Whew! We had a wonderful Christmas season. It felt full and cozy and for the first time ever for me it felt like just the right amount of time. We had an early Christmas with Steven's side of the family. It happened to be on a day where Colorado had rare well-below freezing temperatures. It felt good to stay warm and near Nana and Papa, Ben and Joy, and Sadie and Keith. We now have a good brood of little ones amongst us, so that was fun to have them for a rare time together. We then got together on the 24th and 25th with my family. All of our kids always create a highly exuberant atmosphere and they couldn't have been happier than to open presents between bouts of running amok with their cousins. Of course I am always blessed to have my sisters and parents and am really thankful we get to live life near one another and share Christmas year to year. We were happy that Katie held out to give birth to Owen until the first week of January. I got to be at his birth and I am so honored that I have been right there with my sisters for each of their births. Katie was amazing, strong and beautiful and she is basking in the glow of those newborn days. Owen is a cutie pie and resembles Andrew a lot.
My girls are doing well. Evelyn continues to delight us with her thoughts on the world. She keeps us on our toes and I am constantly learning about myself and God's plans to transform me through mothering her. She's becoming a greater and greater help with Ivy by trying to soothe, guard and entertain her.
Ivy is growing so quickly and her babyhood seems to be flying by at lightning speed. She just turned eight months old on the 16th. She's a zippy crawler and pulls to stand on everything. She just started walking along furniture and has added some pretty cool consonants to her vernacular. She's often pretty shy with people she doesn't know well. I call her 'my quiet observer', but she can chat it up and be pretty wild when she's at home with just us. I think she's a lot like her daddy in that way. Ivy is going through some pretty heavy-duty separation anxiety and won't let me out of her sight, which can be a challenge sometimes, but hopefully she'll outgrow that soon.
I hope all is well with each of you and that 2009 will be a year of hope, clarity and fulfillment for each of you.
