Looking backward. And forward.

It's New Year's eve and I realized that I never added photos to, or published the post from Thanksgiving. Fail. So I published the post but you get it without photos (check them out on Facebook if you want to see them). I'm writing this from my iPod, with a sleeping baby in my arms. Not a bad way to spend New Years Eve, if I do say so myself. December flew by and I didn't manage to update this as much as I planned/hoped/wanted. So here are the Cliff's notes:

A few highlights from December:
- cousin Henry's baptism
- a bit of a cold that resulted in a drs visit (Adi is now 11 lb, 12 oz!)
- Christmas, which included a trip to PA, visiting all of the family, opening all kinds of wonderful presents and eating way too much food
- random other outings (shopping, etc) since daycare is closed and Adi's been hanging with us all day

Fun things:
- Adi is learning that she has a voice! Usually this ends up as yelling, but more and more "talking" is going on, while she looks right at us. (video soon)
- She's also trying to roll over. She's gotten up onto her side but hasn't managed to get the rest of the way yet.
- Smiles galore! Mostly at mom and dad's silly faces. :)

Thoughts on 2011:
- wow. Just wow. This year, our family has been through some of the best and worst times we've seen. But the good has far outweighed the bad and we're looking forward to 2012 with excitement and anticipation. This year has made our family stronger, closer and more appreciative of each other, and for that I am thankful.

Thoughts on 2012:
- As a friend said, no resolutions this year, just decisions. And better ones, learning from the past.
- I'm excited to watch Adi grow, to reach her new things and watch as she begins to really explore her world. :)

More pictures soon - I've been taking them, just haven't had time to edit/resize! And hopefully I'll be better at keeping this updated.

Catching up...

It's amazing how quickly time flies lately! We've had a whirlwind two weeks -- Thanksgiving, daycare, and all sorts of fun things on the weekends. Adi's first big trip to Pennsylvania went great. She did pretty well in the car on the way there and was a champ on the way home. And while it takes a little longer and we're both getting used to changing and nursing a baby in public (which is both weirder and not as weird as I expected), I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it went. On top of that, Lauren rode down and back with us, so we got bonus cousin time! Adi got to meet a lot of her extended family including some of her great grandparents. And we posed for the traditional five generation photo with my Dad, my Gram, and my great-grandmother, Mam (in which Adi was happy for maybe one photo...). Adi also met her cousins, Kirra and Mason for the first time. Kirra has been obsessed with Adi's picture at my parent's house for quite some time now, and was a little confused by Adi actually being there. We also got to spend time with her Aunt Chicken and cousin Ceci (who wasn't really at all interested in the munchkin, LOL). And of course, we hung out with Jon, Sarah, Emma and Henry (who we really do see every week now!).

We came back from PA on Saturday and went to church and had brunch with Dale and Amy (friends of ours from Florida who now live in and were visiting (respectively) CT). Then on Monday, Adi started daycare (we call it school). As expected, it was much tougher for me than it was for Adi! Everyone was very excited to see her, since she is the littlest one there. I've been going over to feed her once a day when I can, which helps me feel much better about everything. That has also let me get to know her teachers, who are *awesome.*

We survived our first week of school/work and this past weekend we spent a morning with Dale, shopping in West Hartford. Then on Sunday we went to the LEGO KidsFest in Hartford with the CT cousins (I told you we see them every week!). This week, we're back to work and school!