Happy Holidays!
This has been a quite a year for us. Our lives were filled with joy at 7:30pm on Sunday, March 1st with the birth of our daughter, Lilia Christine Rysso. After 48 hours of induced labor and a cesarean section, Lily finally decided to grace us with her presence. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20.5 inches long at birth. On the same weekend that Lily was born, Rachel came to live with us on a more full-time basis. We originally planned to have her move back on March 1st so that the baby would already be born and both of us would be home to help ease her transition. Little did we know that Lily would be 10 days late and that Kelly would be giving birth when Rachel arrived! Thank God for our families who were wonderfully helpful during that crazy weekend.
After Lily was born, Paul took two weeks of vacation to stay home with the family. Kelly got eight weeks of maternity leave then took an extra week of vacation to stay home a total of nine wonderful weeks with Lily. It was heartbreaking for her to return to work but financially necessary. In this economy, she was thankful to have a job to return to! Fortunately, we found a wonderful babysitter who lives five minutes from our house and is actually Paul’s old friend from college. Kirsten has two kids in elementary school so Lily receives her undivided attention for most of the day. It is such a relief to know that our baby is in good hands. We feel very blessed that Kirsten came back into our lives. She is a wonderful sitter and has become a really good friend as well.
Rachel adjusted well to Pinckney Navigator Middle School. It was difficult for her to change schools near the end of the school year and adjust to a middle-school format of changing classes throughout the day but she did so with a grace and adaptability that amazed us. She spent the first half of her summer break with her mom in South Carolina (she moved there from New York at the end of the spring) then returned home the day before our annual week-long vacation to Higgins Lake. We let her bring a friend on vacation for the first time. She and Katelyn had a blast while we enjoyed a relaxing week with my parents. It was wonderful to spend an entire week with Lily and we think that she enjoyed her first trip to the cabin. After vacation, Rachel attended summer camp for a few weeks with Katelyn then went on vacation to South Dakota with Paul’s parents. She had a lot of fun. Now she is in 6th grade at Navigator where she has really found her niche. She joined the orchestra and absolutely loves playing the violin. It is amazing to see her learn the instrument and Lily loves to listen to her play. Rachel spent Thanksgiving at her mom’s house and will return there for Christmas. We miss her on the holidays but are glad to be able to spend so much time with her during the school year. Lily adores her big sister. She giggles and smiles every time she sees Rachel.
Our lives are pretty hectic just trying to keep up with Rachel and Lily so we didn’t do any big projects this year. Lily was our home improvement project! We are grateful to have received a lot of help around the house from Kelly’s parents as it would probably be a disaster zone without them. Our projects have all been put on the back burner as we spend all of our spare time enjoying our wonderful little baby. It is such a joy to see her grow and change. Every day with her is full of new discoveries and she is truly a blessing. She is now crawling everywhere, pulling up constantly, and can take a few steps holding on to something. She is a very happy and smiley baby and we just love her to pieces.
We hope that this letter finds you healthy and happy. Keep in touch! For weekly updates and tons of pictures, you can visit us at http://kellyrysso.blogspot.com/ (HERE!). You can also keep up with us at http://www.rysso.com/, if Kelly can ever find the time to update the site.
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love,
Kelly, Paul, Rachel, and Lily
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