Winter Holidays

I am a little, well maybe even a lot, late on this post, but I finally have the time to do it. I decided that it is always better late than never. Here is the recap of our holidays. First of all let's talk about Christmas. We spent it at my sister's house in New York City. To be more exact she lives on Staten Island in a very nice area. None of the bad neighborhoods that I seem to always have an imaged in my head of every time we talk about NYC. We first drove to Vermont to my mom's house and then all drove down to New York. It was supposed to take us 6 hours to get there, but it took us a whole 9 hours. Now that is a big discrepancy, wouldn't you say? Well, it turned out that our luck brought us to the heart of the city at around 6 pm and it was only a few days before Christmas, so traffic was beyond horrible. Much, much worse then just any bad traffic congestion  We were only a few miles away, maybe about 20 miles only and it took us hours to get to Staten Island. It wasn't the most fun of the trips that we have taken, but on the positive note, we have the most amazing baby in the world who did just fine with being in the car for so long. And that fact made the trip a lot easier.

Once we got there, we just enjoyed ourselves the whole time we were there. My sister had a very pretty Christmas tree up and I was happy that Kelton could enjoy a Christmas tree for his first Christmas. That boy just loved opening presents. I honestly didn't think that he would like it all that much, but he loved it! It was so fun watching him open them. His face would get the concentrated look as he reached for the package and carefully pulled on the wrapping paper. After a present was all unwrapped Kelton would open his mouth as wide as he could because whatever he was getting had to first get into his mouth. He likes to examine his toys with his mouth first and then pull them out in front of him by stretching his little arms as far as he can and look at them from the distance. He makes me laugh so often. 

While in New York we took a trip to Manhattan. We first took a ferry and then numerous trains. It's a huge place. I mean everything is huge. For example, department stores are three or four times of the size that I am used to. The ferry had two stories on it, instead of one that I have ridden on before. There are so many people that for the first time since being in the States I though about the possibility of me getting behind the group and getting lost. But we liked it nonetheless.

We saw this pretty lady while on our ferry ride.

Cousins, a.k.a. best friends for life. 

Central Park!  Notice that there is no snow on the ground. 

Kelt loves presents!

Guess what I knitted for Cam? 

Kelton got a crib from Grandpa and Grandma McCombs for Christmas. He loves playing "peek-a-boo". 

Next holiday to mention is New Year. We were back in Portland. And it was nice to celebrate the coming of the new year in our home. We hosted a New Year party. We just love to host. There is nothing more fun for us than to prepare food and treats for friends and then entertain and get to know people better.
For me personally, last year was very eventful. The most wonderful of all events was the birth of our wonderful son. I can't even believe that he wasn't a part of our family for forever. It seems like the life before him never even happened. And of course another major event was moving across the country. We are excited for the new year and what it will bring to us. Good or bad we always make the best of it all. That is something that I love about how our marriage works. Cameron and I always try our best to be happy no matter where we are, no matter what we are going through. That single decision to have happiness and joy always, I think makes all the difference in the world. It makes me not worry about the future because we will always make it all work out.

My happy 7 month old. I just love this boy of mine so much!

Party! 

And here are some updates on Kelt. He is now eating finger foods.

He loves to eat! This boy is so quick to learn. He was already putting food in his mouth and chewing it the very first time I showed him how it's done.

He is now 8 months! He has 1 tooth and has gotten his belly off the floor. We are waiting with the most anticipation for him to start crawling  But I won't lie I think that it will take him a few more months because he just rolls to where he needs to go. At the same time I know that it will get a lot harder to keep him out of things once he starts to crawl. I make sure that I enjoy this time of limited mobility.

Here is my 8 month old with his Daddy. 

We are really starting to see Kelt's personality now that he is older. He is so easy to play with and he loves to play by himself too. He lets us know when he is happy and when he needs something. He is so observant. We get comments from people all the time about just how observant he is. It is another way that he shows how smart he is. My favorite activity to do with him is the imitation game. He loves it too. I often start by smacking my lips together and then he follows. Then I switch to a sound and wait for Kelt to copy me. He is so funny when he stops if I do a sound that he hasn't heard before and very carefully watches my lips and tong. Then after a few tries he makes the sound and giggles. He is my most adorable baby in the world!