It was with some measure of trepidation that we took our pediatrician's advice that it was time to try to get Amanda to sleep through the night on her own, even though she still woke two or three times a night for bottle feeding. So over Labor Day weekend, we girded ourselves to deal with long hours of constant crying, as we prepared to "Ferberize" her into getting back to sleep on her own. Like everything else in her amazing life, she adjusted beautifully to sleeping through the night, armed only with a little water bottle at her side. Now she gives us 11 full hours of sleep at night — although we never need an alarm clock, as she makes sure we (or at least Dad) is up by 6 a.m.

10 Years of Romance; It was a full decade ago that Evan & Annamarie met for the first time, and though our lives have been full of surprises, the romance that swept us up back then, still lives on happily 10 years later and we are happy to say, "we'd do it all over again." 9 Thousand Thank You's; Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who sent us cards, e-mail, calls, baby gifts, and for your spoken and unspoken prayers of love and support as we moved into this incredible year.

8 Years of Cheap Tricks^®;

It's hard to believe that after eight years, Evan is still writing his computer help newsletter, Cheap Tricks^®, for CAD (Computer Assisted Design) Architects that now goes out to some 47 US States and 16 foreign countries. But it was a godsend that this newsletter, shareware, and web-based business kept our income flowing in through our long hospital vigils last year, and now through our new "child-care" balancing act this year.

7 Songs a Day; From Mozart in the morning, to the Sesame Street Song, to Music to Have Fun By before dinner, to Amazing Grace & the 12th of Never as bedtime lullabies, Amanda gets plenty of music during the day. She even showed off her musical talents by vigorously "conducting" the Old South Brass and Choir from the front row of the balcony over Thanksgiving Day Sunday at the Old South Meeting House. 6 Kinds of Pasta; With only 3 teeth to her name, Amanda still manages to devour an amazing number of different kinds of food — basically anything we eat, she can too. But her favorite is any kind of "carbos" from spaghetti, ziti, macaroni, rice, breads, and bagels to her #1 "fave", ramen noodles!

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5 Cousins Under 1;

In our big trip out to the Pacific Northwest in August, Amanda proved herself both a good traveler and an incredible flirt. She charmed both Evan & Annamarie's families in Seattle and Portland (as well as many total strangers) and met many of her relatives, including 4 out of the 5 cousins she has under 1 year old (Stephanie & George's triplets, Thomas, Natalie, Michael, and Jeannie and Kenji's Rachel (see above left) — but didn't get to met Tom & Julia's Fiona in Boulder). At the other end of the scale, Amanda (now the 4th generation of Ross women -- above right) also got to spend a lot of quality time with her great-grandmother, Ann Weber, age 94!

4 Years of PACE;

Annamarie eased back into her 10th year as a social worker and now going on her fourth year in the PACE (Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) program. She now works 3 days a week and in a role reversal from the norm, she leaves behind house-hubby Evan to get Amanda down for her naps in between the hours our baby-sitters, Hedy and Leona, come to take care of her. Then Annamarie gets to experience Amanda's sheer delight at her return, while Evan is zonked out on the couch from keeping up with her.

3 Years in Melrose;

After only 3 years in this lovely town, Evan has been totally converted from his former "city-boy" identity. He now gives in to the siren call of easy suburban life (i.e. parking everywhere). We are also bit by bit joining more community activities such as the Fourth of July band concert, the Victorian Fair, pancake breakfasts, blood drives, and of course the midday children's concerts at the Bruegger's Bagel Bakery!

2 Souls Remembered;

On April 18th, we had a memorial service and created a special garden in our backyard, where we planted the ashes of Noah and Melanie, our triplets who did not survive their first month, at the foot of a flowering Dogwood Tree, along with forget-me-nots and bleeding hearts, It was a time for us to remember Noah's love of music and Melanie's constant activity from both inside and outside of the womb
— at the same time we celebrated with Amanda's baptism the next day at Old South Church.

& 1 Blessed Child 5 months on the Way!

Yes, we "buried the headline" to say that God willing, around April 21st (Patriots Day/Boston Marathon Day) when our new garden is blooming, Amanda will have a new baby brother or sister. Amazingly, we found out about this pregnancy on August 18th, our wedding anniversary as well as the "birth-day" of our triplets — what a day of highs and lows in our family history! We will be a little nervous during the month of January (the vital gestational weeks 24 thru 28 — our triplets were born at week 25), and Annamarie will take off work that month for home rest. But come February 1st, we plan to start enjoying this hopefully most "normal" of pregnancies and look forward to another eventful year ahead.

We hope that the past 12 months has blessed you and yours with as many of the gifts of Christmas as the past year has bestowed on us. Our Love for the Best of Holidays and Happiest of New Years, Evan, Annamarie, 'Manda & Mandu

To go back to my main page: Amanda's Home Page

You can E-mail us by clicking here: The Shu Family