This is Eric writing...I figured I needed to state that upfront since its been something like 6 months since I've posted. I've meant to write, honest, and probably would do more if I wasn't so long-winded. Maybe next time. I'm writing now because Cadie decided whe wanted to wake up at 4 this morning so we're writing this post together. I certainly can't complain though, these last nights she's slept for a 5-6 hour stretch every night! After freaking out the first night because we hadn't heard from her in her normal timeframe, we've really appreciated the larger blocks of sleep; seems I actually remember my name most days when I wake up now.

So, here's a quick update on our week. Last Saturday (12/22 for those counting), Cadie took her first metro ride. We traveled down to the Botanical Gardens-which are always cool but are even more so around Christmas. They have a massive train set running that included a 30 foot suspension bridge and have replicas of a number of the monuments and government buildings made entirely out of plant materials. From there we walked up and saw the "People's tree," one of two Christmas trees brought in every year. This one's in front of the capitol and came from a National Forest in Vermont. Funny thing, although it looks great from a distance, when you're up close you can see it's wrapped in a metal mesh to keep it standing and keep everything in place. Maybe we'll have to try that next year to protect our ornaments of the dual threat of Cadie's curiosity and Molly's tail.

We had beautiful weather here on Christmas eve, so we decided to head out to a nearby area on the MD-VA border called Great Falls-an area with lots of trails on the Potomac River. The falls are where the river carves through incredible rock causing a number of steep drops. Cadie snoozed through the trip in the stroller, while E, Molly, and I appreciated being out on trails again-even if we were joined by a few hundred of our neighbors.

Cadie let us sleep in until around 8:00 or so on Christmas. We had a nice morning here enjoying each others' company and the generosity of family and friends. Cadie is one of the best dressed girls I know! She looks sharp in her new gear. We then had some good friends from grad school who also live in DC over for dinner. We served leg of lamb, a traditional Christmas dinner for E's family (or I should say arguably traditional as E's mom remembers it as pork roast). Matt and Christina made some incredible squash and pumpkin pie. It was a nice day--I even got my first nap since we came home from the hospital.

So, as most of you probably know Oregon State had their bowl game last night. Since they were playing Maryland (the campus is just a few miles from us here, I can actually see the stadium from work) I decided to wear some Beaver gear to work (that works for casual Friday, right?). I enjoyed giving a hard time to a Maryland alum co-worker of mine (funny thing is, she also has a degree from the University of Michigan, bitter rivals of our future home). Good thing the Beavs pulled it out last night (or actually this morning...the game ended around midnight our time)! The whole fam was decked out for the game. We even have a Beaver pacifier, but Cadie wasn't interested in it last night (I think it interfered with her cheering). I guess, E's ahead of me and actually wrote another entry about the game already (to be nice, she waited until I finished this before she posted it...).