Maelin's First Christmas

How exciting Christmas is through the eyes of a child! Maelin has absolutely embraced every aspect of the holiday season, starting with her first visit with Santa! Our lower elementary school classes participated in the annual Breakfast with Santa event, and although i prepped Maelin for it ("Santa will give you a present, but you'll have to sit on his lap..."), i wasn't sure she'd be willing. Fortunately, many of her classmates forged bravely before her, so by the time it was her turn, she was fairly confident no harm would come to her!

Here's the annual Christmas picture that Jim dreads so much each year! I have to start talking about it days in advance, just to prepare him - LOL! I'm sure his reticence has nothing to do with the fact that i'm completely anal-retentive about the whole procedure, from clothes and hair to sitting positions, and that i make him suffer through about 20 shots (and sometimes multiple sittings) before i'm even remotely satisfied. It's for posterity, dammit!!

We're all excited that bowling season has started again, because that means Leslie spends weekends with us! Last week we had an extra-special treat: Leslie's sister Brandi (who is a student majoring in Deaf Education at California State University Northridge) came and stayed two nights with us! We also took advantage of the extra time together for Leslie to open her Christmas gifts, since she won't be with us during the two-week Christmas break.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!! Maelin woke up around 7:45am (yes, we're sure it will get much earlier in years to come...) and was thrilled to realize that it was finally time to open all those presents! She got a few small things (clothes, a snow suit, Magnetix, books), but her 'big' gift was a new kitchen set with dishes and food accessories!

After Christmas morning at our place, we got ready and headed to Grandpa Les and Grandma Pam's house for family Christmas with them. I love this shot of Maelin - i think it captures her excitement about the whole day! In the afternoon, we headed to Great Grandpa and Grandma Minkstein's house for a meal and a few more gifts. We also had Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa Gleeson's house (which was really nice) and Christmas at Great Grandma Schmidt's house last week...WHEW!

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all of our dear friends and family out there :)

Love,
Mama, Baba, Leslie and Maelin

Much to be Thankful for...

WE HAVE A NEW BABY!! My sister Shelli gave birth to baby #4 this morning at 3:56AM! Josie Kate weighed a very small 7lbs 2oz (her other three were 9lbs 8oz, 10lbs 2oz, and 8lbs 15oz, so this one seems so tiny!) and is 19 1/2 inches long. My mom and i (and Shelli's husband Darrin) were there to watch Josie make her way into the world. What a beautiful experience! I am soooo thankful for a healthy baby niece, an amazingly strong sister, and the opportunity to have seen the births of all four of my nieces/nephews!

We were thankful to wake up on Thanksgiving morning to the first snow of the year! A beautiful blanket of snow (just a couple of inches) on everything...and Maelin was sooooo excited! She and Baba spent some time outside making an awesome snowman...

...and sledding down the not-so-big hills around our house! We were definitely thankful for Baba's safe return home after seven days of hunting up north.

While Baba was up north, Aunt Maureen and Adam came to keep us company and stay overnight with us -- we had a blast! We did some shopping, went out to eat, played at home, and best of all, Mama and Aunt Maureen got to stay up until 2:00AM and talk til we couldn't keep our eyes open any more!

We've made a break-through in our nightly bed-time routine. While Baba was gone up north, Maelin and i started working on her going to bed by herself! We played up the fact that she looooves to do things by herself, and she went to bed that Sunday night while i worked on school work at the table. The first night took 45 minutes and she yelled for me three times (but didn't get out of bed), so i considered it a success for the first night! By the third night, she went to bed by herself without any calling out for me :) Buuuuut, then Baba came home the next night, and she thinks she's missing out on something at bed time! Every night she says, "Not MaeMae bed do-by-self!" She's actually done very well, but it's taking time. I'm thankful for the extra time to catch up on things around the house while she's falling asleep!

I'm also thankful for those of you who are still reading our blog :) Last Sunday marked 8 months since Adoption Day (4-2-07), and we appreciate those of you who are still hanging around!

xoxoxo,

Mama, Baba, Maelin and Leslie