We sent an e-Christmas card again this year. Isn't that just the environmentally responsible thing to do? We took the family picture up at Sundance a couple of weeks ago.
In case it didn't make it to an email inbox near you, here it is (you may have to click on it for it to be big enough to read):
We spent our Christmas holidays out in Vernal with Ben's family. It was 4 days of amazing food, plenty of chaos, and lots of fun. The snow created a bit of stress driving back and forth, but in the end, it wasn't a big problem. The roads were pretty safe and dry most of the way.
Here are just a few highlights from the trip:
William dressed up as the Grinch
Playing on the floor Christmas day
Christmas morning came a little early for Nolan
All 8 grandkids in one house
This is how we all felt by the time we got home yesterdaySince we seem to be managing to schedule ourselves out of the yearly tradition of creating gingerbread houses (sorry guys. I don't know where all of the time went), here is another option.
Virtual Gingerbread House
(for some reason links don't show up right on this template. Click on that title and it will take you there)
Hopefully this will get you all through until next year. . . unless we want to do Valentines houses. . .
He holds that little head up and looks around all the time. I can't believe how quickly he's started to do that.
Ben's family has a tradition of having tamales for Christmas Eve dinner. They had a family friend in Florida that would make them every year. This year, the Hess clan is gathering out in Vernal for Christmas, and since we learned the art of tamale making at our cooking class this summer, Ben decided to be the provider of the tamales.
It's a crazy long process, with a gazillion steps, but thankfully Jenny, Jeremy & Emily were kind enough to help out with the process. It's a good thing they were here, or it may have taken 7 hours. . .
Tanner was kind enough to help me with the making of the cookie dough, that also had to happen Sunday night so it would be chilled and ready for cutting on Monday. He's an awesome helper.
We had a long night last night. A very long night. Nolan slept most of the day yesterday and when night time rolled around, he was good for 2 stretches of 2.5 hours each, and then he was done. Right about 5 am. He was awake and there was no changing that. We sort of wrestled with him for a couple of hours, and then about 10, he was happy as a clam. So we had to take some pictures. And now I have to share them. 
(He inherited my freakishly long tongue, and delights in sticking it out at people)
Have you ever had an opinion about something, and expressed it freely, to anyone who would listen, only to turn around and totally contradict yourself? Yeah, that's me this week. I have been telling anyone who brings up the iphone how I wouldn't want one this early in the game. I want to wait for a later generation. I like Verizon, I don't want to switch back. Etc. . .
We decided that we would get new phones for Christmas. We both needed them. Ben hated his RAZR and mine was only holding a charge for about 20 minutes of talking at a time after 2 years of my abuse.
We went to the Verizon store at lunch one day, fully intending to find phones that we liked relatively well (because, let's face it, Verizon has a CRAP selection of phones if you are at all discerning) and add them to our existing plan. The end. Merry Christmas to us.
Ben wanted a smart phone, which was going to be pricey, and I was trying to be prudent, but the phone snob in me was guaranteed to pick something expensive. And then we started talking to the salesman. Because this is a family friendly blog (or trying to be), I won't call him all of the names I called him after leaving the store. He was a first class jerk. He got in a big fight with Ben over calling plans, which I won't rehash, but it was unfriendly. He informed us that in order to buy new phones we would have to get a new calling plan, contrary to what previous people had told us on the subject. And just when we were about to hand the man a nice sum of money and be on our way, we instead walked out the door. And away from Verizon forever. (or until we get pissed at AT&T in equal measure 2 years from now and switch back. I don't want to have to eat my words again)
So, now we are the proud owners of the very technology I swore I would wait a while to purchase, on a plan that is no more expensive than the one Verizon was trying to make us buy, with free internet access from our phones whenever we want. And I don't miss Verizon, no, not even a little.
I'm a bit giddy, to be truthful, it's a darn cool toy, and considering that it acts as an ipod as well, which neither of us had an updated version of, it was a very good deal.
Merry Christmas to us.
Staying at home for the past 4 weeks has been interesting. . . I was never sure how I would deal with the stay-at-home-mom gig, even in the short term. I am now convinced that women who do it, day in and day out, for 18+ years, are saints. They have patience I will never have. Multi-tasking skills I will never have.
I know that the first 4 weeks of a baby's life are not really indicative of what life will be like when I'm home with him in the future. But right now, it's exhausting. I have never loved anyone the way I love Nolan, but holy cow he is high maintenance. I can't believe how absolutely dependent babies are. I know that as a first time mom I hover more, hold him more, dote on him more, than someone that's on #2 or 3 or 10. I know I'm more paranoid than I probably should be. But being a mom is time consuming. And hard. And I have new found respect for those of you that have been doing it full time for years.
In order to kill some time the past month, we have watched a lot of TV on DVD. I've also watched a movie or two, in fits and starts, but mostly, it's been TV.
I would like to sing the praises of one show in particular that Melissa let us borrow. People have been telling me how amazing 30 Rock is since it started, and because it is on at the same time as Ugly Betty, we never gave it a chance. Even after it won the Emmy, we didn't feel compelled to watch. I had seen a random episode or two and though I found them mildly funny out of context, I wasn't blown away.
Then we watched the first season on DVD.
I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Most of the comedies on TV these days are just stupid, in my opinion. But I suppose it's possible that if I gave them all a chance the way I did 30 Rock I'd be more impressed. There were characters that I expected to hate that I really loved. Kenneth is officially my favorite part of the show, and even Tracey Morgan doesn't annoy me like I thought he might.
To sum up, watch 30 Rock, Season 1. I would vouch for the current season as well, but I haven't seen any of it.
I have also watched a couple of movies on DVD, but I'll tell you what I thought of those tomorrow.
As I was getting ready to go meet Ben for lunch a few days ago, I put Nolan in the Boppy in the middle of the bed to hang out while I got dressed. He dozed off in a great position and I just had to capture it. . .
Nolan's instinct to suck has always been strong. . . He picked up the eating thing very easily and has no problem taking a bottle or a pacifier. But this week we discovered a new joy. A quick way to calm him down when he's fussing. . . Stick your knuckle in his mouth. He chomps down and chews like a kid who is teething. Hopefully that isn't actually the case at a month old.
In the never ending quest to take 3000 pictures of him before he's 6 months old, here he is using daddy's finger as a chew toy.
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