Christmas Part 2

Christmas Eve lunch was spent at my parent's house and was followed by the candlelight service and dinner at my Grandfather's home. We had so much fun as we always do with all of David's "people." He is pretty much the center of the world on both sides of our family and always looks forward to seeing his many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Afterwards, we went home and spent the rest of the night enjoying our time just the four of us. We read the Christmas story from David's children's bible, put out milk and cookies for Santa, and spent the remainder of the night getting his gifts set out for Christmas morning. Santa brought David a kitchen and some fun knick knacks in his stocking. Evie got her nursery :) and also technically received the kitchen as well, though David is not aware of that right now. If you don't already know, Grant is a HUGE cook and was extremely excited to be able to share this hobby with David. After David played with his gifts for a bit, we headed to Grant's parent's house for brunch and more gifts for David. Then spent the afternoon at Grant's grandparent's house enjoying extended family and even more gifts for David :). If this child wasn't already equipped with every musical instrument on the planet---he definitely is now. He got a microphone, electronic drumsticks, a piano, small drum set, recorder, and an accordian. Now add these to our ever growing collection which consists of: two harmonicas, a flute, saxophone, cymbals, the triangle, 4 maracas, 2 drums, a few noisemakers, bells, keyboard, and who knows what else. I should start hosting Kindermusik classes at our home to make extra money :). Lets just hope his musical interest does not wane in the next few weeks because I have no idea what we would do with so many instruments. He really is a well rounded kid and enjoys lots of things like cars, trucks, bikes, airplanes, football, baseball, etc---but his musical interest is really quite extreme. After opening a box of Auburn football players, he did not understand why the band members were not included. In his little mind, they come hand in hand. Anyways--we had a great time enjoying the blessing of family and celebrating the gift of Christ. Evie has been a really really content baby and that made it even easier to soak up Christmas so soon after her birth. Other than some weight issues, she has done SO well these first four weeks. She has started waking during the night more which is good for her weight gain considering she used to sleep 7 hours at a time and was probably too young to be doing so. I have loved having a newborn in my arms day after day---you forget what special experience it is. It is all I can do to put her down during David's nap so I can get some chores done. I really am trying to enjoy this time even though it is a bit chaotic and get to know her even though it feels like there isn't all that much to know right now outside of feeding and sleep. I feel like I should record a few things to remember from her first days: She rarely cries--only if she has gas pains or is hungry. She does not like to be hot. She is really different from David--sleeps well on her back and does not need a pacifier unless she is hungry. We have seen quite a few unintentional smiles and it is so cute to get a glimpse of what she will look like as she gets older. As of now, we cannot tell who she looks like. She is still quite dark for our gene pool, but has my mouth, chin, hands, and feet. We have no idea whose eyes she has and I love how big they are. We are used to squinty eyes in our family. Lastly, she loves to be held, ride in the car, and sleep on her Daddy's chest. God is good.

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