Christmas 2008

Christmas was very exciting for us this year. With the family together for the first time in many years it was exciting to watch James and Elizabeth in their enthusiasm. James enjoyed the process of opening presents as much as the gift. He'd open a gift and be so excited at the opening process, then ask what the present was, which always brought on more excitement. Elizabeth loved watching all the commotion and excitement and even seem to enjoy looking at the shiny objects that she received. At the end of the day we were all tired and I was glad that we did not have to make the two hour drive back to Phoenix, as Jeff, Lisa and James did.

Jamie was unable to make his trip due to bad weather, but he'll come out for a week long visit over his spring break in April. We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and wish everyone a great 2009.

Elizabeth is now 12 weeks old and is holding her head up quite a bit and is very interested the friends hanging around on her play mat; she'll play for over an hour at a time now. She is also drooling a lot and "chewing" on my fingers, so we think we may be in the early stages of teething. She'll be 3 months old on January 1st!

Tamale Saturday

Georgina, tamale master, & Jeff
Lisa & James enjoy the good food.
Amy, Elizabeth and Jim

Last year Pat and Jack were invited to Cruz's house on the Saturday before Christmas to join in the festivities of eating, drinking, and tamale making. Since Jim had to work I went along for the ride with some letter boxing along the way. We joked that next year we'd bring the entire Kimbrough crowd... little did we know that our joking would become a reality.

Yesterday we made good on our joking and threats and the entire Kimbrough crowd descended on Cruz's house to eat, drink, and make tamales. We did not arrive empty handed, but shared our family traditions of goop and buckeyes with the others. To further add to the mix, a group of ladies who used to work together at Tucson Unified School Distinct still get together often for "Board Meetings;" yesterday was the official December meeting.

Jeff was the only one making tamales, but the rest of us had a great time. James was enthralled by a small winter wonderland display with a train, Elizabeth enjoyed watching and listening to the crowd while Jamie and Betsy mingled with new friends. Jeff meet the tamale master, Georginia, who asked him if he was the reason Pat's tamale ordered recently doubled. He fessed up!

Christmas Dress

I've been a bit behind in my positing and picture taking this week. On Tuesday I had knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus injury that I suffered in May while 20 weeks pregnant. Since the injury was not considered life threatening or really serious nothing could be done until after Elizabeth was born. After meeting with the surgeon I was able to get a quick surgery date and now will return to school on January 5th instead of next week, as originally planned. Having mom and dad close by has been a wonderful. Mom arrives just as Jim is leaving for work, then dad comes over later to do any errands, cleaning, or outside work that needs to be done. Mom stays until Jim gets home from work and we repeat the next day. So far its working and I hope to be back on my feet in another week so I don't wear out my help. Elizabeth started sleeping through the night this week which has been a dream for us since Jim is the one getting up with her while I recover from my surgery.

Elizabeth and I played dress up in her dress that Grammy bought for her and even though she was not in a great picture taking mood I did managed to get a couple good pictures of her. This week Elizabeth has amazed us at her abilities. If you clasp your hands in front of her she'll do the same. She's making lots of new noises and is really starting to move her arms and legs a lot more.

Pooped Party Girl

In Tucson there are many resale stores that sell gently used clothing and baby "stuff" of all kinds. Thinking that Elizabeth did not really need the bouncy seat its been well worth the $15 I paid for it! Elizabeth loves her bouncy seat and the new friends that came with it. She has figured out that if she moves her arms and legs the seat bounces so she is moving more than ever while in the seat... good thing it comes with straps! The whole reason for the trip was so Grammy could find Elizabeth's Christmas dress; she found a lot more than just a dress. Two holiday outfits, a romper, and sleeper later I drug her out of the store. The total price on all four items was less than $20! When I need clothes for Elizabeth I'll definitely revisit that store!

Since I had to stop working just after the school year started I was not able to attend my baby shower at school, so several of my fellow teachers (including Auntie Pat), mom, Elizabeth, and I met at Manuel's Mexican Restaurant in Green Valley yesterday afternoon for appetizers. She slept through the first part of her party then was awake and having fun the rest of the time. Elizabeth was showered with diapers! She has quite a few thank you notes to write, but I think I'll write them for her so they get out in a timely manner.

On Wednesday we went to the doctor for her two month wellness check. Elizabeth is growing and as of Wednesday (2 months and 2 days or 9 weeks) weighed 10 lbs 15 oz and is 22.5" long! She's gained 4.5 lbs since birth and grown 4"!

Two Months Old

Wow! Its so hard to believe that Elizabeth has been with us for two months now! She's is turning into such a cutie pie! We think that her cute face will soon be hard to resist when she's doing things she should not be. Oh well...

Her activity level is amazing, when shes awake shes constantly moving her arms and legs. While shopping this past weekend I looked down into the stroller at her and noticed she was looking at her hands and fingers with her tongue out. I think she was trying to figure out how to get the fingers into her mouth to suck on. She's accomplished the fist sucking several times, but I don't think it was planned. Along with being very active she is now smiling a lot and even starting to giggle. When she does get a good giggle out it scares her a tad bit and we find her looking around to see where that came from.

We go to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon for her two month check and are very anxious to see how much big she's gotten since her last appointment. I'll report back then!