Baby BB-Ford: January 2012

DJ and LJ excited on Christmas morning!

We feel pretty clear that we won the baby lottery. Lance Julian is laid back, smiley, handsome, smart, friendly, strong--what more could we ask for? Well, how about another wonderful boy! Yes, Leighton and I are parents again. This time to foster a 12 year old. DJ has been in our lives for a few years now as Karl's "little brother" through Big Brother, Big Sister. They were getting ready to move DJ to yet another group home and with the support of our amazing community we've decided to move DJ into Hillegass House and make him an official part of the BB clan. That made this Christmas an extra special one.

Rexland, home from Hampton, models Christmas breakfast.

Aunt Hollie

Lance Julian's Harem

DJ lights the minora for Carol's famous Christmas dinner

"Hanging out"

My only complaint about this holiday season is that there were too many parties, and really, is that a complaint at all? Especially when you are the mother of the cutest baby around, it's pretty fun showing him off at all the holiday gatherings.

Lance and I enjoy the view in our roomette

We wanted to go somewhere over the long break but Yuki can't fly and the baby hates long drives so we decided to take Amtrak to LA. The train was the highlight of the trip. We got a sleeping car so that LJ could nap and boy did he nap! The white noise of the wheels on the track, the nice rocking motion and the dark of our tiny "roomette" had him sleeping 2 and 3 hours at a time. Karl and I especially enjoyed the complimentary wine and cheese tasting where I won a free bottle. We also got to see beautiful views of the coast not available to the non-train riding public. I highly recommend taking the train with kids. As DJ commented, "the train is much more entertaining than I expected".

Lance on top sleeping, Dad resting down below.

This is the "family room" seats and sleeps 3.

Views of the coast

wine and cheese tasting!

Feeding Lance Julian

Uncle Karl, soon to be Daddy Karl.

Dinner!

We stayed in Santa Monica about 6 blocks from the beach. We rented a house through www.airbnb.com which I highly recommend. We stayed at a house with everything we would need to be comfortable including a fully stocked kitchen, bikes and a beautiful backyard. We met up with Karl's college roommate and his two kids as well as Yuki's friend who just moved to LA from Japan. The trip reaffirmed all of our stereotypes about SoCal and we were delighted when we returned home.