hannah and i hit the mall at opening time saturday morning, in order to fulfill my promise to take her to the limited too. we arrived before they opened, so we jumped next door to macy's so i could spend my gift card. i ended up getting a really good deal on a ralph lauren top, not to mention an elle tahari silk blouse that i just looooove. i had about $6 left on the card after that, so picked up some on sale earrings - which turned out to be about $5. hannah now has the gift card, with a whopping 83 cents left on it. ;) we went back to the limited too, and after some coaxing (she wanted a silver sparkly gown, which was out of her price range not to mention impractical, and then a black satin skirt, which was just impractical), we put together an incredibly cute outfit (see below in the pictures of us at the domes). we swung through target, then headed home.
bryan made a fantastic turkey soup for lunch. we had a turkey carcass in the freezer from thanksgiving, which he used to make turkey stock, some of which he made into a soup with fresh veggies and some egg noodles. le yum! the weather had warmed up, but it was rainy and wet, so a perfect day for soup.
we then got ourselves together to leave the house (which is no small feat), and made our way to the domes. hannah hadn't yet been, so she was pretty excited. oliver, on the other hand, slept the whole time. which wasn't too bad. :) i'd much rather have sleepy baby than fussy baby! 
the concept of the domes are 3 geodesic spheres: one arid, one tropical, and one seasonal. we stopped in the seasonal dome first, which was done up for christmas, with a "christmas trees of the world" theme. the trees were rather pretty. i liked the polish tree the best (which hannah and i are pictured in front of). they had an italian "tree" - which was actually a stack of shelves with fruit. we headed into the arid dome next, which is full of desert type plants. they had some pretty huge cacti (check out bryan and hannah in front of the one that 
reminds me of the whomping willow), including some gigantic prickly pears (which always make me think of delicious, fresh prickly pear juice and nopales salsa... mmmm). then it was on to the tropical dome, which was one of the favorites. they had some very pretty tropical flowers, as well as cocoa plants (i had to explain to hannah that it would NOT be fun to eat a cocoa pod). they had a koi pond, with some very large orange koi, and one GIANT white koi. hannah had fun running back and forth from one side of the bridge to the other to track the fish as they swam around. it was pretty cute to watch her - she was very intent on seeing them, and was frustrated that they sometimes hid under the bridge!! :) bryan and i took the opportunity to steal a few kisses!
that evening, we headed to mom and dad's for dinner, as hannah and shannon were both leaving sunday. shannon made some beef empanadas with a raspberry coulis, and they were pretty delicious. hannah ate 2!
we headed home to watch national treasure: book of secrets. again, oliver and i didn't make it through the entire thing (i tried but i was exhausted), but hannah and bryan enjoyed it quite a bit.
early sunday afternoon, we headed to the airport to see hannah off. i think she was more upset to leave oliver than to leave us! :) she cried a little bit, but did ok. she did call us monday, however, to let us know she missed us. bryan and i headed off to my mom's family christmas party, where we got to show off our cute baby. he was, of course, well behaved, and everyone loved holding him for a bit. it was fun to see the family again. after some roast beef and other snacks, bryan and i headed home to relax a bit. we took down all the christmas decorations, including the tree. while i love christmas, it's also nice to have my house back.
oliver laughed for the first time on monday! i missed it - i was at work. he wouldn't laugh for me when i got home (he wanted to eat and nap), but i did get a few giggles out of him when i got home from work yesterday. CUTEST SOUND EVER!!!! even cuter than the little sound he makes when he sneezes! :) we haven't gotten too many more giggles out of him, but i'm sure it will come. yesterday, he and the monkey in his swing mobile must have been telling each other jokes or something, because he was staring up at him as he swung, and he kept smiling and making faces like he was laughing at the funniest thing EVER - just no sound. i'm sure the more we try to make him laugh, the more he will laugh. :)he is back on a better sleep schedule. getting the shots last week thursday really messed him up, but he seems better now (goes down between 8 and 9, gets up between 1 and 2, and goes back down until 5 or 6). he started sleeping in his own room monday night, so i'm pretty glad he is sleeping better! i think he is more comfortable in his crib than the cradle, since he has gotten so big. last night he did fuss for bryan between 3 and 5 for some time, but eventually settled down with me in the rocker. i think he gets some burps stuck and that frustrates him. now that he is back in day care (we had him out some while hannah was here, and our provider has been sick monday and tuesday) his schedule should even out even more (knock on wood).
i stopped at walgreen's on the way home from work yesterday to pick up some pictures i had printed, and on a whim bought some bagel crisps (they were on sale). i am SO totally hooked! they are dairy free (whoohoo) and just so delicious. i haven't yet tried the garlic ones, but the sea salt variety are my new favorite thing - they just have the most lovely taste of olive oil and sea salt. i almost plowed my way through a whole bag yesterday (they are only 6 oz bags)! i plan on finishing them off for lunch today. :)
oliver's favorite aunt katie arrives tomorrow morning. it will be fun having her visit! i love being able to spend time with my sisters, and i've been fortunate enough to see them all LOTS this year. she apparently has piles of presents for oliver, since she just can't resist him. and who can blame her? :)
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