More firsts for Isobel this week, particularly with her first Christmas Day on Monday. Normally we'd do presents after lunch, but we moved the 'opening ceremony' to the morning to make best use of her good humour after waking up and having a feed.

Santa brought some more rattles and things to chew on, including a set of plastic beads which have become a new favourite - just the right size for her little hands to grab, and small enough to fit her jaws around. She also received a couple of Fisher Price toys - a Laugh & Learn Puppy, a Drop & Roar Dinosaur and some more Roll A Rounds, as well as some more clothes and books from relatives back in Australia. The puppy was a real challenge to wrap up, as it kept chatting away from beneath the paper while we were taping it up - very disconcerting to hear a disembodied voice from under the tree!

Her vocalisation is still growing - many more funny squeals, and she's discovering volume can get her some attention! We were also treated to her first laugh this week, after bouncing her gently up and down on one knee - a huge grin and a little giggle, but it's a rare treat so far! She's also reaching out for toys now, and will take her beads from Mummy or Daddy's hand if they're held a few inches away. We've also noticed her toy frog is being ejected from the car seat when we're out and about - not sure if she's playing pick-up with us already, but we haven't put it past her.

Bit of a novelty to watch the start of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne after Christmas lunch! Andy outdid himself with spicy chicken and roast veg for lunch, and then Australian lamb chops for dinner. Even splashed out and had a glass of wine ... one glass only for me, however! Andy was disappointed the Test only lasted three days, but was glad to watch Warne get his 700th wicket.

We didn't have a white Christmas, but we did get another snowfall late in the evening on Boxing Day - we would have missed it if I hadn't looked out the window after putting Isobel to bed that night. We spent another hour or so taking photos of our Christmas lights in the snow from our guest room window. Andy also got up early the next day to get some outside shots of the house before everything melted - but it's been so cold since then we still have a little snow in the back yard tonight.

It's also been interesting to watch the memorials this week after the death of President Gerald Ford - presidential funerals are still a pretty rare event. All the news stations are showing speeches from the funeral at the moment - a fairly sombre end to the year.

Speaking of which, we can't believe how quickly this year has flown - Isobel is nearly four months old already, and Andy heads back to work next week. We probably won't make a big fuss for New Year's Eve, but we'll catch the fireworks at the Space Needle on telly again.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Twas the night before Christmas ... and some poor folks have only just got their power back from the outages last week. Very grateful we were only out for a couple of days, that was enough for us! Andy's now finished up at work for a couple of weeks, so we've been able to whip around and get some last-minute gift shopping done. Mainly for Isobel, of course! We've never had so many boxes under a Christmas tree before.

With Isobel nearly four months old, we're starting to try and teach Isobel to fall asleep on her own. Up til now she's been dropping off at the end of a feed, so after waiting ten minutes or so I can pick her up and put her to bed pretty easily. That's worked really well so far, but I don't want to end up having to do that every time!

Picking the right time to make an attempt has been the tricky bit - during the day it's easy to tell when she gets tired, so we're starting to see a pattern develop. Bedtime is still a challenge, though, and I think we're stuck in a catch-22 situation - she doesn't want to go to sleep before around 9-10pm, and then she'll sleep through til 8-9am the following morning. I don't mind the opportunity to sleep in, but I think we're going to have to make a choice between mornings and evenings. Is it bad that we want to have both??!!

We also finally received Isobel's citizenship certificate back in the mail this week - she's now officially recognised as an Australian, so we can begin the next step and start applying for Medicare and her passport ... more paperwork!

We ran a little late with our Christmas cards this year - they are in the post, but probably haven't arrived yet . Tomorrow's going to be a fairly low-key day for us as Isobel's too young to really get into the spirit of things, but we've certainly had a lot of fun preparing everything. Merry Christmas everyone!

We've had an eventful week this week - some of the worst wind storms in Seattle since the early '90s swept through and we lost power in the house for nearly 40hrs. We still had hot water at least, but the central heating was out - not good when it dips below freezing overnight.

We've got a vacant lot behind our house as well as some rather tall fir trees, which makes the yard nice and private and just so different from anywhere we've lived before - it's something to be able to look out of the second storey windows and still have to look UP to see the top of the trees nearby. With all the rain last month the ground is pretty saturated, so it doesn't take much to encourage some of these trees to go horizontal rather than vertical. I'd heard a couple of small trees keel over during Thursday afternoon, but not the really big ones along the back of our block.

Isobel was being a bit of a night owl on Thursday night, so after trying to put her to bed a few times I gave up and brought her back downstairs to play for a little longer. It was about midnight by the time I'd got her settled and asleep again - meanwhile the wind was whipping up and we could hear the trees creaking in the breeze. I've got a couple of nightlights in her room so I can see at night without having to turn the light on - just as I was about to put Isobel in her crib, the nightlights started flickering and I could hear Andy racing around downstairs. He was busy pulling power plugs out of the wall for all our electrical stuff - TV, DVD player, computer, laptops etc - then the house went dark. He came upstairs with a torch to check we were OK, but Isobel had startled awake again ... bugger.

I was convinced we were going to get one of those trees through our house that night - all the bedrooms face the rear of the house and the trees in the vacant lot, so if anything came down it was likely to make a mess. We set up in the living room at the front of the house, as far away as we could get without camping in the front yard - finally managed to get Isobel off to sleep again. Andy dropped off to sleep right away, but I lay awake on the couch for another couple of hours hearing every wind gust and creaking tree ...

Andy's office still had power, so he headed to work on Friday. Soon after he got to work, he sent me a message to stay home - a house in our street had lost a tree across the road, which had made a bit of a mess. Later in the morning I popped Isobel in the stroller and walked down to the communal letter box for the mail, and had a bit of a chat to the neighbours who were cleaning up, one had spent 5hrs raking up all the debris in her yard. She's had trees through her house three times in fifteen years - methinks that's a hint to start cutting the trees down??!!

Still no power when Andy got home from work - he picked up some bits and pieces on the way home, and there was enough daylight left to check the house and make sure it was still in one piece. We thought about decamping to a hotel for the night, but after ringing the first option we were told all of Seattle was booked out - not just our suburb, but the whole city! The power came back on briefly around 11pm Friday night - enough time for me to say "gee, 24hrs isn't bad to get us power again!" Then it went dark again - trust me to jinx things . We had Isobel in about five layers to try and keep her warm - socks, a footed onesie, a hat, a hooded tracksuit, a fleece swaddle, and her cotton blankie. Even then I was worried she'd get cold - our central heating is on gas, but without power the fans can't circulate the heat. It dropped to around 12C overnight, but Isobel was a star - we put her down for a nap at about 7.30pm, and she ended up sleeping through to 8.30am. She did wake a couple of times during the night - funny to hear her gurgle away happily for a few minutes, then drop back to sleep when no-one joined in the conversation .

Still no juice by Saturday morning, so friends of ours rang and invited us round for coffee at their place - they were in one of the few areas that didn't suffer blackouts. They'd initially invited us around by email ... and then realised they weren't going to get a reply for a while . We ended up staying for lunch, enough time for Isobel to warm up a little so we could at least take her trackie off for a while. We didn't want to impose for too long, so went home around 2pm and thankfully had power back around 3.30pm.

So we've lost what was in the fridge and freezer - we can replace most of it, but I'm bloody annoyed to have lost nearly all the breastmilk I pumped in those first few weeks. Still have a couple of 6oz baggies left, but I'll have to hire a pump again if we plan on using a babysitter again in the next couple of months. I think Andy was more annoyed about missing the cricket - Adam Gilchrist had a fantastic innings, and we missed it!!

Now that the house has warmed up again, we finally got organised for this year's Christmas Card photo - a family photo this time. With a bit of luck I'll have them in the post in the next couple of days ... we'll put the photo up later, it's a surprise for the moment!

After all the rain we had last month, this month has been positively dry in comparison. Although I do prefer this type of dry to the bushfires at home at the moment ... no complaining here. Most of the lights are up on the house again, so once again we are a beacon of light for those driving uphill on the main road past our house ... and Andy's trying to one-up the neighbours again .

We had our final Latte lunch on Tuesday in Tukwila, which meant I could duck quietly into work and get a couple of admin forms signed and witnessed - have to make sure the personnel system at home officially knows that Isobel exists. We did a christmas ornament exchange, everyone drew a number from a little bag and got to choose a wrapped ornament, or you could 'steal' from someone else. In these situations someone usually ends up as the designated 'victim' purely by chance - and that person was me . Mind you I ended up with some gorgeous silver leaf decorations, so it was all for the best in the end! We're doing a similar deal for the crochet guild in a couple of weeks, with a scarf theme - it's a fun twist on the theme.

Isobel and I are starting to work towards developing a nap schedule during the day - its a bit hard sometimes because her night sleeps are still a little unpredictable. Last night I put her down for a nap in the portacot downstairs around 8.30pm, thinking she'd nap for about an hour and then we'd put her upstairs around 10-11pm as we've done in the past. (No, this doesn't match what all the parenting books say, but it's a routine that works for us so far and that's the important thing!!) We managed to get all the christmas presents wrapped and under the tree, and she still hadn't woken up - by midnight we decided to move the baby monitor down to the portacot and call it a night. She was still asleep at 9am this morning, and only woke when I popped the velcro tabs on her blankie ... we're so lucky that she's sleeping so well already! My next goal then is to start defining a couple of nap times during the day - the 'reactive' method has worked well so far, but I try to be a little proactive when I can.

Isobel is also getting *so close* to being able to roll from her back to her stomach - her little legs kick away and her head is arched all the way round, we're just waiting for that last little oomph and she'll be there. Of course that means she'll officially be 'mobile' then, and we'll have to start baby-proofing the lounge room ...

Andy also had a few of his fellow Mustang owners around this afternoon for the great heart/lung transplant - the engine has been out being reconditioned, so today was the day to start putting it all back together again. Didn't quite get to the point where we could fire it up, but it's looking far more complete with the engine back in the engine bay again.

Bit of a wild week on the weather front this week - Seattle has recorded it's wettest month ever, with more than fifteen inches of rain during November. Apparently Nov 25 was the only day it DIDN'T rain ... or snow ... or sleet! Needless to say the ski resorts have all opened early and are enjoying good patronage - we might try to do some tag team skiing later in the season when Isobel's a bit older ... means we'll only need one lift ticket!!

Isobel's been quite the social butterfly this week - now that Thanksgiving is over, we're well into party season here. Friday night was the office Christmas party in Seattle, which also doubles as a last farewell for the folks heading back to Australia in the next few weeks. Same venue as we had last year, although it was a bit of a different dynamic for us with a baby in tow this time! Unfortunately we'd forgotten there was a basketball game on that night as well, so the freeway from our place over to Seattle was chockers, even with three of us in the car and using the HOV lanes it still took us nearly 90mins for what's normally a 20min trip. We were a little late, but that just meant we could make a grand entrance with bubba in her party frock. There were no shortage of friends willing to hold Isobel for a cuddle during the night, and she amazed everyone (again!) with her quiet demeanour - even falling asleep on Mummy's shoulder for a while, in the midst of 100+ people all talking loudly ... she's quite a star. The wives pronounced her the best dressed girl at the event, she didn't have any pearls on but made up for it by wearing velvet!! It was very special for us to be able to bring her along and introduce her to the rest of our work friends, especially those heading home - we'll probably catch up with most of them when we head home next year, but Isobel will be so much older and completely different by then - we won't be able to carry her around the whole night like that again!

She got a bit stroppy towards the end of the night, her frock looked gorgeous but was terribly impractical with lots of scratchy tulle underneath, so we changed her out into a onesie for the trip home. We managed to get her to sleep pretty quickly, and she was out until about 6am ...

Saturday was the Family Christmas Party, another annual event organised by the wives for the various children to get together, with a visit from Santa to hand out some presents to good boys and girls. Santa looked a little familiar this year, remarkably like Steve who'd hosted us for Thanksgiving lunch last week! Isobel had been such a good girl that Santa had a gift for her too - a little lion to match her favourite Turtle.

After we got home she had a nice long sleep, and then she slept for about 12 hours overnight - sh'd had a big weekend already, so a long downtime was expected. Mummy was glad when she finally woke up and fed again though!!

The tree is up, the lights are going back on the house and the mantle looks a little different with three stockings this year. We've started the advent calendar countdown already ... not long now!!