This photo may not seem like a big deal, but the baby hasn’t ever napped (or slept) in a crib until now. We are trying to get her ready for daycare and I am a little heartbroken about it. This ain’t my first rodeo and am not looking forward to the strung out, hoarse baby after her first day. So Tommy and Mila have been napping her in a crib to at least try to get her used to that. (also, if you’d like to comment on her having blankets and pillows in her crib, it is only not recommended if babies are not being watched, and she is CLEARLY being watched at this moment).

Only in the South can you sit on your porch with no pants on and eat popsicles in December.

We went to a local farm this weekend to hang out for a few hours – they basically gave us a bunch of animal food, and had a (face shielded distanced) Santa to visit. The girls had a blast just doing ANYTHING and I had a pretty fab time too.

So wonderful to live in a house that backs onto this amazing beautiful woods and creek. We went for a long family hike today to stretch our legs and get away from Zoom.

Thankful for Maggie’s physical therapist Jennifer, who comes to our house to do socially distanced PT on the porch in the freezing cold and someone manages to still make it super fun.

Maybe my favorite picture of Tommy and Orly yet, wearing a onesie from Travis’s company Oddball and so happy about it.

Four hundred million people told us not to build a house – and the cons are clearly there: mainly that it’s a lot of work and it’s more expensive (which are both true). But our house is freaking amazing – it’s exactly what we need and want, and even it’s shortcomings feel like OUR shortcomings and part of the family. Plus, we got to leave our handprints in the driveway!

At one point, I had Maggie on 4 different creams for all of her different skin needs. Luckily that has tapered off to mostly zero, but her eczema (/skin GVHD, depending what you want to call it) always flares in the winter. So, she’s back on just a moisturizer at the moment, with a hint of steroid on days when it doesn’t seem enough. Well, she has decided that she no longer needs assistance with application and did this before I was even out of bed today! – “how did I do, mom?” (yes, that is lotion all over the carpet)

We are finally in our permanent house, and I am very impatient to start having parties! I have had years of dreams of hosting big Thanksgivings and holidays parties, and play dates all the time. But COVID has currently ruined all of this – it’s probably for the better at the moment, since we haven’t even finished unpacking, but it is still disappointing. As a small consolation, we bought a fire pit and Yoya came over one evening for some s’mores, which was nice! (Yoya not yet pictured)

My two youngest with their full holiday cheer.