Another year has come and gone…. As usual this last year went by even more quickly than I can ever remember time passing before. It was an exciting, daunting and sometimes scary year filled with hope, worry and stress. But it was also one of the best years for us. So much has changed and it all feels right.

It seems appropriate that the last week or so has been very busy. My mom, my sister2, my brother-in-law and my two nieces came down with my other sister and her partner on the 28th. Robyn had wanted to make a really nice meal and have the house looking really nice for thir arrival. She accomplished her missions! It was really excellent to see my mom finally holding the babies!

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On our doctor’s suggestion, we decided that Chloe and Gabriel would try to sleep through the night on Thursday, too. We took a chance and they did great! Neither made much noise all through the night and we got to sleep for more than 4 hours in a row. This was very exciting.

You can see the craziness that is our kitchen sink area strewn with bottles, nipples, forumula, rings, binkies, caps, etc:

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The family visit went very well. They all left on Saturday morning. Later that day, we had more company when Robyn’s close family friend Joe came over with his son and daughter, son-in-law and grandaughter. It was nice to see them since we really only get together once a year or so. Joe has been involved in tae kwon do for several years, so we always make time to talk about training and its place in our lives.

On Sunday, we had our Hanukkah celebration with Robyn’s family. Since it’s more difficult for us to travel this year, we hosted at our place. Although we did not have the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah#Traditional_Hanukkah_foods]traditional foods[/url] (especially latkes), there was plenty of other stuff and we ate and opened gifts.

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Hopefully, this year will seem to linger a bit longer than the last…but I doubt that it will. It’s a cliche to say that each year seems to pass more quickly than the last as you get older, but it’s very true. As Chloe and Gabriel get a little older each day, we find that we want to hold onto those days and yet, the more we wish to hold on, the more easily they slip away. It’s a very [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen]Zen[/url] kind of idea.