Merry Christmas everyone. Chrissy and I were considering letting Gus
write the letter this year since he has become such a prolific writer, but since
he can be long winded I thought I would give it a shot. If you don’t have time to read over the whole
years worth of blog posts, 2012 has been quite a ride for us.
It began a few days before the New Year, on December 28th,
with us staying at Evergreen Hospital where Chrissy was admitted during her
pregnancy. We watched the Huskies lose
the Alamo Bowl and rang in the New Year all from the comforts of Chrissy’s
hospital room. At the time I was still on
my knee scooter and in a cast after having Achilles Tendon surgery. On January 2nd, they took us to the
delivery room where our first child, Allison Victoria Lord, was born about 3
months premature. She weighed in at a
whopping 1 pound 10 ounces and 13 inches long. We spent the next 4 months at the hospital
while she was growing and fighting through some setbacks including infections
and surgeries. But on May 5th
we finally got to bring her home. All
the prayers, candle vigils, well wishes and good thoughts worked because she is
now doing great. While she is still on
the small side for her age, 14 ½ lbs, 26 inches, she is healthy and growing.
Since then it has been a lot of adjusting for the new mom
and dad. Chrissy got acclimated as she took her maternity leave once we got
Allison home and spent the summer with her. I got out of my cast and then my
walking boot by mid summer but I am still working through physical therapy to
strengthen my foot and walk normally again.
While we are still figuring out how to take Allison anywhere
(who knew you had to pack up the whole house when you take the baby out), we
did manage to spend the 4th of July weekend with our friends in
Chelan which was our first trip away from home. We also took Allison to a couple Washington
Husky football games, but she didn’t have as much fun as we had hoped (she
still has lots of time to learn how Husky football is a way of life). For the rest of the games she started staying
with her grandma and grandpa (Eddie’s parents).
Speaking of grandparents, they have been a blessing since Chrissy
went back to work in August. On Sundays,
Chrissy’s mom Connie comes to stay the night with us and takes care of Allison
on Mondays. We have a very close friend, Cindy Perry, who nannies for us Tuesdays
through Thursdays. On Fridays, my mom
Linda, comes up to watch Allison during the day until I get home. So both grandmas and Cindy get their baby fix
each week and sometimes more when scheduling problems arise. It’s a win-win-win-win (I think that’s enough
wins).
Otherwise it’s been a pretty uneventful year. That is until
this last week when Chrissy threw a small surprise party for my 40th
birthday. We had a couple close friends and some family meet us downtown for
dinner at The Met and then drinks back at our suite at the Hyatt. It was a
great way to turn 40. And now wrapping up the Christmas season, Allison got to
go to downtown Nordstrom to visit Santa for the first time. As you can see she
liked it a lot. And since she was such a good girl this year, Santa said he
would bring her lots of toys.
While we have now become those parents who talk about our
kid obsessively, we wouldn’t change this past year for anything. Happy Holidays to all of you and we hope the
New Year brings you joy and happiness.
Love Eddie, Chrissy, Allison, and Gus
