Peyton's First Christmas

Peyton enjoyed his first Christmas. We traveled to New Orleans to spend the holidays there, flying not only with Peyton but with our dog, Nellie, as well. We were those people in the airport that other people look at and wonder, "What were they thinking?!" All in all, it wasn't so bad. We figured that even flying through Atlanta's airport on the weekend before Christmas was better than spending two days driving from North Carolina to Louisiana.

We packed in visiting with as many family and friends as we could, and Peyton enjoyed the boxes and wrapping paper the most, although he did get some pretty cool presents.

We had an early Christmas lunch with the Ory's on the Sunday before Christmas, and Peyton enjoyed playing with his cousins (well, during the time that he wasn't snoozing.) Then the Christmas festivities revved up on Christmas Eve morning at Patrick's parents in Robert. From there, we traveled to Metairie to see my Dad's family. Then we took a small break back at my mom's before heading to Big Mama and Big Daddy's Christmas party that evening. Before we made it back to my mom's that night, we stopped at Aunt Di and Uncle Bill's Christmas party. Patrick and I agreed later that we may have done a little too much that day. I'm exhausted just writing about it again.

The next morning, we woke up to see what Santa Claus had brought to NO (even though he had made a stop in NC before we left for LA and brought Peyton some toys there too)! The thing Peyton liked the most was the shoebox full of wooden spoons. He got lots of new outfits and PJs and toys that make lots of noise! Overall, it was a very exciting Christmas morning. Then we traveled across the lake to see the Wedigs for Christmas at Mimi's. We finished up our day back at my mom's for Christmas Supper with the Sehrts.

It was good to see everyone, and we enjoyed seeing Peyton play with all of his aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He even got to see his friend Aubrey, who lives in TX. It was also nice to have lots of people around who wanted to help out so his mommy and daddy could have some free time too!


I've posted some pictures of our week home here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/Christmas2008

The Kindness of Strangers

The one good thing about traveling alone with a baby is that people are very, very nice to you. It was time for Peyton and me to head back to NC this morning, after a wonderful visit home to NO for Christmas. Patrick and Nellie had flown back home on Sunday so it was just me and the little man to conquer the airports alone.
I thought I could handle Peyton, the stroller, a rolling carry-on piece of luggage, a large diaper bag, and another rolling checked piece of luggage all by myself. I should say that traveling with Peyton has gotten considerably more difficult since early October when I last flew alone with him. But thank goodness the older couple sitting next to me on the first leg of the flight insisted on standing up and getting out of their seats only moments after takeoff so that I could retrieve the pacifier Peyton threw on the ground when he got mad. And thank goodness the man insisted on rolling the carry-on at least to the top of the jetway for me at the end of the flight (I should mention that he was walking with a cane in the other hand.) I was also grateful that the man sitting next to me on the second leg didn't mind the oatmeal flakes that went everywhere when Peyton knocked the bowl because I wasn't adding water and feeding him fast enough. I was also very thankful that the pilot of the plane helped me roll everything to the top of the jetway at the end of that flight too. And the woman that helped me drag everything to the curb once I retrieved my checked luggage so that I could wait for my ride was also very nice. And there were countless other people that offered to help throughout the morning as I schlepped through the airports struggling to maintain my sanity. I was reminded today about the kindness of strangers and I am very thankful for all of their help in our safe and sucessful trip home.

Ho Ho Ho Ho

Peyton sat on Santa's lab and wondered what was up with that long white beard. He couldn't quite figure it out. He told Santa that he couldn't wait to see all of his family and friends in New Orleans and was looking forward to his first Christmas!

Museum of Life and Science

This past weekend we took Peyton to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. He enjoyed himself quite a bit. There were all kinds of new objects and textures to play with. Not to mention that he got to push his afternoon nap back a bit.


He especially liked the blocks. Well, his mommy and daddy liked building stuff with the blocks.













And he liked knocking them over.




He's such a boy!

Random Peyton Videos

I was looking back over some of the videos that we took of Peyton in the last month or so, and these two made me smile.

In the first, there were some periods of calm and silence, interspersed with periods of craziness.



In the next video, Peyton is showing off some of his cool dance moves. Patrick says that he doesn't think he gets his dance moves from me, but I think that with practice, Peyton could definitely be as good as me some day ;)

It's all Over

I was watching Peyton crawl around this morning, and he became quite interested in our shoes near the front door. I kept moving them away from him because he kept putting them in his mouth. It seems like only yesterday that I could put them on the landing of the stairs and they were out of sight and out of mind, and he'd move on to something else. Not today.....




Patrick is installing the baby gate as I type this post.