On Sunday, we headed out for our first whole family outing. We had breakfast at the Captain Cook hotel which is decorated to the nines for Christmas. The highlight is a huge gingerbread village. Then we went to Bell's Nursery to see Santa. Lily was excited to see Santa from a distance. She waved and said she wants to meet him, but when it came picture time she got scared so no Santa in the photo this year.
Lily is doing a great job as a big sister. She tells Cora to drink her milk and has been practicing nursing her own dolls. She has been diapering her stuffed animals and putting them in the swing. It's been nice having GG around so there is always someone free to play with Lily. Lily has been busy helping cook and playing in the snow.
We've had an exciting last couple of days. Cora Anne joined our family on Sunday, December 2 at 1am. She was 8.5 lbs and 19 inches long. She is perfect in many ways including being a good eater, sleeper, and cuddler. Of course she is really cute. But we really appreciate what good timing she has. Jill's mom arrived in Alaska on Saturday morning. We had breakfast together and then she hopped on a flight to Homer to visit Elsa and Liam. That afternoon Lily got the stomach bug and threw up for the first time in her life. She was sad and just wanted to cuddle with mama. Around 6, Jill started to feel bad. Not with the stomach bug, but maybe it was contractions. At 7, we called our friend Kate to be on stand by if the baby was coming. Her son was also sick with the stomach bug. At 8, Jill called her mom to see what flights were like to come back to Anchorage. There were very few flights the next day so she caught the last flight out of Homer at 10:30. A little after 10, we decided to go to the hospital. Kate came over to wait for Barbs flight to come in. Barb was at our house with Lily by 11:30 and baby Cora was born 90 min later. Lily has had a great time with her GG and was excited for us all to come home from the hospital. Cora has been an angel but has only spent about 30 min not being held. When you are cute, sweet, and cuddly, no one wants to put you down.
We all had a busy Thanksgiving weekend. We had turkey day out in Wasilla. Lily loved chasing Wyatt and Dawson around. On Friday, we put up the tree and it was hard to tell if Jasper or Lily was more excited. We went to the Nutcracker that night, so we got some family photos before we left. Lily stayed home to play with Jody, her fantastic babysitter. On Saturday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate Mark's parents 40th wedding anniversary. Lily opted out for a playdate with her dear friend Anna where they were busy coloring and watching a Micky Mouse Christmas movie.
I know it's been forever since we've updated the blog. I have a few entries I might go back and write up but I wanted to make sure we got Halloween up. Lily the lion got to go trick or treating at school. Her class walked around the Student Union, the sports complex and the Business Building. I went along but it was much too fun to stop and take photos. By about the fourth stop, Lily understood what to do and would open her bag and say trick or treat. We went over to some friends for dinner and got some cute photos of the lion, dragon, bumble bee, and snow white.
Jill's friends from grad school were having a reunion in Corvallis, so we made a quick trip to Oregon. Grandpa Davey flew back to Oregon with us so that was nice. GG got two full days of Lily time including sleeping in GGs bed and pool time with the cousins. Then when mom was backed went to the zoo with GG and road the zoo train. Lily makes a great train horn complete with arm movement. Then another cousin day with ponytails for everyone. A really fast trip but we had a great time.
It's true. I failed to upload a single photo of Lily and Grandpa Dave. He really did come visit and here are the photos to prove it.
We left Orcas Island for the Oregon Coast. Jill's family has a condo in Gleneden Beach. It was fun to explore with Lily. We played in the sand, found a great park on Devils Lake, went to the Aquarium, swam in the pool, and went out to eat at the Pelican Pub in Pacific City and Mo's in Lincoln City. It was a fantastic trip and yes the brilliant sunshine was wonderful.
