Past, Present and Future

One question we get a lot about Jillian..."Who do you think she looks more like, Jason or Kelley?"

So I thought I would put a picture of us, as babies, to see what you all thought. I think she looks like me most of the time. But more and more these days she is looking like her father! Take a look and see what our past (Jason and my baby pictures) and present (Jillian's picture) look like. I wonder what the future will hold!?

Jason's baby picture and my baby picture...

Now for some pictures of Jillian...

This is a picture of her in the first few days she was home with us, only a week or so old!

Jillian is playing in her exersaucer...almost 4 months old in this picture.

This picture is from new years day, she is almost 5 months old in this picture!

You be the judge...who does she look like? Jason or Kelley?

Happy 2010!

This new year will be an exciting one for us! But this past year was exciting as well. We had a busy year, a busy August to be exact...A new baby and a new house. It was a crazy time, but with much help from family and friends we made it work (Thanks agin to all who helped!). I wouldn't change any of 2009 for the world!

We had a new and different kind of new years celebration...a kid friendly party! We went down to our good friends, Jack and Margo, with their kids Josie and Jackson's house in Lake In The Hills, Illinois. And everyone who came had kids...too funny! We were able to visit with Bob, Andrea and little Robbie. John, Janel and Maggie were there. We also were able to meet Steve and Carrie's new little girl Kaitlyn. Dan stopped by on his way to the city and was able to meet Jillian, although he was without his family. It was a fun time and once the little kiddies went to bed, the grown-ups got to "play"! One question..."What is yours like?" I am sure there will be many more new years parties like this one in our future!

Here are some fun pictures of our kind of new years celebration:

We borrowed Jackson's high chair and ate our cereal in a high chair for the first time!

Josie and Maggie ringing in the new year toddler style!

The next morning, January 1st 2010, Josie entertained Jillian wearing her pink basket hat.

The Holiday Season...party #3!

Our third and final holiday party this year was at Grandma and Grandpa's house on New Years day. This was the Murray side Christmas...fun times! As you can read from Jason's blog below we did gift giving a little different this year...but it was pretty cool. It was fun to hear everyone's memories and how they choose to tell it. All in all I think everyone enjoyed the memory exchange and a new tradition is born. I can't wait to hear everyone's memories next year.

Jillian was quite the trooper. After three weekends of traveling and a pretty nasty cold between Christmas and New Year's, the girl was ready to be at home. But she was a good girl at the party and didn't want to miss any of the action. She didn't sleep much, and had many people loving on her all day.

Take a look at some new memories that we made this holiday season...

Grandpa and Grandma holding Jillian!

Great Grandpa holding Jillian

Jillian finally conked-out on mommy's lap!

The Holiday Season...party #2!

Our second get-together this season and actual "Christmas" was in Spring Green, Wisconsin at Todd and Meg's house. It was a great weekend. We stayed here in Milwaukee and did our own little Christmas in the morning (1st one...very exciting). After we opened presents (and by we I mean Jason and I opened for Jillian!), we jumped in the car and headed to Spring Green. We got there about lunch time and shortly after Grandpa and Grandma Kathy got there as well. Meg and Todd did a fantastic meal for us and then we moved onto presents! Troy and Dena got there with their new puppy (how exciting for them) and we all ripped into our gifts. We had such a fantastic time we decided to stay until Sunday! Here are some photo's...

Jillian's first Christmas presents...I think she liked the paper more than the gift!

Proud grandparents and the new babies of the family!

Isaac's new present...cool a bug vacuum!

Two little cuties! Can you believe James is two weeks younger...not by looking at him!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!

Kelley

Presents...

I trust everyone had a nice Christmas and a safe New Year's. After having the last 10 days off from work, I sit here tonight on my couch dreading work tomorrow. But for the next 10 minutes I will think back to the Christmas that was, the 1st Christmas for Jillian. More importantly, it was our 1st Christmas as a family...Jillian, Kelley and me. Of course Jillian won't remember the presents WE opened for her, or the fact that WE bought her Christmas presents with her in the shopping cart. No, none of this will be stored in her memory. Christmas as I know it (and as Kelley knows it) has changed for ever. We now become Santa and Mrs. Santa. I am looking forward to lying to my daughter until she gets old enough to look me in the eye and tell me that there is no Santa. Until that day, presents will become a crucial part of Jillian's Christmas. So much time will be lost searching for the "perfect" present, the "perfect" present only to be outdone by the next opened present.

Presents...

This past Christmas I experienced giving presents in a much different way. There were no price tags on these presents, no wrapping paper to open, no "perfect" present. Instead the Murray Family gave presents in the form of a "Memory Exchange". Sounds weird huh? Well yes, at first I was skeptical but as I began writing mine something inside me changed. I chose to write my memory on my first Christmas with the Murray family. As I wrote it, it brought me back to the time when I barely knew any of her family members. I started thinking about how far my relationships have come with each of them. A lot has happened in the past 4 years since I met them. A lot that I am thankful for.

The night of the exchange, I could tell there were some mixed emotion in the room. As the memories were read, not only were there a lot of laughs, but everyone turned nostalgic in their own way. There were memories read that haven't been thought of for many years, packed away in the back of each other's minds. Some of the memories effected multiple people in the room.

In my opinion, these memories were the best presents. So much of life is lived and forgotten shortly thereafter. Yeah, pictures are a way to capture the moment and share them down the road. But memories aren't stored in a photo album stacked on a shelf. Memories can be shared at any time, and they are remembered differently from person to person. And sadly, memories are lost with the death of family members. So as the generation before me shared their memory, I listened in awe, like a child standing in front of his Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

-Jason