officially can work on his dissertation, even though in reality he has been working on it for a year already. Ok, maybe this very short announciary (made up my own word!) post will get Ian to post himself or at least comment on how the exam actually went, what he is looking forward to or how he feels about being a True PhD Candidate.

Just a few pictures

E resting on her boppy... ain't she cute?!?

E making some cute faces. See, she is our daughter ... silly as can be!

What A Difference Six Weeks Make

E has crossed over the six week mark... and OH, What A Difference!!

She is less fussy and less gassy. This change has been especially evident in the lack of bouncing and back-aching aerobics we have to do to either calm her or put her to sleep.

She is also more vocal in a non-crying way, smiles when awake and is generally alert and awake more. This has been fun in just the last couple days as we can "play" with her more and see her respond to us.

She also spits up less. Or maybe it just seems that way because it's not as projectile or chunky - I know, gross - but really this goes hand in hand with her bring less gassy. The added benefit is less mess and stink... and generally a much happier (and dryer) baby girl.

She sleeps for longer stretches of time at night. Yeah for sleep!! Of course, it's not consistent yet, so I shouldn't jinx it by saying she's doing great at sleeping at night.

And she eats less frequently (about every 2 and a halfish hours now) , which means I have more flexibility to get out and do stuff (or stay in and do stuff). Makes me almost want to express pump some breastmilk so that Ian and I can leave her with a sitter and go see a movie in the theatres. (hmmm.. I wonder if theatres charge for babies...) Maybe we'll explore that option over Christmas when we're with our families. I'm not quite comfortable with leaving miss E for too long with a sitter, just yet. Oh and we're not decided about giving her a bottle yet, either... just because she had some bad "eating" habits in the beginning and having had to give her a bottle to help her get rid of her jaundice made breastfeeding a bit more challenging - not to mention more painful to start of. So, we're not too eager to give her any bottles, just yet.