Snowed in!

We have been in Seattle for about a week now and the weather is crazy! It is quite the winter wonderland here. Doug has ventured out of the house and is at the Seahawks game, GO HAWKS! We have been staying cozy indoors but have been walking around the Greenwood neighborhood for coffee and food. So far our trip has been very relaxing. We have been visiting with old friends and family every day. We may be braving the roads tomorrow and going up to Dougs family cabin, weather permitting. We will post pics of the trip soon!

Thanksgiving holiday weekend

We had a fun holiday weekend. Doug was off of school and I was off of work for 7 nights so we were really able to enjoy ourselves. Our small Thanksgiving dinner ended up being so much fun. In fact, we even dare say it was one of the best Thanksgivings ever. Some of the highlights were Doug face planting in the turkey and me lighting the candied yams on fire! Ask me later if you are interested in details. We ate and laughed until our bellies ached!
On Sat, Doug and I ventured up to Santa Fe for lunch and then the Ojo Caliente hot springs for a Cooper free day while Coop hung out with Grammy and Po. It was very relaxing for us. We ended the weekend with getting our Christmas tree. This year we will be spending nearly 2 weeks in Seattle so we decided to get a small tree. We also decided to get a living tree so that we can plant it in the yard once Christmas is over.
We hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend! Enjoy the pics...


How cute is the tree (and Doug)


Picking out a tree


Us at hot springs

Playing in the rain (check out those beautiful lashes)

Feeling the rain

He runs now!

Thankful

Mmmm the house is full of the wonderful smell of our Thanksgiving dinner! We are having a small Thanksgiving, only 5 of us (my parents, Doug, Cooper and I). This is the first time ever that any of us has had such a small gathering. We are relaxing and enjoying a glass of wine and Cooper is having a long afternoon nap after a day of playing with leaves and feeling the rain on his face, yup it's raining here in NM!
This past week I took care of a baby that made me feel even more thankful for my son. He was born a healthy newborn and then unexpectedly stopped breathing at 2 hours of life and now is severely neurologically devastated. He reminded me a lot of what my Cooper looked like at birth, long and skinny, big eyes, pale skin, absolutely beautiful! I spoke with his dad candidly about his grief. The grief of knowing that his child will probably never lead the life that he had once imagined that he would. My heart broke for this dad. After the dad left, I rocked that sweet baby to sleep and I saw my baby and thought "this could happen to anyone". We are so blessed to have a healthy baby and my work forces me to realize this every day and I am thankful for that.

Today I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for our health and happiness. I am thankful for my wonderful husband. I am thankful that I had a beautiful healthy birth and that I have a healthy baby boy who lights up my life. I am thankful for all the joy that my life has brought me!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Pajama party

As most of you know, I work 3 nights a week. Well, lately Coop has been bringing the drama by crying when I leave. It breaks my heart. I always call Doug and say "is he okay" and Doug says "YES he is fine as usual"! Here are some pics of him a few minutes after I left for work a few nights ago. Keep in mind he was crying and clinging to me when I left!

Talking up a storm

We have been busy these past few weeks. My work schedule has been totally wacky becuase of the upcoming holidays but that means that I am getting them all off (this is huge for a nurse)! Anyhoo, my sisters Elisa and Ann just came to Abq for a visit last weekend and it was a blast! They really got some one on one time with Coop and we got some much needed girl time, thanks to Daddy. Doug watched Coop on Saterday while the three of us girls went to Tamaya spa and resort for massages and then Santa Fe for a late lunch. Tamaya is an amazing resort right on the Bosque, very New Mexicoish! It was a beautiful fall day, sunny and about 65 degrees. You can't beat New Mexico in the fall.
I don't know what clicked in Coops little head but over the weekend he really started talking. Early Sat morning (and I mean early, up at 5:45!) we were looking for a ball that he threw and he said "where did it go"! I kid you not! I said "did you just say where did it go" and sure enough he said it again "where did it go" except it is more like one word "wherediditgo" and he keeps his little mouth in the O shape after he says it. I woke a sleepy Doug up and made him see for himself that his son is an absolute genius! Maybe not, put pretty damn cute! Then he followed up with "there it is", which is more sings the influciton but that is what he is saying. He now pretty much tries to say everything and gets pretty close. He has a total of 23 words that we can identify. I am most proud of his polite words. When you sneeze or cough he says bless you, or "blech you" and when you give him something he says thank you "tha you"! So sweet. What a great guy!
Any hoo, just wanted to post on some of the latest in our house. As you can see, we get exciteed about the simple things these days!

Yup, pretty sure we have a toddler!

Holy Toddler!

Doug often says, "Did you know we have a little person walking around our house?" Pretty crazy, we made a person and he certainly has is own little agenda! Last night Doug asked if we hit the terrible twos early. Perhaps we did but it is sorta funny. He has decided that he should be able to climb on everything and he screams if he can't. Like when he is trying to climb on the chair to get to the computer and he looks at us and screams, as if we are going to whisk over and help him misbehave! Oh and by the way, it is 7 am and we have already been up for an hour! But... he did stay in his own bed until 4am which is great for him! Right now he is attempting to feed himself oatmeal and will not accept any help. Needles to say, he is a mess and so is anything within close proximity to his high chair! Oh but we love him for it! Right now I am just asking for an extra dose of patience to deal with my little screamer! But, he is so darn cute!

'Change has come to America'

I am so thrilled about our new President-elect! Cooper, I am so glad that you are alive for this historical moment! Barack Obama will be the first African American President of the United States! Finally we can say that we live in a time and place where everyone truly is created equal. Cooper, you may look like daddy but you are a little minority, you are Hispanic and I hope that you will always be proud of that. Our new president empowers us all demonstrating that race can not hold us back! It pleases me that we can raise our son in a Country that we are proud of and in a time of change. Coop, you will not remember this monumental day. While daddy cooked dinner and mama got ready for work we were buzzing about the election waiting to see who our next president would be. You were only concerned with climbing on the chair, couch, trunk, everything! You enjoyed your bath without a care in the world, because your world is still small, but baby the whole world is at your finger tips! This election has put us one step forward as a people! I hope our new president creates a country that you are proud to be a part of and helps you to have every opportunity that you deserve. I feel a surge of hope and optimism! Go OBAMA! We will never forget this day that will change America forever!

Welcome to our blog! We decided to start this blog mostly so we can chronicle our fast changing life. Once we had our son, Cooper we realized how quickly time goes by and we want to remember all the the little things that make up our daily life. Also, we have many family members and friends who live far away from us and we would like them to be able to keep up with what we are up to.
Allow me to introduce us, the Blairs. I am Elena and I am married to Doug. We met in the summer of 2003 working at Rays Boathouse in Seattle, WA. We both feel that we are simply made for each other. I graduated form nursing school in 2005 and worked as an RN in Seattle for one year. Doug graduated from UW, also in 2005 and decided to apply to law school. The year of 2006 is pretty much when our lives began to run on the fast track. Doug was accepted to University of New Mexico law school so we moved to Albuquerque in June of '06. We had a beautiful New Mexican wedding on July 15, 2006, I started a new job at UNM hospital in the Newborn ICU, Doug started Law school , we bought a house, and we became pregnant with our son, Cooper! What a year! Cooper was born August 5, 2007 and even though we had just turned our lives upside down, Coopers birth was what really spun our heads. We were re-defined on that day as Mommy and Daddy. Cooper is now 15 months old and he is such a joy!
We plan on posting pics and perhaps videos here and simply writing about what goes on in our lives! Enjoy and welcome!