The End of a Great Holiday Season

We had an amazing holiday season where we were able to spend a lot of time with both of our families. Pretty much everybody made it out to Colorado besides my sister! My niece Lydia came to see Jack before the rest of the family got into town, and she was loving on her little cousin. Lydia is the only girl of the family with two brothers and now a male cousin, but maybe someday she'll get a girl buddy in the family.

We spent Christmas Eve with the Nichols family, and it was a special time since all 6 of the siblings in Jonathan's family, his parents, and his aunt and uncle were able to make it. Besides our wedding, that is the first time this has happened in 6 years. Plus, now we have the addition of Jack to the family! We got a family photo, which hopefully won't be the last one for another 6 years. And a few other highlights from the party:

My parents also came into town on Christmas night and spent 5 days in town. We didn't get a chance to spend the holidays together last year, so it was nice to spend some time with them this season. It's their first year with a grand child, so they were pretty excited to spend some time with Jack. Here's a few photos while at our apartment:

Another bonus to having family around is that Jonathan and I had a chance to go on two dates while Jack was left at home with grandparents. My parents watched him while Jonathan and I went out for dinner and coffee. It was great to get a chance to just sit and chat, but we were definitely ready to get back to our little guy. We were also able to go to a couple's house we are friends with for a New Year's party while Jonathan's mom watched Jack as well. A couple brought their four day old baby to the party, so I spent a lot of my time sitting and talking to that mom and talking about our babies.

To be able to do all of this we had to work with Jack on taking a bottle. We practiced twice before family got here, and it was a huge success while we were out. He's not a huge fan of taking a bottle from me, but he is willing to take it from other people, which is all that matters really. I don't think the bottle is his preference, but he'll take it so I can spend a little bit of time away. Jack has also been A LOT more alert lately. He actually spends more of his day awake than asleep now. He smiles all the time and tries to talk to us with his little baby coos. When we put him on his play mat he swings his arms trying to reach the little stuffed toys. When my parents were here he was able to grab the rings attached to one of the stuffed toys and hold on to them. He's becoming a lot more coordinated! He really likes sitting up and watching what's going on in the room, and he follows people around with his eyes. He gets more and more of a personality everyday, and it is so fun to watch how quickly he develops. Here is our little Jack practicing sitting up against Jonathan's legs:

A woman at my work made Jack a knitted hat and blanket. It's turned out to be the perfect size hat for him, and we have definitely needed it these past few days. The weather in Denver has changed from temperate and in the 50s to the single digits overnight. When he wears his little hat he's so cute I could just throw up :).

Jonathan and I have so much to be thankful for as we enter this new year. 2008 we started dating, 2009 we got married, and 2010 we had Jack. I'm excited to see what 2011 holds, because it's going to be hard to top this past year! It's amazing how much can change in your life in one year.