Month: December 2016

Week 20

Adorable outfit courtesy of her Uncle Andy and the Kufel crew;)

Christmas Dinner

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We went to Soho House for Christmas dinner and pretty much hung out there the rest of the weekend since we’re so comfortable having the baby there. There’s plenty for her to look at, we can take up as much space as we like, and if she gets fussy, no one cares!

Yep, that’s my baby in her Christmas best having her diaper changed in the men’s room. Mama/Daddy duties are 50/50 in this household, baby!

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It took our sweet girl no time at all to be out like a light. I hope all her Christmases forever and ever are so wonderfully exhausting.

Our First Christmas!

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It was quiet, but it was perfect. We missed our family of course, but did our best to leverage technology to compensate. We Facetimed, called, and shared videos and lots and lots of pictures. Gigi slept in on Christmas morning, so who were we to do otherwise? We obliged and stayed in bed until almost 10am! (Editor’s note: this probably had something to do with keeping her out far beyond her bedtime the night before; see inset photo).

When baby girl was ready, I made coffee (thanks to Chandra, Dave and I are now coffee drinkers — we got her a Keurig when she joined our family, and now we drink it almost every day), Dave put on some classic Christmas music, we paused for a quick Family’s First Christmas selfie, and then the fun began. Although it might have been a little impractical and wasteful, I wrapped all of Georgia Grace’s presents. I know she won’t remember this Christmas, but maybe, just maybe, the joy she felt watching her daddy tear open and unveil her gifts will shape her sweet life in some little way. If not, she sure had one hell of a time chewing on the wrapping paper.

Gigi’s favorite thing under the tree was a light-up turtle that plays music (…the whole song through! I did not consider the importance of this until this very juncture in my life.), which she’s really been enjoying during tummy time. My favorite gift was a cozy ivory sweater from Dave. Dave got so many great gifts it’s hard for him to decide (typical Dave answer!). I’ll go ahead and answer for him and say it must’ve been the Complete Sock Wardrobe I’ve been threatening to give him for years… Christmas 2016 it finally happened.

 

Balthazar

On Christmas Eve night, Dave and I introduced Georgia Grace to one of our favorite restaurants in the world: Balthazar. We went on Christmas Eve two years ago and I remember thinking it was magical. Like 2014, this year, Balthazar did not disappoint. The food (French bistro) was amazing and the service was perfect. Everyone — staff and guests alike — was in a festive and celebratory mood. And, FORTUNATELY!!!!, people were overjoyed to see our sweet girl in her Christmas-inspired getup (check the hair bow…awesome, right?). In fact, our waiter and a couple other guests thanked us for bringing her. The maitre-d gave us the best seat in the house. The hostess insisted on carrying our diaper bag and car seat to our table for us. And the lady dining next to us (who, unfortunately, ended up getting a little toasted and picking a fight with her husband about ordering a salad that would make them late to carols before midnight mass at old St. Patrick’s ) thanked us for “sharing our joy” with her. Yay for Christmas spirit and babies 🙂

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Christmas Eve at Trinity

Our little family of three celebrated Christmas Eve at the 3pm family service at Trinity. There were dozens of energetic, excited children, but none of them were as excited as our sweet Georgia Grace who cooed along with the choir and smiled at the parishioners behind us… until she fell sound asleep, of course.

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The church was gorgeous, and the Christmas pageant was incredible! The pageant participants — both kids and grown ups — wore Broadway-calibur costumes. Cool, huh?

After the service, we of course stopped to take a couple pics… one of our little family, and another with our favorite, the Rev. Dr. Mark Bozzuti-Jones!

No More Fat Suit!

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Baby girl started rolling over all by herself this weekend, so it was time to bid farewell to the Magic Merlin Sleep Suit (which was getting too small, anyway). Gigi has officially graduated and is now wearing nothing but a sleep sack/wearable blanket. I was worried that, left unrestricted, her limbs/startle reflex would cause her (and us) to have sleepless nights, but it seems like she’s already got the hang of it (…it’s 930AM, and she’s still sound asleep). What a cutie.

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