Festive Fun...

This past weekend was a busy one! We spent lots of time as a family getting in the holiday spirit! On Saturday we finished up the last of our Christmas shopping downtown and then we took a horse drawn carriage ride around the Old Port. Henry loved riding through the town looking at all the shoppers and lights. Afterwards we went up to Freeport to the LL Bean outdoor stage to see our friends Nance and Greg perform "A Christmas Carol". Nance and Greg run Shoestring Theatre, which is a puppet troupe that does incredible work. It was chilly, but totally worth it! What a fun time Henry had listening to the music and watching the huge puppets float across stage. Sunday we headed down to Newburyport, MA to be with some of Matt's family. Henry had fun watching his cousins romp around and make an amazing gingerbread village. Erin and Killian whipped up an unbelievable brunch and fun was had by all. It was great to see everyone! We also managed to make several batches of Christmas cookies and a homemade wreath (see picture)! This week we are taking it easy getting ready for a big Friday night! We are really looking forward to spending our first Christmas ever in Portland and our first as a family of three. We can't wait to create our own Welch tribe traditions! Enjoy the photos from the weekend.

Happy Holidays to All!

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Momo Comes to Town!

Momo arrived on Friday and what a wonderful visit we had! I feel like I didn't get to spend much time with her, but that's only because she babysat Henry all weekend so Matt and I could have time to ourselves. What a luxury it is to go out to dinner without your eight month old! On Friday night Matt and I went up to Freeport and had a lovely dinner at a cute Italian bistro. We then did some late night Christmas shopping at LL Bean. It felt really weird to be without Henry for a few hours. On Saturday Momo treated me to an afternoon of "mommy pampering" at the spa at the Inn By the Sea while Matt went to work in his studio for the afternoon. Then Matt met me for another romantic dinner last night. What a treat! I almost fell asleep during my massage..imagine that! Thank you SOOOO much Momo! I know Henry appreciated his one on one time with you and I am glad you got your Henry fix too! Momo's flight got cancelled today due to the stormy weather on the eastern seaboard so she ended up having to take a bus and then a train back home to Connecticut..what a trooper! Thanks again mom for such a wonderful weekend, we appreciate it!

Because I wasn't around Momo too much this weekend we didn't get that many pictures of her and Henry. We'll make sure to fix that when we see her over Christmas. But, we did manage to take a few cute pictures over the last few days of our big eight month old!!!

Henry Gets a Steel Drum!!!

We had a very exciting afternoon. When we went down to pick up the package that had arrived for Henry today we had no idea it was going to be the neatest, coolest and most appropriate gift ever! Grandma and Grandpa Welch sent Henry his very own steel drum for Christmas. Okay, we opened a Christmas gift up early, I know...we're bad parents!!! But, we couldn't resist:) When Matt came home from work tonight I set Henry up in front of his new instrument and we serenaded Dad as he came up the stairs. You should have seen Matt's face! He immediately sent photos to his steel drum band. I think Henry will be the youngest steel drum player there ever was!! Matt and Henry have plans to play their first gig together as soon as possible. Enjoy the photos of Henry and his new cool drum set straight from Trinidad.

Getting in the Holiday Spirit

After a long week of illness and recovery, we were happy to get out and about on Friday night. We took Henry up to the Portland Museum of Art for a night of caroling and art. They had the entire sculpture garden aglow and we met up with some of our friends to enjoy some Christmas music. We then walked down Congress Street with hundreds of others out for the First Friday Art Walk. Maine College of Art was having their holiday craft sale, so of course we had to hit that up! On our way back we stopped at the Christmas tree in Monument Square and had our picture taken. Saturday Henry and I went to a holiday party with some of Henry's friends. It was so cute to see all the little babies dressed up in their holiday outfits! Matt had a steel drum gig with over 200 spectators...wow, he said it was awesome! On Sunday we went to pick out our Christmas tree and decorated it with all the many ornaments we have been collecting for the past several years. It was fun to finally hang them all up! Henry is enjoying all the lights and holiday glitz up around the apartment. It was a full weekend, but a great one to kick off the holiday season! We hope you are enjoying this beautiful season as much as we are. Peace to you all!

I know... I am a blogger slacker

Hello friends and family,

I have been notified on several occasions in the last few days about my failure to update the blog in the past week (haha!). I am sorry for being such a blogger slacker. We had a minor set back right after Thanksgiving which was not very enjoyable and made blogging (or anything for that matter) nearly impossible. We were hit with the nasty, icky, yucky stomach bug and it took quite a long time for everyone to recover. I am happy to report that we are all back to our normal selves! It was not fun there for a few days...

So, now that I have my energy back I will get back to photographing and reporting on my lovely little Henry. Because he was looking a little peakish there for a few days I didn't think it was the best time to be taking photos of him. I did take some excellent shots of him yesterday on our morning walk, but I am saving those for the holiday card...so stay tuned!!!

We have a busy holiday weekend ahead with lots of fun things planned, so I will make sure to bring my camera along. Hope you all had a wonderful and healthy Thanksgiving. Happy December and Happy Winter!!