A year ends, a year begins...

I'd be lying if I said it was all smiles and roses here at the 4964 17th Ave. And, I'd be lying if I said having a baby is easy. In fact, the last couple of weeks have convinced me of one thing: If I ever talk to a parent who says that they don't think they'd be able to do a Round the World trip because it would be "too hard," then I will be left with little choice by to remove my white-satin, gentleman's riding glove and slap them across the face. Because, in comparison to six weeks of sleep deprivation and crying babies, having stomach amoebas while trapped on a toilet-free boat floating down the Nile is easy.

Sleep deprivation and screaming babies will break the strongest man. And, being snowed in for roughly a week and a half doesn't help. Neither does me coming down with food poisoning shortly after the New Year. It always comes back to my stomach.

But, to be fair, I'd also be lying if I painted the last couple weeks as entirely doom and gloom. That's not a fair portrait either. Despite the best attempts by mother nature, Christmas actually ended up being a pleasant low-key affair with my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law coming into town to surprise them. Sadly, my brother had to leave early Christmas morning, but I was still happy for Stella to finally get the opportunity to meet her aunt and uncle. And it was nice to have the family together for the holidays, albeit briefly.

Stella meets Uncle Travy. She likes him so much already, she's already dressing like him.

Several days later, and after the snow finally relented, Stella got to meet some more relatives: Her great-Grandma Gloria, great-Aunt Debby and great-Cousin Nolan, all of who we had originally intended to spend Christmas Eve with but were unable to because of the weather.

Stella meets great-Grandma Gloria. Hopefully, later this year, she will get to meet her other great-Grandparents in Illinois and Texas.

New Years itself was pretty much a normal night for the three of us. Well, except we managed to stay up till midnight watching a James Bond film and toasted in '09 with a glass of sparkling wine before retiring to bed by 12:30.

Cheers! Happy New Years, Stella!

Then, the new year brought the visit of Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dixie (or as Sarah's step-brother, Brent, suggested they be called "G-Daddy" and "G-Mama). While the visit was over too quick, it was still great that Stella got the opportunity to meet another set of Grandparents. And, after being snowed in for so long, it was nice to have some visitors again.

Grandpa Bob tries his hand at soothing Stella by bouncing on the yoga ball.

Finally, last week, we had a reunion with our Centering group from the Mid-wife clinic where we had the chance to be introduced to all the other babies including Cleo and Jayan. It was good to see everyone from the class again, meet the babies, and especially it was nice to commiserate with all the other new parents and realize that they are all going through the same struggles and sleepless nights.

So, in closing: Yeah, having Stella in our lives is tiring and challenging. But, is it worth it? Definitely! Need proof? I now present this Stella Moment of Zen™...



More Christmas photos.
More Stella photos, including New Years and great-grandma's visit.
Still more photos, including Bob and Dixie's visit.