Happy New Year!

What a year 2008 has been. Yesterday, I was reading back on our blog. At this time last year, we had barely spilled the beans about Gabriela. We had so much excitement with her in the first part of last year. Wondering if she was a boy or a girl, feeling her move for the first time, endless entertainment watching my belly move, going on dates because we thought we'd never get out again or get any sleep after she was born. Gabriela has turned out to be quite the happy little angel. We can take her anywhere, and she's all smiles and quiet. She rarely cries at all. Only a little once in a while to tell us she's hungry or her diaper is wet. She wakes up in the morning and immediately gives us her biggest smiles. We just love her to pieces.

Last year was filled with so many wonderful memories. One huge highlight was the Santa Barbara Grovers coming out to see us in DC. We had so much fun with the girls and Ian and Adrienne and the cherry blossoms. We hope they can come again soon. A few days after they left, Lane and all his brothers and Ann met up for some Grover reunion madness in Las Vegas. I'm glad they had a chance to spend some time together. Our baby shower was the best! We were so lucky to be able to share this special celebration with so many family members. My mom, Theresa, Cynthia, and David really know how to throw a good party. I will never forget our totally awesome surprise shower attendees - Adie, Meliss, Mary Jane and Grandma Chaney were all so sneaky. Thanks guys, for making the special effort to be here for us! In May we took a well deserved relaxing trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina - our last pre-baby excursion. We had so many visits with David last year. Thanks, bro, for coming to see us so often. We always have a blast.

The second half of the year was full of wonderful Gabriela-ness :) I am proud of Lane and me for making it through a very long labor. Lane was the most kind and patient and loving husband anyone could ask for. Top that off with a beautiful, happy and healthy baby girl, and what more can you ask for? Even though labor ended up being much longer than I had anticipated, and I ended up not having the natural birth I had hoped for, I am so pleased with our experience. While I'm still going to go for the midwife and natural birth experience next time, I would totally do it all over again, even if it meant having the exact same kind of birth experience. Although I wouldn't mind cutting out the post-partum hemorrhage business.

My mom was Super Mom. I seriously don't know what we would have done without her that first week with Gabriela. She took such good care of our whole family, especially the baby and me. It was really hard to see her leave.

We made the most of my very long maternity leave. I'm so grateful I got to take 17 weeks off from work. Some people have to go back after only 6. I feel like I really got the hang of being a mom during that time and enjoyed every moment with little Gabriela. We also had some fun traveling by taking a trip to California in September. We got to introduce Gabriela to *almost* all her family, and even a few friends. We got Gabriela a passport so she could take a trip to Peru almost two weeks later for David's wedding. It was amazing to spend so much time with my family. It was especially fun being with my brother and sister who are parents also.

Gabriela has grown so much. We went from not even being able to feel her move around in my belly, to having a beautiful baby girl who can sit up and put everything in her mouth, try scooting around, laugh and talk to us, and squeal with delight. What a joy.

We had so many great times with our fabulous friends that we've made on the east coast. And also, special visits from our other friends. We got to see Malia and Andrew from Hawaii, and got an extra special dose of Malia while she was working a four month stint in Baltimore. yay!! and Morgan and Andro visited a couple of times from Berkeley, thanks to Andro's family living like 5 miles away from us. We are hoping Andrew decides to run the Marine Corps Marathon next October in Crystal City.

2008 also had some stinky parts, like having to leave Gabriela in day care and not being able to get rid of our CA house due to the total nose dive the economy took. But we are healthy, happy, have good jobs and a fabulous daughter, and our life is full of great friends.

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's to 2009!!!

XOXO