Missing You

Christmas is almost here, and more and more I am noticing how much I am missing so many people. It seems like 80% of the people we are close to and love are at a minimum of several states away. (Award for the furthest goes to Steph Ishler in South Korea!) Johnny in Kentucky, Cat in Colorado, Leta & John as well as Kevin & Claire in North Carolina, Steph Tremblay & Bonnie in Indiana, Bonnie & Carranda in Michigan; why can't everyone live close together? At least within the state or a neighboring one! -- A half-day drive?

I wish I could raise my son knowing each and every one of them as well as I do. It is weird hitting this stage in life where I'm old enough to have seen so many people who are a big part of my life split into a thousand directions. -- This kind of a thing just wasn't a problem as a kid since none of us could go anywhere on our own!

To all of you who we can't be with, the Delafield family wishes you the best Christmas and a wonderful Holiday Season! We love and miss you!

Fever...

Well, at least we made it all the way to 8 1/2 months! Johnny isn't feeling well at all today. He is down for a nap again, and I wish I could just kiss him and make it all better. The poor little guy is teething and has a temp of 99.8 degrees. It's just a low-grade fever but still isn't fun. There has been a lot of cuddling going on, and for that I am glad, but I wish it wasn't a result of being sick. My typically rambunctious crazy boy is depressingly docile. I guess I'm lucky he isn't extremely fussy instead, but it is just weird seeing him without all of the smiles and bouncing about.

Advancements

Johnny is now able to sit unsupported. He has been doing so for a while now, but he is finally getting to the point where he can do it for decently long amounts of time. He has been able to rotate in circles for a few weeks as well, and it is getting to the point where crawling won't really add a whole lot of mobility since he is already finding ways to get all over the apartment. For now, it takes him a little longer so I'll enjoy that part of it for as long as I can. We officially need to baby-proof the apartment again. I have enjoyed not having to pull little plastic covers out of the sockets every time I need to vacuum, but Johnny is now interested in trying to stick his fingers in them so we need to block them all again. At least we won't have to put the doorknob covers on for a few years!

We haven't seen any new signs when it comes to teething. After that first one started to cut through there really hasn't been any progression. Johnny is still chewing everything he can get his hands on. I've started letting him eat some crackers and fruits when they are broken or cut into very tiny pieces. He is enjoying the new changes in food options, but it is so messy! I need a drop-cloth for our floor! I know that for this stage with Alice they got one of the plastic office floor covers to sit under her highchair but since we don't feed Johnny in one specific place it is a little hard. That, and we don't have the two dogs Alice has to clean up after everything. With Zack I didn't have to handle this part a whole lot. I'd have to say the worst are the teething biscuits. Johnny loves them, but by the end of the whole ordeal everyone is covered in gooey grossness.

Christmas morning will be fun when we can give him some of his Pap Pap's famous Belgian waffles! -- No syrup though, too sweet and way too messy.

Tis the Season!

We got our Christmas tree on the 3rd, my dad's birthday. Johnny spent the whole time playing with the beads that go on the tree. He loves the lights and spent a lot of the evening staring at them as we decorated. When we went over to GG's this past Saturday it began to really snow a substantial amount for the second time this year. (The last was in October I think, and it didn't last long...) Johnny spent most of the afternoon watching the snow fall outside the window. It is so much fun to see him in awe of such simple things that a lot of adults don't think twice about.

All of the presents are wrapped and under the tree, with the exception of Gary's, my dad's, and Johnny's drum. We still have to order the drum, and the other two are impossible to buy for. -- More so Gary than my dad, but we can't think of anything for either one at the moment.

We have been working on getting the house ready to have people over on Christmas in the evening, but it seems every time I turn around there are more toys all over the place. And just think, this is before he is mobile! With all of the things he is sure to get for Christmas, I can imagine that soon my house will be taken over.

December

Our vacation was absolutely amazing... all the way up until the 8 hour car ride on Sunday that ended with only having gone 100 miles and 3 sick Delafields. We had to pull over and get a hotel for the night before driving the last 7 hours or so, but thankfully we made it with no traffic on Monday.

Moving backward, we started out our trip at Christy's and had a great time. We walked from her place to the Smithsonian and checked out their American History Museum. We also enjoyed some good times playing darts and generally watching Steve and Will duel it out. Max, their cat, was rather perturbed with the arrival of a miniature human being to the mix, but Johnny had a wonderful stay at his aunt's.

From there we moved on to Boone and despite the general illness that passed through most of us during our stay, we had a great visit. It was so good to see Leta, John and Catherine. They all spoiled Johnny rotten (we've had to spend all of our time since convincing him that he can not expect to be picked up and play with every single time he cries) and were all sad to see him go at the end of the week. I really wish we lived closer to them, I wouldn't mind relocating to Boone. Too bad Catherine seems set on staying in Colorado... I was hoping to convince her to move back to State College!

Now December has come and the focus has turned from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Though Johnny enjoyed his pumpkin pie and the likes, sugar cookies and gingerbread will be a welcome snack as well. Tomorrow is my dad's birthday and we plan on getting our tree and decorating it then in keeping with our normal family tradition. I'm interested to see how Johnny reacts to the tree, he loved Leta's with all of it's lights.

Now if only we could just order his Christmas present...