Do you see what I see? (2009 Creath Family Holiday Summary)

Instead of killing more trees than I already am, with the handful of real live Christmas cards I send out, I thought I'd do one of those "year in review" letters online instead.

So of course, the big news for 2009 is that our family of four increased to a family of five. TJ and I and Spike and Peanut welcomed our new baby girl, Trillian Mira, into our family in September. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. I'll start at the beginning.

At the very end of 2008, we were invited by a friend to the recording studio where my new favorite band, Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs, were working on their newest album, The Only Thing That Matters. That was an unforgettable experience, and well worth driving through a few snowstorms.

On January 17, 2009, I found out I was pregnant. I didn't believe the test at first, so I did it twice. Luckily my doctor was open on Saturday, and they confirmed it there as well. We found out for sure while we were having lunch at Matador. That night, our BabyX got to attend her first live rock show - Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs, of course. Since she was just a bunch of cells at that point, I'm guessing she didn't hear anything.

Shortly after finding out, we went to Savannah for a long weekend to visit my parents, but unfortunately I spent most of the time in bed with an awful cold. Sad.

Though we told our families pretty soon after we found out, we kept it a secret from everyone else until we made it past the 12-week mark, in March. That was really hard for me, since I can't keep a secret worth a damn. We had a bit of a sticky situation in January, literally 3 days after we found out. Through a charity raffle at work, I won a free private dinner for 8 people at Crush, a trendy (and yummy) restaurant in Seattle. The first course was salt-cured raw tuna, which I couldn't have, but I had to find a subtle way to let the chef know. I wasn't subtle enough and my friend Jenna (who was also pregnant at the time, but not stealthily) picked up on it. But thankfully she could keep a secret.

We both learned some new skills at the beginning of the year. TJ took an art welding class at Pratt Fine Arts Center (the same place I took my metalsmithing series last year). Around that same time, I took a few months of rock drumming lessons. We both loved our classes, but haven't been able to rationalize getting either a welding setup or a full drum kit for the house. Sad, I know.

TJ went on several trips to Oregon for motorcycle track days in the middle of nowhere in April, May, June and the beginning of August. He took both the Ducati and the Triumph in his fancy trailer. The dogs kept me company at home though they were often confused at bedtime, because TJ was not there. On the bright side, they know that I like to sleep in so I was spared the Food Whining of the Beagle at 7am. He usually waits until 9am when it's just me.

Both of us continued to work at Microsoft. We love living so close to work. TJ can walk to his office in 19 minutes, and it would be even shorter if he could just cut through other peoples' yards.

We found out BabyX was going to be a girl in May, but they weren't sure, so we had them confirm it again at later ultrasounds. Fortunately, they were correct :)

My mom came to visit in June and we did a whirlwind of baby shopping, then TJ's parents visited in July and helped out with some house projects. Both visits yielded us some yummy food as well.

In July, we started our "getting ready for baby" classes. In retrospect we did get some great information, even if it was horribly annoying at the time. I found out that my husband and I are equally squeamish about watching videos about childbirth. I think one of them actually made me cry. I'm really grateful that TJ attended all of the classes with me. That made it more fun, and he convinced me to go when I wanted to bail out.

My friend Kristin came out to visit for July 4. We tried to go to the International Beer Festival at the Seattle Center, but waiting in line for over an hour was not happening for me, especially since I couldn't drink any beer once I got there. So we rode the rickety Seattle monorail instead. Now I can say I've done it, and don't need to do it again.

We didn't do much traveling - we wanted to stay close to home to get ready for BabyX. The end of July was nasty-hot (for Seattle), temps above 100 degrees. At 7 months pregnant it was pretty uncomfortable so I spent a lot of time at work, and the rest of the time holed up with the dogs in our air-conditioned bedroom (the only room with ac in our house). TJ was roasting at a sport bike rally and track day weekend at this time, sleeping outside in Eastern Oregon. Poor guy.

I spent a decent amount of time during those hot, uncomfortable months sitting in our hot tub, which we haven't used much since buying our house 5 years ago. It was nice and relaxing and helped a tiny bit with the swelling in my WALL-E feet. (remember the fat humans on the space ship?) If it weren't so darn funny, I would have been mad at TJ for being mean to me like that.

August and the early part of September were spent with me getting huger and eating lots of apple pie, and TJ and I freaking out about how there was going to be a BABY in our house, and what the heck were we going to do with A BABY?!

And then she arrived, and in an instant changed our life. She's been (knock on wood) a really cooperative baby, and she seems to follow the milestone "schedule" on cue. ie, exactly on the day I was 20 weeks pregnant, I felt her move. Exactly on her 6 week birthday, she smiled at us on purpose (it wasn't gas or poo).

Of course we are thrilled, but we've also had adjustments to make. The pups don't get as much attention or trips to the park. (Wrangling baby, stroller, and two dogs is a bit more than one person can handle.) We're not going to Vegas anytime soon. (I really don't think Vegas is a family vacation sort of place, plus what do we do with the baby when we want to play hours of pai gow poker?) Quick errands aren't so quick when you have a baby in the car too. Even something as simple as returning library books isn't - our closest library branch doesn't have a drive-up book drop, so you have to go inside to return books.

But we're rolling with the changes, and having a great time with BabyT. She got to meet both sets of grandparents, her Aunt Robin, and her great-Granny in late October and early November. She has started playing with toys a little and randomly whacking her head with her hands less. She makes awesome baby noises so we can pretend like we're having a conversation. Now that she's 3 months old, we can take her out to more places, though we're still careful because of the dreaded swine flu. She's been to several local restaurants and a few friends' houses and behaved admirably. I'm guessing that won't continue for long so we should enjoy it while we can.

Like all new parents we've been taking lots of pictures. Our Christmas present to ourselves this year is a brand new Canon S90 camera, which will be much better for baby pics, so we're anxiously awaiting its arrival.

Now that BabyT is a bit older, and sleeping pretty well, I've been able to get back to my craftiness. I've been really busy with orders this holiday season. My work was featured on Good Morning America on December 7. That really boosted sales, and continues to be good for my shops. Woo hoo! And that came from a chance encounter - one of my customers happened to work for GMA and asked if she could feature me.

So things are great with us, and we hope they are for you, too. Merry Christmas and best wishes to everyone in 2010. Happy New Year!!