just to see if I can....Post from my phone while in México with only one bar of signal.

I stand corrected

No slump...just me pouting I guess!

Thank you all for your comments. I should have read only one at a time and savored them slowly, but no, I gobbled them all up at once and loved it!

I do understand the one-handed typing difficulties, and the speed-reading 2 minute vacation breaks...I probably should not be so high maintenance.

Xaris...checking *her* blog...

Poll: Are you a mac or a pc? Looks like our baby is already predetermined...she LOVES playing with Ric's computer (his keyboard clicks louder than mine).

Slump

I've determined I must be in a blogging slump.

I usually check my blog daily (typically in the middle of the night, when I'm feeding X).

The first thing I do is scroll down to see if there are any comments. I think comments must be my favorite part about blogging. While I like journalling, I must like the response even better, because I tend to judge my blog by the feedback it gets...am I writing and posting things that are interesting to others? Am I writing and posting things that others enjoy?

So, I must be in a slump, because it's been several posts with zero response. I tried to combat my steadily decreasing blogging average by posting one of Xaris' Christmas pictures...and when that didn't work, I brought out the big guns--Santa picture. And now I'm at a loss: how do I top that?

Not a clue. But you can be sure when I figure out what's causing my slump, I will be sure to remedy it. And then I will surprise and delight any of the faithful remnant who still read this blog with episodes of such fantastic bloginess that warrant abounding comments.

I will try my hardest--stick with me please!

Santa picture

We got to meet Santa last Sunday while Gramama and Taita (my parents) were in town. She was probably smiling more for my silly monkey dance than for Santa, but at least we got a great picture!

following the lead...

My friend Judy just posted the Christmas card rejects on her blog.

We are trying to get a Christmas picture too...and I love this expression, but I think this photo goes into the not-on-the-Christmas-card pile.

Not so bad

Bathtime isn't so bad when you have ducks to eat.

One year later...

This time last year we attended a Cookie exchange party hosted by friends Mark & Leslie.

There were 5 of us there who were pregnant, and we took a picture--commenting on how the following year we would need to line up the babies!

Well...we did that yesterday!

Lined up by age, Xaris is the youngest

Emily is 2 weeks older than X

Marshall is 4 weeks older than X

Jack is 7 weeks older than X

Leah is 4 months older than X

All are precious!

Ricardo with Xaris Sofia and John with John Marshall

Ricardo and John are good buddies--John and Debra were some of our very first and dearest Dallas friends. We are so happy to have babies the same age! Check out the leg chubs on Marshy--I absolutely love it! I can't keep my eyes off of him, he is so chubby and CUTE!

Still double X's weight--and he has the greatest belly laugh you can imagine for a wonderfully chubby baby! We love you Marshy! (and John and Debra too, of course!)

7

Happy seven months old today darling girl!

We love you and your adventuresome spirit and happy smiles!

It's been awhile since I blogged--no wonder, with an increasingly active and mobile baby! I have less time to type!

But here's a quick update. Ric, Xaris and I did the Dallas Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. It was crazy--over 37,000 people trying to get through one street! However, it was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed walking the 5K with my friend Katie. Ric ran the 8-mile course, so we only saw him at the start and finish.

Start

On our way!

Finish. She tuckered out about a mile into it.

They were setting up the Christmas decorations downtown, so we stopped for a quick picture.

\

Oh...and I bought fabric to make us Christmas stockings. Ric and I have ugly ones I made last minute the first year we were married. This year I decided to make 3 matching ones for all of us. I just divided the fabric into 3 pieces and cut them out...and they turned out to be huge! (Fun--lots of stuffers!)

Here's Xaris having fun in hers.