**Winter begins… what we have been upto.***

The last few months have been very bumpy in the Tucker Household. Alyssa is doing great and her speech is growing at light speed.  She sleeps in her crib by her self all night and easily goes to sleep at night now which is a delight!  She is 21 months old and really interested in Dancing and books.  She loves to sit in her toddler rocking chair and look at books. 

My father was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer a in September so we have been spending as much time with him as possible and having Alyssa play with him as much as possible.   We have been really busy and are doing what we can to make the most of the time we have together.  

We had a huge scare on November 30th.  Know before I say it that everyone is okay.  It was an icy day and Alyssa and Jason were in a massive car accidently.  Black ice, fishtailing, flying into oncoming traffic and a 180% spin then they got re-ended by a large jeep.   It was a miracle that the car spun just right so they didn’t get hurt.  The trunk was completely demolished and the impact stopped  just a few inches from Alyssa’s car seat.  The back seat got pushed a bit and of course the back window imploded, but amazingly everyone was okay.  The police and EMT’s all commented several times on how her car seat did it’s job and how it kept her safe because it was extremely tightly secured.    I was about a mile away and got there before the police.  I wanted to be that woman you see in the movies that runs up screaming… “My BABY!  MY BABY!”  but I took a few deep breaths and did my best to stay clam.    Alyssa was sitting on Jason’s lap with her big eyes looking a little started and Jason had about the same look on his face.  Jason’s seat was broken a little farther back and sideways.   Jason had immediately pulled her out of her car seat (probably not the best idea after an accident – but a parents reaction to save their child from danger) right after the crash as she was sitting in a pile of glass from the back window.

We requested the EMT look Alyssa over even though 5 minutes after the accident she was smiling and fine and didn’t have a scratch on her.  They said she was fine.   Jason had a bit of whip-lash and has been going to the chiropractor a couple of times a week for his back.

The car was a total loss.  It was his beloved 2000 Honda Accord that was fully loaded.   We bought another Graco – My Ride 65 (I’m giving exact info as it saved my baby). I wrote them a thank you letter but still want to write one to our local police station that helped teach us to install the car seat.

Alyssa’s first Christmas went well.  Santa brought her a play kitchen (which is her new favorite toy), a leaptop (baby laptop), Dora doll, lots of little people toys and a bunch of books.  Alyssa wasn’t interested in opening any other presents once she was the toy kitchen.  It took us 2 hours to convince her to open any others. 🙂   She also got a digital camera from Grandpa, food for her kitchen from Aunty Heather, and a beautiful table and chair set from Grandma. Plus many other wonderful gifts!  She was a very happy little girl.  Until Christmas dinner when she got the flu and lets just say “decorated” my aunt’s and uncles house several times!  Ahh, First Christmas Memories!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday and has excellent 2011.  I wish everyone tons of new family bonding, new referrals and gotcha days!

Best Wishes and Happy New YEAR!