Holiday Recap

We are back in Seattle after a fun filled holiday in St. Louis. It's been a while since I posted, and as most people, it's been a very busy holiday season.

For my birthday, Dan took me to Elliott's Oyster House on the Sound. The food was spectacular, as usual. Afterwards we went on a fabulous cruise around the sound onboard Argosy's Spirit of Seattle - the lead ship in the Christmas ship parade. We loved it! I hope we can take Kendra when she is a bit older. It really was an amazing cruise.

We headed for St. Louis on 12/21 to spend the holidays with friends and family. Because we booked our flight so late, we ended up on a 12 hour adventure through 3 different airports before we landed. It was a very long day, but Kendra was good as gold. She slept through a big chunk of the trip, so we really only had to work at keeping her entertained on the last flight and during the layovers.

As is par for the course, I immediately came down with a miserable cold. Dan went visiting to friends while me, and sometimes Kendra, stayed at dad's and napped.

Christmas Day dawned with a light dusting of snow, and icey roads. We gingerly made our way to my grandma's house, where we spent the day eating, opening gifts and laughing at Kendra's antics. The child is a ham and loved being the center of attention of a room full of adults.

The last few days of our trip were spent visiting friends, and meeting a new one. Noah Benjamin was born on 12/26 to some very proud parents. He looks beautifully healthy, and looks exactly like his daddy. Congrats to the new family!

We flew back to Seattle on 12/28 - making our flight by the skin of our teeth. Who knew the STL airport would be crowded beyond capacity at 5:30am? Actually, we would have missed it entirely if a very nice Skycap and TSA agent hadn't helped us out. Thanks guys, wherever you are.

Home again, and I'm recovering from round 2 of my cold. Kendra is happy as a clam to be back with her doggies. The laundry is done, the floors have been mopped and the house is a toyland disaster zone. Another few days and we'll clean it up. For now, it's fun!

Concession

Despite my hopes and fervent wishes, I can no longer deny the truth. Kendra's eyes are not blue. I thought I was safe when they were still blue at one year, but it was not to be.

I am destined to have a brown haired, brown eyed girl.

Not that there's anything wrong with brown eyes, but geeze - Dan got everything! I was hoping she'd at least get my blue eyes. Good thing I gave birth to her because she doesn't look much like me!

She is doing much better after her bout with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. In fact, she's been downright fun. Dan took her to the art walk in Pioneer Square last night, and I went to the gym. I had a whole hour of uninterrupted me time! I listened to a book on my iPod and enjoyed every moment.

First Official Childhood Disease

Kendra has been under the weather the past few days, nothing major, just a bit out of sorts. She's had a rash since Sunday, though, so today I took her to the doctor to have it looked at. The doc had no real idea about the rash, but while there I noticed several blisters on Kendra's feet. Dan had seen one on her hand last night, so I asked about them. Congratulations, we have Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.

It's a relatively harmless viral infection that is highly contagious in the under 10 set. One of Dan's co-worker's kids had it, so it's possible that's where she got it from. Since she is no longer running a fever she is no longer contagious so we can resume our normal activities. She will be uncomfortable while she has the blisters - especially the ones in her mouth. Lots of cuddles and Tylenol are the medicine of the day.