Christmas at the Ulstad's

We took our first road trip with Nora this past weekend to Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Lee's farm right on the Minnesota/South Dakota border. Both Amber and I were nervous as this was going to be by far the longest time we had spent in the car with her. She had done well with 15 - 20 minute drives around town, but the thought of being stuck in a vehicle for two and a half hours with a wailing child made us a bit wary. Fortunately she did really well and slept the entire way with nothing more than a peep from the back seat.

Nora's first Christmas celebration went well. She got a chance to meet all of her cousins, who she isn't quite big enough to play with yet but had fun meeting them. Little Landrey Graven who is just a few months older than her and Nora spent a lot of quality time sleeping and taking photos together. Last week Nora was hoping she made the "nice list", and it was evident she did because Santa was very good to her! And rumor has it, he will be stopping by Grandma Anne and Grandpa Steve's house this weekend too.

Aunt Jenn and Reese take a break from Polly Pockets to pose with Nora.



Cousins hanging out in their matching PJs.



Nora gets a new ornament from Santa Claus.

Nora also went to church for the first time and did very well. After church she was passed from person to person, all of which complimented her on her looks and pretty Christmas dress (she wore her Santa outfit again.) After church, all of the eight grandkids (four boys, four girls) took photos with Grandma and Grandpa. We hung out for a bit, and then drove back home. She had two awesome car trips in the same weekend. We were very thankful, to say the least.

The proud Grandparents with all the kids.

In other news, Nora is growing very well. She had her two week appointment today and gained exactly one pound, and also is a half inch taller. She is in the 50% for her weight, and the 85% for her height. We can hardly believe that she has changed so much and treasure every minute we have with her, even during those late night food cravings she loves to have.

Nora and Amber also stopped by my office last week to meet all of my co-workers and make a few sales calls too. We went out to lunch at Eddington's where she slept peacefully while we had some yummy soup and breadsticks. She even did a little Christmas shopping with Amber and tried the Baby Bjorn for the first time and liked it a lot.

My company's newest sales rep.