whirlwind

Oh, am I exhausted. We had quite the Christmas season and now we are staring down the arrival of 2012. How is it possible that 2011 is already over? Seriously though - I know a lot of folks feel the same way about the passing of each year, but this year just zoomed by (despite the fact that every single day from January 1 - May 15 felt like it lasted forreeevver.... Although for that matter, May 16 through now has had its fair share of marathon days!).

We hosted family in town this year for Christmas - Peter's dad and stepmom came in from Minnesota and his sister and her daughter from Florida. Hosting with a baby - I knew it would be a lot of work, but I didn't realize at the time we committed to the visit just how much planning and preparation I'd be doing. As in, for me - the process of getting everything ready started weeks in advance. With just an hour or two each night for prep work, I carefully mapped out in my mind when I'd do what chore. The gifts were wrapped a couple at a time starting a couple weeks before Christmas. Grocery trips were well planned and well executed. Cooking meals was done days in advance. Cleaning of course was left to the last minute (what's the point in cleaning when it'll just get dirty again?) Quite literally, I knew exactly what I'd be doing at any given moment of the day far in advance of that actual moment. Naps for the baby were a priority, much to the dismay of my 12 year old niece who would have been happy playing with Ellie for 18 hours a day. The weekend went well, but I am completely exhausted and had a mini breakdown this morning when I realized that this was how I'd spent my precious vacation time.

Lovin Christmas

Despite the work involved, it was a great Christmas weekend. We loved having our family here, visiting and connecting with them, and of course, introducing them to the star of Christmas - our Eleanor. Ellie made us so proud - she is such a good, sweet little girl, always smiling and happy and rarely fussy. Despite the fact that since my last blog post (where I announced that she was sleeping great! forgot to knock on wood..) she hadn't slept more than a couple hours straight, she was on her best behavior the whole weekend. Such a good baby we have - she makes our hearts ache with happiness - on Christmas day and every day. :)

Merry Christmas from us!