Look Mom, No Hands!!

Jane Ritchie is sitting up for short amounts of time by herself!

Another video

Here is another video of a new trick Jane Ritchie learned during Christmas. She "talks" and shakes her head back and forth. She's funny!
If you can't see the video below, click on this link to see if it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6szBCQr4ATc

Flip Video

Paul got a Flip Video camera for Christmas. It is very tiny and soooooo easy to download your videos to the computer or internet. Here is one of the many videos we took over Christmas. This is Jane Ritchie enjoying her Johnny Jump Up and dancing to the bizarre silver Christmas ornament with eyes that sings "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Yes, Alex was very excited, too, as you can see from his tail wagging in the video.

UPDATE: Some people are having trouble viewing the video from here. Try clicking on this link to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVsjFTeNMaE

Back in the crib

Jane Ritchie is very happy to be back in her big girl crib. The Graco Travel Lite Pack N Play was great while it lasted, but we found a house at just the right time because she was definitely growing out of the pack n play!

New House

Finally received my camera cord (Thanks May May!), so here are some pictures of the new house!

Back of house

Living Room


Dining Room

We Made It!

We arrived in Monterey, CA just in time for Hurricane 2008. The weather was terrible the first couple of days. They had really high winds and trees were down everywhere. Lots of people even lost power.

Kudos to Paul for carrying 6 pieces of luggage, four carry on bags, the stroller, the pack n play, and Alex's crate about 15 times during our trip. It was an adventure to say the least. Alex was perfectly fine after his flights!

We have rented a house in Pacific Grove. It is much bigger than any military housing we would have been able to get. It is not a far drive for Paul to get to school. He has started classes, but they aren't learning Spanish yet. Apparently they have a refresher course in English grammar before they start learning Spanish.

The house is cute. It was built in 1926 and the upstairs is still old, but the downstairs has been redone. The people who used to live here had 10 kids so the downstairs was their area. The bathroom has three sinks and two showers!

Will post some pictures as soon as my camera cord arrives in the mail. It was one of many things I left in Mobile!

Jane Ritchie is 6 months old as of January 11. She loves having her crib back. Thanks goodness the movers put that thing back together for us!

Baptized

Jane Ritchie was baptized yesterday at Ashland Place, complete with water from the Jordan River that May May has had in the freezer for 10 years! She was a good girl and did not cry in church. She "talked" alot and everyone laughed. Lots of people came to see her including her Grandma Marty and Papa Bo, Great Aunt May and Great Uncle Jim, Aunt Catherine, Uncle Keith and cousin Campbell, Aunt Ruth and Uncle John, Great Aunt B and Great Uncle Eddie, cousins Montgomery, Elizabeth, Mary Creigh and Anne Eloise, and friends Larkin and Jim. She looked beautiful in her dress and bonnet that Grandma Marty made!

Christmas Morning pics