home for the holidays

Baby's first Christmas! Lilah's first Christmas was spent at my hometown in Iowa. Traveling for 6 plus hours in a car with a 3-week old was interesting, but we made it work by stopping several times along the way. And she was a trooper on her first road trip and out-of-town stay. Grandma Joy and Grandpa Ivan spoiled her and she enjoyed it thoroughly. My brother and his family and my grandparents also got to meet Lilah, which was wonderful. A few days later we celebrated Christmas with her Grandma Barb and Grandpa Jim and Jeff's family. Merry Christmas baby girl!

happy holidays!

We're celebrating Christmas in Iowa with my family so we did our family and friends Christmas on Saturday. Jeff and I opened gifts while Lilah slept. She has since enjoyed the books that her dad got her for Christmas though.

That night, we had a Feliz Navidad with our friends and enjoyed tacos. It was so great to see all our friends and we had so much fun enjoying good food, conversation and exchanging gifts.

a day in the life

It's tough to be Lilah ... eating, sleeping, pooping, eating again. She is getting so big and is so expressive already! It's amazing to watch her grow and change.

lilah has arrived!

It took a lot longer for her to arrive than I anticipated (had contractions/in labor for about 50 hours) but baby girl Watts is finally here! Lilah Joy was born at 4:37 a.m. on Tuesday, December 2. She weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. She is perfect, amazing and all things wonderful. Jeff and I are so happy and excited and were blessed to be surrounded by family and friends.

her movie debut

The first view looks a little weird but it's baby girl's movie debut! We're posting for the grandparents. She'll be here soon!

girl party

Suzanne and Jenny hosted a shower for baby girl Watts yesterday! Mom, Grandma J and Regan were able to come up and celebrate (along with dad and Grandpa J) with wonderful friends and family. Suzanne baked and Jenny decorated a delicious cake (with cream cheese frosting!) and we enjoyed "mocktails" and everyone decorated a onesie for baby girl. What a fun day. It definitely makes her impending arrival seem that much more real - and very, very near!

apple harvest

Suzanne and I went to Kimmel Orchard in Nebraska City over the weekend. Cherry cider and spiced apple donuts - YUM! And getting 15 pounds of apples to make apple pie and applesauce seemed like such a good idea. Until I was peeling and slicing about 35 apples! Oh, well. The results are delicious. We picked our own apples and aren't entirely certain which variety we got - we're pretty sure we picked Gala apples - and I also got some Jonathan apples. The mix worked very well for both the pie and applesauce. We're planning on going back to the orchard again in October or November to get some Granny Smith apples ... and more cherry cider and donuts!

milo

Milo, our source of amusement and exasperation. Tonight, he was a crabby cat.

squash

We planted a garden in the back corner of our yard this year. It's definitely been a year of experimentation so I've learned a lot - but have also had some luck! I have so much zucchini I don't know what to do with it anymore. I've given it away to friends and co-workers (who are also sick of it by now, I'm sure), I've made four loaves of zucchini bread, 36 chocolate zucchini cupcakes, a zucchini lasagna, zucchini pasta salad, and have six bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer. I can't imagine wanting to eat zucchini anytime again soon, but I have it frozen for when that day comes! Anyway, just a warning to those ever planning on planting zucchini - plant just ONE plant. I planted two zucchini and two squash plants and ... well, you get the picture.

we're having a girl!

Jeff and I found out a few weeks ago that we're going to have a baby girl! Due date is December 3 and we're very much looking forward to when that day comes. Since I have a very busy September at work and Jeff travels quite a bit in October for work, we planned a trip to Chicago to do some shopping for the nursery. Now, we're as ready as we can be - for now, anyway. This is a picture of baby girl's garden-themed room.