Our Happy Holiday

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted an update, and I do apologize. Honestly, I didn’t think anybody was reading this blog anyway, so I didn’t make it a priority. I found out over the holidays that people ARE reading, so in 2010, I will try to be more diligent about posting.

This sentiment is a little late, but I wanted to send out a big congratulations to my cousin Danny and his wife Kylene, who gave birth to Gavin Carroll, a precious 6 lb 12 oz baby boy, on December 17th. Welcome to world, Little One!

So Christmas has come and gone. This year, everything just seemed to get away from me. I didn’t send out cards (and anyone who knows me knows how terrible I feel about that), I put off my shopping until the very last minute (I even had to put money in card for our new baby cousin on Christmas morning because I didn’t finish shopping), we didn’t put up any lights (and I felt like the Scrooge of the neighborhood), I didn’t watch any holiday movies (I have usually watched “A Christmas Story” three times by Christmas morning) and in general, I just felt overwhelmed and unprepared. I’m really hoping that next year is better.

Our Christmas was pretty low-key this year. We went to 8:30 Mass. Bianca was dressed in a cute red and white dress and a bib that said “My Merry First Christmas.” We then went to my mom’s house to eat breakfast and open presents. The highlight was watching Damian open all his gifts. BiBi slept most of the time. We then headed over to my grandma’s house where my entire family (minus Danny, Ky, and Gavin) gathered together for food and quality time with each other. Of course, Katie, Lucy, and Da were anxious to open more presents! We were back at home by 7:00, and we spent the rest of the evening relaxing. I will have to upload some pictures of the day later.

On Christmas Eve, Harry decided to give Bianca a little treat. He gave her three spoonfuls of apple sauce! Dr. Fireman told us that she should start eating solid food anywhere from 4 to 7 months. She’s not quite there yet, so I was a little timid about giving her anything, but Harry thought she would be fine. I captured the incident on video. When I get home, I’ll have to try and upload it on here. She spit most of it out and made some funny faces, but she seemed to like the last bite. I’m thinking we won’t have a problem introducing her to solid foods once we get the ok from the doctor.

On Saturday, my mom came over and watched Bianca while I went to the Melting Pot with my girls Stephanie and Amanda. (We were celebrating Steph’s Big 3-0) Harry was in Salisbury for a basketball tournament. (Patterson won their first game 57 to 41!) Then yesterday, Mom and I took Bianca to the mall so I could spend my Christmas gift. She had her first ride in an umbrella stroller. Target didn’t have any, so we just used Damian’s old one. She did pretty well. She kept looking up at the ceiling. She can’t quite keep her head up all the time yet, so she was sorta leaning over as she rode. After about an hour, Mom took her to a bench and fed her, and then she fell asleep when Mom started singing to her.

Yesterday was an emotional day. It was exactly one year ago yesterday that Harry and I found out we were having a baby. It was such a joyous day. I found myself longing to be pregnant again. Then I found out that my friend Michele had a miscarriage. All I could do was thank God for blessing us with Bianca and remind myself that everything happens in God’s perfect timing. We will have another baby exactly when The Lord wants us to.

I’m back at work today, and as you can guess since I have time to write this post, I’m not doing much. There is hardly anyone else here. UMB is closed this week, but since I am an HHMI employee and not a UMB employee, I had to come in. With the lack of security guards, cleaning people, coffee cart employees, and all my co-workers, I must admit that it’s pretty creepy being in this building. Hopefully I can get out of here early.

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday. Four more days left until the New Year!