Ted surprised us with this plate that he made for us at preschool.

Ted finishing up his advent calendars.

Ted and I making cookies for Santa (and Kate and Peter.)

Ted sprinkling magic reindeer food from preschool.

Stockings hung by the chimney with care.  Very exciting that Great Grammie was able to complete our set by making us a Sarah stocking in time for her first Christmas!

Sarah mostly slept through her first Christmas.  Lucky for her she had Ted to open her presents.  This Christmas was filled with Skype instead of travel.  On Christmas Eve we did a post dinner skype with Jack and Ben.  Then later on we skyped with my sisters, aunt, and cousins and participated in Yankee Swap with them.

Then on Christmas morning we opened stockings and a few gifts from Santa and each other before a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs, and fruit salad.  We then opened more gifts before skyping with my sisters, Jack, and Ben again.  We all opened the presents from aunts to nephews and a niece and then Ted and Jack played the drums together.

Then we participated in a five location conference skype with Great Nana, Uncle John, Gram, Pops, Auntie Kristen, Uncle Josh, Abby, and Aunt Dede reporting in from MA, NH, two FL locations, and us representing NC.  Craziness!  And yet the sound quality was better on that massive skype than it was when we just skyped with RI.  Mysterious internet.  It was great to see everyone and just amazing to see everyone all at once.  Other than missing out on hugs and getting to pass the babies around, it was just like getting together in real life.

After all the skyping we fed Ted a quick lunch and got all dressed and ready.  Just before it was time to head out I put Sarah into her Christmas outfit.  She immediately filled a diaper and leaked on the outfit.  Pat changed her into the dress she wore Chrismas Eve and she let us know in no uncertain terms that she would need to eat before we left the house.  I fed her and burped her and she proceeded to puke in my hair and all over my shirt.  I went upstairs and washed out my hair and changed shirts and we were ready to go!

We arrived at Kate and Peter’s fashionably late, but hopefully Ted and Sarah distracted everyone.  Ted was on his best behavior and made himself right at home.  He passed out hugs left and right and had everyone laughing with him.  Sarah slept while we ate dinner and woke up when we were done, just in time to be passed around to everyone for snuggles.  After dinner we took a walk and Ted tried out his new scooter.  Luckily the rain held off for us and we came back just in time for dessert.  We had a great time.

This week we didn’t have a doctor’s appointment to tell us how much Sarah has grown, but she has outgrown her newborn diapers and some of her newborn pajamas.  I have been putting her in some of the super cute 3 month size outfits that she got as presents and have been continuously surprised that they fit.

She has been focusing on our faces much more this past week.  She will spend a long time just quietly examining my hair line especially.  I remember Ted doing that too.  I assume the contrast between my light skin and dark hair is the easiest thing to focus on.

She has been holding her head up for longer and longer periods.  She also continues to use the weight of her head to throw her whole body wherever she wants to go.

For the 24 hours we were up north over Christmas (new job’s non-vacation+ blizzard madness) meant they didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time together, but they did get to open presents together on Christmas morning.  (Never underestimate the power of winter weather to muck up your plans.  We ended up leaving a night early and spending two nights in a hotel in Maryland.)

They’re both pretty different, but bond over the sort of things that toddlers bond over (toys, mutual family members, tasty Holiday treats).

Next Christmas will be an entirely different experience for them, both up north with Jack about to become an older brother and down south with my sister’s impending little one. Can’t wait!

The next morning, Ted discovered that Santa had swung by.  He was very excited.

And who wouldn’t be excited to open up presents (again)?

Ted takes his stickers quite seriously.