Power, schmower

We were going to go away to the Russian River valley for mom's 34th birthday ... but Mother Nature had other plans. Specifically, a HUGE storm, with hurricane-force winds and torrential rains that caused mudslides, knocked down trees, and flooded out roads. So we rescheduled for the next weekend and stayed home -- only to have our power go out at 3:00 a.m. for 20 hours on the coldest and darkest day of the year. No cell phone service, no heat, no light -- real pioneer stuff. And Annika was fitful and restless, possibly teething, so she couldn't even sleep through the misery. Finally we got in the car, dangerous as that was with all the streetlights and traffic lights out, because at least the car had HEAT. We drove around awhile, then went to dinner at a pizza place, then barricaded ourselves in the bedroom with all the blankets in the house. The power came back on at around 11:00 p.m., but went back out for more than six hours starting at 6:00 a.m. Ugggh!

But we all survived it, and hopefully that's the worst the winter had in store for us ...

New Year's Rockin' Eve

The traveling never stops ... as soon as we got back from Texas (lucky Dad got to change her diaper in the airplane lavatory on that flight!), we unloaded the car, grabbed our guitars, and headed south to Scotts Valley to spend New Year's Eve with our Sauce buddies. Annika was once again a propaganda baby, sleeping a lot and charming everyone when she was awake, and timing her night wakings pretty well with breaks the band took.

She was happy to get home to sleep in her own crib after all that traveling, but it wasn't over yet ...

Baby's First Christmas

Annika had a wonderful first Christmas, even if she wasn't really aware of what day it was ...

She loved staring at the lights and ornaments on the giant tree (which Uncle J. bought and put up) at Grandmother H's house, and of course, meeting her Aunt L. and Uncle J. and her great-grandparents and hanging out with her grandmother. She even made an appearance at the H family's annual Christmas Eve party -- around 2:00 a.m., when she finally woke up and was brought out to meet mom's old friends Flo & Drew (who are themselves expecting a baby girl in May). The next day, the Very Obliging Baby timed her naps around the big Christmas dinner, and got several very lovely presents (she can't wait to use the rocking horse, and of course the wee clothes and toys she got are already in use!).

Pictures will be posted soon in the photo blog ... bug Daddy for that, eh? ;-)