The rest of Katy's first Christmas

I'm emerging from under a pile of laundry, crinkled wrapping paper, and snotty tissues (see below) to post about the rest of our Christmas marathon. Overall this year was a really special occasion, in which we feel richly blessed that the Lord has given us a beautiful daughter, a wonderful family, and warm homes in which to celebrate. Katy really enjoyed visiting with all of her family and friends, and by the end I think she was starting to get the hang of the present thing.

We went to Granny's for the annual get-together, which was highlighted by getting to meet our new 3 month old cousin Gabe. Katy tried out Grandpa's homemade swing that he created when I was a baby. It was so much fun to have 2 babies around for the gift exchange, as well:

Then we headed back to Columbus for our first Christmas at our house. It was nice to be home for Christmas. The only thing was, it was all a bit overwhelming for a 7 month old, and after having been gone 4 nights and fighting a head cold, Katy really needed Christmas day to recover, and she had a complete meltdown in the middle of unwrapping presents Christmas morning. It took us about 20 minutes to calm her down because she was refusing to nurse because of her stuffy nose, poor thing. Anyway, Brian got her to take a bottle, she fell asleep, and we finished the adult presents and helped her to open hers later after she woke up in a better mood. (Oh, and Brian had to teach us how to "play" our stocking stuffers)

Another thing that made Christmas Day special - Katy took her first crawling steps! She'll be moving before we know it.

I even cooked Christmas dinner! My mom and sister helped, of course, but we had cornish hens, sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn casserole, biscuits, and million dollar pie that I saw on Oprah. :) This was even more fun because it was the first meal I have made in the new kitchen, and we washed the dishes in the dishwasher!

Finally yesterday, after Katy thought she was all finished traveling, we took a day trip to do Christmas with Brian's family. We had a really nice visit with Grammy and all the cousins and looking at their new kitchen, too.

So today I'm feeling the post Christmas high - enjoying the recent memory of time with family, leftovers in the fridge, new things around the house, and still moving at a little slower pace than usual. There's also a LITTLE relief that it's over, because it's such a hustle and bustle. But it was a good Christmas, and we are truly blessed.

One more funny tidbit: last night Katy slept in her new sleep sack, and at 3:30am this morning when I fed her she was still in it like normal. But at 6:30 when she awoke for the day, this is how I found her. This ia truly a Houdini act - she must've pulled her arms out of the sleeves, twisted around, and pushed her arms back through. If she can do that - what else can she do?