Christmas in Pictures

(This looks like a sad photo, but it's actually not) Christmas was spent in Hood River this year with Dae doing another locum tenen at the hospital. Call us crazy, but we love joining him (and love our Best Western accommodations! Side note: Dae has since joined the "Best Western Rewards" Club since he spends so many nights in their hotels. We were very, embarrassingly, excited when his Rewards Card came in the mail with all its advertised perks! Boy I wonder if Dae knew what he was in for when he met me...he goes from the Ritz Carlton to the Best Western!) Anyway, Leelee in particular loves the complimentary breakfasts that come with all Best Western stays. Speaking of breakfast, his new thing is his "sour face", when he puckers his face and squints his eyes in succession (usually 4 times in a row, sometimes less). He can now do it on command, even sans food!

Getting ready to squeeze...

Here we go...

The full squeeze...

A Quick Recovery...

Onto something a little less tart...

In this case, the culprit was some less-than-sweet yogurt (regular yogurt diluted with the sour Greek stuff). He was actually squinting already when Dae tried to feed him another bite; he usually doesn't squint when we place a new bite in front of him.

Another one of the perks that came along with the Best Western was a readily available crib. Here at the BW it more resembled a jail cell, but we thought it would work. We had to rethink our strategy when we checked in on Christian's first nap and came across this...

It was absolutely hilarious. We were laughing and horrified at the same time, wondering whether we should wake a sleeping baby (never!) and extricate him from this mess, or risk some serious lack of circulation from those bars. Well, the answer was pretty obvious so Dae surged ahead and repositioned the poor little guy (without waking him - yahoo!). After that, we made sure he had sufficient padding around the entire circumference.

Leelee in jail

Excited to be in the Big People's Bed

So anyway, the rest of our stay was excellent. Hood River was a far cry from La Grande as far as shops and restaurants (and workout options!). I came across this workout challenge during Day 3 of our trip...

418 stairs. Yup, I counted each and every one of them (so as not to sell myself short!). On the first attempt, I tackled them twice. On the second try, I brought Leelee with me and challenged myself for 3 times, and I did it! I was pretty much wheezing by the end, and Christian was completely sacked out in the carrier, all 20 extra dead-weight pounds of him.

Here we are in matching hats at Andrew's Pizza Place on the main street in Hood River. We came back here twice for their lunch special of pizza, breadstick, tomato basil soup (which was absolutely delicious) and a drink. $6.75, couldn't beat it! And yes, that blue striped number underneath his sweater is in fact his pajamas from the night before. This habit of just placing a sweater and pants over his pajamas is a new, unfortunate development.

Finally, a whole slew of photos from Christmas at mom's house. Christian had an active weekend fending off attacks from cousin Didi and bonding with his new family.

A regular occurrence with these three

Looking for some sympathy. Side note: Auntie Ev thinks it's hilarious how far apart his legs spread when he is sitting. Must be a flexible guy.

Matching outfits from Grandma for Christmas! A perfect fit.

"Twins" - Part 2

So much activity going on, didn't even notice wrapping paper strewn everywhere (including covering his right eye!)

Pike Place Market. Wilson and Stacy kindly hosted us and showed us the insiders' guide to Pike Place Market, including mini doughnuts, mac 'n cheese, and clam chowder. Yum!

This was as good as it was going to get. Sure, Didi was aiming straight for my head and Mal wanted to be anywhere but here, but it worked!
Ev, Didi, Mel, Jeff, Mal, Leelee, Grandma, Stacy, Wilson and Uncle Wang