HELLO 2012!

We began our New Year’s Eve with a little road trip down to Toledo to celebrate Devin’s buddy Kingstyn’s first birthday with him!  Kingstyn and his mom and dad (our friends Natalee and Chad) live in South Carolina, so we don’t get to see them often.  So,  we were so glad that we could be there for such a big milestone! 

After we got back, we got ready quickly and headed off to my in-laws to drop Devin off and pick up Neha and Nilesh (my sister-in-law and brother in law) for dinner.  My in-laws were planning to be home for the evening, so they agreed to watch all three of their grandkids so that we could all have a nice night out together, since it would probably be our last before Neha had her third little angel!  That was so nice of them.

We headed out to Toasted Oak Grill in Novi and had a wonderful dinner.  We had just ordered dessert when Vikas’s dad called and asked us to come home as soon as we could.  Unfortunately, Devin and Avni, Neha and Nilesh’s ten month old, were both a mess.  Apparently neither would fall asleep and wouldn’t cry as soon as the other started to cry :-(  Yikes! So, needless to say, we had them pack up our dessert and headed straight home to pick up Devin. 

We were actually home and in bed before midnight.  I know, kind of lame (or maybe just different from our crazy past NYEs).  But, it’s a good thing we came home early since New Year’s Eve proved to be Devin’s worst night yet.  He was literally crying or fussing every 15 minutes!  After a few trips back and forth between our bedroom and his, I finally caved in and decided to just sleep on the foam mattress we have in his nursery for precisely this reason.  I’m not sure if it’s because he was starting to get a cold and couldn’t breathe well, because he was teething, or both, but he was simply miserable that night (and, unfortunately, for nearly 2 weeks after).  I tried everything to soothe him (I mean, everything), and threw the sleep training that we had worked on for the month before out the window.  With all of that, he was able to get some sleep, but, unfortunately for me and Vikas, we pretty much were up for two weeks straight :-(

But, even without a wink of sleep on New Year’s Eve, I can say that 2011 was our best year yet! What an incredible feeling to begin 2012 as parents of such a sweet baby boy!  We are beyond blessed and can’t wait to see what this new year has in store for our family :-)

DEVIN'S FIRST CHRISTMAS

Christmas this year was totally laid back.  We spent the 23^rd at my parents’ house with my cousins and their kids, went to Vikas’s parents’ house for Christmas Eve, and then we had everyone over on Christmas morning.  Everyone came in their pajamas, and our little nieces came wearing the Christmas pajamas that we bought for them.  They were too cute!  While the girls were opening their gifts, we were busy opening the great gifts that Devin got from both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and other loved ones.  He got SO many wonderful gifts, and we feel so lucky that our little guy is so loved and spoiled J We can’t wait to see Devin’s reaction to Christmas next year!  By then, he’ll be old enough to get excited for all the fun toys that he is bound to be spoiled with (again)!

HOLIDAY PICTURE SESSION a/k/a WORST. IDEA. EVER

We had Devin’s holiday pictures scheduled for the day after we got back from Myrtle Beach.  Unfortunately, with the craziness of October and November, we just did not have time to get them done before then.  Well, calling that decision a bad move is a complete understatement.  Devin was SO incredibly crabby and tired from the previous day that he literally cried and fussed through half of the photo session.  It actually got so bad that I had to ask the poor photographer to go grab a coffee for 45 minutes so that Devin could nap!!!  In the middle of the session, Vikas had to go to work, so then we had an even harder time getting our pictures since we needed someone to hold him up (me), someone to make him smile (Vikas) and someone to take the pictures and only had two people!  We were so glad when Vikas came back toward the end of the session.  He was able to help be that third person that we needed, and even ended up getting thrown into some quick family  photos!  You would never know from Devin’s adorable little face that he was so not himself that day.  We ended up with some AMAZING pics! 

Here are just a few of my favorites:

Seriously, I know I'm biased, but this is guy is pretty stinkin' cute!