Christmas Fun!

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of family! We were able to spend quality time with both sides and we were also lucky enough to have the entire extended Barrow clan join us from Colorado and Missouri for the week following Christmas! What a blast. Despite winter colds, we all had a fabulous Christmas and Lorelei was in LOVE with anything resembling Santa (she called him "Ahh-tee" and Christmas trees which she would insist be turned on if they weren't already! 15 month is a great age and we are getting a kick out of her daily changes!

We also had an engagement in the family! My brother, Kyle, proposed to his girfriend of 5 years (Aimee) a few days before Christmas! I was so excited when he let me in on the secret ahead of time and asked me to go with him to get the ring! Congrats Aimee and Kyle and welcome to our crazy family Aimee! Happy 2008!

Here are some photos of Holiday Fun and some photos of Lorelei from December too!

Kyle and AImee engaged!

Christmas fun

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And for some BIG NEWS...

We are expecting as most of you probably know or have gathered. We are in our 15th week and are due June 14th. I am feeling fine and have gained back some energy with the passing of Trimester #1. We have another five weeks or so until we find out if the Baker name will carry on or if we'll be having another little princess. We can't wait!

View some photos here!

Expecting

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Fall Fun and Christmas anticipation

Lorelei is having a blast being outside with Daddy in the cool Fall weather. She loves the leaves and wants to be literally by his side while he does everything!

She is saying more and more every day and after counting, we have realized that she has a vocabulary of over 30 words that she uses without prompting! This kid amazes us daily. She is still a peanut and weighs a little under 20 lbs at 15 months. Lorelei is also working on some more hair so that Mommy can put some tiny little pig tails in that she has been waiting for!

With the house decorated for Christmas a whole new batch of words have emerged in Lorelei's vocabulary: tree, pretty, Santa etc! We put up our tree last weekend and she has been very well behaved around it. She touches it and then says "no-no"! We are excited to see her face when she sees Santa for the first time. But we are prepared for some tears and the fact that I will most likely have to sit on Santa too if I want to get a photo of her without tears! (Stranger anxiety).

Here are some photos:

Fall fun

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Thanksgiving weekend...

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a blast and were ping-ponging all around seeing family. Lorelei LOVED the turkey and mashed potatoes. We split the day between Grandpa and Grandma Barrow's celebration and the Baker gathering at Matt's Grandmother's house with his Mom's side of the family. The day after Thanksgiving, the three of us and the Barrows (my parents and brother) headed down to Oakdale where my cousin April and her fabulous guy Larry live. My Aunt, Uncle and April's brother had come up from San Diego and so we all had a big feast together! It was so much fun seeing everyone and Lorelei loved getting to know her Great Aunt and Uncle (whom she calls "Buddy-Buddy" now because of a game he played with her) better. The following day we hosted a reunion on the Baker's side at our home which happens to be the old family farm house. It was a blast getting extended relatives together from near and far and all of the kids had a blast playing together.

What a weekend! We had so much fun but felt like we needed a holiday to recover from the holiday! We hope everyone found as much happiness as we did in the celebration.

Photos from our weekend:

Thanksgiving weekend

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Lorelei's Halloween fun!

Halloween Party with the Harbins:

On Saturday the 27th of October, we threw a fun little Halloween party with the Harbins (Laurie, Brandon and Brenden) at their home. The babies were adorable. Brenden was a little devil (as were his parents) and Lorelei was a ladybug. Matt and I went as patient and nurse! Everyone had a great time and it was a blast to have our parents and close friends there! Happy Halloween!

Here are some photos:

Halloween party

Lorelei's first time to Phillip's Farm Pumpkin Patch!

On Tuesday, October 30th my Mom and I took Lorelei to Phillip's Farm to see some animals and to pick out a pumpkin to carve! She had never seen farm animals in person although she LOVES them in her books! She knew all of their sounds and she had a blast repeating all of the noises they made! What a great time for her and for me! I have so many childhood memories of Phillip's Farm! A lot has changed but a lot is still the same.

Some photos of our day:

Phillip's Farm

Pumpkin Carving!

The night before Halloween Lorelei had her first chance to carve a pumpkin! She was not very interested in reaching into the pumpkin but she loved stirring the pumpkin "guts" with the big spoon in the discard bowl! It turned out pretty cute and I think she got a kick out of seeing it light up!

Here are some photos:

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween Day and Night:

In the morning we headed over to Matt's Grandma's house to show her Lorelei's costume and to see Uncle John who was in town. Amanda and Ethan were there too! In the evening we headed out to Bradford Circle (the neighborhood where I grew up) for the annual Halloween Parade that my Mom and a neighbor started over 25 years ago! The kids of the original Bradford families now have kids of their own and so some of us met there to participate in an old tradition with our own children. On the first lap around the circle Lorelei tripped and landed on her forehead...a goose egg quickly formed. After a few minutes of wailing, some ice from a nice neighbor and some kisses she was on her way. Poor thing! She will have a bruise for quite a while! We saw Grandma and Grandpa Barrow there and then headed over to Uncle Kyle's apartment to show him Lola's costume. After that we went back to Matt's Grandma's house to meet up with his Mom (Grandma Baker) and the Elrods for some trick-or-treating. Lorelei walked up to two doors with Grandma and thought that being handed candy was a kick! She had fun playing with Ethan, Brosnan, Xander and Uncle John after we made our way back to Great-Grandma's house. By then she was pretty tired and we called it a night.

See some photos here:

Halloween Day and Evening

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Lorelei and cousin Ethan...13 months old

Lorelei and Ethan are so fun to watch together! They get along pretty well unless favorite toys are in the mix and then things can get interesting! Lorelei loves to follow Ethan around! It will be fun watching them grow up together!

Some photos of Ethan and Lorelei recently:

Lorelei and Ethan 13 months

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Lorelei and her dogs...

Lorelei thinks that Bailey and Baxter have hung the moon. She adores them and thankfully they adore her too! They are very tolerant and she is very hands-on! What a funny trio!

Lorelei and her dogs:

Lorelei and her dogs October 2007

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South Lake Tahoe Fun with Barrows

Over October 12th -14th we headed up to South Lake Tahoe to spend the weekend with my parents (Grandma and Grandpa Barrow) who were at a condo. We had a blast with Lorelei. It was a nice, relaxing time for the three of us to bond again since Matt had been working in Salinas for the past 5 weeks and had only been home for short weekends. Lorelei spent lots of time with her Grandparents and the weather was beautiful! We love Tahoe and I think Lorelei liked her first trip there too!

Here are some photos from our weekend:

South Shore Tahoe Trip with Barrows Oct 2007

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More from her 13th month...

Well, Miss Lorelei is a ball of energy. She loves to run through the house and her new favorite activity is shutting every door she can find which can sometimes be a problem when she runs into a dark room and shuts herself inside! Lorelei has been enjoying the fall leaves and loves to step on them to hear the crunch. She says "Mama" and "Dada" constantly and points to us when saying it. She says something that sounds like "Lie-lie" when patting her own chest. She says "no-no" before she does something she is not supposed to do and so we always have a bit of a warning that something naughty is coming. She's still learning the concept. She just recently discovered that she has some hair and she loves to take her brush and "brush" it. When asked where her hair is, she reaches up to the top of her head and pulls a few strands straight up. She can now say "Elmo" and "up" and "down". It seems that every day brings a new word. She is still a peanut weighing in at just barely 19lbs. Her bumps and bruises from a rough and tumble first part of the month are pretty much gone and it looks like we have a forehead clear of bruises for the moment! It cleared up just in time for her "1 year photos" which were actually like her "almost 14 month photos". We bought an adorable little dress for her, moved nap times around so that she would be in a good mood and made Daddy come along to help elicit smiles...but it was a disaster! She was an angel while waiting for her photo, but stranger anxiety got the best of her once set down for her picture. She could not be consoled. We ended up with one shot of her sitting and screaming with huge tears streaming down her face and one close-up photo of her that was actually taken while she was in my arms! Oh well. We tried. There are some fun photos of Lorelei with her cousins on the Baker side of the family as well as with Grandma and Grandpa Baker below. She has a blast playing with the boys! She still LOVES her dogs and I am so thankful that they entertain her as much as they do! It has been a fun month and we are looking forward to Halloween next week. Lorelei will be a ladybug!

Some photos from this month can be seen here:

Lorelei 13.5 months

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Lorelei's 13th month so far...

Well, Miss Lorelei is now 13 months old and we think the theme for this month should be "crash and burn". The poor little thing has a new bruise every day it seems (the perils of learning to walk) and she is quite independent and so she often does not want any help when walking. But the combined factors of two dogs that run around the house, slippery wood floors and wobbly steps make for a very bumped up little girl! She seems to be LOVING the walking adventure and can get from one end of the house to the other quickly! She is saying more and more every day and has a great sense of humor already. She points to me, says "Dada" and then laughs! She loves pointing out people's toes and shoes and she says both words quite clearly! She has sprouted 4 new molars in the past month (three in on day) and although they are not all totally in, I think the worst of the molar-teething stage is behind us (THANK GOD!) and I am sure she is happy about that too. September was a challenging month for me because I took on the roll of "single parent" for five weeks while Matt was working in Salinas with his Dad on a project. He would come home late on Friday nights and head out by 3:30am on Monday mornings. Lorelei and I missed him terribly and I was exhausted! She loved to greet Matt with an excited "Daddy!" when he walked through the doors on Friday nights. He tried to soak up as much Daddy-daughter time with her as he could on the weekends but the days just flew by too quickly. But, we are all back together now and are having fun with all of the new things that Lorelei shows us every day.

Here are some photos from the second half of September until now:

Lorelei 13 months

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