Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Christmas has come and gone so quickly, and it's hard to believe that Kendall is already a month old!

We enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas mostly at home.  I started out Christmas Eve with my first post-baby run! It was beautiful outside and I used my new running watch (push present) for the first time. It was a slow go, and only two miles, but at least I did it!

We did bring the girls to Christmas Eve service at our church at 5 pm. Avery decided to wear her hot pink rain boots with her silver skirt and blue sweater...but hey...pick your battles haha.

It was a great service for kids because the sermon involved them participating as kings, shepherds, angels, or animals in the Christmas story. They passed out mini costumes for the kids to wear during the entire service, and Avery loved wearing her crown as a king.

Both girls went to bed early that night, and this was the first year Avery was excited about Santa! Kendall decided to get up several times that night...about every 2 hours...and that trend continued all day Christmas until about 6 pm. It must have been a growth spurt because then she returned to her normal 3 hour routine. She's definitely found her voice though, and tends to have a bit of a fussy time in the evenings between 7-10 or so. Even so, we had a great day together as a family of four (plus Ranger.)

Avery loved opening her presents and we loved seeing her reactions. On Thursday night my parents arrived, and they spent the day with us Friday. We also had some friends over on Friday, with their kids, and it was awesome seeing Avery play with kids, and she was exhausted that night.

We celebrated Christmas with Travis's family on Saturday, and that went well too! On Sunday we went to my nephew's first birthday party in Pittsburgh, and it was great to see my family a little more, and Cooper is walking and basically a toddler now! We didn't bring Kendall with us, and while I was stressed about leaving her with bottles, she did fine without me.

This week has been nice and relaxing so far. Lindsey, Meesh, and Cooper came to visit on Tuesday, and we had a great visit with them. We took a trip to Cabela's yesterday, and since it's a two hour drive down to WV, Travis and I had quality time to talk about our plans and goals for the new year. Then we had friends over for a few hours in the evening, but they left and we were all in bed hours before the ball dropped haha. I went for another run today...I ran 3 miles and my pace improved to about 10:20/mile...about a minute faster per mile in just a week!

I have been so fortunate to have had so much time with Travis and our families for this past month. I've only had about 4 or 5 days to handle the girls without help, and January will probably be quite the reality check when Travis really starts working again. However, I'm embracing the time I have with Kendall as a newborn because I realize how quickly she'll grow and be on the move in no time.