Updates!

Quick updates on all:

Family as a whole: Had an AMAZING Christmas and New Years with smooth travels and lots of family.

Brian: Back to work. Has really gotten the knack of this snow stuff that he has to drudge through almost daily now.

Patti: Another year older. Had a nice birthday, getting spoiled by her family. Got everything but sleep, including another case of laryngitis. Yup, I can barely make a sound again (second case this winter). Maybe it's the heavens saying something to me....I won't read into this and want no comments.

Ben: He was definitely spoiled rotten between his birthday and Christmas! He has been busy playing with ALL his new toys. The most used include the drum set (thanks Grandma Huling), and the train table/train set!!!! Big hits!! He's a good kid and continues to be a big help with Hailey. He is such a doting brother!

He's my adventurer! We're starting to rediscover the winter wonders. He loves it! We're bitter cold today (high of 18, low tonight will be negatives), but more snow and a warm up into the 20's for the weekend, so I told him we can go sledding! Can't wait! So far, I've only been able to pull him around the back yard on a sled while Hailey sleeps! We need a hill!

Hailey: Now seven months old. She is getting big! 17lbs, 15oz when she was at the doctor last week. She has 2 teeth on the bottom that are super cute! Not handling the teething thing well. That's why we were at the doctor, on and off fevers, VERY sensitive, runny nose, screaming...a lot, not eating well, and not sleeping well. It was about this point when Ben was teething that I blamed everything on the teething only to find he had massive ear infections (all the time), so I wanted to check. Well, she's healthy, just teething. She's still my sweet girl and just BEAMS at her brother all the time. Very happy (when she's not in pain). Ibuprofen helps get my happy baby back.

She's crawling, mainly army crawl right now, but getting on those hands and knees very well! She's able to sit up, but doesn't really want to. We're working on it. She'd rather be on her belly where she can move around. I'm glad the Christmas tree is gone, because that was just a magnet for her!!!

She's eating more and more baby food. I've most recently added carrots and peas which she's actually gobbling up (when she's not in her super teething mood). And she has discovered Puffs which she is able to pick up and put right in her mouth! I love watching her try to chew those! For those who don't know, Puffs are meant for infants and dissolve quickly in the mouth. She LOVES them!

Sleeping: She's on and off still. It's been better since we've been home from our travels. I'm up once a night on average, but she does go for about 6hours in a row most nights. She's getting back to one quick feeding around 3am then back to sleep.

Ben was starting to get the hang of sharing!!

New Year's morning. Around 6:30am. Emerald Isle, NC. Sunrise, dolphins, and my baby!

We finally have snow!