Thanksgiving and Beyond

We had a great Thanksgiving break this year, braving the tides of holiday travelers to visit Justin's parents in Belfair, WA. First, however, we drove to Utah and visited with his aunt and uncle and grandma. To get to the airport, we rode the FrontRunner from Syracuse to Salt Lake City, then switched to the Green Line to get to the airport. I felt very urban taking a public transportation system and Chad had a lot of fun looking out the window and flirting with all the little girls near us.

On the FrontRunner

Traveling with a baby, a stroller, three rolling suitcases, a duffel bag, a backpack, a purse, and a diaper bag was quite the adventure, especially with getting everything on and off the trains. But we managed to make it to Washington in one piece. Chad did well on his first airplane ride, though he didn't sleep like we'd hoped. He spent most of his time playing peekaboo with the man in the row behind us.

First airplane ride

Thanksgiving week we saw Catching Fire in theaters (well worth a watch), played some tennis, and did some Christmas shopping. We also got to have lunch with my old friend and co-worker Julie Null and her husband Andrew. It was fun seeing her and reminiscing about old times working at the Prepared Pantry. Justin also got to assist in the slaughter and preparation of our turkey dinner at his sister's house, an experience I was only too happy to pass up.

The big day was of course full of cooking and food and fun. Chad slept right through dinner, which was a blessing because I was able to actually enjoy a full meal without being interrupted once. That evening we journeyed to Port Orchard to stand in the cold in front of Office Depot in order to purchase me a new laptop. We arrived an hour early, expecting horrendous lines, and ended up being the 6th and 7th people in line. I guess people don't really think of Office Depot when they think of Black Friday. Needless to say, I was able to get my new laptop.

We are now in the final week and a half of the semester. While Justin studies for tests and writes final papers, I am kept busy with grading. Just 20 papers to go! It was another good semester of teaching for me. I really enjoy what I do and feel so blessed to be able to work for a church institution. This last Saturday we were able to attend the BYU-I Christmas Concert featuring all the choirs, a bell-ringing group, dancers, the orchestra, and guest singer Nathan Pacheco. It was held in the BYU-I Center and is the pinnacle of my holiday season so far. Really astounding singing and showmanship. In a little over a week we'll be driving to Boise to spend the Christmas break.

In other Chad news, he has finally decided to try out crawling! It's a lot of starting, stopping, rocking, and rolling, but he has begun to travel. Last night we tempted him into crawling after our Jamba Juice cups and I don't know who was more excited, me or him. Now I'm afraid I'll regret my excitement for his learning to crawl as he begins to get into things, but it's so fun to see him progressing and growing. He is also starting to cruise along furniture a little bit, so walking may not be far in the future either. It's funny he's ending up learning to do both simultaneously. We've also been introducing him to snow, but aren't sure what he thinks of it yet. It's been mostly in the single digits and teens so we can't keep him outside for very long at a time. He does seem to think it's good to eat, though.

Look at that snow!

The Grinch and Santa Claus

Goofy boy

Beginning my blog

I've been meaning to create one of these for a while. I'm a bit of a blog-stalker myself and I always enjoy seeing what's going on in my friends' lives when they post links to their blogs on Facebook. So this is me, trying out the whole blogging thing. The interesting thing is, I actually write freelance for a lot of companies' blogs. I've written about women's health, medical news, interior design, home improvement, roofing news (yes, it was as boring as you'd think), background checks, estate law, and fashion. It's amazing how possible it is to write about so many topics and yet be an expert in none of them. Mostly I just do a lot of online research.

So here's the update for the Nielsen family:

My students are turning in their 6-8 page research papers on Friday so I have a lot of lovely grading to look forward to. Luckily, this semester I get the help of 2 student graders who take a lot of the most tedious work off my hands. Justin is over halfway through his second to last semester of school and we are looking eagerly ahead to April when our school days will finally be over and we can move on to the next stage of life.

Chad, at one day shy of being 9 months old, continues obstinately to refuse to crawl. He is a great roller--I've counted six rolls in a row before--sits up well, can feed himself, and has pulled himself up to a standing position from a seated position 3 times now. However, he can't seem to get from being seated to the crawling position. And when we put him in the correct all-fours arrangement he rocks in place for a moment, and then keels slowly over to the side so he can resume his rolling. Perhaps I should be grateful. Our apartment has still not needed to be baby proofed and I know approximately where he'll be when I check on him.

Otherwise, Chad is a great smiler and laugher and uses the syllables "dadada" to refer to everything. He loves cuddling and dancing and sleeps fairly consistently through the night, though his "night" doesn't usually begin until 10 or 11 in the evening. Last week my parents bought us a high chair and Chad thoroughly enjoys his easy access to Cheerios and Fruit Loops and the fact that he's closer to our eye level when we sit at the table. The tray has a little honey pot attached that you can tip so that it dumps its contents (usually Cheerios) across the tray. Chad figured this out the first time we put him in the high chair and now will always check it first thing for goodies when it's within reach.

Looking ahead, we're excited for this weekend when we get to go to Boise to visit family and next weekend when we will be driving to Utah and then flying to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with Justin's family. I absolutely love the holidays and have to admit I started listening to Christmas music yesterday.

Cuddle time with Mom

Hamming it up for the camera

Escaping from his bouncer is a daily occurrence.

Enjoying the new high chair

Enjoying the high chair box his Daddy turned into a house/plane/car