Happy New Year!

We returned home last night after 11 days in Washington. All in all we had a great time. We spent lots of time with Patrick and Bridget's little family. We stopped there on the way home from the airport so we could see them right away and meet the newest addition to the family. Sophie is SO cute and very advanced. She is a very happy baby, and very active. Connor was very intrigued by Uncle Jason's long hair, and kept forgetting his name refering only to him as the braid boy or the rubber band boy. On Christmas Connor said he was going to grow his out when he grows up. Hopefully he won't stick to that. Connor was also ultra active with his various sports equipment. I wish he lived in Wisconsin so he could really play hockey all winter in the playgrounds. He was extremely impressive for a 3 year old. Laura was a little shy at first, but warmed up as the days went on and by the end was very happy to see us. She loved being read to, and seemed to enjoy her baby dolls a lot. We went to the Everett Childrens Museum one day, it was amazing and had changed so much since I was last there as a nanny. I can't wait till Sprout is old enough to go. It was so nice spending time with the kids and Patrick and Bridget. They are such great parents, and Bridget is so calm with the kids and maintains her sanity so well. We were both very impressed with how well they handle 3 kids who are so close in age. It gives me hope that one will be no big deal at all. We went out to eat with Jason's family for my steak fix, I have been craving meat in the last month. Christmas was a 3 day affair for us this year. Christmas eve was with Mom and Molly and Cookie, Sprout got many cute things, including the outfit he will wear home from the hospital that Molly picked out in England. Then Christmas morning we went to Ryan's house for the Simmon's family bash. Lots of presents and Sprout got spoiled there as well, he got Robeez and Aunt Bridget crocheted him a VERY soft pale green afghan which I will bring to the hospital as well. Boxing day we went to Julie's and Sprout got a Lovely knitted hat, blanket and a chrocheted sweater with little peter rabbit buttons, which he can also wear home from the hospital. It feels so nice to get all these homemade things for the baby. I will really treasure them. Most of our days were spent at Mom's house, going through bins left over from Grandma and Grandpa's house and getting little things fixed around there. Jason put in a new kitchen faucet and changed the deadbolt lock, amongst other things. On New Years Eve day we went out with Grandma Jeanine and she bought lots and lots of various things we still needed for the baby. We took back an extra suitcase of stuff just for the baby and mom will bring another in march. I had my OB appointment this AM, I didn't gain anything, but the Dr doesn't seem worried, they did an ultrasound right before we left and it all looked great. The baby measured 2 weeks big. I see them again in 2 weeks. I return to work tomorrow, it is so nice to home and back into the normal rut. Happy New Year and have a great 2008! The picture of Laura is sideways and I can't seem to delete it, sorry....