Lia found her thumb this Christmas. So, she got the gift of self-soothing, but gave the gift of braces to her parents. Clearly, I have mixed emotions about this.
We spent Christmas in Milwaukee with the Brock clan this year. And, what a year it was! We left on Sunday 12/23 at about 6am. Big mistake. Huge snowstorm. We figured, "how bad can it be?" Pretty bad. We realized the error of our ways when we stopped in Menomonie for coffee, but by then it didn't make sense to turn around, so we kept on truckin'. It took us 9 hours to get there, but we made it.
I learned that Lia will not nurse in the car. So, in Black River Falls (in the middle of the snowstorm), Steve extracted the breast pump from the car-top carrier. Of course, we didn't have any batteries for it because I always plug it into the wall, so we stopped at the big gas station in Tomah. I got my 6 AA's and pumped while Steve drove. I was very glad that, due to the snow, the freeway was only 1 lane so no truck driver would be driving along side of us, look down, and see what I was doing. But, all was well and Amelia got fed...just a little later than she would have liked.
Besides all the cars in the ditch and a jack-knifed semi, the only other real excitement was when I forgot I was driving our automatic transmission car and hit the brake thinking it was the clutch. Thankfully, nobody was behind me at the time. That sure woke everybody up!
On the 24th, We visited Sonja, Ken and Samantha. Samantha just turned 1 year old, and it was fun to hear about all of her adventures. She's walking like a champ and it's hard to believe that's what Amelia will be like by next Christmas!
We had a nice, quiet Christmas with my parents. Amelia got lots of bonding time with them and has a special connection with my dad. Mom and I are OK, but she really likes my dad! Mom was wonderful reading books to her and finally got to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". She bought that book about 15 years ago to read to her grandchild, and finally got the chance. It was a magical moment.
The day after Christmas, Suzanne came to visit from Calgary. As always, it was great to catch up and she got to meet Amelia.
Later on the 26th was my grandpa's 90th birthday party. The whole family was there and it was tremendous to see everyone. 2 highlights are:
1. We got to meet my cousin's little girl, Madison. She's absolutely gorgeous and fun. She can light up a room with her smile and it was so fun to see her. It's always fun for us to see children that are a little bit older than Amelia, so we can see what's coming. Madison is about 4 months older than Amelia, and I'm hoping that the 2 of them will make many happy memories playing together when we meet during the summers "up north". Madison is a very special little girl with 2 amazing and inspiring parents who work at an inner-city school in Milwaukee. I don't see them very often, separated by 350 miles, but every time I do, I know I want to be more like them.
2. It was fun to see Amelia with her great-grandfather, and Steve witnessed them rubbing noses. Cute!
The trip home on the 27th was uneventful, and we're looking forward to a fun-filled Garbe Christmas this weekend.
We hope you all had a blessed Christmas and have a wonderful start to your 2008!
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