You tell us little blond girl!

Christmas Day

Had a fun Christmas weekend in Gunnison. We missed spending the holiday with our family but this year Delaney is, for the most part, still quarantined from the world. There was some major build up this season with Meredith and she was beside herself for several days prior to Christmas. Santa was good to her and she came down Saturday morning to find the new bike she's been talking about for months. It's a lot bigger than her little-girl bike so it's going to take a while for her to get used to it. It's been cold for the last several days but no new snow, which made for good bike riding around our house. Delaney got some really fun presents for her first Christmas, but like her Mom keeps telling people- she's much more interested in eating wrapping paper than playing with her new toys.

We spent most of the weekend hanging around the house, and doing Christmas projects. We made a huge mess in our kitchen building Graham cracker & candy houses. Meredith and Brandon went to feed the horses and Meredith had her first experience driving the truck while her dad fed the hay off. They also got to see a bunch of elk, some that were sneaking an easy meal in with the horses.

It's a pretty special Christmas for us with two healthy little blond girls. Thanks to all of you that thought of them this year.

Christmas Eve

December has been a real treat for us this year. The weather has been so nice and Brandon actually started to get a little ahead with his normal winter projects. His deer capture crew was several weeks earlier than normal so Meredith and him got to enjoy some nice time together out in the snow-free sagebrush (although it made deer harder to catch). It'll be nice to spend Christmas Eve day goofing around rather than catching deer! You'll see that we made our annual pilgrimage to Grand Junction recently to get pictures with Santa. Meredith has had her picture taken with Santa every year since she was born, which is a tradition we'd like to continue with Delaney. It's a little nerve-wracking for us to go to the city and be amongst city germs, but we really want to keep the Santa pictures coming. While we were there, we also were able to have a quick visit with one of our favorite NICU nurses which made our day. It really is special to let our friends from St. Mary's see Delaney and how she's grown.

The biggest news around here is, 1. Delaney has begun to consistently pull herself up around the house (she enjoys the coffee table), and 2. We finally got snow, and plenty of it. We're working on getting Delaney fully outfitted to be outside because she really seems to enjoy it.

Tree Hunting & Decorating

It's feeling like Christmas around our house these days. On Saturday we went to our usual spot to search for a tree. Delaney got another taste of winter, but managed to make it through without many tears. It's always fun to go on a tree hunt and put Meredith in charge of watching for deer in the snow. The tree set-up was fun this year and Delaney sure seemed to be in awe of the event. She reminded us of a cat sitting under the tree batting at low-hanging ornaments. We keep mentioning it, but it has been pretty nice around here for December. Delaney becomes more mobile every day and is enjoying her explorations.

By the way- if you haven't checked out our video post from last week, make sure you do...

Delaney's quest for The Precious...

Tuesday bath night, a night to remember...

What can we say about this other than we're in big trouble now. We're so proud of this little girl-she is one special micro-preemie.

It's a been a nice few weeks here in Gunnison and we've been enjoying some unseasonably warm December weather. The nice weather has allowed us to enjoy some final horse days, and Meredith has been helping her dad pick up deer collars across the Gunnison Basin. The horses also helped pack out an elk last week, which was a much appreciated gift for us, and the perfect end to a wonderful fall of chasing elk.

Delaney seems to always be adding to her repertoire, and Jennifer and Meredith caught her sitting up from the prone position the other day. She finally figured out how to go from sitting, to prone, and back to sitting. She still loves to eat, and gets really worked up at meal times. We've been battling a rash she's developed for some time now and wish we could shake it. Hopefully it's something non-food related.

We had a fun night on Friday at Gunnison's Christmas tree-lighting. It was a nice warm night and everybody enjoyed seeing Santa roll through town. The following morning Jennifer and Meredith went to our annual pottery glazing day at the Gunnison Art Center and had fun decorating new house ware. We finished the weekend off with a fancy tea party at Meredith's. She told her dad that he "had to bathe" and "wear a tie" to attend. He tried to accommodate.

Thanksgiving Day

Our first Thanksgiving with Delaney has come to pass. Our life in isolation continues and we spent a quiet day at home- mainly indoors because it's turned Gunnison cold all of a sudden. Jennifer and Meredith spent the day performing their culinary magic, while Brandon did dishes and entertained the mini-blond. After some football and a nice meal, we tried to sneak in some evening wildlife watching, and put on our traditional turkey shoot with Meredith's Red Ryder BB gun. We tried to get Delaney out for a few minutes, but once she felt the cold, she started to cry and looked at us like we were out of our minds.

Check out Delaney's new place at our kitchen table - she's pretty cute to watch.

Meredith turned five on the 18th (see the pics on our previous post). She had a great time with her family and friends and we appreciate all of her great gifts. The "Birthday Monsters" paid us a visit a few days before her big day and did a room swap in our house. The girl's room is now upstairs, which is great because now they will have more space to play (and store their truck loads of toys). Someday Delaney will start sleeping through the night and she'll move in with Meredith. The Birthday Monsters were kind enough to bring Meredith a big bed, so now we don't have to hear her complain about her feet sticking off her old bed.

Delaney continues to impress us with her try. Out of nowhere she's started to spend more time on her belly and seems determined to crawl. She is a very curious baby and wants to explore everything; particularly food. We are encouraged that she wants to eat our food, and she is getting better at eating her ground veggies and cereal. Her nose is still running and we don't know if it's teeth or a cold she's battling. She also had her first dose of the drug Synagis, after a two month fiasco dealing with our insurance company. Synagis is like an immunization and is aimed at RSV. RSV is no joke for babies and we intend to do our best to protect her during the sick season. Don't take our quarantine measures personally...

Meredith's 5th Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEREDITH MAE!

We love you very much!