Christmas Vacation - Week 2

Our second week of Christmas vacation began with a trip to the Hamptons to visit Paula and John. We stayed a night and had a fabulous dinner with some relatives in the area, one of whom offered to let us stay in her house for our upcoming trip to Boston. What a kind offer!



We returned to Locust Valley for a few days of saunas and recovery. New Year's Eve we were in bed by 9pm, but we left early the next morning for Boston. We ended up staying in an amazing house on Beacon Hill, which was perfect for our needs. Jude had his own room and we were right near the beginning of the Freedom Trail, which E Ben walked one cold morning. Speaking of which, it was REALLY cold in Boston. We barely took Jude outside, and that child loves the cold!

We did have a chance to visit with Sharon and her new baby Adam. Jude had a good time playing with her when we visited their house.



We made it back to Long Island for the weekend and a final meal of duck. The flight home was fairly uneventful, and Jude slept most of the way. It took us a few days to recover once we got home though, mostly because Jude had trouble adjusting back to West Coast time. He was waking up every morning between 5 and 6 for a few days! Our next big trip is to Florida in March. That one won't be a direct flight, so hopefully Jude will do as well during those travels. I can't wait to get him in the swimming pool!

Back to Reality

This past week, Linden returned to work. We are learning new lessons around the Cornett household, as everyone adjusts to their new roles.

Linden is learning that there are limits to her energy. Work, parenting, and breastfeeding are taking their toll.

E Ben is learning that full-time parenting is a full-time job.

Jude is learning that he has Daddy's number.


Week 1 has passed, and we all have our sanity intact. I feel some guilt about seeking out people all the time for distraction or entertainment. My friends and family didn't decide to have a baby, I did! But everyone is very nice and happy to meet up for coffee or a walk or whatever. Jude's sleep is a big mess, maybe because of the change, or for some other reason.

We had an emergency dinner out last night (thanks, emergency baby sitters!) to discuss the week and recover. Recovery is a stretch, but maybe the weekend will help that along.

At the end of the day, Jude is still Jude - the cutest, most charming, most beautiful thing I've seen in my entire life, and I wouldn't trade him for a new pony.

Christmas Sauna, 2008

Christmas Vacation - Week 1

We spent fifteen days on the East Coast over the holidays. It was a successful trip, with lots of family visits, backgammon, and great food. I think we ate over ten different kinds of meat. We both added a few pounds as a result.

Christmas Day we went to my grandmother's house, where Jude received several new outfits. He generally hates wearing sweaters, or anything warm for that matter, and the handmade sweater from Nanny was no exception.



He also got a cute new outfit from Cousin Trish and Aunt Deedy. Yorkie pants and a red plaid shirt!



Next we went to Rick and Eileen's house for dessert. We put Jude and Lukas in the crib together (they are four days apart in age), and the sight of eight adults watching the two babies was hilarious! Although Lukas weighs more than Jude, the two babies were similar in height. It will be fun when they can play together!



Over the weekend, we drove to Philadelphia to visit our friends Matt and Erica. It was a grueling drive, with a ridiculous amount of holiday traffic. With Matt, Jude got to do his first headstand!



Matt and I got real Philly cheese-steaks from Chubby's.



When it came time to leave, Erica wouldn't let go of the baby...



It was great to see our friends and get out on our own for a little while - E Ben gets antsy being in Locust Valley for too long. This was only the first week - I'll finish up writing about our vacation in the next few days...

Christmas Vacation - The Departure

We managed to get out of town for our Christmas Vacation through E Ben's hard work and some miracles. Saturday night (the 20th) we had Cornett Christmas at The Ranch. Terry cooked bacon-wrapped filets and we exchanged baskets of consumables. Below is a photo of Terry with Jude.



We spent the night and drove home the next morning after a huge breakfast. There was an enormous amount of snow at our house, and more forecasted for overnight, so we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to make it to the airport the next morning for our 6am flight. So we unpacked from Christmas and packed for New York in less than two hours. Did I mention that I was sick? And that E Ben had to do almost everything himself? We got our luggage full of laundry down the hill just as the freezing rain started, and spent a pleasant evening with Jen, Andy, and Brady, playing a homegrown version of Sex and the City trivia.



The next morning, we woke up bright and early and made it to the airport in time to skip the huge lines (go Delta Medallion!) and be upgraded to first class. Once we got on the plane, however, we had to wait for over three hours waiting to be de-iced. We found out later that we were lucky - the de-icer broke after it finished with our plane and the rest of the flights out didn't make it. It was about a hundred degrees on the airplane, and we had to take all of Jude's clothes off and put him up by the air vents to keep him from screaming from the heat. Once we took off, he slept for most of the flight, but then we had to wait an hour on the tarmac at JFK for a gate to open up. We made it to Locust Valley late that night after too many hours of travel to count. And we had it easy compared to most travelers this holiday season...

A Year of Books

Here's a link to my 2008 book list. I read 53 books last year, with the vast majority completed before Jude was born. Since then, I've been lucky to finish the book club book and one other each month.

A few of my favorites:

• The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (great childhood memoir)
• Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White (long-awaited fourth book in the President's Daughter series)
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (couldn't put it down)
• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (changed the way I think about food)
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (I'll admit I like YA novels from time to time)
• On Beauty by Zadie Smith (my favorite book club book)
• Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth (most useful baby book of the year)

My reading goal for this year is more modest. I'd like to read all of the book club books, plus enough others to get to 30 for the year. This should be an attainable goal, averaging 2.5 a month. We'll see!

A Giant!

We went in today for Jude's 4-month appointment with the pediatrician.

Here are his stats:

• Weight: 16 pounds even (60th percentile)
• Length: 27 3/4 inches (98th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 43 cm (60th percentile)

At his last appointment, Jude was in the 52nd percentile for weight, so he's climbing up the ladder a little bit, which is great news. I was concerned that his weight might be too low, because he has seemed to be eating much less lately, but I guess he is getting enough to eat. Length-wise, the doctor commented that Jude is about the same as most 8-month old babies. He's going to be one tall boy! Jude did really well with his shots again, not crying at all this time!

Dr. Jack recommended waiting another month or so before starting Jude on solid foods, since he's doing so well on breastmilk alone. We were planning to try doing the full "Super Baby Food" program, but the doctor recommended using commercial baby cereal instead of making our own, so we'll probably end up doing that. We'll still use her program for making foods and to give us a guide for food order, although E Ben is a little frustrated at the book's (lack of) organization.

Here are a couple of photos from our recent vacation to the East Coast. More on that later!