Christmas 2009

We traveled to visit my family this year in MD and VA. We decided to make the drive to save money.....and bring gifts back....and overall the drive went pretty well. We left Montgomery on Wednesday, December 16th in the evening hoping Hayden would sleep in the car for the first leg of the trip which didn't go so well. He was not a fan of sleeping at the hotel so on the way home we just decided to do it all in one day which actually went much better. We got a car DVD player for the trip and that seemed to really help. He loves to watch Baby Einstein DVD's....they are the only thing that will hold his attention.

We arrived at my sister's house in Fredericksburg, VA on Thursday afternoon. We stayed one night there and then headed to my parents house in Southern, MD on Friday just before the big snowstorm hit. From Friday to Sunday we got about a foot of snow. We missed out on our big family get together that Sunday afternoon but it was fun to be snowed in together. Luckily we brought a hand me down snow suit for Hayden just in case. We took him out for about 5 minutes just to get some photos.

Most of the trip was spent just hanging out with my family. Hayden had lots of time to play with his cousins Ryan and Sarah. We also took Georgia with us which made my 5 year old nephew very happy. He really wore her out chasing her around the house and hugging on her. My parents also kept Hayden for a couple hours so Eric and I could have a nice dinner out together.

We traveled back to Fredericksburg for Christmas Eve and Day. The kids were so cute together opening their gifts. We then drove back to MD so we could visit some friends and then back to VA the night before we left to cut some time off our trip home. It was a great Christmas and Hayden was totally spoiled by everyone. Here are some photos from our big trip......and a video of Hayden in the car on our way home playing a game with Daddy.

My first Christmas present!

We went to Eric's sister and brother in law's house for an early Christmas get together with the family. We will all be going different ways this year so we wanted to get together for dinner and to exchange gifts for the kids. We had a great time! Thanks Tammy and Wayne for hosting! We were also able to talk to Nana and Papu on the webcam from Germany. Here is a video of Hayden opening his first gift and some other pics from the day.



















Hayden & Aaden hanging out
















Emma & Alyse opening gifts




















Hayden and daddy playing

My first trip to the Gym!

We recently took Hayden to the local Gymboree for a class. I've been wanting to get him in some sort of play group for a while so we thought we would give it a try. Eric had off work so he was able to come along and take pictures. Hayden had lots of fun and was definitely tired out after 45 minutes of play. His favorite things were the slide, bubbles, and the parachute. We signed up for weekly classes starting in January so I am looking forward to having a new activity to do with Hayden. Here are some photos....

8 months

Hayden recently turned 8 months old and he's quite a big man (we think he is close to 25lbs now). He definitely gives me a workout! He pretty much will eat anything but green beans now and has started eating baby cookies and rice rusks. He now has two little teeth that he loves to show off. In the last two months he has mastered sitting for long periods and is very close to crawling. He is content rolling around to get to things and loves to just stand. He would stand all day if he could. Hayden loves to watch and play with Georgia. He has made it into the big tub and loves to play in the water. Hayden's hair continues to get thicker, longer, and curlier and I'm never sure exactly what hairdo he will wake up with. He just started saying DaDa and Mama and every now and then we hear a baba or gaga. He loves to jump in his exersaucer and his favorite thing to play with are books. So that is the update on Hayden! Here are some new photos....

Goodbye Nana and Papu

Eric's parents are leaving for Germany this Sunday and we had our last dinner before they leave Monday night at our apartment. It was a tough goodbye but we are very excited for them and know we will still get to see them a couple times a year. They left us with quite a nice goodbye gift as well.....they gave us their Toyota 4Runner which is a huge blessing and we are so grateful. We really needed a new larger car with Hayden and knew it would be a while before we would be able to get one so we are very thankful. I know Hayden will also miss his Nana and Papu but we hope to take a family trip to Germany soon.
Goodbye Nana


















Goodbye Papu