...Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Emma sucks her thumb while Grandma holds her, after Christmas dinner. We all had very a busy day!

Emma, sprawling out after opening her stocking and all her presents. Whew, that was hard work!

Emma and Uncle Aaron, very early on Christmas morning.

Dressed up for Christmas Eve church services.

Merry Christmas from Emma and all of us! (Isn't she cute???)  

Brrrrrr!

Today was a cold one -- when we woke up it was only 7 degrees! Even so, we decided to run up to Bryan's for breakfast. But we made sure we bundled Emma up in her snuggly car seat cover. Thanks, Dave and Maggie... we love it! After visiting with Santa and cooing to all the waitresses who came by to see "all that hair", Emma decided it was time for a nap.

An unexpected visit to Santa

Emma visited Santa today, who was at Bryan's Coney visiting with everyone who came in for breakfast. I think she was too stunned to tell him what she wants for Christmas!

Emma giggling at Grandma

Hooray for Emma!!!

Today, Emma rolled over for the first time - and then did it again! We were stunned. Neither of us saw the first time since she was in her crib, but when I went to check on her she was on her back, and I had put her on her tummy! Then I called Nichole upstairs, and put her back on her tummy, and she did it again while we watched! We were so proud... we tried again later (with the video camera) but of course, she wouldn't do it again.

Home with Daddy

Emma and I had another good day today. She slept in, conveniently letting Daddy get several hours of work in, and then woke up for a bit and talked... and then I put her down in her boppy and talked to her while I got some email out of the way. Apparently my work is quite boring to her, though, because as I was explaining what my email was all about, she fell asleep in the boppy. She didn't even wake up when I transferred her over to her bassinet. The rest of the day was a pretty even mix of work for me and play for her, and we had dinner with Mommy when she got home.


Emma dozing off in her Boppy

Mister Mom, sort of

I'm working from my home office for most of the rest of the month, which means I get to watch Emma... and she doesn't have to start daycare yet. It means I have to really plan my workday and conference calls around naptime, and do some work in the evening, but it is sure worth it. Right now, she is napping (on my shoulder) after her second bottle of the day. Luckily with a laptop, blackberry, cell phone and PDA, I can still stay in touch and let her sleep at the same time!

O Christmas tree...

Emma's first Christmas tree. We started with a real tree this year, but once we started putting lights on the darn thing, needles started dropping... and dropping... and dropping. Every branch was quickly becoming bare. So after several fruitless hours of putting up lights, we decided it was no longer worth the effort and that we somehow got a tree that wasn't very fresh. So now it sits out in the back yard, collecting snow, while this one is in our living room... a nice, fresh, artificial tree with pre-strung lights. Ahhh. You can almost smell the pine. 

Hard to say goodbye

Tonight I left for a business trip for a couple of days. In the morning I worked in my office upstairs while Emma napped, and then I fed her and changed her before putting her back down for a second nap, while I packed for the short trip. It's not even three days but I already know it will feel like a lot longer. I took Emma to her Grandma M's in the afternoon, and when I was packing her up in her car seat she was just grinning and giggling and smiling at me. Normally, that's a very good thing and it definitely did make me smile too, but the sad thing is that it was harder to leave her today because of it. I just wanted to hold her and cuddle her and talk to her. She's such a happy baby, and her smile is infectious. I miss her already and can't wait to come home.

Emma sleeping in the car, 12/5/04