Just back from a 5-day trip to Scottsdale, AZ. We vacationed with John's brother, Eric & his family: wife Elizabeth & 6-year-old daughter Sarah. Grandma Lucy was scheduled to join us but had to cancel at the last minute due to some emergency health issues with Grandpa George. We were all soooo disappointed but are thankful that George is doing better now.

"Vacationing" with 2 young children doesn't have quite the same relaxing, stress-free connotation that it used to! True to her age (2 on 4/1), Anne Peyton displayed some delightful terrible two moments during the trip. By the time it was time to pack up and go home, we finally figured out what did & didn't work; eg, restaurants didn't work; ordering dinner poolside and having plenty of room to spread out did.

-Our adjoining-room suites overlooked a nice pool, so we were down there every day. Sarah is an excellent little swimmer and her enthusiasm for the water rubbed off on Anne Peyton, much to our pleasure. By the end of the trip she was willingly getting her head underwater and tentatively jumping off the side of the pool into our arms.

- We tried to climb Camelback Mountain with the kids. What a mistake! This is not a terribly challenging mountain, but it is rocky & sandy and it wouldn't be at all difficult to slip and fall. With kids in backpacks/bjoerns, NOT a good idea! Not to mention the blazing hot sun. Fortunately we remained upright but any hikes from now on will be relatively flat!

- Thanks to Elizabeth's organizational and creative prowess we enjoyed a homemade undersea-themed birthday cake for Anne Peyton, as well as Easter egg decorating and a hunt in a nearby park.

- Met up with John & Eric's cousins - Cindy & Judy, Judy's new husband Todd, and the younger 2 of Cindy's boys - Cameron and Conner at "The Sugar Bowl" in Scottsdale for ice cream sundaes (featured in many "The Family Circus" comic strips, as the author is a frequent guest there). They happened to be vacationing there at the same time!

- On the flight to Phoenix Tommy demonstrated his latest "skill": upon achieving utter happiness, he screeches like a teradactyl at an ear-shattering pitch, smiling all the while. It was painful, but funny as hell. The poor passengers probably didn't know whether to wish for a crying miserable baby!

Earlier in the month we were treated to a visit by Lisa's mom (whose new name is "Nonni"). We also hosted a birthday party here for the 5 kids born to fellow childbirth class participants, all within about a month of each other. We stay in close touch with that group and feel really lucky to be able to share child-raising experiences with them.

- Anne Peyton's current vocabulary:
* humum, humum = seems to mean "give me some" (with a sense of urgency) - usually referring to sweets - she has a distressingly HUGE sweet tooth
* otay = okay
* Dorda = Georgia (where her "nonni" lives)
* yay-es = yes
* Hommy = Tommy
* MY (mommy, daddy, blanket, applesauce, pacifier, toothbrush, you name it)
* Back (with index finger pointed up) = I'll be right back
* Hey-net = blanket
* Boke = broken
* boo-boo (she is obsessed with these)
* boe-die = birdie

For a full collection of photos, please visit http://www.kodakgallery.com/coloradohofmeisters and click on "February-Mar-Early April 2007".

February 24, 2007 -- I'm thrilled to report that all 4 humans and all 3 four-leggeds slept through the night last night! It has been a rough couple of weeks, with Tombo waking up multiple times during the night in a pretty bad mood. Pretty sure he's got some teeth coming in, plus he's growing, plus he had outgrown his swaddling blanket (we remedied that yesterday with a larger size, which undoubtedly helped!).

Tommy had his 4 month checkup earlier this month and weighed in at about 15 lb (98%) and measured 27.5 inches (56%). He's doing well - a very social little guy who seems to love music and movement. He digs all the attention from the ladies he gets at day care. He's ticklish already, especially under his chin (the laughter just gurgles out), and has rolled over exactly one time.

Anne Peyton is turning into quite the little young lady - just a month shy of two. She still dotes on her little brother and has a certain sweetness and sensitivity about her, despite an increasing number of tantrums (we're preparing ourselves for the roller coaster ride!). She is distressingly, hopelessly addicted to her paci ("ba") and we're debating when to pull the plug on that. She cooperates when we ask her to drop it before she leaves the crib, but it's the funniest thing to see her take a few more "drags" on it before she does. She's also addicted to the "ABCs"; it's become a fantastic diversionary tactic lately!

Lisa started back to work on Jan 2, four days/week. She has Mondays off as a special day with the kids. School started, as well, in mid-January after a 6-month "sabbatical" so that's a 4-10pm commitment on Wednesday nights. Abnormal Psych and Group Counseling are the subjects - both very interesting and she feels amazingly wide awake at the close of those days.

John's been doing a fair amount of travelling these past months - to various United Airlines hubs - San Francisco, LA, Chicago...his job as a Project Manager is going really well; he's gotten alot of positive feedback and his manager looks at him as her successor. Very exciting! Still hoping for an international assignment one of these days...

We had some great visits with grandparents: Lisa's dad & his girlfriend Jill (Papa TR & Gigi) in January, and then Lisa's mom (Grammie) just last week. Dianna & Bradley Zabinski (Dianna was one of Lisa's roommates back in Michigan) were in town with their THREE (!) kiddos last week as well, visiting Bradley's parents.

We also took our first airplane trip as a family of 4, to TX to visit the Niezgoda family (John's freshman-year-roommate) during Super Bowl weekend. It was a wonderful time, but we're missing pictures from the weekend because they're all on Fuzzy's camera!

We're looking forward to a few days in sunny Scottsdale, AZ at the end of March, with John's brother Eric & his family, Elizabeth & Sarah.

Lots of babies have been born these past months! Michael (Fuzzy) and his wife Monica Niezgoda gave birth to Stosh Anthony in Fort Worth, TX in December. Denver friends Ken & Jeanne Johns welcomed their first child, daughter Amelie Marie, in New Zealand (where they're living for a few years) on February 10. Then Kjirsten & Scott Wallace had Olivia Cate, their 2nd, on February 15. Congratulations to all!

For a full collection of photos, please visit http://www.kodakgallery.com/coloradohofmeisters
and click on "January, February 2007". Spring is almost upon us!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Today is 12/28 and as I type it is snowing like crazy outside, for the 2nd time in a week! This is the season for blizzards in Denver, it seems. Possible 2-3 feet expected. Fortunately John and I are both off and we have nowhere we have to go.

This was our first Christmas "on our own"...so it was quiet, but wonderful. Two weeks prior we celebrated an early Christmas with Lisa's brother Tim, his new wife, Amy (they were married in August), and Lisa's mom, Peyton. After a weekend up in Beaver Creek, CO, we returned home to open gifts and sing Christmas carols while Tim played guitar.

We kept ourselves busy the weekend prior to Christmas with parties (Amy & James' on Saturday night; Rebecca's on Sunday night), but on Christmas day it was our chance to forge out our combined family traditions. Anne Peyton (and the dogs) had to wait at the top of the stairs until they got the 'all clear' signal from mom & dad. Then it was a free-for-all and great fun opening up stocking presents...breakfast...naps/showers...and then we moved to the "big" presents under the tree. The whole process was quite time -consuming since Annie was marvelling over everything she opened, and we wouldn't want it any other way. For dinner we enjoyed the turkey breast & stuffing which had been cooking in the crock pot all day. Now that is the way to cook a turkey!

I can't seem to get a picture attached, so for photos, please visit http://www.kodakgallery.com/coloradohofmeisters
and click on "Christmastime 2006"

We wish everyone a truly happy 2007!

December 3 - Thanksgiving has passed and now it's all about Christmas. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration here in Colorado with John's family: parents George & Lucy, and John's brother Eric, his wife Elizabeth, and their enthusiastic kindergartner (and wonderful big cousin), Sarah. Eric & Elizabeth are Tommy's godparents, and we had him baptized on Thanksgiving Eve, 11/22. It was a beautiful time of year to do this, reminding us of all the good things in our lives.

The day after Thanksgiving, Elizabeth, Eric & Lisa rose at 5:30am to catch a few of the local sales. I think this will quickly become a tradition with this gang. Despite Lisa's anti-shopping gene, it was really quite fun. Almost like a little adventure...stealing out in the dark of night, picking up a nice hot coffee to keep us warm while we waited with many others for Target to open, lots of Christmas cheer, and not to mention bah-gains!

That afternoon, all the girls plus Tommy hopped in the car (poor Elizabeth had to ride in the hatch in order for everyone to fit in one car!) and headed for the mall, where the 3 kids got their picture taken with Santa (also the 2nd year in what may become a tradition). This year AP wasn't quite as enamored with Santa as the previous year...after lots of coaxing and crying she finally "kinda/sorta" posed with Santa, but at the cost of having Lisa's knees in the picture!

2006 Photo:

2005 Photo:

On 11/30, Tommy turned 2 months old. At his checkup, he weighed in at 12 lb 7 oz (70th %-ile) and measured 24 1/2 inches (93rd %-ile). He got a couple of vaccinations with which he was none too pleased, but fortunately it wasn't mutual because the doc was happy with his growth and health. We are thrilled because he is finally smiling consistently, especially if he hasn't set eyes on you for awhile (after a nap, etc).

Anne Peyton continues to be a good big sister. Her latest favorite activity is to undress her brother. If we turn away for a minute, we look back to see his bare chest showing (she loves undoing snaps). She's talking more and more, though no sentences yet. A few of her words are:

mama, dadda

Ba = pacifier (also her word for bottle; they both require sucking!)

a-pa = applesauce

neh = blankie (???)

noh = nose and NO!

joo = juice

moh = more

tee = teeth (she LOVES brushing her teeth, or rather, sucking on the toothbrush)

peas = please

For more pictures, go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/coloradohofmeisters and click on "November 2006" under the picture.

November 10, 2006 - Tommy turns 6 weeks old tomorrow. Much to our delight, he actually slept 7-8 hours at a time a few nights this week. Time will tell if this is a fluke or if he is following in his big sissy's footsteps and learning to be a good sleeper. He seems much mellower now - doesn't cry as urgently and often and his digestive system seems to be working a little better too.

Anne Peyton is adjusting really well. Despite some tantrums and late-night wake-ups, she adores her little brother and is charming the heck out of her parents every day. At bedtime she loves cuddling up in mommy & daddy's bed with a pile of books. Although she doesn't have many words yet, it's sweet to hear her attempts.

This was a month of visitors: Grammy (Lisa's mom), Kathy Bravo (day care mommy) and her 3 kids: Ariana, Thomas & Elise, Aunt Molly Tee, Papa TR (Lisa's dad), Becky Chapman, Kjirsten Wallace & Zach, Amy St. John & Max, Tim Neyman & Sarita, Terie Holmquist, Stacey Hauhuth & Finn, Betsy Angelino & Anthony, Roberta Camargo, Mikkel Hylden & Brynne, and Ellen Itzkowitz & Brady!

For Halloween AP dressed as a cowgirl (for the Itzkowitz's party) and as a horse (for the St John/Sanders' party), and Tommy was a chicken (rooster, to be technically correct). John was a farmer. Why is it that we can't get out of this ridiculous farm animal theme?!

We've posted more pictures and captions at http://www.kodakgallery.com/coloradohofmeisters

Greetings everyone! This is our first attempt at creating a family blog. The birth of our son, Thomas Edward, seems a fitting reason to begin such a thing! He was born at 9:10pm on Saturday, 9/30, just a few days late. Despite the cord being wrapped around his neck TWICE (apparently this happened during late labor), he was born without a c-section and was healthy when he arrived. We stayed in the hospital for about 3 days, and eagerly returned home to a waiting Anne Peyton and Grammy (Lisa's mom, Peyton). Here are a few photos.