Russell and Joanna's Wedding in Texas
Jackie was an amazing traveler to Texas and back, just like always. US Airways lost Jackie's carseat and my suitcase with her dress in it on the way to TX, and as my luck would have it, they lost the same bag on my way home. Yep you read it correctly lost bags both ways. Luckily for us the bags were found and delivered to us within just a couple of days each time.
On to the more exciting portion of the trip, the wedding itself. Jackie was as you know a flower girl and she was fantastic. During the rehearsal she actually performed the task quite well. Jackie was handing the petals from her basket to a few people near the stage. But her performance at the wedding itself was quite cute. She first of all wanted to head down the aisle before all the bridesmaids instead of waiting her turn. Since she wasn't allowed to do that, she ended up carrying her snack trap full of puffs down the aisle instead of her flower basket. She still ended up running down most of the way before stopping to tell her Daddy hello and to hold up the progress of the other children. Savannah, the other flower girl, was a little annoyed when Jackie stopped right in front of her and wouldn't move. After surveying the crowd a bit, Jackie finally made it up the steps of the stage where she roamed throughout the first half of the ceremony. She ate her puffs and smiled and chatted and even pulled on her uncle's leg to try to get him to pick her up. It was a very adorable scene. The last part of the ceremony she sat with her grandparents and behaved as well as can be expected.
We had a nice visit with my family and as best as we can tell Russell and Joanna are now happily married. They have survived the honeymoon on a small boat in the middle of a lake so the rest should be easy, right? Of course the honeymoon probably isn't over for those two yet. And by the way, when's the baby coming?
Christmas with the Foster Clan
Two days after returning home to MA from TX began the family Christmas experience. When we returned on Sunday, Anthony was already up from VA. Mary and her gang came in on Wed. (Christmas eve) and Christmas had officially started, so had 10 people living under one roof with 2 1/2 baths and four bedrooms. Space was a little tight but everyone is still alive and all of us are on speaking terms. So I think it was a success.
Christmas eve we had a nice family dinner with pasta and seafood in the Italian tradition and tamales in rice and beans in the Texas tradition. After dinner, Don, Jackie, and I went to evening Mass with Anthony. It was nice driving to church with snow along the way. The choir was very nice for the Christmas Eve service and Jackie couldn't resist dancing along with the music. When the music is playing Jackie has got to groove. By the time we arrived back home on the house had pretty much settled down for the night. It is nice to enter a peaceful house after a reflective Christmas Mass.
Charlie woke everyone up for Christmas morning and he gave us all a nice gift by not getting up at 5 am. Present time was a little chaotic just because of the sheer number of people all gathered into a single room already filled by the tree and presents. It was difficult to watch everyone opening presents because there was so much activity, but it was a nice family time spent together and no one opened the wrong gifts.
The week of Christmas was a nice time spent with family and three young children enjoying each other. Jackie is so cute with her cousins running around the house together.
Life since Christmas
Life since Christmas has been a bit of a blur. It has taken over a month for me just to get this update typed and posted. I started to write in the beginning of January and it is now the beginning of March. Some of the delay in getting this post up is that in the middle of January we moved Jackie into the room with the computer. So nap time, when I used to write posts, is no longer a good time to update everyone since Jackie is trying to sleep. She is doing very well in a room by herself and only woke up in the middle of the night the first couple of nights she slept alone. Now she sleeps a solid 10 to 11 hours each night. And I still get at least one good nap time in a day. Lets hope that survives the new baby disrupting her life.
Jackie is still the little dancing queen. She is still dancing at church and to pretty much any music that itches her need to groove. And she has some pretty fancy moves these days, she just keeps refining her style. Don is working on getting the video uploaded to his computer so he can begin editing and posting it to the site. There are some nice clops of Jackie's dancing he will put together for everyone's enjoyment. We'll let you know when he gets it up, but it probably won't be until after the baby is born.
As for the little baby, things are still going well. I have fallen three times this pregnancy and been ok each time. It is pretty amazing though that the baby hasn't gotten tired of the bumpy ride yet. We keep thinking this baby is going to come anytime now, but it seems to want to come closer to its due date and make sure mama has plenty of time to get everything done. Well after I post this, everything I wanted to get done will be done. And since the little baby didn't come with the snow storm last weekend, it would be nice if it would come with the 60 degree temps this weekend. I am tired of being pregnant; I did the math and I have been pregnant nearly 20 months of the last 28 months. That is well over half and I want to have my body back to me.
We will let everyone know as soon as possible all the details of the little baby's entrance to the world. That is if the little baby ever decides to show us its pretty baby face.
I guess for now that is all I can remember I wanted to update everyone on. Hopefully there will be more exciting news to post soon. And if I get bored before this baby shows up I will post a list of Jackie's words. Until the next post (hopefully it won't be three months from now).
~Tiffany (March 6, 2009)
