Christmas picture fail

This morning both Zarya and I were ready for church early, and since today is Christmas Sunday, we were decked out in our holiday best. Thinking it would be a great moment to seize for a fabulous photo op, I got Andrew to take a picture of us in front of the tree. Here's what we got...

It would be a great picture if I hadn't moved:

And it would have been great except that Zarya moved:

Followed by possible greatness ruined by scowling and weird facial expressions:

We tried. Maybe next year...

Two weeks old

Getting pictures of Jerod is pretty easy, since he's stationary. Getting one of my mom and Zarya, however, is a different story - they are up and about all the time! You should see my house; the floors don't have a trace of dust on them, the laundry is all done, and the bathrooms gleam. Zarya suddenly has a few new toys and lots of new books and has learned how to play with Play Doh and has grasped the concept of coloring within the lines instead of scribbling all over the page. But despite all of this activity, I did manage to catch both my mom and Zarya sitting down for a minute and managed to get a picture.

As I said, stationary is easy for pictures. This is Jerod sporting his new coat, which he loves. He thinks he should be allowed to wear a full-body fleece outfit all day, every day, even when his social agenda doesn't include leaving the house. His arms end up a bit like the kid in "A Christmas Story" who can't put his arms down, he's so bundled up, but it doesn't seem to bother him a bit.

This is to prove he does wake up on occasion. Open eyes!

Little Zarya, er, I mean Jerod

Jerod, one day old

Jerod, six days old

Zarya, five days old

Zarya, eleven days old

To answer the questions of all who wonder if Jerod looks more like me or Andrew or some other relative, may the pictures above answer your question: the little guy looks like his big sister. Apparently whatever combination of genes Andrew and I contributed to Zarya, we gave the same mixture to Jerod. If not for the birthmark on her forehead, we might start mixing their pictures up! Oh yes, and the pink and blue outfits/blankets help, too.