Christmas in Pictures

Henry has help from his Daddy-O on Christmas morning, opening presents is exciting...

More help opening presents, this time from Mom. It would have been more exciting if the presents were a surprise for Mom and Dad too...

And, after just two presents, Henry decides that opening them is not so fun, especially when he's hungry. So Joe opens them, and show him what he got while he eats breakfast.

On Christmas Eve the "Spilker" girls show off their amazing talent by dancing and lip-syncing to Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys. Making fools of ourselves is a fun Christmas Eve Tradition for us girls.

The day before that at an Atkin Christmas Party we learned that Henry is afraid of his Grandpa Atkin.

Not so afraid of Santa Claus, though.

Adventures in Parenting (and other such things...)

Henry develops new skills every day. Lately he screams (happily) and "talks" a lot. He's gaining more and more control over his hands and he grabs at everything he can get a grip on. Usually, it goes straight into the mouth, where it competes with the hand that's already in there. Henry LOVES to suck on his hands! And, he drools like crazy
Henry is still progressing towards becoming a very good sleeper. He's never consistent, but he quite frequently has very good nights. Last night he slept from 10pm until 7:30am 9 1/2 hours - not too shabby.

On Saturday, December 16, Henry decided not to eat. From 8:30am until 12:30am I couldn't get him to eat. And, every time I tried he screamed as if something terrible were happening to him. This, from a baby who usually eats every three hours, I was quite concerned. So, after talking to his doctor we decided to take him to Primary Childrens Hospital where they ran a bunch of tests and, fortunately, determined that nothing was wrong with him. He wasn't even dehydrated (but how?). So, after several hours, and some relief for me on the hospital breast pump, we went home with a fasting baby. Next day, he acted as if nothing had happened, he ate like a champ. Who knows what happened!?!

Last night we ventured out into the cold to view the lights at Temple Square. I especially like the foreign nativities. Henry just LOVED to look at all of the lights. I'm conviced that he will forever be intrigued by bright shinny objects.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!

Fun Time!!

Lately we've been going to a lot of basketball games. We've been to several Utah Basketball Games and last night we went to Jazz Game. It's a good excuse to get out of the house and, for Joe, a good way to avoid studying! Henry loves all of the lights and activity in the arena, occassionally, however, the loud noises give hime quite a jump!

Joe finishes school for Christmas on Friday. He seems to be doing pretty well. So, far, he hasn't appeared overly stressed and he's getting good scores in all of his classes. Now that he has a short break, he wants to spend it finshing our basement. If all goes as planned we'll have a bathroom and a bedroom in what we now call, "the dungeon."

Henry is becoming more and more active every day! He smiles regularly now and he even giggles and screams (happily). It's ridiculously cute. He's not eating quite so often anymore either which makes me happy. And, for the first time he slept a full eight hour stretch this week. It was fabulous. Unfortunately he's not sleeping eight hours every night, he regularly sleeps at least one six hour stretch.

Henry has also discovered his mouth and his hands. For a few days he looked and a wiggled his hands and arms. Now he just shoves his whole fist (both of them actually) in his mouth. We call him squirrle, because he looks like a squirrle with his hands clasped together near or in his mouth. We also think he's right handed - he definately favors his right hand now when he is playing with toys.


Our house is all decorated and ready for Christmas. We've gotten a few presents for Henry and I'm excited to open them for him!! Actually, I'm excited for a time when he looks forward to Christmas and enjoys opening presents. That will be fun!!


We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. We wish you a merry Christmas!!

'Tis the Season

Merry Christmas to everyone!! We hope your Christmas was as happy as ours. I'm happy to report that according to Joe we got all the "shiz" we wanted for Christmas. In addition to the "shiz" we had several exciting Christmas parties. We always enjoy our Spilker Family Christmas Eve party. This year Katie, Callie & I dressed up as punk rock queens and danced to a punk version of "O Come All Ye Faithful". We were a hit!

Just last week Joe and I went snowboarding with my brother, his girlfriend Jessica and my sisters. It was a really fun day. The snow was good, the back pain was increadible. So, I thought I was a pro-snowboarder for 30 seconds and have been paying for it ever since. It's been a good excuse to get lots of massages out of Joe!

Joe is finally done with school. He's spent a lot of time helping my dad put pergo in the apartment downstairs and paint. They're almost done now and the apartment looks fabulous!

It's been almost a month now since Joe has heard anything from any medical schools. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the anticipation is a killer. He did, however, have a fabulous interview at UCLA. The doctor who interviewed him said that he would put him in the "highly recruitable" category which means that he still has a chance. For a California resident that means your for sure going to get it, but for an out of state resident it's still up in the air. The earliest we expect to hear anything from UCLA is mid-February.

A very merry Christmas to you all! Thanks for your love and support.