Christmas 2007 De-Briefing

Well, we are back in Denver - safe & sound. Christmas this year sure was great fun. It was Kate's first and her best yet! We spent about 9 days in Wisconsin at the "Branch Ranch". The week included many great events & activities. To start the week my folks hosted a Cash Family Christmas Party (including extended relatives from my mom's side of the family). Complete with a White Elephant gift exchange and Kate having the pleasure of meeting her Great Grandmother Cash. We did take the quintessential 4-generation picture:


We went on to celebrate Christmas, in which Santa did make an appearance (see the previous post for a photo of Santa & Kate). The day after Christmas Kristin's boyfriend Mike and Greg's girlfriend, Amanda joined the party to get a taste of the Branches. Both Mike and Amanda were great additions to the trip, including gifts from "The Kingdom of Tonga" (where Amanda is the Deputy Country Director of the Peace Corps) as well as plenty of baby time with Kate from both of them. Mike is particularly fond of babies, which was EXTREMELY well-received by both Kristin and Kate! The day after Mike and Amanda arrived we all participated in a very "Faulker-esc" round of paddle-tennis games. It was tons of fun to get out and play some paddle-tennis outdoors and Jeff really enjoyed it. Matthew and Jeff were "Team Testosterone", complete with an overly aggressive move by Jeff which ended up in an extensive injury to his hands. He wound up with much of the skin on his fingers gone as well as scrapes on his shoulders, knees, and elbows. Here's a shot of his hands, post-injury:




The remainder of the week included plenty of snow, which was great for cross-country skiing and a couple different puzzles. Mike and I became geeky puzzle buddies.







All in all it was a great trip to Wisconsin and we were reminded of why people endure the cold winters in the Mid West - they make for warm fires, plenty of wine and good family time!

Merry Christmas!

We wish a very Merry Christmas to you and your families! Kate LOVED meeting Santa!!

We're gettin' in the spirit!

We've been a bit light on the pictures lately, so I figured we'd better post some up so that everyone doesn't get too bored with our blog. So, the question is what's been going on... hmm... Well - Uncle Matthew came to town which was fun. The best part of that trip (from our standpoint, but probably not from Mateo's) was that at one point Matthew offered to change the next diaper and sure enough Kate did not disappoint - her bowels decided that was the best time for them to completely empty themselves for the day, to the point of which her clothing being completely soaked and dirty for uncle Matthew to change! Matthew thought diaper-changing was no problem, until now!!


What else... We've discovered that Kate has curls - at least when her hair is wet - check out this picture!















Other than that we've just been getting in the spirit of Christmas!!


We hope you all are well!

10 Years for 3 Hours!

Boy what a night! 10 years to the day from our first lip-locked embrace we had an amazing night out full of laughs. Whew - ten years is a long time, most days we say time has flown by and on some we say it's been an eternity!

Anyways, Uncle Matthew's in town, so we decided to take full advantage of his offer to babysit and we went out for a night on the town, or should I say a night out in Aurora. The hilarity of our evening began as we mingled around a shopping center and entered into the oasis of mediocre quality merchandise and cheap prices that only Ross Department Store can offer. Walking through the aisles of Ross was an experience that quite possibly may have led to a serious case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The hoards of people and eclectic group of shoppers in addition to the wild disorganization of the merchandise strewn on the floor very closely resembled what we think a Baghdad bazaar would be like on a Saturday afternoon. As we strolled through the store and got closer to an actual exit strategy, we couldn't help but pick up more and more crap that we didn't need just because it was all so cheap! Ah, the joys of holiday shopping.

A quick stop at a "dollar store" for movie candy opened our eyes to the vast array of junk you can buy for $1. Maybe Ross isn't that cheap after all, Ross does charge more than $1 for quite a few things...

Then we went over to get dinner and a movie at one of those movie theaters that serves food and drinks while you watch a movie. As we jumped into the restroom before the show I coudn't help but to have the thought in my head: if we make it outta here without food poisoning we'll have had a great night. These restrooms left quite a bit to be desired and certainly brought a couple questions up in regards to the quality of location we had decided to spend our evening. Despite the questionable facilities we had a GREAT time and food wasn't half bad - just don't let it touch the table-top before you eat it!!

All-in-all it sure was nice to have a night out with just-the-two-of-us (I love that song, we can make it if we try....). The simple joys of being able to hold hands because neither of us is pushing a stroller and being able to watch the whole movie because we don't have to stop half way to feed Kate or change a diaper, etc. It sure was nice. Thank you, Matthew for the time - we couldn't be more grateful. I can't wait for our next trip to Ross...

First Time Away...

Greetings! Well, I officially survived my first business trip away from Kate. I was away from the house from Tuesday night through Friday night, and it was an interesting experience - it was difficult when I left the house, but once I was gone it really wasn't that bad! Oh, I did enjoy the pleasure of adult conversation, no diapers, caffeine in the mornings, wine in the evenings - what a good time! It wasn't until the plane ride home that I found myself anticipating seeing Kate with huge excitement and impatience. (It probably didn't help that on the plane ride home I read Jenny McCarthy's book about her son having autism, of which the main theme is her dedication to do absolutely anything for her son to help him to get well...)

When I finally pulled up to the house I couldn't get inside soon enough and after a quick hand-washing I held our little bundle of joy and I couldn't have been more pleased to be right there at that moment. The happiness that came over me as we looked into each other's eyes again was emotionally overwhelming - I love her with all my heart and it felt so good to hold her again. And she actually remembered me too! I was worried she wouldn't remember me since she's so young but boy, she was smiling and squirming around in happiness when I was holding her with tears in my eyes. I didn't put her down all night long and even contemplated letting her sleep with us (which was quickly ruled out, as we only have a queen-sized bed and when it is the three of us no one sleeps well...) It sure is good to be home!

Additionally, Jeffers did an amazing job of taking care of Kate while I was away. Kudos and thanks to our good friend, Brian Ross, who came over two different nights to help out and hang out with Jeff and Kate. Rumor has it that Brian had his first bottle-feeding experience (and I don't mean that Jeff fed him a bottle!!)!! Back to Jeff, though - not only was Kate alive and well when I arrived home, but she was recently bathed and happy as a clam in her holiday outfit looking cute as ever and enjoying watching our Christmas tree that Jeff had put up while I was away! I couldn't be more pleased - it really has been amazing to watch Jeff grow into fatherhood, he makes me proud!

Apparently I'm feeling a bit sentimental, but here you have it! I hope everyone is enjoying the magic of the holiday season.

Peace!

Kate at 3 months!

Here's the latest video of Kate. You even get to see both of our dogs in it too!! They're all soooo cute!

Back to Work...

Well, the hard work and flexible time of my maternity leave is officially over. I've actually been back to work for about 3 weeks now. We're pretty lucky, because Jeff is watching Kate during the day and doing his Mountain Organics business on the side. It has been an adjustment for all three of us, but all in all everything is going quite well. We do feel very lucky to have taken 10 weeks of just family time for the three of us - it was an extremely special time.

Kate is doing quite well - officially into her 3-6 months clothes and her 0-3 are in storage. She really is coming along. She smiles all the time and has actually let out a couple bona fide laughs, which was super fun to see. She is also beginning to hold onto toys when she is playing with them.

She is very much looking forward to our trip to Wisconsin for Christmas. That will be our first trip with her in an airplane - wish us luck!
Now that it is winter time she is sporting this Columbia outfit quite a bit as we take walks in our ever-lasting quest to get into shape!!

Sorry we've had a bit of a hiatus on posts - just so busy with work and stuff. And our newest pictures weren't accessible for some reason...

I hope all is well with you!