Our First Family Christmas

What a nice Christmas I just had! First, everything I set out to do for the holiday was completed. I was successful at buying gifts (although we ordered some late so they will be arriving after the holiday), decorating my house, sending out holiday cards, and cooking a special meal.

Reaching my daily goals is a big deal for me lately because Nicky has kept me quite busy, and there are days I feel like I have accomplished nothing outside of taking care of him. I know that is a big and important accomplishment in and of itself, but really I would like to get some other things done in my life. It is looking like that might be becoming more possible lately as Nicky has been changing quite a bit as of late. I don't know what kind of magic thing happened when he turned 6 weeks old this past Thursday, but he is a new and improved baby! He is sleeping better, his gassiness and hence his fussiness has gone down tremendously, and best of all, he is so happy! He is cooing and smiling and interacting a ton. Scott & I enjoy it tremendously. I love my son, but these first 6 weeks have not been easy. Nicky has been quite cranky because of the digestive issues he's had, poor baby. He always wanted to be held, he had trouble sleeping, and he was in quite a bit of discomfort from his digestive issues. This kid would wake up and cry if I set him down for a second. He would riggle in pain if he couldn't get out a burp or a fart. It was no fun, and I felt bad that I couldn't seem to fix the problems. But, I perservered, and as Nicky has matured, he seems to be doing better. Thank God!

So, Christmas was quite enjoyable for us. Yesterday we went to 6:30pm mass. Nicky seems to like church with all the noise and music. Then we came home and watched a movie - Talladega Nights with Will Farrell. We think its funny that the main character's name, Ricky Bobby, is close to Nicky's name if you turn both his first and middle names into nicknames: Nicky Bobby. While Scott & I stayed up late, Nicky stayed on a pretty regular schedule, so he woke us up at 8am this morning. Maybe he wanted to open presents?! We played, I fed him, and then he and I ended up taking a nap, so presents and the holiday meal had to wait. I ended up making Christmas supper instead of dinner, but the special menu of roast duck, cinnamon cranberry stuffing, asparagus, rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, orange cranberry relish, and raspberry jello salad turned out quite well. We still have yet to sample the gingersnap cheescake I also made. I love cooking and have missed it greatly these past few weeks. It was so nice to get back to it!

Happy Holidays to you and yours! May we all continue to be blessed in the coming year as we have been this year. Take care.