Our Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends, December 2008

I hope that all of you have enjoyed a blissful 2008. It has been a hectic year, but one that’s brought about many good things for us. We are happy with the opportunity to connect with family- all of those we love and cherish, regardless of relation or not.

Lets see… where do we begin? We have changed 5110 diapers this year, prepared 3000 bottles, washed 200 loads of baby laundry, read 730 bedtime stories, sang 365 lullabies and achieved over 1000 naps. And for this we have been blessed with the happy babble and song of four lovely children. Who, when they are not teething, are the sweetest people we know.

Lucas and Matilda turned 2 in August. Lucas has grown into quite the handsome but rambunctious toddler. He has a little laugh which is the sort that should not be spoken out loud because it means either “Gotcha!” or “I win!”. He sleeps with 7 pacifiers, thinks that bugs and trucks are the greatest things ever, loves to dance, thinks everything is the color “green”, solve puzzles, plays demolition with everything, and enjoys “Mickey Mouse”. His new favorite activity is fake belching. “Scuse me” (This behavior is not endorsed by parental guardians of said twin).

Matilda has been spelling her name since she turned 2. She can also spell ‘Lucas’, ‘Cat’ and ‘Dog’. She works as my personal secretary for a small wage of gold fish crackers. Her duties include dialing the telephone for me, keeping an ongoing log of the ill behavior of all of her brothers and frequently reporting on it, enforcing naptimes, and making sure that sippy cups remain with their designated toddler (it’s a highly technical system she has created via color coding). When she is not working, she enjoys singing out of key, counting, “Winnie the Pooh”, being read to, shoes of all colors and sizes, hair bows, and The ALPHABET.

Ewan and Rowan similarly had birthdays in August and are now 1 year old. First, Ewan’s head has filled in. We no longer identify him from his brother with the nickname of “Smooshie”. He has grown into a very handsome toddler. He is the most photogenic of our children, so you will forgive our prior sense of humor over his appearance at birth. He loves cake, dancing, singing penguins, all processed foods (e-gad), cake, “Mickey Mouse”, books, cake, rides in his stroller, tickles, cake, squealing, and did I mention CAKE? Ewan started walking at 12 months exactly and currently weighs 20 pounds 7 ounces and is 30 ½ inches tall. Ewan is a thumb sucker! Ewan's first words were "Christmas Tree" (not cake!!!).

Rowan is a tiny spitfire. He knows his animal sounds, parrots everything he hears, loves to clap, sing with his favorite songs and television shows (like his brothers, he loves “Mickey Mouse”), loves veggies, and any toys with silk tags. At 13 months he didn’t start walking, he started running. He is always on the move and can scarcely sit still long enough to eat his meals or even cuddle on your lap. He cheers on everyone in the house with claps and “Yah!” . He is our blue eyed baby and has had three hair cuts already! He only has two teeth and he was 29 ¾ inches tall at his 15 month checkup. He weighs in at only 18 and ½ pounds. Rowan is very attached to a Gund blue puppy dog, that’s a “twin” to the one that Matilda sleeps with every night.

We have not gone anywhere, we have not done anything. We do not watch “Jon and Kate plus 8” (that’s the number one question we get asked!). We are very much occupied at home at present.  We are fortunate that we are surrounded by our very favorite people, since it looks like we may be here for some duration. Seriously, we need a baby sitter. Hmpfh.

All humor aside, we are very grateful for our family and feel like this has been a wonderful year. We want to take the time to wish all of you the very best for the year 2009 and beyond. From our home to yours, Merry Christmas!