Liliana's 1st Birthday!!! 12 Months Old??!!!!!!!!!!!

December has been a happily looooooong month.  First and most importantly, we welcomed Kaya Kealani Caravalho to our household on December 18th!  Rachael, Mike, Logan and Kaya are all doing wonderfully, and we're excited to now have photos of 3 beautiful children to share with you all ( :

Now, on to Liliana--This month, it seems like

 she reaches new milestones everyday.  She walks, she talks (okay, not in complete sentences, but watch the video- this is a girl

 who can communicate).  My favorite are please, thank you, and when she does the motions for the itsy-bitsy spider.  She loves the itsy bitsy spider.  She laughs even more now.  She has always been a smiley girl, but she really cracks up, especially at Logan--her cousin, best friend and hero.  They share everything, usually without complaint, and have recently fallen in love with the game of tackling each other (I'm sure that will come back to haunt us one of these days).

And us?  Things get easier and easier, it seems.  As we reflect on this amazing year, we have learned so much not just about parenting, but about our daughter.  We assume that much of what we know is applicable to all children, but really so much of it is just applicable to her--our sweet Liliana.  Logan only eats what he wants to. Lily, on the other hand will eat anything, provided you're sharing it with her.  Logan is extraordinarily patient when figuring out a problem.  Lily, not so much.  I think that's what's made this such a great month- she's telling us so much more, and we can't wait to see what she teaches us next.

This month, we saw more snow in Seattle than in the last 10 years combined.  Lily and Logan built their first (and second) snowmen, sledded down the back steps repeatedly, and generally had a blast, as did their parents.  Our visitors this month included our cousins Justin, Jessica, and Evan, Carrie Russell, and the whole Henrie clan (Gabby, Russ, Cynthia, and Andy). We feel so grateful to be all together again this year for the holidays, especially when it took G-Mo and Pop Pop so long to get here because of this crazy snow!  It's truly wonderful to be surrounded by family in times of change, growth, and joy.

It's a time of year to reflect on the good people in your life, and the good things.  We hope your holiday season has been blessed.  Ours certainly was.

Love,

Liliana, Ian, and Marita