Christmas with my family

My brother and his baby Parker who is 15 months

Fred trying to maneuver two babies

Christina, my sister in law with Parker

Fred caught in action on Dustin's Iphone, playing on Parker's scooter

As you can see I cannot sleep and I was up thinking about my father. He was sick during the picture session so he is not in the family photos but we took a few good pics of him with the babies. My father has some good days and recently it seems like he is having some bad days; which, makes me really sad. On our way home from Christmas, I cried most of the way, just thinking about Harlowe and if she will remember my dad when she gets older? She will probably not remember what a great person he is and that just breaks my heart. I hope she will look back on this blog and remember what a great grandfather he is. It is sad that he cannot play with her like he wants to, but I am grateful he can still hold and cuddle her. The times I have gone home, he has been sick so I haven't taken anymore photos of him with Harlowe, I really need to get better about that. We are always on the go, I forget to take photos but hopefully that will change during the next trip.

I think about the meaning of Christmas and I know my family and I are really blessed and I am happy about the time we all get to spend together. I am really going to cherish the time we have together and I am grateful that my dad has gotten to know Harlowe and watch her change and grow. She is changing so fast and doing new things every day, it is like I learn something new about her everyday. I love you dad and I know I don't tell you this enough but you are a great father and a great grandfather.

Ok, about our Christmas, we had a great Christmas and as you can see we got to spend a lot of time with my brother and his family. I really only get to see Fred once a year but Dustin and I have been talking about visiting them in Washington because we have never been to the White House and all that good stuff. We will probably have to do that soon because he just got a new job and he might be moving soon, congrats on the new job, Fred. Anyway, I keep on digressing, Harlowe got a lot of good gifts; such as, lots of clothes from my parents and they also started a college fund account. My brothers family bought her lots of clothes, a cute Asian blanket and lots of great books. I love the books and so does Harlowe, we read them everyday, especially the ABC and numbers books. Oh, my mother made Harlowe this great baby blanket; which she worked really hard on, Harlowe sleeps on the blanket every night. Thanks to my family for all the great gifts and all the great memories.

I really cherish Christmas's with my family because that is the one time we all get to spend together. It's funny since I have gotten older, I really don't care about the gifts (but gifts are always nice, ha) but it is the time we get to spend with our loved ones. I really miss my brother and I am grateful for getting to see him and his family every Christmas. Thank God for blessing my family and bringing us together each year.

I love you dad!

Harlowe's first Christmas with Dustin's family

Dustin's Uncle, John, showing off his new knife we gave him

John enjoying the great bow we gave him, two peas in a pod, ha:)

Dustin looks scared, ha:)

A day full of excitement and great gifts

Dustin's dad and grandfather

John and his girlfriend, Bonnie

Dustin's brother, Drew, and his baby, Chloe

Harlowe's first Christmas with Dustin's family was great, she got a lot of great gifts. Your grandparents bought you a high chair, for future grubbing, hopefully you will like our cooking. Your great grandfather bought you a cool sliver cup with your name engraved in it, it is a great keepsake. Your uncle, drew, bought you a rolling butterfly for when you start crawling, we are working on tummy time everyday. Finally, your great uncle bought you this great hang up height measuring device and a gift certificate to Target, we definetely put that to great use, we love Target.

Thanks to Dustin's family for all the great gifts and wonderful Christmas, we had a blast. Dustin's mom made a fabulous prime rib, so I heard, because I did not partake but the salad was delicious. The Christmas desserts were, oh so delicious and I was the first to dive in of course, I have no shame. Hopefully, Harlowe will have better manners than both, Dustin and I. We had a great time playing a family game, I forgot the name of it, but it was so much fun. It reminded me of my childhood where we would play board games as a family. Hopefully we can carry on that tradition with Harlowe because I love, love, love playing games. You should have seen us, we were all jumping around like crazy people and Dustin's parents were so funny. The girls team won a couple of games but in the end I think the boys beat us.

Harlowe you had a great Christmas and are very blessed that so many people love you. We love you so much and cherish all the time we have together. I am sorry you couldn't have spent more time with your great grandmother, Betty. She loved you very much and was so excited to meet you, I know she is in heaven watching over you.

Two Months Update

I don't know what happened but I guess I published the pics and the blog part was erased. Well, I forgot to update Harlowe's two months doctor's visit. Harlowe got her first set of shots and she was such a trooper. In the ER there are a lot of first time parents that just bust out in tears when their child has to get an injection or IV, so I knew I had to hold it together. I didn't know how I would feel but I held it together for Harlowe's sake, ha. I did pretty good, I held her little hands out of the way and just talked to her, but she wasn't having it. She did well with the first injection but the second one was like bloody murder. My poor baby, but she was consolable afterwards so that was good. Poor Dustin wasn't having anything to do with holding her down but we all got through it. I just can't imagine when she is older and understands the word shot, holy moly we are in trouble.

She did great though and we were prepared because we gave her some Tylenol right before we left for the doctor's office, and we gave Tylenol throughout the day which I think really helped her. Because the next day she was good as new and back to her cheery self. She did sleep a lot that day so we were off to good old Costco, which we love.

Dustin and I can spend hours there just browsing through all the goodies. I know I am behind on blogging but recently we bought a blender from Costco, which we love. I really wanted a good blender so I can make Harlowe fresh, organic baby food. I am on the organic kick because we watched this documentary where the cows and chickens were given a lot of antibiotics to make them bigger, faster. Dustin was even disgusted and he wanted to jump on the organic ban wagon because he loves the moo, moo. Me not so much but if I do get a craving, I will feel a little better about eating it. Anyway, Dustin had to talk me into getting the blender because that sucker was expensive. He of course used Harlowe as a bargaining chip because he really wanted the blender to make his famous margaritas, ha. Needless to say we bought it and are getting great use out of it, because Dustin makes fruit smoothies almost everyday and they are sooo delicious.

Okay back to Harlowe: she was 22 inches long, which was the 25th percentile, she weighed 11 pounds 6 ounces which was the 50th-75th percentile and her head circumference was 37.5 cm which was the 25th percentile. She is growing and changing so fast, we are trying to enjoy every minute with her. She is our precious little angel. We love you so much, you are our blessing!