Happy holidays everyone!! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We had a great Christmas! The whole holiday "season" has been wonderful! Cal is on vacation from the 21st - Jan. 2 so it is great to have him home! On December 21st Lindsay and Jeremy came down from Fort McMurray and my Mom and Lindsay came over for a visit. Then, Cal's sister Kathy came to our house from Grande Prairie and stayed the night and on the 22nd we went to Gerry and Lesley's house with Grandma Bev and Kathy and had a nice visit and dinner! We left for Saskatchewan the morning of the 23rd. Blake traveled very good (we only had to stop once)! We arrived in Tisdale that evening and got unpacked, etc. Blake was up more than usual that night, probably due to sleeping so much in the car. On the 24th we did some preparation for Christmas Day and went to church in the evening. We woke up on the 25th and opened presents and visited with family - Oh and ate (and ate, and ate ...)! It was a great time and we were very glad the whole family was together! Blake behaved magnificently!! He was spoiled rotten of course! He ripped the paper quite well on his first gift and then lost interest! My cousins kids, Ryder and Ryann, were really good with Blake and it was cute to see them together! The camera's were sure busy Christmas Day :) We headed home to Edmonton on Boxing Day. We had to stop a few more times on the way home then on the way there. We stopped in at my Grandma Kelley's work for a quick hello! We got home Boxing Day evening and then Eric and Christa came over for a visit. Blake was pretty tired from travelling and all the Christmas festivities so he went to bed without a bath. Today we went to Beaumont to visit the Hrdlicka's! I was glad we were home in time to see them! Nicholas and Blake opened their gifts together and played a bit. I have a few other friends who are home for the holidays so hopefully we'll be able to get together!! Blake doing really good, continuing to grow and learn and change! This afternoon he just started breathing heavily through his nose?! Sounds weird, but try it and you'll see what I mean! LOL! I think he's just doing it for the sound effect?! We bought him a Leap Frog toy that he can stand up to and he is loving it! And for the first time on Christmas Day my cousin was holding his hands and he took a step forward! We were very surprised!! I wonder if he'll walk before he crawls!? Blake also started reaching out a couple of weeks ago! It's pretty darn cute when he reaches for you!!! He's talking more and more each day too! You can carry on a conversation with him sometimes, where he pauses and you talk then you pause and he replies! It's cool! I've also noticed how his grasp is improving. He can use his pincer grasp quite well now to pick up small things. Actually just today he was picking up small pieces of toast (like cheerio size) from the table and eating them! He was also taking Nicholas' soother out of his mouth and putting it in his own!? It's really fun to watch him change and discover and learn new things! He peeks around you if you're blocking his view of something or if you drop something on the ground he looks down for it. He has fun with peek-a-boo too!! We hope you had a great Christmas too and all the best in 2008!
Love Cal, Tracy & Blake
