Well, the holidays are officially underway, and as always, I'm super behind on my Christmas shopping.� We have, however, managed to get the stockings hung, the tree (delivered by James' parents from Maine) up and decorated and our holiday cards safely to their destinations.� Although I wish I could send a card to everyone I know, it's simply not possible, so here's a peak for everyone to see:



Yes, Emmett has a full-out Santa suit.� Yes, this was the best picture I could get of him in it, even after two photo shoots on separate occasions.� Now I understand why people take their kids to professional photographers.� It was literally impossible to get a quality picture of Emmett smiling that also showed off the Santa suit.

[caption id="attachment_1107" align="aligncenter" width="539" caption="Santa Baby"][/caption]

In developmental milestone news, Emmett is officially only a month away from his first birthday.� He now has six teeth -- four on the top and two on the bottom in the front -- and as of earlier this week, he weighs 21 lbs, 11 oz.

He's getting more adventurous about his standing, too.� If you let go of him he can stand without help for a few seconds, and if you hold one of his hands, he'll walk around with you.�� He can also now climb onto the chair in our living room by himself, which means he now garners a lot more attention from me.� Can I say the cliche thing?� He's seriously growing up so fast!� After much hesitation, I even gave him his first (very) overdue haircut tonight - just a little off the sides.

For more pictures from Emmett's Santa Baby photo shoots, check out the Flickr set here.

Age Timer: 11 months

Happy New Year, everyone!� We had our fingers crossed that I'd give birth before midnight last night so we'd get a tax deduction for 2008, but alas, Baby Lump apparently wasn't ready.� Instead, James and I spent our New Year's Eve evening out on a nice little dinner-and-a-movie date.� We opted for some Italian fare at Papa Razzi in Boston's Back Bay - where we caught a bit of the First Night parade - and then saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a long one, but we liked it!) at the theater near Fenway.� We were even back at the apartment in time to watch the ball drop.� I hope everyone else's New Year's plans weren't ruined by the Boston snowstorm - I modified my New Year's outfit by wearing a dress with tights and my bright red galoshes (picture) because of the snow.� It was quite a fashion statement :o)

[caption id="attachment_505" align="aligncenter" width="511" caption="James and me before our New Year's dinner-and-a-movie date."][/caption]

We may not have had a real baby to join us in celebrating the New Year, but we did have a baby to hang out with on Christmas day.� I mentioned before that my oldest sister, Adrienne is also pregnant.� Well, since we didn't want our unpregnant sister, Lauren to feel left out, Adrienne bought her an instant infant ("cute as a friggin' button, with all the fun and practically none of the poop") this Christmas.� Needless to say, Instant Infant got a little curious as he was checking out the apartment on Christmas day ...

[caption id="attachment_501" align="aligncenter" width="741" caption="Instant Infant welcomes diaper changes and even helps with the dirty dishes!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_502" align="aligncenter" width="672" caption="Instant Infant enjoys hanging out in the bathroom, likes sports & apparently is not afraid of heights."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_503" align="aligncenter" width="455" caption="Instant Infant already comes Web-savvy!"][/caption]

Oven Timer: 38 weeks, 3 days