December 2011

December marks the 4th year of having these monthly memoirs on-line. Behind the scenes, we have been doing these since 2005 (7 years) and the inspiration came from my Dad. Starting in the late 80’s, my Dad did monthly memoirs and they are great to go back and read. Now, his were much more personal and meant to only be read years after the particular month had past. This happened when he gave us a binder with all of his memoirs for Christmas a few years ago. I cherish that binder and love to read it from time to time, as he didn’t let us read it as he went along. I always wish he would have started earlier to get his thoughts along the way, so I decided to start this back when Deb and I got engaged.

We went to Charleston, WV this year for Christmas and it was a great trip. Allison traveled well in the car and with the ability to feed her as we are driving; we made it with only one bathroom/diaper break. This was a much smoother visit than last time as we are a little more aware of Allison’s needs and wants and she is becoming a little more predictable (I said “a little”). She did get a cold while we were there, but there wasn’t a fever associated with it, so she just coughed and had a runny nose most of the visit. Allison was very interested in their dog, Duke, and enjoyed petting him and watching him run around. Uncle David, Aunt Wiz, the Walkers and Julie’s boyfriend, Kyle, were all around for part of the weekend and we really enjoyed hanging out with them. Deb and I got each other some warm ski clothes and we also got new cell phones. We got Allison a little toy that should help her when she starts walking.
We went to the Rago’s house in Chicago for NYE. They hosted us, the Bencks and the Schafers. With 8 adults and 2 kids, the house was hopping and we enjoyed a great dinner. We arrived early enough to put Allison down for a nap and watch the Purdue basketball game. We enjoyed watching Allison play with their daughter, Alivia. The pictures show them playing with some of the party favors! Allison is such an easy traveller.

We celebrated Christmas with my family on the 28th. Frank, Jan, Chelsea, Chris, and Beth’s boyfriend, Matt, came over also and we enjoyed some pizza and cards, along with presents. Mom “made” a gift this year which had us all worried, but it ended up being a gift card tree which was about the best gift she could make! Allison was still a little under the weather, so she and Deb left at about 8:30 or so. Allison and I went back the following morning (I had the week off and Deb had to work 2 days) to hang out more with the Vandervaarts and Mom.

We went to a white elephant party with a group of people from Deb’s work at the Hamersly’s. It was great to get together with them as they all needed to blow off some steam. They are going through a transition where they will not work for the clinic anymore, but will be working for a new employer that was hired by the doctors to manage them. Overall, Deb will still go to work at the same place and see the same types of patients, but the transition hasn’t gone as smoothly as she hoped.

A few more items from this month:
**We went with our usual “Purdue” Group to dinner in Zionsville to Noah Grants. This is an annual tradition where we get together at a recommended restaurant and drink too much and stay too late!
**We went to Snappers for a charity event (think of Dave and Busters for kids) with some friends and I found myself playing laser tag with a bunch of kids (not too surprising)! Deb and her friend Karen did back flips on the trampolene.
**Deb won tickets to one of the last Colts games of the year, and it was the first win! Kinda depressing and weird to go from heading to the Superbowl 2 years ago to being the worst team in the NFL. Lawton, Anderson and Foulke came along with me.
**Allison is sitting up, eating 2 times a day and continuing to entertain us on a daily basis. She laughs and interacts with us with just about everything we do. I’m sure there will be plenty of ups and downs, but we just try to enjoy each moment as it comes and goes.