Samantha at 33 Weeks

On Wednesday, December 28th, we left Chicago and traveled to Upland, Indiana for our Christmas with Ben's family.  It was great to see Ben's brother Tim, who we don't get to see very often.  The first night we were there, Tim taught Samantha a little trick with her mouth where he moved his finger back and forth across her lips and she would make noise as he did it.  She actually picked up on it really fast and learned how to do it with her own hand as well!

I got to see my good friend Janell for a little while on Thursday, which was nice.  She got to see Samantha for awhile until Ben's parents came to pick her up from the coffee shop we met at, so that she could take a nap.  It's always great to catch up with a friend from college.

On Friday, Aunt Jeni, Uncle Andrew, and Cousin Alaina came to stay in Upland for the weekend.  It was our self-declared Christmas day for the Toll side of the family, and we had a great time doing our annual tradition of drawing numbers to see what order presents would be opened.  The only difference is that this year we had to add two extra numbers into the mix!  Samantha got several very cute outfits, along with a fun ball popping toy, activity walker, giant penguin stuffed animal, and a new stroller for when she outgrows her car seat stroller.  It was so cute to see how much more Samantha and Alaina interact with each other and notice each other.  We would often sit them across from each to play with toys, and they would reach for toys that the other one had and take them.  At least they're at the point where they don't get too upset when a toy is taken from them.  Nancy Kitt, a friend of the family, also came for our family Christmas.  We had a good meal of ham, potatoes, and other delicious food and desserts, of course!  Here are some cute pictures from Samantha's Upland Christmas.  She's wearing her new "My First Christmas" pajamas.

On Saturday we celebrated New Year's Eve by hanging out more together as a family, eating sub sandwiches (a Toll family New Year's tradition), and playing games.  Although the only person that was probably still up at midnight was Tim.  It's amazing how much having a baby makes you care a lot less about staying up late.  You'll take as much sleep as you can, at least that's our motto. Especially when we are not at home and we never know how that night will go with Samantha sleeping.  Here are some pictures of the babies playing with their new Christmas toys on New Year's Eve:

Here is a great picture of the girls with with their daddies:

We went to church with Ben's family on Sunday, took some family pictures together both at church and at the house, ate lunch together, and hung out more while our babies took their afternoon naps.  After that, we headed back home to Bloomington.

It was a great trip to see family, but it was also a long week away from home.  We were glad to get back home.  Even though our apartment is small, it is a great size for us.  There's just something comforting about being in your own house and bed again after being gone for awhile.  However, I had mixed feelings about it all because coming back home meant school starting again the next day.  I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks off.  This is a time of year I look forward to every year.  Especially with having Samantha now, it was wonderful to be able to spend a solid two weeks with her, and to spend time with Ben while he did not have any obligations to do work.  I love hanging out with my new family of three, and this first Christmas of Samantha's will always be a precious memory to me.