Happy New Year 2010

Xander's First Christmas

Christmas has once again come and gone. This year was a special Christmas, however, since it was our first with our baby boy. Stacy and I are lucky that both sets of family live nearby, and splitting the holiday between them is fairly easy. We spent Christmas eve with Stacy's family at the Vogel house. Stacy's parents, her Aunt Connie, her cousins Kerri and Mick, and Xander's godmother Vanessa were all in attendance. Obviously, Xander was the hit of the holiday, and everyone took turns passing him around. After everyone got their Xander fix, we opened presents around the fireplace. Everyone made off pretty nicely, with Xander getting a boatload of toys and clothes. After presents, we sat down for a delicious Christmas Eve prime rib dinner. After visiting, we took Xander home and put him to bed and prepared for Santa Claus's visit.

Once everything was ready for Santa, Stacy and I exchanged our presents in front of the Christmas tree and went to bed in our Christmas pjs.

On Christmas morning, Xander woke up around 7:30 and had his breakfast and played under the upstairs tree (yes, we have two trees) while Mom and Dad got ready for the day. Then, we headed downstairs to see what Santa had brought. When Xander came down the stairs, he saw a big red wagon waiting for him from Santa Claus, though he was much more interested in the big silver bow attached to it. His stocking was filled with a book, movie, and Garfield plush toy, and Mom and Dad bought him a big piggy bank to save his pennies. Afterward, Stacy's parents and Aunt Connie came over for breakfast, and then it was off to the Lewis house for Christmas Day.

At my parent's house waiting were Aunt Bette, Cousin Robbie, Cousin Tim and Sara, and Uncle Bryan. Uncle Jesse, I mean Jason, joined us a little later. Christmas day was filled with lots of attention for Xander, and lots of video games for the older kids. Robbie brought us Family Feud and The Price is Right for the Wii, and I brought over Beatles Rock Band. Most of the afternoon was taken up by these games and they were a lot of fun. Next we opened presents, and again Xander got the lot with more toys, clothes, and a new Steiff panda bear. We had a full turkey dinner with all the fixings for dinner, and then Bryan had to leave for Texas with his girlfriend. After dinner, the cousins all headed out for their Christmas movie, Sherlock Holmes. Stacy slept through most of it, and afterwards, we headed home.

While non-stop and busy, we had an amazing first Christmas with Xander and made memories that he may not ever recall, but I know Stacy and I will never forget. We hope that everyone else had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did. We look forward to many more Christmas's to come with our baby boy and our families. Merry Christmas!

As always, to see all the pictures from Christmas and many others, just follow the link on the right side of the web page.

Pic of the week ... December 27, 2009

Bouncing Baby Boy

Pic of the week ... December 14, 2009

Xander ... 6 Months Old

Xander had his six month doctor's visit today. He is now 18 pounds, 10 ounces. He is 28 inches long. He also has, and I quote the doctor, "a big head." 18 inches around. Everything else is ship shape with the baby, and aside from some tears after his shots, Xander was a wonderful patient.