Christmas Season

We were pleasantly surprised on December 23rd, leaving too late, we didn’t encounter much traffic. The drive went quite smoothly even with little Zeke needing a feed partway through. It’s become quite interesting for me to nurse in awkward places. This time it was in the dark at a gas station a bit off the road. Unfortunately, it was quite chilly and lil man had to get changed in super chilly weather. He wasn’t too happy about that.

Finally we reached the Drexler’s house in Kent and were only too happy to hit the hay. Zeke needed to feed and I was trying just as hard to keep my lids open long enough for him to eat. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jason, and Aunt Julie were all truly happy to see him.

I was happy to watch family spread the love on the little guy. Although he doesn’t get to see them too often, he seemed quite mellow while staring into all these “new” people’s eyes. Recently he’s been quite the detail man. Watching with eyes wide open he’ll track objects with distinct colors until his head won’t turn any more. This made Christmas quite entertaining for him as most people he saw wore bright reds and greens.

We were able to stay with the Drexlers for two days and visiting was wonderful. Jason and Julie had come from Ohio to visit for the season and it was only too sweet for us to see them again after a year of phone chats. Wendy was a gracious host and Grandma--as always :) while Wayne was only too happy to take Zeke off our hands. Zeke was only too happy to let the joy be spread around.

Late on the 24th Mike and I headed out to Battleground to visit the Mitchell’s. Around halfway there we received a phone call from Connie wanting to know how close we were. The Mitchell’s have a time-honored tradition of opening a present on New Years Eve. As little girls, Melissa and I always wanted the big one, or the one we thought was from our list. We came to understand that it was the little teaser we could open. Connie was only too eager for us to arrive.

So at 10:00 pm, Mike, Zeke and I strolled in the door, said our hellos, and we went straight to the tree for Christmas Eve’s present goodies. Again, Mike and I were only too happy to lay down our heads. Zeke is still on his own schedule, so he didn’t care when we slept. He’d let us know when he needed something.

Christmas morning came quickly and the Grandparent's seemed like the first to wake. As noises of morning routines began to fill the house, our excitement rose . . . as much as two people with no sleep can. Grand Mitchell’s, the Strong’s--Aaron, Melissa, and niece Zoe, and us settled in for the present opening fiesta.

Many smiles were exchanged and I think my favorite of the day was my father. Connie began our present charade by opening a present she had given to herself. My dad followed by asking her what it was and her response was “honey, you got it for me.” Of course, she had bought it for herself. Cute, Mom. And then after all the presents had been opened, there was a slight pause in the air. Dad broke the silence by excitedly announced as he read the “tag”, “To Dad . . . From Dad”, and pulled out a golf club with a grin only matched by children. All of us chuckled right along with him.

These are some pictures, the rest are at www.drexlerduo.shutterfly.com

Kicking off the New Year!

Mike and I are jumping in with all “those other people” making weight loss goals for the new year. We have been chatting about needing to act for so long that our tummy tires have rounded out. Mike is going to give Power 90 a try, while I am hooked by Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I’ve already begun the monotonous routine of turning on the TV, watching the pre-show I’ve watched too many other times, only to wait too long for the whiplash of no breaks and “encouragement” that we need to work this hard. If you ask me, the FBI warning is just a bit too long to think twice about waiting to sweat!

Somehow, I have to make sure that the little guy is actually sleeping before I get ready. Sometimes by the time I believe that he is actually down for a nap, it’s too late and I’ve just gotten into the warm up. I guess the warm up is better than nothing :)

We’re very excited with little Zeke’s progress. We weighed him the other day and he has doubled his birthweight--quite a feat for a preemie. He seems to be eating and sleeping well, even though the good sleep is during the day. He is so long now that he’s grown out of his newborn clothes and entered the 0-3 closet. We don’t think he’ll be there too long as some of the clothing is already looking a bit short . . . one reason Mike and I won’t be investing too much in clothing. It’s not to savvy to buy really cute outfits that look really cute on the hanger, but don’t fit the kid :)

The most exciting part of his development seems to be relational. Although he was smiling from birth, he now seems to be imitating people’s smiles and producing some of his own. His new found ability melts my heart. I am so deeply touched with him and what he means to me that I find myself uncontrollably smiling while also shedding happy tears. When I do this and am looking at Zeke, he smiles with me and then stops. It seems to me like he’s not quite sure how to “do that face”.

All in all, we had a good holiday season and look forward to writing new history into our Drexler family.