Vacation from our Holidays.

We are finally home after what seems like a long time away. It has been great to be with our families, and we would definitely do it again, but it's still a long time to be without any routine and without our normal lives. Lainey is a rock star. She hits the road like a champion. Hardly a peep from Surprise to Mission Viejo to Albuquerque to Mission Viejo to Dallas and back. We even did an 18 hour stretch from Dallas to Surprise. She's been so easy, and we are so blessed. It was great for her to get to see everyone - especially John's mom's family in Dallas. We hadn't been to Dallas to see them in a long time. Amanda finally met Joel - John's cousin - and his wife Fawn, which was nice since he was the last of John's family members that she hadn't met. Lainey was, of course, adored by all.

Lainey is growing up so fast. She is giving us smiles all the time and chattering away in her own language. She had a long conversation with Mema (John's grandma) in Dallas and it was very sweet to watch. We captured part of it on video and will hopefully get it up on the website soon. It was taken on Janiece's camera, so we'll have to get it from her first. Lainey has a doctor's appointment on the 8th and will get her first shots. We have decided to separate her shots out instead of giving them all at once. We feel like that is a lot of challenge to a baby's immune system all at once. It's a hard decision to make and one that's very controversial at the moment, but we feel most of the vaccines are beneficial. (We are skipping a couple of them.) We estimate she's about 10.5 pounds now, but we will see her official weight on the 8th.

Unfortunately, it seems Lainey has caught a mild cold or maybe has some irritation from the change in environments. She wakes up with a stuffy nose which is a scary thing for a person who only breathes through her nose. She is not a fan of having her nose suctioned either. But she's soon happy again once she settles down and seems to be able to breathe much better during the day.

Well, we are off to finish unpacking, go get some groceries, and then relax this afternoon. Maybe we'll get some laundry done too. Happy New Year everyone!