Baby's First Christmas (2015)

December 26, 2015 by Michael Young in Carter, Holiday, Koniz

Carter made it through his first road trip without too much of a fuss. We traveled from Cleveland to New Jersey in about 8:30 hrs, and only had to stop once. Although he had his fussy moments, he did get a chance to sleep.

Christmas Eve came and Carter opened his first gifts, one of which was a beautiful ornament from Uncle Justin and Aunt Liz to commemorate his first Christmas. Thanks, Justin and Liz!

Christmas morning brought more gifts, more laughs - mostly at Justin's expense.

After everyone ate, showered, and dressed, it was time to had over to see Grandma Koniz and Carter's cousins for dinner. Carter was able to meet baby Chase, and Aunt Karina.

Grandapa Ron and Grandma Sunye!

December 14, 2015 by Michael Young in Carter, Family, Family Visit, Koniz

It feels like we're always saying family visits feel so short. It can't be cliche if it's true, can it? Grandpa Ron and Grandma Sunye drove from New York to see Carter up close and in person. They arrived Friday afternoon, and were gone by Sunday morning. Although they departed almost as quickly as they arrived, their visit was a blessing, and we still managed to make a good weekend of things.

Grandma and Grandpa played with Carter, and experienced some of Cleveland's great treasures: the Christmas Story house, and the West Side Market. While we never got a chance to go inside the house - the line was down the block and Ron admitted to being a terrible "line stander" - we did get to see the neighborhood the movie was filmed. We'll just have to take a rain check on going inside.

However, the West Side Market was a success! We even brought home fresh fruits and vegetables to cook. Speaking of which, Sunye is an awesome cook, and we are super appreciative that she cooked breakfasts and dinner for us!

Before we knew it, it was Sunday morning, breakfast was over, and departing hugs were exchanged. Thank you, Ron and Sunye for making the trip! We'll make sure to find all of the hidden shapes in the book by the time you return ;-).

Halloweekend and Aunt Peggy!

November 12, 2015 by Michael Young in Family Dinner, Family, Carter, Koniz, Family Visit

Ok, so we're a bit late with this post, but we didn't forget! Although Aunt Peggy didn't say it directly, "Make the most of life," is best way to describe the parting wisdom from her visit. Her plane landed on Thursday, October 29, at Akron's airport (which is about 45min away), she helped us reorganize our house, and kept Carter with a huge smile on his face, joined Heather and Sarah for meal prep, and even relaxed long enough to watch a movie. Although we didn't move anything to storage as she would have liked, we did refocus how we approach our time with Carter. Since Aunt Peggy's departure, Heather has been able to enjoy dance again (both watching performances, and taking workshops), Carter has moved to the crib, and we're more willing to allow family to help us, so that we don't feel tethered to our son 24/7. We never got a chance to have date night while Aunt Peggy was in town, but we're still going to make that happen soon (sounds like time with Grandma Sheri is in order).

Sadly, we didn't get to partake in Halloween festivities, which is a shame, because it's one of Aunt Peggy's favorite holidays - but Carter did get to dress up as a Teenage Mutant Turtle :). The visit flew by; it felt like we were back on the road to Akron the next day, even though it was already Sunday morning. We put a close to the weekend with a brief visit from Big Josh, and November's family dinner, where carter got to play with his cousins.