OK, so I’m one of those losers who doesn’t get around to writing about the new year until the new year is five days old. I’ve had good intentions of writing about the family visit, but other things (cooking, cleaning, refereeing the kids, catching up on sleep) keep getting in the way. I now have eight minutes before Brayden finishes his quiet time, so let’s see how fast I can type.

The family visit over New Year’s went really well. Chris and I finally got to meet our niece, who is just too adorable for words; our boys were curious about the newcomer but weren’t too sure how to approach her. I’d heard that Serenity doesn’t like crowds or too much noise, but she seemed to handle her two cousins’ rowdiness just fine. There was enough snow around that we could take the boys sledding almost every day, so that was a nice way to burn off some energy (check out the pictures in the photo gallery). So a good time was had by all, I think.

And now we’re back into our usual routine of work, school, etc. Justin seemed really relaxed over the holidays and didn’t have a single meltdown that I can recall, so that’s a big plus. He still wants to write all the time, but we noticed that he’s not just writing out names anymore — he writes notes on his iPod about what he’s been doing or thinking, so he’s basically keeping a journal (I’ve kept one for over 20 years, so I find this very cool). He’s way more confident than he used to be and his teachers tell me he’s participating in things that used to make him anxious — yay!

Brayden had fun over the holidays too, although we did discover (the hard way) that he’s allergic to cats. He’s at that stage of asking a million “why” questions, so between that and Justin’s constant queries, our house is never quiet. His play school teacher thinks he looks older now than he did a few weeks ago– our little man is growing up. He’s also done with quiet time, so I guess I better go…