Blog Purge almost done!

Ok, last entry for today-with my family being here I had a lot to catch up on! The last two days of my family's time here we rented a cabin at Nimitz Beach and it was a great way to end their trip. The cabin was awesome and even though the weather wasn't crystal clear we enjoyed our time there just hanging out with everyone. We are looking forward to our next visit with my family already and can't wait to introduce Joseph to all of our other family and friends on the mainland. It is crazy to think that he is more than 3 weeks old now. We keep saying how much he has grown already! The time is going to fly and we are just cherishing every moment with him. He is a great sleeper at night by basically getting up to eat every 3 hours and then going right back to bed-no rocking or anything needed (probably should be careful what I say so I don't jinx us!) During the day he needs a little bit more TLC to get him to go down for a nap but momma definitely prefers this over middle of the night awakenings! He is still eating like a champ which in turn makes his diapers extra special! And whoever said newborns diapers don't stink haven't met our little guy! Yikes! Rich is dying to get him wrestling and has already been practicing his "Attention" stance for West Point! I had my first solo outing with him yesterday and it went great and I feel basically 100% back to normal and am looking forward to getting more active every day. Rich has another long weekend for the New Years holiday and we are looking forward to ringing in the New Year together as a family of three!

A real photo shoot

With my whole family being here for Christmas we booked a photo session with Nicole Reich (http://nicolereichphotography.blogspot.com/2010/12/ducotes.html) to update our family picture that hangs over my parent's fireplace. The one that is there now doesn't have Rich, Dave or Joseph in it so figured we were overdue! Joseph was sound asleep for the entire photo shoot-was hoping to get a few with his eyes open but guess that just gives me more reason to continue snapping photos of him at home! Here are just a few of the photos from Nicole...they all came out great and luckily the rain held off for us.

Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was extra special for the obvious reason of having Joseph here and also for all of my family being here in Hawaii to celebrate with. We have so many blessings in our lives with great health, family, friends, jobs and so on that it was just a very special year.

Rich, Lindsay, Joseph and I packed up the truck early on Christmas morning and headed to Kaneohe to be there bright and early! After a detour at Starbucks (and a ridiculous drive thru line) we made it! We started with stockings (delaMontaigne tradition) and then opened the gifts under the tree. We kept joking around that it was going to be a "thin" Christmas since the trip to Hawaii was supposed to be the gift but everyone made out really well. We always do a big brunch after presents and this year was no different-Dave and Laura had an amazing spread and it wouldn't have been brunch without my brother's famous potatoes! For the rest of the day we just vegged out, went for a walk and/or run, played games and then got ready for dinner! Gotta love the holiday season! It was a wonderful day and we are looking forward to many more Christmases together with our growing family!

Hanging with my little man

View from Laura and Dave's home

The 4 kids and grandkid

Joseph in his Christmas pjs-kissing his bicep

The whole fam in our Christmas pjs

The girls

The guys-just pants for the guys but notice they are matching!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was spent in Kaneohe at Laura and Dave's with all of the family. We combined some traditions this year which was a great change. Normally we have ravioli, Pop's sauce and breadsticks and salad from Oscars (a San Diego favorite) but this year being in Hawaii Oscar's was out and both of the son-in-laws grew up doing fish dinners for Christmas Eve so we figured we'd try it out. It was a great change and a big success! After dinner we went to church in Kaneohe. The service was awesome-it was the children's mass so had the children's choir which even did hula and the priest was fabulous-a great message for the Christmas season reminding us that Christmas is not just a one day holiday but rather we should continue to treat others with love throughout the entire year. Joseph was quiet throughout the entire service-he saved it for the car ride home :) What a good boy! Ha ha. After mass we went back to Laura and Dave's for dessert and to hang out. My mom has gotten us girls matching pajamas the past few years but this year she said she decided to go out on a limb and get everyone pjs. The guys were great sports about wearing them (I secretly think they all liked them!) and Joseph even got a pair but we joked around with my mom saying we wouldn't let him wear the bottoms because they were more like tights than pants...which is why he is pantless in the pictures (posted on Christmas blog entry).

Opening our pajamas after mass

Uncle Brian

Aunt Lindsay

Aunt Laura and Uncle Dave-Joseph's godparents

He was just about pictured out by this point!

First Christmas Eve as a family of three

Happy grandparents

The fam

The dela Fam

We were fortunate enough this year to have my family come to Hawaii for Christmas. We had an awesome week with everyone and although the weather wasn't as perfect as normal it was really ok with everyone becauase well for one everyone has been here so many times and secondly we were all content just hanging out and being with each other. We did take advantage of the sun when it did come out. This will definitely be a trip that we wll all remember forever! Here are some pictures!

I love this picture of my parents-totally captures how much fun they still

have together after 38 years of marriage!

Gramma and Grampa

He is totally spoiled already by his gramma!

We sent my parents on a sunset mai tai cruise while the "kids" went and had a few drinks in Waikiki

We told them they weren't allowed to get off unless if they drank their money's worth...my mom was feeling

pretty good! Ha ha!

Joseph's first trip to the beach on December 23rd and Mom looks so happy to be in the sun!!

Ducote tradition

It is a Ducote tradition to decorate the house and the tree for Christmas on the day of the annual Army-Navy football game, which always falls in the first few weeks of December. This year the game was on December 11th which was perfect because we came home on December 10th from the hospital-we couldn't have planned it better! Uncle Mark, Uncle Dave, Uncle Momo and Aunt Lindsay were all here for the game and for the decorating (Aunt Laura had to teach her class at the gym and go into work so couldn't make it.) We ordered breakfast from Koa Pancake House, watched the game and got into the Christmas spirit. Too bad Army lost...hopefully next year!

Watching the game with dad

Chilling after the game looking at the Christmas lights

Pretty upset about the game

Our tree-always real in our home!

Hanging with Aunt Lindsay

Lindsay flew in the day Joseph was born and stayed for a little over 3 weeks. We loved having her here and it was very helpful especially once Rich went back to work. I feel so blessed to have two amazing sisters (and an amazing brother)-little Joseph is very fortunate to have such awesome aunts and uncles (including all of the aunts and uncles on the Ducote side)! While Linz was here we had a few photo shoots-I have a TON of pictures but here are just a few to share.

Pop's cradle

My mom's dad or Pop Pop, as he was better known as, was quite the talented handyman. He had a woodshop in my grandparent's basement and was always building something. He made my sisters and I an amazing dollhouse one year complete with furniture and another year he made the four of us a puppet theatre-both of which are at my parent's home waiting for the future grandkids to play with. He also made a cradle that the four of us delaMontaigne kids all slept in as babies. Rich knew about this cradle and had seen it just sitting in our garage in San Diego. He secretly planned with my parents to surprise me with it when we went to visit them back in August. My parents had it all wrapped up and then they made plans to ship it to Hawaii in time for Joseph's arrival and then we will pass it on to the rest of my siblings so they can use it with future grandbabies as well-hopefully we'll keep this in our family for a long time. I have to take a picture of the bottom of it because there is a note form Pop. Joseph loves the cradle and we know that Pop is looking down on us now and is so happy.

Christmas came early this year!

We love our little Christmas baby! Things are going great at home and our little guy is weighing in at 9 lbs already (13 ozs. more than his birth weight in less than 2 weeks.) He is a super chill baby and a great eater and sleeper. My recovery is going well and we just feel so blessed. Merry Christmas to all!