And ONE Patridge In A Pear Tree

Merry Christmas and greetings from The Sunshine State! We just spent a week in NC with the Garlands and crew, and had a great time. Let me say, its a good time of year to be pregnant, especially when every meal has at least one element each of sausage, chocolate and cheese. So I'm probably up a good another 5 pounds, but at least this year we can blame it on baby. Gabe was a hoot opening presents this year. We weren't sure how he would react to the gift orgy, but he was very good at taking turns and really appreciating each gift. At least the first day. By day 3 he was tearing through gifts with record speed and whining when there were no more to open. Ah, the challenges of parenting in our culture of excess. At least there was plenty of sausage, chocolate and cheese. So now we're in sunny Florida with Ryan's family, and having a good time relaxing by the pool. Gabe is a little too comfortable in the water: he really is doing his own thing now, paddling around with a life jacket keeping him afloat, as opposed to someone holding him the whole time like on previous visits. So his independence and confidence is making us all a little nervous that he's just going to jump on in when no one is watching. So we all watch. A lot. So a few funny quotes from our main man this week, including him getting highly agitated during the Twelve Days of Christmas when "3 french hens, 2 turtle doves" wasn't followed by "and 1 partridge in a pear tree". And informing us that he only likes one letter, G for Gabe, and NOT any more letters. Take that, M. More to come, including pictures of Santa Garland!