Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Baby's First Christmas - Should you give gifts to an infant?
Yeah, it'll be evident in the pictures. We had Santa re-wrap some toys and re-gift them on Christmas for our little one. There were plenty of gifts from grandparents, siblings, and friends that we figured it wasn't necessary to add more to our already stuffed house. The little one seemed quite pleased to find the favorite mirror hiding in a stocking and the rattle wrapped in tissue paper. That is what matters to me - the JOY of celebrating Jesus' birth with family.
Monday, December 04, 2006
The First Trip Home After Moving Away is Tough
It is highly anticipated, usually coincides with a major holiday (Thanksgiving), involves coordination with family, other out-of-town guests, and possibly friends that still live nearby the hometown, and never quite works out as well as you'd like it to. Add an infant to that equation and you get a whole other bag of beans to deal with - maintaining a nap schedule with a 3 hour timezone change, keeping a consistent schedule while trying to visit with as many people in multiple places as possible, and feeding sufficiently and timely enough to maintain a happy, dapper child.
It is always great to be back home and visit with family and friends; however, it can also be somewhat stressful trying to keep everyone content. In my case, my parents and sisters (who had also drove or flown from out of town) wanted to see as much of my husband and me and the little one as possible, but they had their own schedules and families to juggle as well. My in-laws and brother-in-law (who had flown in from out of town) also wanted to see as much of my husband and me and the little one as possible. Likewise, since we were going to shortly be back West where we had few friends and family, my husband and I wanted to squeeze in as many visits and socializing events as we could into our short visit home.
We spent the first week of our trip trying to enjoy our family and friends and bickering with each other about where we'd be this day or this evening. We had done some pre-planning with a schedule before getting on the plane, but then other family plans changed and caused schedule conflicts. My family got the actual holiday, so his family should get three more days to make up for it, etc. I thought these kinds of debates had been settled our first year of marriage, but that was back when we lived near our family. Moving West had re-awakened the beast of holiday family time fights. And the three-hour time change and sleep deprivation of new parents didn't help things.
So in the end, we got to see a lot of our friends and family. We are still married. :)
We've decided that we can do better next time by communicating our original family plan early and often, and not trying to accommodate others as readily without considering the best interests of our family unit first. Easier said than done, I think.
It is always great to be back home and visit with family and friends; however, it can also be somewhat stressful trying to keep everyone content. In my case, my parents and sisters (who had also drove or flown from out of town) wanted to see as much of my husband and me and the little one as possible, but they had their own schedules and families to juggle as well. My in-laws and brother-in-law (who had flown in from out of town) also wanted to see as much of my husband and me and the little one as possible. Likewise, since we were going to shortly be back West where we had few friends and family, my husband and I wanted to squeeze in as many visits and socializing events as we could into our short visit home.
We spent the first week of our trip trying to enjoy our family and friends and bickering with each other about where we'd be this day or this evening. We had done some pre-planning with a schedule before getting on the plane, but then other family plans changed and caused schedule conflicts. My family got the actual holiday, so his family should get three more days to make up for it, etc. I thought these kinds of debates had been settled our first year of marriage, but that was back when we lived near our family. Moving West had re-awakened the beast of holiday family time fights. And the three-hour time change and sleep deprivation of new parents didn't help things.
So in the end, we got to see a lot of our friends and family. We are still married. :)
We've decided that we can do better next time by communicating our original family plan early and often, and not trying to accommodate others as readily without considering the best interests of our family unit first. Easier said than done, I think.
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