Our Christmas letter
Here's what we sent as paper mail to some folks. This begins to fill you in on how 2008 went, since I ignored this blog for about half of it. :-)
Dear friends and family,
Greetings from the Carreiro/Tidwell family! Our Christmas epistle may be less exciting this year, as our life finally starts to settle into a more predictable pattern.
Matthew is two this year -- and he's [i]very[/i] two, as we like to joke. Never one to do things halfway, he is a chattering, running, giggling, climbing, protesting little tornado inside our house. Fortunately for his parents, he adores his "school," where he gets lots of art, music, and playtime, and where he’s made it his personal project to learn every other child’s name (and then give them shout-outs at night, when he should be sleeping). He is an absolute joy.
For a while, we were concerned that he wasn't talking. But it turned out that his hearing was off -- he needed tubes in his ears, and once he got those, his hearing became normal. He talks well now. He loves songs, books, puzzles, being outside, and "helping" in stores and the kitchen. And recently he surprised everyone by learning his ABCs and numbers!
Meanwhile, Rich and I both changed jobs. (What better time to do so than right before a recession?) Rich went to a software company named Imprivata, where he has much more interesting work than he had at Saba. He's far happier there, too.
I am still working part-time, but the home-based consulting wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I thought it might be. So in July, I started as a user interface designer for Google. This is my dream job! I work on a variety of projects, including social networking, online books, and mobile devices. The recently announced Google Friend Connect is one of my products -- in their introductory video, in fact, you can see my face and one of my Nepal photos, if you squint at the screen and don’t blink.
Our past hobbies really have taken a back seat to child-raising. Football games are out of the question for a while, though we still watch the away games with our Nashua friends. I want to get back to hiking; we took take Matthew up to the White Mountains this fall, and he loved it! We fervently hope that he’ll like snow better this winter than last, so maybe he'll learn to ski or sled this year. And though he seems to have outgrown his dairy allergy, I still relearned how to cook -- this time with local "off-the-grid" food wherever reasonable. That became a hobby in its own right (and lately, my way of coping with the economy badness). But I still do write sometimes, and a second edition of my book may be in the making. Stay tuned...
Have a wonderful and blessed holiday season! With love,
- Jenifer (and Rich and Matthew)
Dear friends and family,
Greetings from the Carreiro/Tidwell family! Our Christmas epistle may be less exciting this year, as our life finally starts to settle into a more predictable pattern.
Matthew is two this year -- and he's [i]very[/i] two, as we like to joke. Never one to do things halfway, he is a chattering, running, giggling, climbing, protesting little tornado inside our house. Fortunately for his parents, he adores his "school," where he gets lots of art, music, and playtime, and where he’s made it his personal project to learn every other child’s name (and then give them shout-outs at night, when he should be sleeping). He is an absolute joy.
For a while, we were concerned that he wasn't talking. But it turned out that his hearing was off -- he needed tubes in his ears, and once he got those, his hearing became normal. He talks well now. He loves songs, books, puzzles, being outside, and "helping" in stores and the kitchen. And recently he surprised everyone by learning his ABCs and numbers!
Meanwhile, Rich and I both changed jobs. (What better time to do so than right before a recession?) Rich went to a software company named Imprivata, where he has much more interesting work than he had at Saba. He's far happier there, too.
I am still working part-time, but the home-based consulting wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I thought it might be. So in July, I started as a user interface designer for Google. This is my dream job! I work on a variety of projects, including social networking, online books, and mobile devices. The recently announced Google Friend Connect is one of my products -- in their introductory video, in fact, you can see my face and one of my Nepal photos, if you squint at the screen and don’t blink.
Our past hobbies really have taken a back seat to child-raising. Football games are out of the question for a while, though we still watch the away games with our Nashua friends. I want to get back to hiking; we took take Matthew up to the White Mountains this fall, and he loved it! We fervently hope that he’ll like snow better this winter than last, so maybe he'll learn to ski or sled this year. And though he seems to have outgrown his dairy allergy, I still relearned how to cook -- this time with local "off-the-grid" food wherever reasonable. That became a hobby in its own right (and lately, my way of coping with the economy badness). But I still do write sometimes, and a second edition of my book may be in the making. Stay tuned...
Have a wonderful and blessed holiday season! With love,
- Jenifer (and Rich and Matthew)