I've neglected our blog this month, sorry for that! It's been an incredible Christmas, definitely a memorable first Christmas for our little girl!
Our Christmas fun started with a weekend trip to Colorado to visit family. This was Harper's first flight and we were both a bit nervous that we might have
that baby; the one we've all resented and given dirty looks to at some point on a flight. Luckily, our baby is perfect ;) Not really, but we did manage to find the right combination of feeding, sleeping, and iPad to keep her happy and quiet for 99% of the trip.
The amount of stuff you need for travel quadruples when you add one baby. Lugging all the stuff to and from the airport was tougher than the baby on the plane, for sure! Thankfully, we had lots of help since Grammie Yo and Kyle joined us. We stayed with Q's grandparents and they were so excited to meet their very first Great-grand child! While on this trip, Harper also met her Uncle Mike, Aunt Shannon, Aunt Quentin, Great Aunt and Uncle Kim and Bill Moon, 2nd cousins Brendan and Caley, Great Aunt and Uncle Lorrel and Lee Vetten, 2nd cousin Gillian, and Grandpa Gary! Harper also got to see Great Grandma Vetten, Grannie Annie, Uncle Brandon, and cousin Branden again! This baby has lots of family and love around her, that's for sure. It makes me happy to know there will be so many people around to help guide her in the right directions in life. :)
Christmas was right around the corner when we returned from Colorado. We celebrated Christmas Eve at our house with a fried prime rib and a board game. Next year, we're going back to the traditional Marley recipe for prime rib, but it was fun to try a new method. That night, Santa Claus brought LOTS of fun things! Harper enjoyed looking in her Christmas stocking (gift from Grannie Annie) for hair bows, onesies, and new socks. Santa also brought her a jumperoo! She is still a bit small to do any jumping, but she loves sitting in the seat and playing. We went to the grandparents house for Christmas day and enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon of gift opening and eating. Harper had a pretty good haul for her first Christmas! She got new blocks, her first race car track, an adorable poncho, a big friendly caterpillar pillow, new giraffe toys, and more. Most of it she hasn't played with yet, because the day after Christmas the Madrugas went on our first cross-country road trip to Florida!
I was naturally quite anxious about a 12 hour long road trip, but when we heard Auntie Jenny was homesick and wanted to see her family for Christmas, we couldn't say no! The plan was to meet Jenny in New Orleans on Monday night, spend the night and Tuesday in New Orleans, then drive the rest of the way to Pensacola on Tuesday evening. The trip to New Orleans was rough because of car trouble (battery died), heavy rain, and lots of traffic. Our sweet baby, however, was a delight! She really was the easiest part of the entire trip! We packed lots of toys, including her favorite Christmas present Winnie the Pooh. She spent a lot of the trip babbling to Pooh. When we arrived in New Orleans we took our baby to Bourbon Street and told her about how she needed to stay away from the half-naked girls; they will not be good friends. While in New Orleans we walked around the French Quarter, ate beignets, went to the French Market, and ate a Muffuleta at Central Grocery. The weekend before I found out I was pregnant last year, right around this time, we were also in New Orleans. It was awesome to revisit it after exactly one year with our little girl!
Next stop was Pensacola to spend time with Jenny and Matt. They had scoped out the town and found all the best places to take us. This trip seemed to center around eating...lots and lots of eating. We had a great time! Harper really loved having a house full of family to snuggle and play with. And she slept through the night---8 hours every night! It was an amazing trip.
It's really been amazing to watch Harper change in the last month. She is so giggly and smiley now. She loves music and movement. In the past week the biggest change has been her ability to just "be". You don't have to entertain her at all times when she is awake, now she is perfectly happy to just hang out and take in her surroundings. She loves being with everyone in her family and she seems to have a special, unique relationship with everyone. She has lost her "newborn" look; she looks so grown up now! She seems to have a very easy going personality, way more "go with the flow" than her mother (which I love!).
Tomorrow I go back to work. I am so thankful I have had so much time to be at home with her. I have very mixed feelings about it, but overall I think it will be a good balance for me and the family. I will be working 2 1/2 days a week and while I'm at work Harper will be with Grandma Yo. I have no doubt that Harper will love spending this time with her Grandma, but I will miss being with her everyday.
Enjoy the recent pictures and video of Harper looking at her stocking!
meeting Great Grandma Moon for the first time
on the plane
First Christmas present from Grammie Annie
Present from Santa--Jumperoo!
watching football on the iPad in Pensacola
first trip to the beach in Pensacola!
Toes in the sand!
Feet in the ocean for the first time!
