Back in Grantham

This may have been my longest blog slacking yet! So much has happened and is still happening that finding time to blog is not up there on the list of things to do. But tonight, Emma is sleeping, Aaron is away at a game, and I'm tired of doing homework...so here's the update...

We got up here about 2 months ago and it's going pretty well. We first moved into a MANSION a few miles away temporarily until we found a more permanent place. I can't describe the place so I'll post pics instead.

After about a month there we moved to a rental house right behind the soccer fields off campus. Can't beat the location! Aaron walks to work every day, I can walk over to games (or go home at halftime if its too cold!), and we barely have to use our cars. Talk about spoiled! On the other hand...we're sharing it. With our house still not sold we needed something CHEAP so we're splitting the house with someone else...a new bible professor at Messiah. She's really nice and easy to live with so its all good and fine. Of course, it'll be nice to have a place to ourselves sometime soon (hopefully!) but you do what you have to for a while.

Aaron's enjoying his time at Messiah. This is the last week of regular season and the team's doing well. He's also obviously gotten to spend time with Brett which has been great. His other roles have taken a back seat during the season which has been nice so he hasn't really felt overwhelmed. We also get to see so many of our old college friends being back here with the team!

My roomie still lives nearby so thats been nice for me to have someone to hang out with. Nevermind the fact that we now live close enough to see our families regularly. Can't beat it. The Faro's have come down for quite a few games already so we see them. We went up to Amy's baby shower last weekend, went to go see Ben's homecoming, my fam has come once and is coming again in a few weeks. Not much more you can ask for, especially when there's a little one involved. And we're even close enough that I get to meet up with Jillian!

With all those positive things...we still miss the people in Charlotte and have some loose ends there. Our house still being "our house" is a problem obviously because we can't really settle here until we are completely out of there. Makes things tough for now. But in God's timing something will happen...I just wish His timing were mine! But now at least we have a place to stay when we can go back and visit those people we miss!

Emma's handling all the transition pretty well. I would classify her as curious and busy these days. She's recently gotten two teeth, learned how to roll both ways, and can pull herself up on things. She still hates to be on her stomach so crawling is nonexistent. She's managed to bypass crawling by log rolling around the room to reach what she wants. Creative, I know. I'm fairly nervous about keeping up with her when she learns how to put all this movement together. I think I'm gonna have my hands full! She's so much happier now than she was in the beginning. We have tons of fun playing and going for walks...just love to see that little booger smile and hear that chuckle.

So I'm sure I missed tons of detail but thats all I got for now. Back to the books for me. Two months till I'm done with school and can get a little of my life back! Can't wait.

giggles!

this little giggle-fest occurred while we were packing up the house to move to PA. another post about the past few weeks will be coming soon. for now, enjoy the comic relief :-)

Roll It!

Well, Emma finally rolled over. It took four months to get to the point where she could be on her stomach without crying long enough to even try it!

Three in Six

By the time Emma is six months old she will have lived in three different states. That’s quite the stat for such a little girl. She was born in NC obviously, we’re currently spending three months living in Chicago for the summer, and about two weeks after we get back we’re moving to Pennsylvania. Sheesh! I’m trying not to think of all the details and transitions because I basically get an anxiety attack when I think about everything that’s been going on.

The past few months have been very difficult for us. We’ve been in the midst of some big decisions and weighing the sides has been rough. But we’ve finally arrived at a decision and Aaron took the assistant coaching/assistant athletic director position back at Messiah. Parts of this decision are pretty exciting because we’ll be living near some close friends again and Aaron will get to be a part of Messiah soccer again from a different vantage point. He’s pretty excited to do what he’s been doing the past six years in a smaller, more personal environment. He’s also gonna get to be on the sidelines for Brett’s senior year which is pretty stinking awesome. It also moves us closer to be able to see Ben play more as well. He’s really missed so much of their soccer careers living so far away and that’s always made him crazy. Plus, we’ll be so much closer to both our families which will be great for us and Emma! AND Emma’s going to have a cousin soon so we’ll be closer to the little Keller Baby!!!! I’m going to be an aunt and that’s pretty sweet J

While we’re excited about all of that, Charlotte has become home in the past six years and leaving really stinks. We’ve made some really close friends over the years and they’ve kind of become our family away from our families. The thought of leaving so many of those people kind of makes me sick to my stomach. But we know that those friendships run deeper than location and we’ll just have to be intentional about staying involved in each other’s lives from a greater distance. I guess every decision has some bittersweet moments.

The little lady in our lives is doing pretty well. We’re starting to have more days when she doesn’t cry all day long. So that’s nice. I think maybe she’s been overtired because she hadn’t slept much during the day. But I’ve been putting her down in her crib these days and she sleeps longer which makes for more happy moments when she’s awake. Thank goodness. Her little personality is coming out more and more which is so much fun to watch! She smiles so much more and almost plays little games with you. I think we may have a little character on our hands.

Things up here in Chicago are going pretty well. It’s quite different than last year. With the addition of Emma my role is now very different and it’s been hard to adjust to that. I spend more time at home and have to miss so much of the down time that leads to the informal ministry moments. But my first ministry is to my daughter and she seems better off with a quieter environment. So, home we stay. Thankfully God’s provided some opportunities for me to minister to the girls in different ways which has been nice. But the group is great for the most part and some really powerful ministry has been going on. It’s hard to believe there’s just a little over a month left.

Some prayer requests if you remember…
That God sends whatever is needed to continue this Chicago ministry
That our house sells (we’re actually putting it on the market before we get home)
That we can find a house near Messiah that fits our needs as well as our budget
That we will be able to juggle all the details of this transition in the midst of all our responsibilities

Chi-Town

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted any sort of update. Things in our world have been a bit crazy. We’re now up in Chicago and have been for a few weeks now. We have been abundantly blessed to have our own housing this year instead of doing the host family thing and moving to a new place every week. Not conducive to the motherhood lifestyle. So our little house here was abandoned for a year or so and the people that own it basically said we can live in it for nothing all summer. WONDERFUL!!! So we’ve already had guests which makes it even nicer to have your own space. The Faro’s came up for a long weekend and basically to see Emma. My parents just left. They came to keep me company while Aaron’s been in Brazil and again, basically to see Emma. And today, Lani comes for the weekend. It’s been really nice to have company while Aaron’s gone.

I’ve gotten two e-mails from Aaron so far and it sounds like things are going great down there. He’s loving the group of players he has and says the ministry has been good. We’re hoping to hear more now that they’ve moved from the country back into the city. One week left to go until I get my husband back! The group was here for about 4 days before they all left and it seems like it is going to be a great group. Part of me wishes I could’ve gone with them but I’m looking forward to getting back into when they get back.

Emma update…she is getting more and more of a personality every day. And what a personality it is! At 11 and a half weeks she’s smiling more now which is always a treat. She also has become more and more verbal. She will make all kinds of sounds back at you when you talk to her like she is really answering you. It makes for such good conversation J. Maybe she’ll be like her dad and have the vocabulary of a 20 year old when she’s 3! As fun as that all is, she remains a bit on the fussy side. We are learning that she has opinions already (her mother’s daughter!). She definitely knows what she wants and doesn’t want. So far she wants to be held ALWAYS. There’s no awake time when I can put her down and she’ll be calm. She needs to be held, and many times, you need to stand up while you’re holding her. She also prefers to be outside (her father’s daughter!). Makes rainy days even more depressing than they were before! She wants to be held facing out so she can look around and see everything going on. She also does better when we’re out and about than when she’s home (also like her mother). Napping… where are these babies that take 2 and 3 hour naps???? We get about 30 minutes at home…tops. Do the math…30 minute nap, 30 minutes to eat, and a lot of time to walk around and try to keep her from crying! But we keep getting to know each other and hopefully I get better and better at figuring her out!

There’s been so much going on in our lives the past few weeks I’m sure I’m leaving things out but its hard to remember all that goes on these days! I’ll be sure to update again about Aaron’s trip when he gets back as well as other life updates!

Second Wave - The Faro's

"Oh, I'm so tired from all my guests! Being a baby is hard work" Tough life.

Emma is six weeks old now and all the visitation is now over. We probably had a total of 10 days in the past six weeks when we didn't have family here to meet Emma. They were all a great help and it was wonderful to spend time with everyone. And now its time to learn how every day life is going to feel! The first Faro to meet Emma was Aaron's Dad. He was flying through for a conference and decided to make it a long layover. His visit was fast but still good. He walked in to Emma in a bit of a fit but at least he got to see her true colors :-)

The day after he left, Aaron's mom came for a few days. She helped us road trip down to FL for Aaron's triathlon. Emma was a great traveler and barely cried on the long drive down and back. We stayed over with the Faraci's and had good times with them too. Aaron's race ended up to be a bit of a bummer. The water was really rough so they cancelled the swim portion and just had them bike and run. Unfortunately for Aaron, the swim is what gives him an advantage so he was not happy. He still did well but it was a long trip for only part of a race! So I walked around florida with Emma is the Bjorn, asnwering lots of questions from people about how old she was. She's quite the crowd pleaser! And Emma got to see her dad's first race.

When we got back we traded at the airport for Amy. She was the last Faro to come. She spent a few days and was a huge help. She was great with Emma and gave me a chance to get some things done and take my last final for school. She also picked up on some tricks...like the fact that Emma stops crying if you take her outside. Really quite incredible...it works every time. Amy also threw out some great quotes. One of which has been repeated numerous times since she's left. In response to Emma whining..."Don't even. I will Bjorn your butt so fast..." Hilarious. Amy also brought a sweet present for Emma's room that I am super pumped about! Love them!

lovingly nicknamed "crankface" by amy :-)

Looking back on the pictures of the Faro's visits there appears to be a common theme (and Amy's only not pictured because my camera was MIA at the time)

And look how cute I am at six weeks!!!

Next on the agenda...pack up and leave for Chicago in less than two weeks. Just when life might get normal we go and change it up again!

First Wave

Emma is now 3 and a half weeks old...it's hard to believe we've had her that long! I haven't written for a while purposely for a few reasons. First, most days I literally didn't have a spare moment to sit down and do anything else other than try to get her to stop crying. Second, because of the first reason, I didn't have much good to say and thats not fun to read so I opted not to write anything. Thankfully, things have gotten a little easier some days. Like right now for example, she's actually sleeping....glorious!

So the first wave of visitors has come and gone. My parents came down for about a week right when she was born, went home for a few days and then came back with Jen! They had actually planned on being here last week because it was their spring break from school. They were a huge help...I didn't cook a meal, pick up a dish, do my own laundry, or clean any part of my house at all because they were doing it all. What a blessing!!! Sadly, I needed to use that time to do my homework instead of sleep but you gotta get it done sometime! Most of the time they just fought over who got to hold her. They're a little bit enthralled with her :-)

Mid-week my grandparents drove up from florida and stayed through Easter. It was so good to see them and I'm really glad they got to spend time with Emma when she was so small. They too wanted to hold her all the time. Well, at first grandpa was scared to hurt her so he just hovered and stared but once he held her he got over it. He was hilarious...anytime she cried he wanted to cry too and couldn't stop thinking of the things that we might need to fix so she wasn't upset. Adorable. So poor Aaron...with all these people fighting for her he never got much time to hold her himself! He's making up for it now :-)

We had a good time all week and there was no shortage of picture taking of course. I'll just choose a few to put on here. We actually had a friend come over that has gotten into the photography business to do a little photo shoot. Emma was a mess!!!! Seriously, screamed bloody murder the ENITRE TIME. I think maybe she didn't like only being in her diaper...maybe she was cold or something. So every picture is of her screaming. Good thing Jen was the back-up photographer all week cause she got some great pictures.

my easter outfit :-)

4 generations!

The next wave of visitors is the Faro side of the family and we're excited for them to come! They come down in waves as well...first Dad, then Mom, and finally Amy. Not sure when the uncles will get to meet her but hopefully it'll be soon! We've tried to use the web cam to have some quality time a bunch but I must admit it can be a little awkward...Emma mostly just sits there and doesn't do anything so you try to make conversation while you just stare at her doing nothing. Better than nothing I guess! While Grandma Faro is here we're actually road tripping down to Florida for a triathlon for Aaron. This may be the stupidest thing I've ever agreed to because I have no idea how traveling 9+ hours is going to go. I'm really glad Grandma will be there to help! Maybe it'll confirm whether I should fly to Chicago or drive up with Aaron...we can look at it as a test run.

So two nights ago we gave Emma her first bath. Her cord stump finally feel off so now we're allowed to put her in water. We were told that babies hate the bath at first so we were expecting a scene. So she's already been screaming for quite a while before we were planning on giving her the bath so we almost didn't do it because we didn't want the screaming to last longer than it had to...but we did it anyway. And as soon as she went in the water she stopped screaming!!! She just sat in there and looked at at us...content as ever. Apparently, Emma likes the water. I guess with two lifeguards/swimmers as parents it was likely. Then she proceeded to sleep for 6 hours after that...what a night! I believe a nightly bath will be part of the normal routine.

So I'll finish this off with my anesthesiologist story for those that asked. Let me just put my disclaimer in here saying that I'm really glad the nasty things I said we at least not directed at my husband. I've heard women say some rough things during labor but my nastiness was directed at someone that really asked for it and deserved it :-) Lets paint the picture...I'm at 24 hours of labor at this point and I've finally decided that I can't take it anymore...I need drugs. You would think that someone that administers epidurals for a living might know what state the patient is in...utter exhaustion and rediculous pain. So she comes in and rambles off her consent paragraph like I'm bothering her by asking for the needle. She's completely monotone and annoyed. Strike One. So I give consent and agree to all the risks or whatever and she gives me the epidural and then I lay back down. Now, it hasn't kicked in yet cause its been about 30 seconds and I have another contraction during which my hands and face go numb and start tingling. And in my stupor state I'm wondering why the epidural is numbing the wrong half of my body. So I'm trying to ask why I'm going numb in the middle of this stupid contraction. To which she sarcastically laughs in my face!!!! Strke Two! Thankfully I knew I wasn't overreacting because Aaron actually turned around and said, "Actually, I don't think its funny". Thats how I knew I wasn't imagining this whole story...he never confronts people like that. Then she sarcastically adds, "maybe if you'd stop hyperventilating..." As if I should be in complete control of myself and my breathing at this point. She basically acted and spoke like I was rediculous for being in so much pain and not knowing what was going on. Strike Three! So, much to my dismay, I get really upset and now add crying to everything thats already going on. And I look at Aaron and say "Get her out of here!" So the nurse tries to get her out and when I think she's gone I say "She's lucky she's not here cause I would have kicked her in the face if I could" Then we find out that she's still there, she's just standing in the doorway. Oops. Aaron said she got a sly little grin when I said that which only makes me want to do it more. Oh well. So thats my story and as much as I don't ever want to be THAT person, I'm writing a letter about her to her practice. Why? Because she's an idiot and they should know.

Welcome Emma Jennifer Faro!

Emma decided to grace us with her presence on March 23rd at 7:39am. Her due date was the 31st so she came a little over a week early. I'm not really sure how much of the labor and delivery details to share because I'm sure some readers don't want that kind of information. So for those that want more details feel free to ask and for those that think I already shared too much...sorry.

On saturday, we had a bunch of our friends over and we watched some basketball. That whole day I thought I was feeling some contractions but wasn't quite sure. Saturday night at about 1am I found out that I was having them for sure. I woke up with some serious back pain and thought I might be in labor. So Aaron and I were up most of Saturday night into Sunday morning. We called the midwife and she told us to call her back when the contractions were closer and more regular...that never actually happened. We timed them all day Sunday and they got closer and more intense but not very regular. Finally at about dinner time we called the midwife again. She told us to come in basically because she thought its what I wanted, not because she thought it was really time.

So we get to the hospital around 7:30pm on Sunday. At this point, we're at over 18 hours of labor. I wondered if they were going to send me home cause I wasn't ready but they said they thought it was real labor and told me we'd stay. They offered, and even pushed, the epidural but I told them I wanted to try and go without it. Stupid. After 6 more hours of labor (24 hours total so far) she told me I was still only 3 or 4 centimeters so I got the epidural. I REALLY should've gotten it earlier. From then on I slept off and on until 7am when they said it was almost time to push. There's a good story about my anesthesiologist but this is already long so that will have to wait...but it involves me telling her I was gonna kick her in the face...so if that interests you feel free to inquire further. :-)

The pushing part was really fast for me. I only pushed five times and she came right out. The midwife almost didn't make it into the room in time to catch her. It was really a surreal moment. They placed Emma right up on me and told me it was a girl. I was actually surprised since the whole time I thought I was gonna have a boy. Aaron got to cut the cord and went with the nurse when she cleaned her up and measured her and all that jazz. It was so sweet to watch Aaron's reaction and see him hold her for the first time. Special moments with our daughter :-)

We had lots of visitors in the hospital those two days and we've been home now about a week. Life sure is different. I do nothing I used to do, and I spend my whole day doing things I don't really know anything about. It's definitely hard. Everyone tells me the first few weeks are hard and it gets easier. Thats good cause I probably can't keep this up forever. As hard as they've been, they've been awesome too. Emma makes the cutest faces and sounds and sleeping with her laying on your chest is the best thing in the world.

I'm sure there will be more updates now that Emma is here. Although, I thought I was too busy to write earlier...now I really AM too busy to do anything so we'll see :-)

SURPRISE!!!!

My birthday weekend held quite a few surprises. All I knew was that a few friends were going to come over friday night to hang out on my birthday. Allison and Mike were going to be up from Atlanta because the boys were competing in a duathlon on saturday. So I won't go into details because this is the unfortunate part of the weekend...but Friday I ended up feeling rather sick and ended up at the doctor to make sure the baby was still ok. Quite the scary day...but all is well! So I spent most of Friday laying around trying not to be in pain so I was not ready for the company to get here, hadn't gone shopping to feed anybody, didn't clean the house...nothing. I hate that. But Mike and Allison were understanding and the company ended up bringing over whatever food we ate that night which was nice (not that I got to eat any of it). So anyway, sometime during the night Aaron gets a text message. I pick up his phone and see that it was from Jillian...hmm. So I'm suspicious of course. And then, not an hour later...she walks through my front door to join the birtday party! Or so I thought :-) But we got to meet Ian and have some time to just hang out that night which was great! Aaron and I got a little practice with the little guy too :-)

Saturday the boys went and did the race (and did well of course, despite the cold rain!) The girls had a lazy morning and planned on going out to lunch after the guys got home. So we got dressed and started to leave for lunch. We had to drop off Lauren's coat at her house cause she left it the night before (mm, hmm). So I run up to the door (yes, its still raining) and as I knock on the door, I see balloons in the window and now I understand what's going on. I open the door to a house full of people for my surprise baby shower!!! Fun stuff. Lauren, Lani, Melissa, and Betty put together a surprise shower for me and had been scheming together for a long time! The house looked great, there were tons of people there, and I had a great time! I opened wonderful gifts (some of which were home-made masterpieces!), and basically got spoiled. It was so fun to have all the Charlotte friends as well as Jillian and Allison in town to join the festivities. Talk about feeling special :-)

Sunday, I actually had another shower. Aaron's Grace soccer moms put one together for me too. I was a little nervous because I don't really know most of them but it was also a great time. They told stories and we ate good food, and once again, I got spoiled. It was so thoughtful of them to do that for me and it basically shows how much Aaron means to them and their boys.

And then, the following Sunday the YMCA threw me another shower! Three showers in two weekends...what a celebration! Now, we are really set to go and have everything we need and much more for this baby to come. Now, it just needs to get here :-)

Had my 37-week appointment today and things are moving right along. I'm right we're I'm supposed to be I guess and the baby's moving down and "dropping" as they say. The next post will probably be a birth announcement unless something rediculous happens that I need to share!

Winter Happenings...

this is going to be a bunch of random updates from the last two months or so that just never got mentioned. first story on the agenda...aaron has entered a few swim meets this winter. he joined masters meets with a few friends (mainly lani) and had two meets. as if competing in triathlons weren't enough, during the slow season for those, he still needs to compete so swim meets were the fill-in. he's done pretty well and seems to enjoy them so thats good. he also mentioned that he doesn't get nearly as nervous as he used to so the high school swim meet anxiety attacks are possibly a thing of the past :-). the first meet was pretty small and he did well, winning a few heats and races. the second meet was a lot of bigger and more competitive but he still did pretty well. this second meet was LONG though. we spent two solid days there. my poor parents were such troopers. they were in town that weekend visiting and spent the whole thing at a hot humid pool. they loved getting to se him compete of course, just like i do, but there's so much down time between his events it requires a lot of sitting around. so theres a few pics below of the meet and aaron swimming. hopefully the video will work too...the video is to serve as motivation for my mother-in-law to embrace the fact that she could indeed enter one of these meets...she would be WAY ahead of the game compared to the swimmer in the video...my narration of it also mentions that this lady doesn't help the time factor connected to this meet!

random preggo story for ya...i have a new hero and she is a manager at the local old navy. so i have one pair of maternity jeans that i basically wear every time i need to wear clothes that aren't workout related. (no, mom, i don't need more clothes....i just really like these jeans). its hard for me to find pants because most stores don't sell long lengths but old navy has a few and this one has worked out perfectly. so i notice that the stitching on the beloved stretch panel are coming out and then i notice that there's actually a hole in the panel too! scary because these are literally are my only pair of pants...can't have a pregnant lady with no pants! so i don't have the receipt, the tags are obviously off, etc. i go to see if i can just swap them out for another pair but they don't have any more left. so i go to the counter and ask if another store has them anywhere. the only other store that carries maternity is about 45 minutes away...boo. so my new hero asks me if i'm willing to drive there. now, granted, i would have because thats how much i needed this one pair of pants...obviouosly though, i didn't want to make the drive. so i told her that. she just nods and then picks up the phone. in the interest of shortening the story i'm just gonna tell you the result. she took back the pair i had for full price even though they were worn and i had no receipt. she then calls the old navy shipping place with the style number and has them send me a new pair to my house! and she didn't even charge me shipping or anything! so you may think that she'd been pregnant and understood the importance of a pregnant girls only pair of pants...nope, she was really young so she was just THAT helpful. so, bottom line, i am now a loyal old navy shopper! and you should be too!

other news...we've made some household updates. last week my parents were here so the new floor in the living room and entryway finally went in! it was a group effort at times including aaron, my dad, bobby, mitch and his dad, and jory (who was in town for a class all week). my dad worked so stinking hard to get it done for us and it looks great! i love it! the carpet was so old it made the house look old and dirty...now the house looks so much newer! i have already noticed however, you see everything on a wood floor. more cleaning necessary. oh well. i don't have a picture because we just finished repainting the molding and stuff so we're just now putting the room back together. i'll post some pics in the next few days. the other household change is the baby's room. the painting is done, the crib and dresser are in place, the glider chair is ordered and most of the clothes are washed and put away! getting closer and closer to being ready. again, i'll post a picture when its more put together. next on the baby agenda is getting the car seat and stroller out of the boxes and set up as well as packing the hospital bag. i have a little over 4 weeks left so i guess it can happen at any time now. what a scary thought!

we also just came home from the MAI staff retreat. it was a great time of connecting with people from the other offices. we don't get to do that often. it also served as a reunion for the chicago staff which was fun. we got a chance to plan a little in person, as well as meet the new couple that will be there with us this summer. they seem great and i'm really excited about them joining us!

well i guess thats all for now. aaron's got a duathlon this weekend and friends from atlanta are coming up to do it with him so we'll have company again this weekend. after that i think things will slow down a little...maybe. i always think that and then it doesn't quite happen that way :-)

Merry Belated Christmas

I know its a little foolish that I'm blogging about Christmas in the month of February but this just goes to show you how far behind I am on life in general. Christmas for us was over two weeks of fun family times. We started the trip by stopping in Erie to meet up with some Academy kids from the summer. We all crashed at one girl's house for some winter fun. We only spent one night there but we got the chance to catch up, do some dangerous sledding, and relive some summer times. There were quite a few of us there and it was wonderful to see everyone and get excited for those coming back again next summer.

After our stayover we made the rest of the trip up to the Faro house. It was pretty snowy there. Amy and Mama Faro had planned a shower for me but the snow ended up keeping some people away. Who'd have thought??? A blizzard in Rochester! It was still a great shower. Sadly, the only pictures we have are of me opening presents. We didn't catch the cake before it got cut and we didn't get one of us together at all. Big oversight. I was largely blessed with sage advice, baby gifts, and good food. What pregnant lady doesn't appreciate good food?!? :-) The only drawback was some info that came out during the shower games (thanks Amy). First, we established that as a child I had no ambitions and second, we all got a chance to guess how large around I was. Hmm, good times. On a higher note, the games did point out that Aaron and I were both pretty amiable babies so I'm hoping that is genetic!

The rest of the week was similar to other Faro visits...games, movies, and laughs! Christmas took a different twist this year when the "oldest" (Aaron) and "bossy" (Amy) siblings planned our gift giving for us. We had a hoodie exchange where we each drew a name. We had a DVD exchange in which Dad concocted a sweet game using quarters, states, capitals, and stealing, and finally we each gave gag gifts based on some funny memory or inside jokes. There is no shortage of jokes between the siblings in that family so the gag gifts produced some good times! It took us forever to finish opening presents!

After the Faro Christmas, we drove down to my side of the family for the O'Flaherty Christmas. We opened our presents when we got there (web cams seemed to be a good idea for all) and had a good relaxing time there. I slept in, read a lot, caught up with some old friends, and opened lots more presents! Mom got the ball rolling with Christmas presents for the baby already even though it's not out yet to open them! The baby even got a stocking! Sneaky tricks. New Years Eve really showed our age...we watched a few movies, ate some food, played some games, and practically fell asleep before the ball dropped. Right before we made the trip home, I had another baby shower. Mom and Jen put a lot of work into it and it was a great time. I was spoiled yet again! We played some more games, ate some more food (which included a huge fruit salad in the shape of a carriage), and of course, opened some more presents. I made out like a bandit. Between Christmas presents and both showers we actually had to switch cars with my parents to get everything home. The boys actually loaded all the stuff into the car at the shower and we started the drive right from there! We couldn't see out of any of the car windows! Not safe but we made it.

Well, there's much more to blog about since Christmas but I'm gonna space them out. We've encountered many house changes, had a few house guests, and I've experienced many things to rant about...it's all still to come :-)