Christmas Letter

This is for those of you who I forgot to send a Christmas card to, or who just didn't get a letter in your card. =)

Merry Christmas!

You will notice I combined our baby announcement with our Christmas card this year…please don’t judge. It was my goal to have a delightful picture of all four of us looking happy, rested, and attractive, but that shot is still a few months out. We’ve been a wee bit busy…

2010 was typical for our family, in that we decided to have multiple life altering events happen at once. What is wrong with us?

After many lengthy discussions, we decided that Ammon needed to go back to school to finish his PhD in physics, and he started in September. It’s been a little rough so far, but he has been happy to have intelligent conversations during his work day again. In addition to taking classes, he also teaches an undergraduate lab and is TA for another class. I help Ammon out where I can – recording grades and even grading essays (I weep for our youth’s English skills). No, I don’t help him with his homework. Every assignment looks to me like aliens wrote it.

Obviously our biggest event has been adding Emmett James to our family a mere 2 weeks after Ammon started school. Our timing is impeccable. Oh he is so yummy! No surprise to anyone, pregnancy was sheer torture for me. Luckily, things went a little better this time around and Emmett was only born 6 weeks early (as opposed to Addy’s 8.5). He spent one week in the NICU, which was also a nice change from Addy’s 5 week stay.

It’s hard to tell much about his personality so far – babies at this age pretty much just lie there – but he does seem to be pretty mellow and easy going. For the most part, he’s a really good sleeper. He’s smiling now and just started laughing a few days ago. So far his most endearing trait is that he snorts like an angry piglet when he’s mad. I know I shouldn’t laugh when my child is upset, but it is beyond adorable.

Addy is our verbal girl, and at 4, she is sounding like a mini adult. Some gems from this year include: “I had a double blast-off toot!”, and “Mom, I’m growing hair in my armpits!” (not actually true). Yesterday’s went like this: Addy: “I’m a genius!” Mom: “You are?” Addy: “Of course I am! Why would I be dumb?” Why indeed. She has been loving preschool again this year and has also started taking dance. It looks a little spastic sometimes, but it’s still cute. Other than preschool and dance, her favorite pastimes are pretending to be a puppy, a lion, a kitty, a jaguar, and…pretty much any kind of animal, complete with soundtrack.

She is such a sweet big sister. She loves to sing to Emmett to calm him, and frequently prays “that Emmett will stop crying soon and get big so he can play with me”. She is slowing recovering from the only-child worldview that life revolves around her. It’s been a slightly painful adjustment.

As for me, I didn’t accomplish a whole lot this year, other than…oh yes, I had a child. I suppose 8 months of gestating is enough work for anyone? I am ridiculously thrilled to feel healthy again! I’m slowly adjusting to my new life as mother of two and wife to a student. I’m finding that as long as I have book club and plenty of excuses for girls’ night out, I do pretty well. And if I get a nap.

It’s been kind of a grueling year, but it has also given us the chance to witness countless miracles in our lives. We have been enormously blessed each step of the way. We are so grateful for a kind Father in Heaven who knows and loves us, and for His Son, Jesus Christ.

With love,

Micaela and family