Christmas Review and Happy New Year!

My funny attempt to take a photo of his first tooth

We were pretty busy this Christmas season. I made most of my gifts which were crocheted infinity scarves. It was a lot of fun picking colors for friends and family. Owen had his first tooth come in on December 21st. I was really impressed with my little teething baby. He did so well. I guess I expected things to be more dramatic but it went very smoothly. Christmas day went too fast. I wish I could've slowed it down. Mark, his brother John, and our sister-in-law Alex made some delicious food. It was amazing. Owen got to meet his Aunt Alex for the first time! She and Uncle John were married a week or so before he was born and this was her first trip to California since the wedding. I love having family around. As a mom there is something special about seeing your family love on your baby and your baby love on family. He was giving his grammy lots of snuggles. I sadly did not take any pictures but I'm hoping to "borrow" some from my father-in-law and my cousin.

His birthday landed on a Sunday so he was embarrassed at church.

The main thing we did this month was work on my dad's 60th birthday gift. He turned 60 on December 30th and I struggled to nail down the perfect gift for him. We decided to revamp his house. My dad is the kind of person who always looks to the needs of others and puts his own last. A lot of generous friends and family pitched in so we were able to purchase new towels and linens, a new garbage disposal (installed expertly by my husband), and we even got rid of a giant wood piece of furniture that he had been talking about getting rid of for ages. We still have a lot more to do but we were happy to locate a quality sofa bed with the help of my wonderful cousin. My dad is planning on checking it out later today since it's close to his home. I love organizing so it is kind of a mini gift to me too. I love my dad. He was so blown away by the simple things we did even though I kept reiterating that we were just getting started. I want to organize the attic, paint his room and redecorate it, make curtains for the upstairs rooms, tune the piano (I'm so glad Mark can do this), convince him to take down certain paintings (ones that I did in the 3rd or 4th grade)... There's a lot to do.

I don't typically share my resolutions but Mark tells me that when you write something down it is more likely to come true. So here goes.

1. Blog once a week (see it's working!)
2. Go to bed earlier
3. Maintain quiet times every morning
4. Exercise 3 times a week.
5. Sew and/or Crochet every week
6. Practice piano/guitar and learn bass. Did I mention I got a bass guitar for Christmas? This will come in handy with recording. I'm looking forward to 2013 and all that it brings!