Home again

The final week or so of our annual holiday trip to see family back East was wonderful as usual. Christmas, split between the grandparents, very enjoyable. Plenty of photos and some video too. We saw lots of realtives and cousins and got to spend lots of time enjoying just being with family. Some friends managed to make the trip down from Albany and Brattleboro which was great of them. Gifts and hand-me-downs for the boy led us to add 2 cardboard boxes to our checked baggage.

Noah continues to amaze, but he's had a cough for about a week. He's grasping at things more, and by now regularly finds his hand to gnaw of for self-comfort. He continues to grow out of his 0-3 month clothes. We kept his attention by reading books at bedtime last night, and he even looked at the pictures as we turned the pages. Daddy and Noah have good conversations now - since December 8 or so, he is making much longer and regular vocalizations. Especially fun is when we have a nice long speak/response session. Haven't heard a "goo" yet but there's lots of pitch changes now, some "grr"s. Most fun was with Grandpa last week when he made high, regular sounds split by brief gaps - a proto laugh? It would go with his frequent, borad smiles and those cute dimples. Often while smiling Noah turns his head to the side while keeping his eyes on the smilee, such a coy boy.

He "stands" for longer periods, and we can now support him lower on his torso while he does it, but not quite down to his hips. At his appointment Friday he was a good boy about his vaccinations and weighed 14 3/4 pounds. We're carrying him around a bit more as he stays awake longer and is a bit more fussy. Daddy is especially proud of holding him and describing how to prepare coffee - from picking the ingredients out of the fridge to manipulating the coffee maker. We've emptied the dryer, stacked diapers and loaded the dishwasher too. Boy is my left arm tired! Mommy spends lots of time interacting with Noah and eliciting movement, noises and smiles.

Flight back to Anchorage was pleasant but no champagne on New Years Eve like last year. It's nice to be home. New Years Day was spent quietly except for a brief shopping trip for groceries. Our yard and home are blanketed with the 3 feet of snow which fell while we were gone, but the kids we hired to keep the driveway shoveled did an amazing job. Yesterday we finally dug out the walks in the backyard, pretty fun. A 4-foot line of 5-foot icicles partially block the deck where the 2 sections of our house (cold roof and hot roof) come together and make a valley. I think this might be beyond the capability of our ice-melt cable to correct. Temps have been cold since our return, with highs in the low single digits, so a great time to relax and get things done inside the house. Even the dog doesn't want to spend much time in the yard or out on walks. Daddy is having special fun clearing out the miscellaneous stuff from the garage so we can park both cars in there again. His truck is full of recycling and we've moved several large items elsewhere.

Starting to think a little about gardening as the new year begins.. last season's potatoes, dug and stored October 16, are storing very well in the garage, under poplar shavings in a cardboard box at 36-39 degree temps. Carrots were fine until we used all of them for Donna's famous carrot souffle. The coming year's garden will be simpler we think, concentrating on the few vegetables we know how to grow well. Why think about gardening so soon? Blame the weekly gardening columnist in the paper who made his annual list of seed catalogs to order.