playing catch up

December in photos…

first smile that was actually caught on camera – happened to be a cell phone camera, so the quality isn’t great

one of Baby Swiss’ favorite places to hang out

aunt D’s wedding – they like having brown eyes together – before she peed on her clothes during a diaper change

somebody snuck their arm out of their swaddleme blanket – note: I will sacrifice a cute looking bed by keeping a receiving blanket to catch the nighttime spit-ups there at all times, rather than washing sheets every other day

hanging out with grandpa

family picture

cousins on Christmas Eve

looking a little googly-eyed (notice the t-shirt: “mom & dad’s best Christmas present ever” – courtesy of T)

it’s rough work always being the center of attention

hmmm…

telling nana a story

please stop taking pictures of me

she lives!

One of my favorite parts of Billy Madison (there are many) is at the end of the movie when the clown – who had appeared at an early party gets up and says/sings, “Hey, kids, it’s me. I bet you thought that I was dead. But when I fell over I just broke my leg and got a hemorrhage in my head. HA HA HA.”

So, here I am.  Very much undead (and no broken bones or hemorrhages either.)

Here’s what we’ve been up to.

December was spent with Christmas parties, weddings and mostly just enjoying my kid and my husband (who logged a total of 10 work days for the entire month).  It was a great month to be capped off with a great Christmas and the adoption finalization on the 29th.

But, if you know me, you know that things don’t go according to plan…shout out to the 24lb kidney formerly living in my husband’s abdomen.

We came home from Mr. Mouse’s family’s Christmas celebrations (which were lots of fun and very delicious) on Christmas evening – ready to spend a night at home and then head up to my parents’ house for time with them, my sister and my grandmother – to find that…

…dun, dun, dun…

…our house had been broken into in our absence!

My reaction was not the typical, “why me? why us?”  It was more along the lines of: “of course this would happen to us.” (More on a recap of 2008 for us later.)

Trip to see my family cancelled. Check.

TVs, stereos, electronics, jewelry missing. Check.

Front door jamb busted and new door required. Check.

Altered budget to include security system for 2009. Check.

My family saved the day and came to us at the last minute and even brought dinner.  My sister paid a fortune to change her plane ticket and that brings the tally of the number of trips to my parents’ house (only 5 hours away) in 2008 to exactly ONE.  I’m officially the bad kid.

The best news of the year is that the finalization on the 29th went off without a hitch!  Baby Swiss is ours forever.

More pictures coming sometime.  For now, here’s a little taste of the cuteness: