Reflections

Get it? The blog post is titled reflections, which is something that you do at the end of the year...you reflect. But here's a picture of Romelie looking in a mirror...and she's reflected back. So it's reflections. Get it? Ah. The wit. The wit of me.

I could totally do another laundry list of updates; it's been long enough. Instead, I'll go back to my usual paragraph format and try to summarize.

First, regarding my dad. I'm happy to say that he is out of the hospital and back at home. However, he ended up being there for 11 days. At first, when he said he was expected to be there for four days, I was like "What? Four days?! That's forever!!" And then, Christmas morning, he finally gets to go home. I could fill in lots of medical details--mostly about lung fluid, picture that--but rest assured, he's doing better, although I hear both he and my brother have a case of the barfs right now. Super unfair.

Speaking of the barfs...our family had the barfs last week. Well, Romelie and I had the barfs...Chason had all the symptoms minus actual vomiting. I don't think we're responsible for passing it to my dad and Paul, though, since it's been gone for a week in my household. Romelie also went to Urgent Care (again) with her first ear infection last Tuesday night.

I think it's time for my family to have some super healthy time, don't you?

Change focus to...hair cuts! Romelie had her very first professional hair cut on Christmas Eve morning. We went to Kids Hair in Edina, recommended to us by Jen. It was pretty awesome. They kept her entertained with Dora and toys while they cut her hair. Not traumatizing at all, she got a sucker for being a good girl, and they let my mom keep some hair. Which is gross, but it made her happy.

Now...Christmas! We had a really wonderful Christmas, I must say. Often, it can get pretty hectic; it feels like we're just rushing from place to place, trying to see everyone but not really spending much time with anyone. This year, my mom's family did their celebrations on Christmas Eve day, so we were able to spend a few hours there. Then Christmas morning was spent at my house, followed by lots of playtime and nap time. Christmas night we went to my dad's for a delicious dinner (yay Paul) and Romelie and I spent the night. Then Romelie stayed with Paul and my dad, and Chason and I had Saturday night off; we celebrated with board games and stayin' in. And then Sunday we visited my dad's family who had postponed dinner from Christmas day because of the weather. And I must say, it made for a nice, long, celebratory weekend with lots of great food, family time, and minimal stress. Good job, holiday.

Romelie, of course, was spoiled silly since she basically got to open presents for 5 days straight (starting on Christmas Eve and ending with a gift from Aunt Bronwyn and family that arrived on Monday!). Thanks to everyone for keeping Romelie clothed, comfortable, educated and entertained; she has been enjoying her presents tremendously. Unfortunately I think most of the good pictures are on Paul's camera; I'll try to snag those before he goes back to Chicago.

Let's see...I got to see my friend Kristin, whom I haven't seen since our wedding, and her family, whom I haven't seen since Kristin's wedding (a couple years before mine). It was wonderful to spend some time with them, though we weren't able to do too much catching up. Romelie played piano, though, and loved it. And Crystal comes into town tonight!! Welcome back to the land of ice and snow.

It's been a while since I've updated you all on Romelie's newest skills, words, interests, and developments, but this is a pretty long entry already, so I'll save it for another blog. I will, however, leave you with this video of Romelie dancing to "Single Ladies." I tried to teach her the classic hand move from this video (if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about), and she gave it her best.