January Highlights {brought to you by the iPhone}

* Dad stopped by for a lovely visit while in town to see his mom.  We commandeered more of his time than he was planning but his presence was so helpful and refreshing for both myself and the kids. 

* The most charming of Portlanders came to visit and left me we a renewed perspective on motherhood and the kind of person I want to be.  Amber has this wonderfully unsettling ability to see the best in me and make me feel like I can really be want I imagine my best self is. She has so many of the qualities that I long to develop and it was so satisfying to be around her for a week.  I really miss our weekly analysis of life.  The girls were so excited to see each other and while Lucy learned some hard lessons about sharing, they were very cute together.  Lucy talks about Eliza all the time. 

* Reid discovered more ways to move his little body and perfected balance enough to start sitting up.

* Lucy and Reid continue to delight each other.  

* Lucy learned to to write the letters A, B, and C this month and decided to further her practice on our walls.    

* Lucy and I went on a date to the Stock Show and Rodeo Dancing Horses show. She kept asking when the horses would fly - so I'm going to go ahead and give it an underwhelming rating. 

* Katie took Lucy to Disneyland (and kindly invited me and grandma to come along).  We had such a fun time.  We rode every ride and ran around those parks from sunup to sundown.  I am normally the bossy one on trips but this time I got to sit back and let Katie direct us, which was such a welcome break from tradition (okay, I probably was more bossy that I imagine but at least I was less bossy than normal).  Lucy kept up with us and even outlasted us with her requests to swim at the pool after we got home each night.  Lucy's favorite rides were Peter-Pan (she was so delighted by the ride that the operator gave her a pass to come back anytime and skip the entire line), Little Mermaid, Gadgets Go-coaster (her face was so scared and equally delighted that I was crying tears I was laughing so hard - not unlike Katie's face on California Screaming), and Tow Mader.