What a Christmas!

Hazel on Christmas Eve


The cousins finally meet


What a great Christmas!


We just got back from our Christmas in Washington and we had such a great time. I always get such joy in seeing friends & family meet Hazel for the first time. I think one of the highlights for me was seeing Hazel play with her cousins Melika and Mischa since it was the first time they have met (I uploaded all of the pictures to the Picasa website).

Hazel did fantastic on the airplane. My friend Natalie had recommended breastfeeding during takeoff and that really did the trick. Not only did it help keep her ears "popped" but she also fell asleep for a good part of the flight and when she woke up she was well rested, well fed and in a great mood! We were really happy this year that the weather was mild as it allowed us to travel around to see friends & family easily.

Over the holiday we also got word that our Breastfeeding PR video for First Five of California had been finished and posted to the website. I am really happy with how it turned out and proud of the fact that I stepped out of my comfort zone to take part in something that is really important to me. To watch the video click here.

Family Photo Shoot

I have been waiting to post all of the pictures from our late November family photo shoot until our Christmas cards went out. Now that I have done that, I posted all of our pictures to Picasa (click here to see). We had a great time getting our photos taken and found a great couple in Fresno that takes the kind of pictures we like. Hazel did great at the photo shoot and we were really happy to capture our family at this time in our lives. We are hoping to make it a tradition to continue taking pictures to look back on.

We are leaving for Seattle in less than a week and it seems like December is flying by! Yesterday was an all day tamale fest where we made 33 dozen tamales at our house with friends which was quite the undertaking! I am thinking I may even try to carry some onto the plane to bring up to Seattle as there is no way Marshall and I will be able to eat our "share" of tamales.

Happy Holidays!

Wow, I can't believe that Hazel's first Christmas and New Year's will be here before we know it! I also can't help but keep thinking back to this time last year and just how much has changed in our lives since then. It is also really fun to start our own family traditions that will continue on in our family for years to come.

We are flying to Seattle on 12/19 which should be a lot of fun. I feel so grateful to have a husband like Marshall because I know that flying with a 7 month old will be a lot less stressful with him around. I also started an Excel spreadsheet of all the things I keep thinking of that I don't want to forget to bring for Hazel. It is amazing how many things a little baby requires on a daily a basis!

Lastly, Hazel paid a visit to Santa last week and we also did a family photo shoot for our Christmas cards. Once the pics are received in the mail, I will post the rest of them on picasa. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that we did the pictures.