Happy New Year!

One of my resolutions this year is to update Paulina's blog at least once a week. Well, here we are, 2 weeks into 2011 and I haven't gotten around to it. Stick with me, I know I can do it! We are getting into quite the routine now that I'm back to work. I'm just going to add fifteen minutes a week to keep this up to date. Now, where to start with the updates?!?

We look forward to Thanksgiving every year since we now have a firm tradition of spending the day with our great friends, Adam and Lindsay. We were even more excited about it now that we had Paulina to share it with. Unfortunately, Adam came down with Spinal Meningitis the week before Thanksgiving which landed him in the hospital for a few days. Needless to say, we were forced to steer clear of them for awhile. So, we spent Thanksgiving at home with Mark's parents and his sister. It was the first time, ever, that we have all sat down at the table to eat together at the same time! Crazy, but true. After dinner we went to our friends, Roger and Nikki's, new house to play games.December was a busy month, with Mommy returning to work on December 6th. The transition wasn't as emotional as I thought it would be. Mostly, I believe, because I don't have to take Paulina anywhere and drop her off. We've been fortunate in that Mark's boss has changed his schedule so he works only evenings and he can be home all day with P. I get home by 3:30 and he has to leave the house about 3:45. We have a brief moment to catch up and then we do the hand off. He still has two days off a week and one of them, most of the time, is either Saturday or Sunday so we have at least one full day to spend together each week. Luckily, I only had to work for two weeks in December before our Winter break. It was a nice way to ease into going back to work.

Paulina's first Christmas was amazing. Everyone was so thoughtful and generous and little P was completely spoiled with gifts. We started opening them on Christmas Eve but had to take a break and open the rest throughout the day on Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Mark's parents and his sister at the house. I made the entire dinner by myself for the first time and, if I do say so myself, it was delicious! We decided to do something entirely Californian on Christmas day so we headed to Huntington Beach. King is allowed to be off leash there so the whole family piled in the car for the trip. It was a great way to spend the day, until King decided to follow another dog too close for comfort to Pacific Coast Highway!

By New Year's Eve, Adam was feeling 100% and his doctor had given him the "all-clear" for being around the baby. So, we did what we would have done for Thanksgiving and spent the evening with them. Adam made a delicious Prime Rib dinner and we enjoyed playing the Newlywed Game with our newlywed friends. The four of us have so much to be thankful for in 2010. If 2011 is half as good to us as 2010, we would be extremely lucky.

Winter break was spent, mostly, at home trying to get into a routine. Paulina had a few nights of extreme fussiness and we thought she was either sick or teething. Turns out, she was trying to tell me that she wanted to go to bed earlier! Once we figured that out, bedtime has been a breeze. Bath at 7 and asleep in bed by 8, easy peasy! Two weeks into the new year and back to work again, we have definitely developed a Lajci family rhythm.
It is unbelievable how quickly our little P is growing! She smiles all the time now and started to giggle the last week of 2010 although that still tends to be something she reserves just for Mommy and Daddy. This week, she has discovered her tongue and it spends as much time out of her mouth as it does inside of it! We've also starting putting bibs on her because she drools so much and, of course, everything she touches goes into her mouth. She now hold her own pacifier and has, on several occasions, taken it our of her mouth and successfully put it back in. She doesn't use it nearly as much as she used it. She'll suck on it for a few minutes as she falls asleep but then she spits it out. If we try to give it to her any other time, she'll usually just chew on it. We go for her four month appointment tomorrow and are excited to see how much she has grown physically. In order for her to continue to be in the 95th percentile, he doctor wanted her to weigh 16 lbs. Well, the last time I weighed her, she was about 17 1/2! She is just one amazing, healthy, and beautiful baby girl and we are so truly truly blessed that she is ours!