Christmas for New Years

This week has been wonderful, with Daddy home every single day to play with me.  Mama had to work a little bit because Daddy tells me that she's an important surgeon.  I had a great time playing with Daddy and watching football.

 

In the process of trying to get a good picture of my awesome smile, sometimes the photos catch other expressions....

Chillin' with Daddy

    Just so you can all see how cute my smile is...also, I have an overly dramatic sad face that you can see in the video!

Tuesday, we went to Elk Grove to visit Great Grammie since she couldn't make it to Napa this year, and she had a very important present she wanted to give Mama & Daddy.  It turned out that it was a doilie that she had crocheted in 1984, when Mama was only 7 years old.  She made it to give to Mama on her wedding day, but it got put in the back of a closet and she just found it!  It was the biggest doilie she had ever made, and it took her well over one year to do it.  It's intended to be a nice overlay over a tablecloth.  It's so beautiful that Mama is having second thoughts over whether she will actually allow guests to eat on it or not!  Thank you Great-Grammie!  I had a great time with her holding me.

 

Great-Grammie holding me, Uncle Ben, Aunt Aubree, Grammie, Mama, Grandpa & Daddy  

 

The beautiful doilie that Great-Grammie made for Mama & Daddy

Then, we had dinner with friends at an Indian restaurant in Napa - Dave, Nancy, Alex, Stela & their son Andrew.  I can't wait until I'm big enough to run around and play with Andrew (he's 3).  When we got home, an awesome present awaited me.  I got my very own Bumbo chair!  Now, Daddy, as usual, refuses to call it a Bumbo chair...instead calling it a "saddle chair"  (he calls the Boppy pillow a "horseshoe pillow", my bouncy chair a "vibrating baby chair", and my poopy diapers are known as "diapers full of excrement").  Mama tells me that Daddy is very silly for using more words than necessary to refer to things, but c'est la vie!    Anyway, my Bumbo chair is awesome, and I look like a little old man sitting in it.  It's really good exercise for my neck especially, and puts me in great position to watch TV, which I'm already addicted to.  I love the bright lights!  Mama & Daddy are trying to restrict my TV watching substantially, but sometimes when I'm fussy for a long time, they'll turn it on and I can just zone out!

 

Dave, Nancy & Mama watching me in my new Bumbo chair

 Video of me in my Bumbo for the first time

Thursday, I went wine tasting with Daddy, Serena (Mama's good friend from Med School), and some other special friends.  I had a great time with the ladies, but they still won't let me taste the wine!  Then we went to a local BBQ place for dinner, and I got stuck with my stupid formula...again!  Seriously, it is getting pretty old to have to drink the same stuff 8 times a day while everyone else is getting a fabulous variety.  We had a bonfire at home after dinner...I love falling asleep by a roaring fire.

 

The ladies & me out by the fire

Friday, we went to lunch at Auberge de Soleil with Serena.  I think I may be in the minority of babies who have been to Auberge twice in their first 3 months of life, but I just love places with Michelin stars!  I was very well behaved & had a great time looking out at the lovely view of Napa Valley

 

Me wearing my "Player" onesie with Mama & Serena

 

Lunch at Auberge de Soleil

 

Back home in my Bumbo chair.  My neck is getting so strong!

Saturday morning, Grammie, Grandpa, Uncle Ben & Auntie Aubree came to Napa to celebrate Christmas on New Year's Eve.  We opened our final Christmas gifts...I got some big boy clothes from Grammie & Grandpa since I'm now fitting squarely into 6 month clothes. I also got some newly minted "Proof Coins" from them, which is a tradition started when Mama was a baby.  She has a Proof Coin set for every year since she was born, and now that I'm around, the tradition continues with me.  For the first time ever, Uncle Ben didn't open his coins at the same time as Mama...he opened them with me instead.  I think that means Uncle Ben & Auntie Aubree need to give me a cousin ASAP so we can open coins together!   I also got some cool books from Auntie Aubree & Uncle Ben.

Grammie & Grandpa outdid themselves this year for Christmas.  They gave Mama & Uncle Ben copies of an out-of-print edition of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"...the same one they read every year for the past 34 years.  It was definitely a special gift.  They also contributed to the Tahoe mortgage so we can pay it off sooner...and minimize the risk that I may have to help out someday!

We had sushi & shrimp cocktail appetizers, prime rib for dinner, and Aubree's chocolate mousse for dessert by the firepit.  Then we watched the ball drop for New Year's eve, and promptly went to bed.  I continue to impress Mama & Daddy by sleeping through the night almost every night!  Sunday, Mama, Aubree & Grammie went shopping and, bless them!, left me with the boys.  It was so much better watching football and going out for a walk with them, than being stuck in my stroller at the outlets!




Grandpa, Grammie, Mama, Uncle Ben & Aunt Aubree opening presents.  Mama & Uncle Ben got awesome out-of-print editions of "Twas the Night before Christmas", the same one they read for the past 34 years!

                                                           Me with my Proof Coin set

 

I gave  Aunt Aubree & Uncle Ben framed photos of...ME!

Some of my new properly fitting clothes (right), compared to my preemie clothes (left). The preemie outfit is shown in the next photo when it was WAY to big for me!

 

Sitting down for a sushi appetizer 

 

      Enjoying the wrapping paper after gifts are done!  I like this more than the presents themselves!

Last night, all to ourselves, we reflected on 2011.  Mama is now healthy and back to work, despite at least 5 procedures 9 weeks of bedrest, and 2 months in the hospital.  Daddy is heading a thriving company that has doubled in size this year and has it's first commercial project in the works, despite spending months sleeping on a cot in the hospital.  I had the most productive year of my life, but it was certainly a struggle, and I'm happy and healthy at home.  We all made New Year's Resolutions (a new concept to me), with Mama and Daddy vowing to exercise more, study more, work hard to develop their careers, and spend excessive quality time loving me.  I vowed to work on my eating, and I promised to crawl & walk, babble & talk.

We also came up with two slogans.
2011:  "It's over!"
2012:  "The boring year!"

2011 brought us many trials, but we came out the other side stronger & happier than ever.  We are looking forward to 2012, with no moves, no job changes, no hospitalizations, no health scares, and absolutely no little siblings for me!