We drove to VA for Christmas. Both Casey and Garrett were great on the road trip. Casey watched a bunch of movies, read books, napped, snacked and Garrett slept. We got to Grandma Gail and Grampa Tom's house on the 18th.
The week was a busy one with friends and family. We got to see Jessica and Maddie on Tuesday, then ended the day with dinner at Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack's house with Grandma Gail, Grampa Tom and Aunt Kelly. Wednesday, Dyani came over to visit. Then Aunt Marcy, Lily and Jack came over to ice Christmas cookies. The kids got a visit from Santa afterwards. Thursday we went to Rosslyn to have lunch with Aunt Kelly and to see her office, then headed to Sears for the annual cousin picture. Friday, we met Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack downtown to see trains at the Botanical Gardens and then headed over to the Natural History Museum.
The weekend was a whirlwind of Christmas activity. Casey was very excited about all of her gifts. She also enjoyed helping Garrett open his gifts. Garrett basically slept through Christmas, like he did throughout the rest of the weeks activities.
Garrett is now 6 weeks. He is a little more aware of things, but is still sleeping a lot. He can hold his head up really well and has started to smile, we think for real now, not just gassy smiles. He found his voice and enjoys saying "AH" or "UH." He is spoiled rotten at the moment, being held all the time, so when we try and put him down on his own, most of the time he becomes fussy, so you pick him up and he immediately snuggles in and is content. We started him on formula before we left for VA. He now eats 3 bottles of formula during the day, drinking 3-4 ounces. He seems to like it, especially now that the nasty rash when he first started has disappeared.
Casey is 3 1/2 now and pretty funny. She plays really well by herself, even while at her grandparents house. She remembers what toys are at each persons house and gets really excited about going over to each house to play with the toys. She likes to play pretend. She'll tell you exactly what is going on. She'll play with her dolls/stuffed animals and have them go to bed or school or ballet. She also likes to play school, where one person is teacher and one person is student. Usually during school, she'll take coasters and start doing "Zoophonics" which is an ABC activity from her school. She can definitely be a little sassy, especially when she hasn't had her daily nap, which was often during this trip. For the most part, she is a sweet little girl.
We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and we wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Enjoy the pix.
hanging with santa clause
howling at the brookside garden lights
the cousins enjoying the lights
garrett and gramps chatting
casey helping grandma gail make cookies
lily read LOTS of books to casey and jack this week...LOTS! luckily she is a REALLY good reader
a surprise visit from a jolly old red suited white bearded dude
supposed to be icing the cookies not eating them
striking a pose at the top of aunt kel's office building. you could see all of dc from up there.
doing the pencil in front of the monument made out of tree and plants
grandparents and grandkids in front of the capitol
Garrett had his 2 week appointment on Friday. He weighed 9 lbs and is 21.5 inches long, so he is definitely a growing boy, gaining an entire pound in a week and a half. He is more alert and more on a regular schedule throughout the day. He has noticed his hands more and can focus on things now. Like on our faces and when he sits in his bouncy chair, he stares at the zebra.
Casey likes her baby brother and got really excited when I brought him to school to drop her off, running in and saying, "look, my baby brother!" with a big grin on her face. She likes to hug him and bring him things while he's in the swing or bouncy chair. Sometimes we'll find Garrett with a couple blankets on top of him (sometimes even covering his face) and some of Casey's stuffed animals too.
Speaking of Casey, she went the entire week sleeping in undies during nap and stayed dried all week. At the beginning of last week, she told me she wanted to wear her undies to bed and she would keep them dry. She did, so everyday I would ask if she wanted a pull up or undies and she chose undies. She still wears pull ups at night and they are still pretty wet in the morning, but we are excited about the progress.
Casey had her first ski lesson last Wed at ABasin. Stan took her and said there were about 7 kids total. They practiced walking on the snow with just one ski on, rode the magic carpet and worked on the pizzas (snowplow). The instructor said she is ready to start learning turns next week. She has 2 more Wed classes. She seemed to have enjoyed it, especially since her friends, Dillon and Connor, are taking it with her and it was a beautiful day! Hoping this Wed is warm and sunny too!
Thursday we went to the Lighting of Dillon, where Casey got to see Santa for the first time this season. She and Rowan sat on Santa's lap together and chatted away. Friday, the Lake Dillon Theater hosted a puppet show, which was pretty entertaining for the kids. And then the town had a bonfire, complete with marshmallows and hot chocolate. Casey keeps saying she went camping on Friday.
We had a bit of a scare Saturday with Garrett. Around 1:30 p.m., he woke up from sitting in his bouncy chair and started crying. He then went into a crying fit and tensed up his body. He wouldn't calm down and milk came out of his nose and started foaming around his mouth. He seemed to have held his breath a couple times and passed out a little during this, while we were holding him. We blew in his face and that startled him back into consciousness. We called 911, who arrived immediately (nice to live right around the corner from the fire station). He had stopped crying and was more in a sleep like mode by the time they got here. By the time we got to the hospital, he was awake and back to his normal self. 3 hours later (because the ER was packed yesterday...it"s ski season), we were discharged. They believe it was a standard "holding of the breath" act that is somewhat common in kids. Some of you may remember that Casey has done this since around 18 months. We"ll check in with our doctor on Monday and keep a close eye on Garrett, and hope it doesn't happen again. He had an appointment with our Doctor on Monday and she didn't find anything unusual, so we are just to watch him and let her know if it happens again. So far, so good. Crazy thing is that he weighed 9 lbs 9 oz on Monday, after weighing 9 lbs at his Friday appointment. Def a growing boy!
Casey and Garrett would like to send Happy Birthday wishes out to Uncle Dave (Dec 2), Jack (Dec 7) and Ashlynne (Dec 9). Have a very Happy Birthday and we'll hopefully see you all in a few weeks!!
Riding the magic carpet at Keystone, pre-ski class
