We hope this note finds you well and enjoying your brand new year…full of possibilities…
We are doing well ourselves, busy as ever, hence the Happy New Year email, at almost the end of January. (ha) So since we didn’t write earlier, you get a little novella (except its nonfiction) this time around. 
Hank is growing fast. He had his 2 month checkup at the end of December and all went well. He really hated having his first round of vaccinations, but we’ve seen the Dr. and his nurses since then and he seems to have forgiven them for poking him with needles. Hank is officially 12 weeks old now. He’s 25 inches long and weighs 14 pounds and 8 ounces. He’s a big boy! He seems to really enjoy hearing himself “talk”, we certainly love hearing his little gurgles and coos! And he’s not only into the social smiling phase (*such* a cute smile), he’s also laughing on purpose now when he finds himself incredibly delighted by something. He really cracks up when Sarah does baby kisses pushups and plays near & far with him (think Grover from Sesame street, he loves that game).
Some people keep asking us if Hank is sleeping through the night yet and the answer is no. He still wants to eat every 3-4 hours (sometimes 5 but not usually) around the clock which means we are up with him a few times in the early morning hours. We’re really hoping he’ll start sleeping for longer stretches at night soon but every child is different so who knows when he’ll choose to start doing that. Hank hasn’t really discovered Cody yet, but Cody has taken to sleeping in the hall just outside Hank’s door during the day when he is napping, and doing a “Lassie” whenever Hank starts to cry (Come quickly! Timmy fell down the well!). We enjoy taking Hank for walks in his stroller, he often falls asleep, but when he is awake, he seems to thoroughly enjoy himself. He’s fascinated by the birds. Hank is such a joy and we are really loving our time with him!
Tyler feels very blessed with work, where he continues to design protective packaging for a variety of clients. His employers are treating him well. Not only did they let him work from home for a week or so after Hank was born, they gave him a lovely Christmas bonus which just so happened to coincide with our getting Hank’s hospital bill in the mail. In more fun news, Tyler has entered into an arrangement with a web developer who is building a large golf course data base. Ty will photograph various golf courses (ah, what a bummer), and in exchange, will have a website created for his photography….so stay tuned for details on his new website (finally you’ll get to see more of his work!).
Sarah is very into cooking and baking these days. She received a stand mixer for Christmas and has been baking all kinds of bread (which is fantastic as we know what’s in it). At one point, we had 3different types of bread in our kitchen. We’re really having to make sure we go for our walks with Hank now. Sarah’s latest culinary adventure begins next week. She has enrolled in a Turkish Cuisine cooking class. We’ll see how that goes…We’ll definitely be expanding our repertoire of meals. Let’s hope that’s all that expands, we may have to start running or something if the Turkish food is as good as her bread! 🙂 Sarah is enjoying spending so much time with Hank. She misses being in the classroom and her music is somewhat on hold these days, but we feel incredibly blessed that its possible for Sarah to stay home with Hank during his first year of life! 
Now that Hank has had some vaccinations and is getting a bit older, we’re taking him out in public a little more. On Wed. mornings, Hank and Sarah take a yoga class at Yoga Yoga. He seems to enjoy it and definitely gets his Zen on, often sleeping through most of class. Sometimes we go to Babytime at the library. He’s enjoyed it the times he’s gone but it can be difficult to get there regularly as its at a time when he’s usually hungry or tired. We read together all the time and Hank really seems to enjoy books. His current favorites are “Snow”, “Come Here Daisy”, “Where the Wild Things Are“, “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?”, “Bears in the Night” and “Hot Air Henry”. He can’t seem to take his eyes off any of the pages and has quite a lot to “say” about these books. He loves watching the fish in our fish tank and tracks them well. And he’s currently obsessed with his hands, staring at them for long periods of time, tasting them, reaching for and holding on to things. Great fun! Its so amazing watching him grow and discover his world! Every day is new and exciting with him and we’re having the best time!
We hope you’re enjoying life too and we really hope to get to see more of you in the coming months. In the meantime, take care, have fun and don’t be strangers. We love you very much!
