Our Christmas Letter

I finally finished our Christmas cards, hooray! In the actual mailing, I surround the text below with multitudes of teeny-tiny photos (mostly of the boys) from the previous year. All photos can be found at my Dot Photo account.

Dear Friends and Family,

It's been another busy year! If you've read the card, you already know our biggest news: we are expecting Baby #3 sometime in May. We had our "big ultrasound" on Dec. 15th -- it's a boy! Seth and Eli are both excited to be big brothers. Seth was hoping for a boy, while Eli said, "I want a baby!" -- so we were able to please both of them.

We visited the B_____, formerly of NYC, in their lovely new home in Chappaqua, NY. We did venture into the city once, for Dim Sum with the C___. It's so fun to see our "Sept 99" babies growing up. I made another trip to NYC to see the finale of Survivor: All-Stars live (thank you for the tickets, E!). Karin and I met in the city on Mother's Day for a quick dinner before the show. We saw several of the Survivors in person while in line, but I was too chicken to ask for an autograph. We visited Dave's parents in Niskayuna several times, and they visited us too. My mom made several trips from WI: partly to visit us, and partly to scope out MA and NH as a possible new home. We took the boys north to visit Nana C_____ and Nana H___, and they also enjoyed a trip to Drumlin Farms with my mom's parents when they were in town.

In between visits back and forth with friends and family, we survived both the DNC and the World Series, attended two weddings (congrats to Delsey & Peter and Jan & Andrea!), took in the very-cool LOTR traveling exhibit, and welcomed our new neice Elizabeth into the world.

Eli continues to be his happy, lovable self. His version of the "terrible twos" is only slightly bad. He is a very typical two-year-old in that he admires both Buzz Lightyear and Dora the Explorer and enjoys both painting and playdoh. He adores babies (both dolls and real ones): when we went to visit his cousin Elizabeth at the hospital, he held her for a very long time and proclaimed her to "his baby" when I tried to pick her up. He remains an animal-lover too, and has gotten a big kick out the various dogs we've visited or had in the house. I'm glad to report that Eli is speaking fluently and clearly; there are no signs of any of the speech problems that plagued Seth at this age.

Seth switched to a new school this year. His end-of-year report revealed that his speech and shyness has improved so much that he no longer needed the public prescohol program (although he still attends a group speech lesson once a week). In September, he started a Pre-K program at a private preschool. His class meets five days a week, for about four hours a day. Despite his initial reluctance to change venues, Seth loves his new school and has made new friends. He is developing strong early math and reading skills, and is very interested in how the world works. He is still a big fan of mazes, pirates, and castles: he had a Pirate-themed birthday party, and was a knight for Halloween. We watch Survivor together whenever it's on, and we share a love of video games. He also enjoys tromping through the woods in the Fellsway or near Walden Pond whenever our friend Megan organizes an outting. She has a knack for relating to children, and whenever we drive by woodsy places, Seth asks when we will go hiking with Megan again.

Dave's first year in business for himself has had mixed results. He signed on many new clients, but not quite enough to make the company profitable enough for us. Although he enjoys working for himself, he's deciding to seek full-time employment elsewhere. If you know of anyone in the Boston area looking for an experienced IT infrastructure generalist or technical manager, please let him know. Dave has continued his volunteer work with the Sterling Institute of Relationship; his stint as the Kitchen Manager for their weekend seminars will be coming to an end soon. He's not sure what (if anything) will be next.

I have continued my volunteer work with with Canine University and New England Border Collie Rescue. I helped with the rehabilitation of a puppy-mill breeder dog, a lovely little gal named Jade. She was so "shut down" by her hellish life before entering rescue, that we all thought she was deaf. She even fooled the experienced behaviorists at Tufts! She made tremendous progress in rescue, and even more in her adoptive home. It was amazing to see her at the October NEBCR reunion, where she looked and acted like a normal dog. We also fostered a crazy puppy named Erin: although it was fun to have a puppy, it was a relief to give her to her adoptive home. By all reports, she continues in her role as "loveable trouble-maker." I spent a lot of weekends this summer and fall volunteering for the John Kerry campaign in NH. Of course I wish the election results had gone differently, but I'm proud of my contribution. My other activities include organizing a Craft Club with friends, joining the local chapter of Mothers & More, and continuing my many and varied sewing, knitting, and scrapbooking projects. This fall, I signed on with Club Z Tutoring, a company that matches students with tutors. They do all the legwork and billing, so the tutors can focus on teaching. I have already had one assignment (a 10th-grader struggling with geometry), and I am looking forward to more.

Kizzy's behavior has been good (she is still on a low dose of doggy Prozac). This fall, she injured herself while playing in the yard: she completed severed her rear cruciate ligament. She underwent knee surgery, and several weeks of intensive physical therapy. The vet was very impressed with how well she has recovered strength and joint mobility. I call her my "bionic dog."

I hope this note finds everyone happy and in good health. May the New Year bring you both luck and joy!

Love,
Dave, Rachel, Seth, Elijah, and Mr. Baby #3