Over the Rainbow: In Oz: Merry Christmas from us!

Merry Christmas to everyone, and we hope you all have a safe and fun 2012!

This year, I’m not beating myself up over failing to get Christmas cards done on time; I am liberating myself from the cards! Instead of cards, I first decided to try a newletter but the templates on Word were beyond crap. Then I tried a plain old letter template but getting pictures into it was just a huge PITA. So I am doing a blog entry instead since I have wasted too many hours on this and could have done cards five times over by now. At least I know it's pretty quick and easy to use the template on this!

Most of you know that I stopped the blog about half way through this year. My personality doesn't suit writing into an electronic abyss with no easy way for people to communicate back to me. To be honest, I thought there were only three people reading this blog and it was only in the months afterwards that about a dozen people asked me what happened to it! But FB is still the easiest way to let people know about the things going on in our life, so that is where the updates shall happen this coming year I think.

On to our Christmas letter then:

As always, this year has gone by quickly - too quickly! Will is growing up and changing on a daily basis. His little personality is emerging more and more, and he is an interesting blend of the two of us. The highlights of the year for us (or, let's be honest, for me as I am the one writing this!) were:

My husband's parents' visit to Australia. You can read about that here.

Mr. Baby's 1st Birthday. We had a party (of course!) and Mr. Baby had no idea what was going on, but he thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the people who came and has loved playing with all the gifts he got! Here are a few pics of the day:

The party had a dinosaur theme and this was the cake I made. And yes - it took a few hours!

There was a second cake, much less fancy, since there were so many people there to feed.

One of Mr. Baby's favourite toys that he received (and still plays with every day) was a little house from all our lovely neighbours.

Mr Baby learns to walk! And of course, he doesn't sit still for more than 2 seconds at a time now :) He now runs, walks backwards and even kicks a ball (with a lot of concentration). Back in October when he had only just started walking a few weeks before, I took this little bit of video. Looking at it now I see how slow and carefully he walked and how wide his stance is to keep his balance. It's incredible to think that in just two months he has mastered so much! This video was taken a couple of weeks ago as Mr. Baby chased seagulls in a park near my folks' place.

My husband's 30th b'day. My own 30th feels so long ago now sadly :) But we certainly celebrated my husband's in style. My folks agreed to have Mr. Baby for the Saturday night on the weekend before his b'day and I booked us a night at the Four Seasons Hotel down at The Rocks in Sydney (right by the harbour for those who don't know Sydney). We had a great lunch at an old pub, a bit of time to lay by the pool and then a fantastic dinner at a French restaurant. The next morning was a leisurely brunch followed by some window shopping in town before picking up the little guy at my folks' place. Here he is at lunch at the Glenmore:

We also had surprise birthday drinks for my husband when we visited the US, which was another big highlight for us this year. A whole bunch of his friends and family travelled to K'zoo to wish him Happy Birthday and it was a great afternoon. The rest of the trip was equally fantastic - it was so wonderful to see all our friends and family again. Mr. Baby got to impress everyone with his walking, dancing and "talking", he met Nemo the giant schnauzer (his Grandparents' dog), went to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, he saw snow, played a piano at his great-grandparents' place, and rode in a DC cab! As you can see from these pics, Mr. Baby absolutely enjoyed this trip!

Nemo, the giant schnauzer, and Mr. Baby

Having a go in a helicopter display at the Air Zoo

All geared up after being out in the snow!

Belting out a few show tunes on his great grandparents' piano

Last, but certainly not least, a big highlight for the year was my husband getting a well-deserved promotion at work! His new job, which he started on Dec 1st, has a regional focus (rather than just Aus/NZ like his previous job) so he should have some interesting travel coming up next year.

Coming up next year, I will be doing an Interior Design course starting in late February for about 3 months. Should be a lot of fun and really interesting as I have a real love of interior design. Fingers crossed that I have a knack for it too :) We don't have much travel planned for next year yet - just a trip to Melbourne for Mr. Baby and I in late Jan/early Feb to see my grandmother. But please do come and visit us in Sydney! We would love to see you!

We hope everyone has a fantastic holiday period with some fun and happy times with all your friends and family. We are excited to be seeing so many of ours over the Xmas/NY break! Before I sign off, here are some of my favorite photos over the past 6 months, including some from the professional photographer that we got to do some photos for us. His name is Eric Tsang and I cannot recommend him enough, especially if you have little kids. He was absolutely fabulous with Mr. Baby and although we only had the photo shoot a week ago he has gotten a half dozen of our shots to us already.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!