Date with My Hubby Skiing

Getting ready to begin the festivities!
Relaxing at Gammy and Opa's house!


Today was Paul and my first official date that did not include Kathryn. We went skiing at Waterville Valley with a group of friends from church. It was such a great chance to hang out with each other and also get a chance to use our Christmas presents-new skiis!!!

A huge thanks goes to Gammy and Opa for watching Kathryn while we were out. It is so great to have family that is willing to help us out so we can have an occasional date night (or date day!).

California Girl Adventures One Cold Winter in Massachusetts

Ashland State Park Adventures


Even though I have lived on the East Coast for coming up on 10 years(can you believe that?!), the winters here still shock and amaze me. Now with the addition of Kathryn, I have also become more aware of the snow and ice because when you want to get outside for a walk you realize you must bundle another person up, and be extra careful of the wind chill factor, etc.

So this week I attempted to triumph over this, and did it to mixed reviews! First off, on Tuesday my friend Alisha and I decided we would forego our weekly walk in the mall and actually adventure outside with the two girls. We met up in Wellesley and were planning to walk at one of the town trails. Well right as I was getting there Alisha called me and said the trails were not passable. So I pulled into the lot and walked to her car to figure out our next plan of attack. We decided to go walking in Wellesley Square, as there would be plowed sidewalks there?! So as we pulled out of the parking lot suddenly the Nissan Maxima would not budge, it was completely stuck in the snow and ice. Mind you since I have owned a car here, I have mainly driven my Ford Ranger with 4 x 4, but you can't put a baby in a pickup truck! By the grace of God there were two women who had just pulled in to the lot to go walking(minus babies!) from Minnesota or Michigan who with the help of Alisha pushed my car up the hill until it got going. Thank God we were out of that mess and on our way to the sidewalks of the square. So we arrived at the square, popped the strollers out and began walking. Well let us just say the sidewalks were not exactly prepared for the two of us with baby strollers. But we ventured on, had a great visit and ended our stroll with a nice cup of tea and latte at the Starbucks! Ah the adventures of two California girls in New England!

My second attempt this week on the outdoors was much less involved. This afternoon after church Paul, Kathryn and I went on a lovely hike around Ashland State Park. We bundled Kathryn up in the Baby Bjorn and her snow suit(thank you Auntie Dawn for hand me downs!!) and headed out to walk around the lake. It was so great to get a chance to visit with Paul and to see Kathryn look around a bit, although we mostly kept her under a blanket to keep her warm.

New England for this California girl can be a little trying in the winter, but I look forward to figuring out new and exciting ways to make winter adventures happen!

3 Months Old

Enjoying her exercise mat
Chilling Out!
Laughing away
Kathryn is such a fun little girl. She loves hearing music and is especially fond of the book and CD "Philadelphia Chickens". Her favorite song is "Snuggle Puppy". She also loves doing tummy time on her ocean adventure mat(Thank you Uncle J and Auntie Sara!). She is highly expressive and loves smiling and has even begun to laugh at times. In fact we like to call her the "girl of a thousand faces"!

Miss Kat is also doing really well on the sleeping front. After a few days back from CA we have been able to get her into more of a sleeping routine and she is usually sleeping about 8 hours a night, going to bed around 10 and not getting up until around 6. She is amazing! We are also beginning to establish a bedtime routine. We will usually feed her, say a prayer and then put her to bed. Sometimes this requires a couple of return visits to her bedroom as it is hard to let her fuss by herself for more than a couple of minutes. She really needs to be held in order to fully fall asleep.

On the growth front, she is growing like a weed! We don't know how much she weighs or how long she is, but I know that she is really filling out her 0-3 month clothes. She is getting little rubber band wrists and is developing rolls on both her arms and legs. It is so funny to think that just 3 months ago you could feel her ribs when you held her.

She is a real gift from heaven and we are daily thanking God for the many ways she shows us unconditional love.

Christmas in California

Auntie Lizzie and Miss K hanging out Christmas morning
Snuggling with Papa Joe
Auntie Rena, Jacque & Kathryn getting ready for Christmas Eve
Four Generations-Granddaughters named after Grandma- Jacque, Kathryn, Jackie, and Kathleen
Great Grandpa Gregory and Kathryn
What an amazing Christmas we had! We arrived in Fresno, CA on December 22nd and headed down to Costa Mesa the next morning for a visit with Auntie Erin and Uncle Steve(Jacque's grad school room mate and her husband). Kathryn loved meeting both of them and especially liked being serenaded with an aria from Eugene Onegin(Thank you Uncle Steve). She also loved the adorable cat hat that Erin made for her.

Christmas Eve day started out with a visit from Jenny and Daren Stemwedel(my dear friend from Fresno & Calvin Crest and her husband, who are expecting a baby in the springtime!!!)

That evening our family got together for a meal. It was so amazing to get to see my uncles and aunts and especially my dear cousin Jake who I have not seen in 13 years. After dinner we headed to church. It was so much fun to sing with my sister Rena again! Paul, Kathryn, and I also portrayed Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the service(It was Kathryn's first performance as a boy-taking after her mother already!) After church it was so great to come home and relax with the family and open up our Santa pajamas. For those of you who don't know about this, every year Santa delivers pajamas to my parents house on Christmas eve for us to be able to wear Christmas day. We all headed to bed and awaited the arrival of Liz who arrived around 4:30am after driving home after her 11pm service at church. It was so great to know once she arrived that the whole family was under the same roof!

Christmas morning started with a great breakfast of fresh breads, my Mom's fantastic scrambled eggs and a cup or two of coffee, brewed by my Dad. Then we shared gifts with one another and Kathryn enjoyed watching everyone open their gifts and loved all of the fantastic gifts her grams and papa, and Aunties Liz and Rena and Uncle Brandon(Uncle B) gave to her. She also loved snuggling with them!

Around noon all of the rest of the family arrived and we enjoyed sharing a meal with 25+ members of our family. Once again it was a great time to reconnect with family members and reminisce over childhood vacations and times spent together(my cousins Jake and Alex used to go on a lot of Wilson family vacations).

Wow are we blessed, I know I keep saying that, but it is so true! God has given us a wonderful group of family and friends to encourage us and to help shape us into the people we are becoming and to also help strengthen us as we begin the journey of parenthood.

Mom Connection

Friends from Mom Connection(all four babies were born within 3 days of one another!)

One of the new additions to my schedule this year is Mom Connection at Newton Presbyterian Church. This is a great chance to get together with fellow mothers to chat, pray, and generally enjoy one another's company. I am so blessed to have these women in my life.

Early Christmas Celebrations with the Scharlach's

Daddy and Uncle Mark playing with Miss K
Special Snuggles with Gammy
Enjoying Relaxing with Auntie Jen
On the 19th we enjoyed sharing an early Christmas celebration with Paul's family in New Hampshire as we would all be heading to different places for Christmas(Paul's parents went to Georgia with Paul's sister, Dawn and her family, and Paul's brother Mark was with his wife Jen's family in Georgetown).

We enjoyed playing trains and running with our three year old nephew Jeremiah. He is getting so big and is very articulate, it gives me a fantastic insight into the exciting times of toddlerhood. We also had a great time visiting with one another around the dinner table and later around the fire. Kathryn also loved sitting in the swing during dinner which allowed her to be part of the meal but gave everyone their hands to be able to eat all the great food!

Unfortunately due to the storm that was supposed to be heading through Massachusetts that evening we cut the evening shorter than usual. We are so blessed to have such a great family and we just love spending time with them.

Fun Pre-Christmas Goings on

Miss K and her friend Dahlia
The Dad's with their little girls(Paul and Ryan)
Miss Kathryn wasn't sure she wanted to go meet Santa!

We have been enjoying celebrating the Advent season with friends and family. Two weeks ago we had a great time going to a Christmas party at our friends Dan and Christina's. Then this past weekend we enjoyed getting together with friends from church for a party at our friends, Jeff and Bethany's, house. We had a highly involved Yankee swap and tons and tons of good food and hanging out. Kathryn loved all the noise and slept through the whole party either in one of our arms or that of one of our friends. Kathryn has a special fondness for Yumin Choi and loves falling asleep in his arms.(in fact she did at both parties!)

We also made a stop by to see Santa at the Natick Mall. Kathryn loved him at first and then wasn't sure if she liked him anymore! I love that she is already learning stranger danger, even with Santa!!