Merry Christmas!

Thank you, everyone, for being so understanding. We'd really like to come out there, but it's just really bad timing.

Charlotte told me that she'd really like for her Great-Grandparents to come out to see her on their way to Florida today ;-) She wants to show them all her new skills, like smiling, holding toys and putting them in her mouth. She might even be able to show them how she can jump in her new jumperoo!

Today Adam is working until about 2am. He's scheduled until 1am, but I'm not expecting him to leave until around 2 because it is so busy. When I talked to him around 6pm he said his morning truck had just arrived (very) late.

It is possible for us to be there "via satellite" on Christmas day, if we can iChat through someone's Mac there. Mark and I iChatted the other day, and it seemed to work well (better than it worked with you and I, Carol. I think your connection is slower than the one in Ohio).

Today I taught for 2 hours, and now I'm done teaching until Thursday or Friday! We're so excited to have some time off together.

Charlotte is playing in her jumperoo right now. She keep sticking her fingers in her mouth and accidentally triggering her gag reflex and coughing. Then she switches to sucking on her thumb. Adam and I both think she might be starting to teethe. Her gums feel harder than they did a couple weeks ago. Its so amazing how quickly she's developing. A week ago she had to be held most of the time and now she can hang out in her jumperoo, or sit in her Bumbo chair and play with toys. Of course, I have to run back every 45 seconds or so to pick the toys up off the floor...but at least I get 45 seconds free! The other day I had her sitting in her chair and playing with toys while I cooked dinner, and she was sitting there when Adam came home from work. He thought it was so cute, he grabbed the video camera and started taping her.

Tomorrow I'd like to go to either Target or Babies R Us and get a couple of mesh teethers. They are teething toys made out of a mesh envelope attached to a plastic handle, and you can put pieces of fruit (like oranges or strawberries or melons) in it so babies eat fruit without biting off big choking hazard size pieces. Also, we can put an ice cube in it or a frozen cube of breastmilk, and she can suck on it and soothe her gums. We bought Charlotte a water filled teething ring as one of her Christmas presents too, so maybe that will help too.