Happy New Year

We leave today for Ohio to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with Grandpa & Grandma Bell and U. Bryce.  Along the way we are going to drop my parents off at the airport.  We're hoping the company in the backseat will make the car ride less painful for Addie.

We've had a great time with the Schweigert clan and are thankful they all came to cold wintery Grand Rapids from their southern homes.  Addie quickly adapted to the full household but took some time to warm up to her crazy U. Pete.  She spent a long time staring at him, trying to figure him out.  U. Pete won in the end.  As predicted, Addie's best Christmas gift was the torn wrapping paper from other people's gifts.

We wish everyone a safe and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas!  We are having a relaxing morning.  Dave is cooking up a tasty breakfast.  We are postponing opening presents and the Schweigert traditions until tomorrow morning when U. Pete and A. Gretchen will be here ( they are flying in tonight).

Dave and I are so thankful for Adelaide and the healthy little girl that she is.  Dave calls her our home entertainment system.  God is good!  Mary and Joseph's story has taken on a whole new dimension for me this season as I reflect on the changes in me since Addie was born and can relate at least a little bit better to the enormity of the situation for Mary.  Everything that went into Jesus' birth and all His visitors and the whole time Mary knowing or at least having an inclination of how Jesus' life would end.  It is humbling.  Again, God is so good!   In the midst of sleep deprivation and family craziness it's been a gift to experience the wonder that this season can bring.

 

Christmas preparation

We had a lot of fun cutting down our Christmas tree.  It was windy but in the 40's, which made it much nicer than 20 degrees and blowing snow.  Dave had a lot of fun driving the Subaru through the christmas tree lot and wants to go back again to "look" for another tree. :)

Rolling

Sitting pretty

Our big news of the week... Addie is sitting up by herself!!  We are still at the beginner stages, but she is definitely able to stabilize herself and explore the world from a whole new vantage point. 

 The other development isn't quite as much fun.  Addie has been learning new noises and then uses them constantly in her "talking".  The last one was "coughing".  Addie would add coughs into her regular babble.  The past few days she has been exploring the different noise that whining makes!  That's right, WHINING!  High pitched, incessant whining.  We are REALLY hoping that she moves on quickly to a new sound!  It is still fun to watch her discover all these things. :)

Nap Time

Ah yes, a tired little girl, rocked to sleep, transferred to her swing to continue her nap...  Oh well. Turns out, she was filling her diaper, 5 minutes later she was ready to go to sleep.  If only kids came with manuals, or came out talking, that would work too.  Perhaps that's the sweet justice of a first born being spoiled, something has to counter the learning curve that first time parents go through. 

The week after Thanksgiving was a busy week.  Grandma Bell was here to visit and we had a great time with her.  Then Aunt Jamie came into town for the month of December.  We set her up in a room and negotiated free babysitting for room and board, I think we're getting the better end of the deal.  It's been great having her around.  Not only has she doted on Addie but she's also volunteered

 to clean the house while I'm at work.  We had originally decided on a limit to her stay but now I'm thinking she can stay for as long as she wants!

This weekend is going to be pretty low key.  I think we'll get the house decorated and start preparing for Christmas.  We also might fit in a haircut for Addie, those bangs are becoming more bothersome to her.  I'll keep you posted as to how that goes.

Little "Punkin"

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we traveled to Western NY to visit with my Grandmother and extended family on my Dad's side.  We decided to travel through the night since other times had not worked with Addie.  She did great!  It was about a 7 hour trip and she slept the whole time, waking up to eat only once.  We had a lovely time visiting with the family and Addie got to meet the rest of Milly's gang. (Milly is my grandmother).  

Addie's great Uncle Paul grows giant pumpkins and he had one of his waiting for Addie when she got there.  The bottom of the pumpkin had a perfect little dimple to allow Addie to recline.  Our little pumpkin in the big pumpkin, or "punkin" as it is pronounced around there. :)