Round 3.... Christmas was a blast, but we continued the fun into the 26th when a sizeable chunk of my extended family convened at my house. Aunts, uncles, cousins, children, etc made for a fun day. We had a ton of food and everyone had a good time. At least, I assume. Brad and I spent most of the evening in Lawson's room since the little bugger didn't like having company. The revelry got to him (the house was pretty loud) and he started screaming. And screaming. And screaming. I have never heard this child scream so intensely. We eventually got him calmed down and he went to sleep for a while. When he woke up, he was in a considerably better mood and was able to mingle a bit. He was back to his usual sweet self for my cousin's wife's baby shower the next day.

The gang at my house:

It was fun seeing all the family. Despite his spot of crankiness, Lawson got to spend some quality time with old and new faces.

Lawson with my Aunt Nita:

With Nita's husband, Jim:

With Grandpa:

Round 2.... After all the presents were opened, we took advantage of our first ever White Christmas. Yes, the snow was still on the ground! It was so exciting. We dressed Lawson up in his snow suit and hat and took him out to play in the white stuff. He really liked it! He looked a bit like Maggie Simpson in her snow suit, so he was stiff and easy to "walk" through the backyard. He also made his first snow angel (with a little help from Mommy....). Lawson giggled through the whole thing. The final picture is of the Mommy and Baby angels. We had so much fun making memories.

Whew! What a whirlwind week! I might have to do this in a couple of installments...

We had a wonderful first Christmas with our sweet boy. My parents and sister came up to visit, as well as my aunt and uncle from Florida. Uncle Jim spoiled us by taking us out to a very swanky steak house at the Plaza one night - yum! Good wine, good food, good company. Christmas day went very well. Everyone spoiled Lawson like you wouldn't believe...okay, well, maybe you would.... Lawson made out like a bandit and it was so special to have a child for Christmas even if he didn't really know what was going on. He got lots of books and some toys he can play with right now. For some, he'll have to wait a little while. He really loved his toys - we got some great pictures of his little face....

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...... Every year I sing that song wistfully, never expecting it to happen. I think I may get my wish this year. The snow has been coming down in buckets today! The wind is blowing and so the air is just white all over. Mom and I have been baking Christmas cookies, listening to Christmas music and watching the snow fall outside the windows. It's not supposed to get above freezing for several days so we'll probably have this snow around for Christmas day. Yippeee! Even if it melts before Tuesday, at least we had a winter wonderland during our ramp-up preparations. How lucky for Lawson that he'll get such a lovely first Christmas!

It's perfect, except for my Dad has to go out in it here very soon to pick up my aunt and uncle from the airport. Not good driving weather, but they seem to be landing planes just fine. This would be better if no one had to be out and about in this!

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. Lawson and I went out for one last big push today. I just have a couple more small things to take care of and I'm finished! The highlight of the day, though, was Lawson's first visit with Santa. He was good and didn't cry, but he does look a little bewildered in his picture. The little bugger grinned as soon as I picked him up off Santa's lap....

Horray for electricity! I stopped by the house Thursday afternoon and was thrilled to discover the power had come back on. Fortunately, the pipes didn't burst and the sump pump kicked on to drain the basement. I had to throw away a lot of food, but I'd rather waste the food/money than have us get food poisoning... Despite the hassle, the ice was really beautiful. I took a couple of pictures, but they just don't do it justice. Each tree branch was coated in ice, which looked cool up close but was even more amazing when you looked at many trees together - so white! The power lines look cool, too.

These trees are in our backyard:

Here's the view from our 2nd story deck, looking out at the ridge at the end of the street. Click on the pic to get a bigger and more detailed view.

Our over-the-range microwave didn't make it through the storm. It got fried and never came back on. I never realized how much I rely on that thing until I didn't have it anymore. Not really what I wanted to spend money on this week, but I can't live without it. Especially not with family coming for Christmas....

Brrr..... Well, the new winter storm turned out to be a b*tch. We lost power Tuesday morning at 7 and it still hasn't come back on! Fortunately, we have amazing friends who took us in after their power returned Tuesday afternoon. They even let us bring our poor kitty cats! They live across the river on the Missouri side - the Kansas side is screwed. They said on the news last night that it could be 7-10 days before they get power to everyone. Oh, and our basement is ankle-deep in water since the sump pump operates on electricity, so that's awesome....

Anyway, just thought I'd let y'all know what's happening here. I'm at the public library so I can get caught up on email and stuff. Despite the crappiness of the situation, it's beautiful outside. The roads are clear so driving isn't an issue, but there's still a lot of ice on power lines and trees. All those ice-covered trees are gorgeous! I took a bunch of pictures and will post them on here when I get my own computer back. I'll be back in touch - please keep us in your thoughts....

Brad's in Virginia again for another staff ride (basically a grown-up field trip - he's showing the Army officers around the Civil War Wilderness battlefield). It's just the kitties, Lawson and me for a long weekend - oh, and thanks to the latest storms, it's too icy for me to go anywhere... So, due to a little boredom, I decided to dress Lawson up and subject him to another round of pictures. I can't help myself - he's just so dang cute!

Susan did this last year and I thought it would be fun to try. Click on the link for some silliness. Merry Christmas from the Winemans!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1231815521

Snow!!!!!!! We had our first snowfall today. I didn't think it would amount to much, but not only did it stick, we got about two inches. Not bad for the first one. My friend, Katie, and her baby came over and we enjoyed a hot bowl of chili sitting by the lit Christmas tree with snow falling just outside the window. What a nice day... After she left, I took Lawson outside for his first exposure to snow. I even managed to capture his oh-so-cute smile on camera for the first time!

Here's a fun video I was able to "create" on the Pampers website. There are four images of Lawson interspersed with other cute babies. Early Christmas wishes!

I think it's officially safe to announce this to the world: Lawson is sleeping through the night! Hooray!!!!! Turns out that night two weeks ago wasn't a fluke. Even in Boston, he slept all night. It was wonderful to be so well-rested around the family - it made the trip much more fun. However, we stayed up pretty late, so "through the night" meant midnight to 7am. Awesome, but we weren't sure what would happen when we came home and started going to bed earlier. Yep, like clockwork - we put him down about 10:30 and he gets up anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30. I love having a full night's sleep. I feel like a new woman!!!! We loved our Lawson will all our hearts before this, but we love him even more now that all three of us are getting some rest!