Christmas 2010

It's been hard to find the time to blog lately--for a very good reason! Brian's been home, I don't like to sit around and blog when he's home, and--besides--things have been busy busy busy! 

I need to write about Christmas now, however, so Everett's 8 Month Blog doesn't end up being the longest blog in the history of blogging.

So let's talk about Christmas! 

It was baby's first Christmas, so it was obviously much more exciting than any Christmas in our recent past. 

The holiday came at a good time for Everett developmentally because he's sitting on his own, totally animated and interactive, but not really crawling. He can scoot like a champ, and get to anything he wants, but just not very fast. No risk of pulling down the Christmas tree. 

We were all very excited that Everett's Auntie Katie would be meeting him for the first time!! 

She made it from Chicago (through Phoenix) without too many problems, and Gion and Phil picked her up in San Jose on Tuesday the 21st and drove her back down.

We weren't worried about how Everett would take to Katie, he's liked everyone he's met. But he LOVED Katie. Looks like Daddy but a lady with long hair like Mommy, perfect!! 

The Cisneroses have a tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve, which made it easy to know how to organize our holiday. Christmas Eve with the Cisneroses and Christmas morning/afternoon with my parents. 

After a Greek-inspired Christmas Eve meal of spanakopita, chicken souvlaki, dolmas, hummus, and tzatziki (yum!), we settled down in the living room to open our presents! 

It was a really great haul for everyone but of course, Everett was the clear frontrunner. Lots of toys, books, shirts, ornaments, but his big present at the Cisneros house was his "Santa Present" from his grandparents: an all terrain Radio Flyer wagon!! 

Lucky kid.

The next day was Christmas with the Asdels. We went over for a lovely bunch with my parents George and Kathie and guests from Southern California, my cousin Jason, his mother Dixie, and her mother Gertrude. My parents usually go down south for the holidays, but this year they stayed in Atascadero in order to celebrate Everett's first Christmas. We were very happy about that.

Once again, Everett made out like a bandit. Brian and I didn't feel bad at all not getting him any gifts. His grandparents, cousin, and aunts made up for that!

Olin piggy in honor of my dad's brother Olin (LOVE this photo!)

Later that evening, the Asdel clan were guests at the Cisneros house for a delicious Christmas dinner of Sri Lankan-style Chicken and curried lentils (yum again!).

We had a fun time visiting as a group. We're so lucky to have families that get along well with each other. 

Beyond the holidays, we've been enjoying other activities during Brian's vacation. Disc golf, poker, a visit from Laurel, much more visits with Sam than usual, the Hunter kids gave Everett presents--and we hung out with their parents. We acknowledged (briefly) that we had celebrated our marriage exactly a year ago. I got together with our friend Rachel for some post-Christmas holiday-supply shopping. We visited the Cisneros great-grands (I'll write more about that visit later). We were visited by our friends Darby and Katherine on their way back to the bay area, and we're planning to have breakfast with Kamryn tomorrow. But mostly we've been relaxing and playing with our wonderful baby. 

A few developmental notes about the boy: how can I resist? 

As I said before, he's been sitting really well, getting better and better with his balance. He's gone from a crawling position to a sitting position once or twice on his own, so we know he's capable. He's just not all that motivated to bring himself up to sit.

He's been making some funny faces and noises lately, just exploring the possibilities of his mouth. He's been making the face like he would to blow a raspberry, but just puffing up his cheeks and sometimes making a "buuh" or "muuh" noise. He's also been doing this clicking-rattling-squeeking thing with his tongue/mouth (fart sound?). It's hard to describe and no one else can replicate it. 

He as seven teeth. All four on the top (the two front ones are just poking through) and three on bottom.

He's been waving. Not consistently, but every once in a while, he'll wave at someone, and it seems very deliberate.

He has such a good disposition. We know we're very lucky.

It's been a fun season!

It was hard to say good-bye to Katie. Living in Chicago, we don't get to see her very often. And Everett took a real shine to her. But we're already planning a visit, and hopefully he can see his favorite (if only) aunt soon!