Sigh. Christmas is over. I’m back at work. It was quite a lot of fun while it lasted though. Last Thursday we were supposed to hang out with the Flarsons. That didn’t happen because Julie and Stella were sick. We stayed in and watched TV instead. It was pretty nice. On Friday we had our Christmas at home. I made Julie gingerbread pancakes for breakfast and we opened gifts. I only got Julie a few stocking stuffers because we had gone out ring shopping the week before. We got Julie an “upgraded” engagement ring. While the one I got her in college while working 28 hour weeks at Dell was nice, it was kind of fun to get something new.

Julie got me some cool stuff including a pocket knife and Katamari Damacy. She also attempted to get me some new pots for the kitchen, but we found out that the rebate had expired and they were definitely not worth the price without the rebate, so we’re going to return them and look for something better. Stella fared a lot better opening presents then she had a few weeks previously with my family. She seemed excited about showing off her new ability to take objects out of bags. Julie put a lot of Stella’s stuff in bags and she was able to pull them out. She wasn’t really very interested in them once they were out, but she’s 9 months so we’ll take what we can get. She got some awesome new blocks, and lots of outfits, and some books. We were going to go out to Johnson City to see lights, but Julie and Stella were still feeling crummy so we went to Central Market, got a frozen pizza, some wine, and stayed in and watched 12 monkeys. ‘Cause our life is exciting like that.

On Saturday we got up and assembled the roughly 2 tons of things we have to bring with us to take a baby and 2 dogs to Houston for Christmas. We got out of the house by around 2 and had an uneventful trip. We had some excellent brisket for dinner, and then slept. Because we’re still really exciting like that. Stella at this point had started crying from about 2am on in her sleep because she couldn’t breath. We were pretty tired. On Saturday I did a pathetic 2 mile run around the track by Julie’s parent’s house. It was supposed to be a 5 mile run, but I’m not running as often due to Stella’s erratic sleep schedule. That afternoon we went over to Christine and Brian’s and had a wonderful dinner with them. Stella LOVES her Uncle “Roger” (Brian). To the point of almost making a parent jealous. It’s crazy. We got back that night and Julie’s parents made us dinner also. Which I ate. Because I’m a glutton. That night we figured out that putting Stella to sleep on her back stopped the crying jags. Which was awesome. Although it only afforded us one night of sleeping in with Julie’s parents taking care of Stella in the morning.

Monday was Christmas. Julie’s brother Keith had spent the night so we got started on opening presents fairly early. We’re back to taking a long time, because Stella takes a fair amount of time to open presents. Yet again she raked in the gifts. Julie’s parents were exceedingly generous this year. I got a PS2 and Julie got a new digital camera she had her eye on. I have this feeling they spent the same amount on Stella. Which is a little scary. But they love her to pieces. It was a really nice trip, and Julie and I had some nice conversations with her parents. Christmas evening we drove back to Austin. We’d been having such a pleasant time that we didn’t want to go, but I wanted a full day at home before I started work again.

Yesterday we did a little mad cleaning, and went on a walk at Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park. They have one of those cool things from the eighties where there are stations along the trail where you can do all sorts of ridiculous calisthenics. I totally want to start running there. Except I cannot justify regularly driving my car to go running. That’s just ridiculous. We ate dinner at Austin Pizza Garden and then watched Little Miss Sunshine. That was an awesome movie. Probably the best I’ve seen all year. The Devotcka soundtrack was a perfect fit. I don’t know if I’d call it a comedy though. I spent far too much time teared up.

Ahh well, back at work. Closing bugs. Fun. At least it’s only a three day week, and Julie’s mom is coming down to take care of Stella so we can participate in New Years festivities.

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Comments

BeanBean

2006-12-29T00:52:27.000Z

So if it makes you feel any better, I get a little jealous of Stella’s Uncle Roger love too. :) I have the most wonderful picture of her with her hand on your back though as you put on your shoes. She looks so calm and peaceful and that only happens when babies know they are loved and safe. So don’t worry, you are her rock. Love you!