Merry Christmas!

 Christmas has come and gone. It was THE best Christmas, thanks to Jonah B. He made it so much fun! It was so much fun to watch him crawling under the Christmas tree and pulling out the presents and taking off the bows. Christmas time is always my favorite time of the year, but there was just something about watching him take everything in that totally made it even more special for us.



We took him to see Santa at the Galleria one day. He actually enjoyed meeting Santa, to my surprise. I see so many hilarious pictures of the kids screaming and not wanting to go near Santa, and we are experiencing some stranger anxiety, so I was sure it would be disasterous. I guess we just caught him in a good mood that day.

 

Nonny gave Jonah B his Elf on the Shelf! We named him Henry the Elf. Henry didn't really get into anything mischevious this year. He just watched Jonah B from his perch in the Christmas tree and would occasionally read stories with Jonah. Something tells me next year Henry will not be as well behaved ;)

 

Christmas Eve we got together with Grandpa. He is so proud and in love with his first great grandson. It's just precious to watch. However, like I mentioned before, we are having a little bit of stranger anxiety and Grandpa thinks Jonah doesn't like him. Very untrue!

 

That night we had our Christmas time with Kiki D and Dylan! I cannot stand how cute these babies are when they play together. And Dylan in so sweet to his babies. He will just love and kiss on Jonah and play so sweetly with them both.

 

Of course, the kids got some cool new stuff...

 

Dylan reading Jonah his Mickey Mouse book. He can get a little intense at times ;) but so sweet I could just eat him up. We love Dylan Douglas!

 

GUESS WHAT?????

 

 

SANTA BUTT!!! hahaha love it! He is still wearing these pj's a week after Christmas because I love the Santa on the butt.

 

Took this next pic with my new camera lens! Love how the pictures turn out with the 50mm lens.  Other things that I received from DB were a purse, boots, Vera Bradley computer bag, perfume, Toms, and some other goodies.

 

Jonah was helping Dada open his presents...and dripping some love on the packaging :)

 

Santa was VERY good to Jonah B for his first Christmas!

 

Right after he woke up, we went straight to seeing what Santa brought! Jonah was very intrigued...

 

Jonah's stocking that I am so in love with! Ordered this sweet thing from Pottery Barn Kids.

 

 

What's in here, Mommy???

 

Look out...coming around on 2 wheels!!! Can I just say how much I love those chubby little legs!

 

This pretty much sums up our Christmas....

 

Mommy and Jonah reading another Mickey Mouse book! He also got a singing Mickey. Sensing a theme???

 

One of his favorite gifts...his play table. He has loved standing up like a big boy. Now he has even started walking around in circles at his table.

 

We made quite the mess, and he got a little overwhelmed towards the end of the present session. We had to clean up a good bit just to be able to play with his new toys! He would not leave my side, God love him.

 

Some other wonderful gifts I got were an awesome camera bag and new sleep mask (thank you Eatons!) and new dishes, Chi straightener, Vera Bradley wallet, kitchen knife set, and more (thank you Mom and Dad!) and a Starbucks gift card (thanks Tan!). It was a major success!

 

Jonah B did get a late Christmas present. The day after Christmas, he was a little fussier than normal. Not bad, but just enough to make us wonder what was going on. I was getting him ready for his bed time baba when I decided to feel his gummies for possible teeth trying to come through. Sure enough! His first little toothie popped through! He was not thrilled about this pic being taken, but we were excited...

 

 

Through all the excitement of gifts and enjoying Squish's first Christmas, we must remind ourselves what it is really all about. I am so incredibly beyond thankful that God sent his Son to die for me and save me so that one day I can leave this world and spend eternity in Heaven. Gifts mean nothing. Parties mean nothing. Family is very important, but the true meaning of Christmas is CHRIST!

 

As I am writing this, I am trying not to get too sleepy and fall asleep before midnight. It is new years eve. The closing of the year 2012. I'm kinda sad to see it go! This was such an incredible year for our family. Kiki D came into our lives in February. Jonah B blessed us with his presence in April. I was able to go to work part-time and spend more time at home with baby son. Derek is loving his job. Dad and Tanner are both at Miltec and loving it. Mom has a great job and is able to spend Thursdays and Fridays with Jonah B. We did experience a lot of sadness when Momma Fran went home to be with the Lord, but there was a certain peace that came to us (which I'm sure is nothing less than a gift from God telling us that she is doing much better than we are and we will be with her again soon!). I'm sad to see 2012 go, but 2013 will hopefully bring great things. We will (Lord willing) be able to watch Jonah grow and grow! Walking, talking, birthday...I can't wait! My 2013 goals are (1) move into our new house that our family can grow into and our kids can grow up in; (2) work even more part-time, preferably 2 days a week. I know, I'm being selfish and just started part-time, but hey...they are my goals and I can make them what I want to make them, hehehe; (3) get ready for...wait for it...baby #2!!! Yes that is a real goal for next year. Kinda crazy to think about it now, but we will see.

 

So thank you Lord for being so good to our family in 2012. Bring on the new year!!!

 

Playing Catch-up

Well, we've got lots to catch up on, so let's get started...


My 7 month old! Such a sweet sweet boy. He is entering the stranger anxiety stage, which can be a little difficult at times (when all he wants is me), but come on...I'm eating this up! He can cuddle with mommy all he wants to! He started to move around a lot more. Mostly rolling around all over the floor. He can also push himself backward...more on that later.



This is from Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. I <3 my

little family so very much!!!

My angel sent from heaven :)

 He moved up to a big boy car seat. He liked it at first, but now he still fights us every time we put him in it. He will put his feet down and arch his back and just scream. We really do have to wrestle him every time.

He sat himself up in his bed one day and daddy saw it on the monitor! Now he's doing it all the time, so we had to move his mattress down.

 

So I said he can move backwards, and here is a predicament he got himself into. He just kept disappearing under his bed!!!

 

I started giving him these rice rusks things and he really likes them. Plus, this keeps

him occupied when we go places so he's not bored and screaming!

Here's my baby at 8 months old! I was quite emotional the day I took this. I had been

kinda busy so the 15th totally snuck up on me. When I took this picture

of my little boy, I couldn't help but feel extremely blessed that he is in my life. Something very bad

had happened the day before in Connecticut. Precious children were taken from their

families. I was so grateful that I was able to kiss my baby and love all over him. You never know what God  has planned, and I hope that I can continually put my total trust in him. That being said, I cannot even begin to imagine how I could go on if anything ever happened to my child. I will never take my time with him for granted...ever!

Just a fun picture of the same jammies. Size he wears now compared to in the hospital just 8 months ago :)

One thing that Jonah loves more that anything is Mickey Mouse! He loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. At the beginning, Mickey comes walking down the street and Jonah gets the BIGGEST smile on his face and startes waving his hands and bouncing up and down. We got him a little stuffed Mickey and he just wanted to cuddle with him :)

 

 

 He has now pulled up a couple of times on his own. He can stand for a really long time if we stand him up next to something. Working out those legs!

He was having some grumpy days and I thought he might be teething (no teeth yet though). I found these mesh paci things at Target and put some frozen banana peices in it. He LOVES it! He will eat almost a whole banana in these things. Plus it soothes his gummies!

Baby son crawled a few days ago!!!! I had been making a Pinterest project (handprint Santa ornament) in the kitchen. When I finished, I went into Jonah B's room where he and Daddy were playing. I sat the foil down that the ornaments were on to show them off. Jonah saw that shiny foil and got right up and crawled straight to it. Derek and I were kinda in shock, it happened so fast. Now he is getting around really well! He's all up under the Christmas tree getting presents. He pulled a bunch of toys and books off his shelf the other night, too. He's just to fun to watch. I love to watch him explore and learn. Getting ready for his first trip from Santa!!!

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Jonah had his first Halloween a few days ago! I had much more fun with it than he did. We got him the cutest costume! I had all intentions of taking him to Boo at the Zoo, but we didn't get around to that one. We had a very cold front come through the week of Halloween, and he's already been really snotty and coughing, so we skipped it this time. Don't know that he wouldv'e gotten much from it this year anyways. We did, however, get out to the GFBC fall festival! It was the first year at the North campus. It was really good this year! More spacious and looked like more rides. Dylan had fun on the rides, and Jonah B and Keeks liked watching everything. It was a little chilly, but Jonah's costume was warm and fuzzy so kept warm. We all know how serious he is when it come to bedtime, so he had enough when it came about 7:30, but did good until he started getting sleepy! He just loves doing anything outside and especially with all those lights and sounds to keep him busy!

Blurry, but the only group shot with the kids!

This little guy is such a hoot!!!

Nonny came for Jonah's first Halloween!

The sweet babies talking about everything that was happening around them.

Aren't they just the cutest :)

Trainride!!! (the only thing Jonah B could do, hehe)

This is when he had enough. No more pics...I'm sleepy...take me HOME!

Squishy...out!!!

After we got home, he turned into a silly boy again and wanted to play a little longer before bed. He's a funny little punkin :)

 

Half a year old!!!

 

My baby is 6 months old! He's growing so fast and I am so in love with his little personality. He just makes me laugh all the time! I will talk to him and he will just smile and make the sweetest sounds like he's trying so hard to talk to me. He's going to say mama first, I just know it! He's my BFF. We just love spending time together :) We had his 6 month checkup with Dr. Bill. He is doing great! His ear infection from the week before had completely cleared. He was 19# 12oz and 80% in length and weight. He's still eating really well. We've just added meat to his diet, which let me just say, I feel horrible about making him eat because they smell SO bad! He seems to think they're ok though. He eats a fruit in the morning and veggie and oatmeal before bed. We are trying to incorporate the meat somewhere during the day, just haven't quite figured that one out yet. He's now in 6-9mo clothes and still size 3 diapers. He goes to sleep like clockwork around 8:30 at night and usually wakes up around 6:30. As long as he's not sick, he's a pretty good little sleeper! He loves his jumparoo a lot! He will just jump and jump and jump until he wears himself out. He also has fun sitting on his playmat playing with different toys. He's pretty much outgrown the piano playmat now. He drools SO MUCH! We seriously change his bib (which is an essential accessory these days) about 6 times a day. No teeth yet, but I can see where his bottom two will come in soon. He chews on everything, obviously! We are ready for some teeth! Although, I do love that little gummy boy smile!!!

Still loves his bath time so much! As you can see, we had to remove the green seat from the tub. He rolls out of it! He has lots of fun sitting up like a big boy and playing with his toys.

This angel has my heart signed and sealed!

Daddy has been running a lot lately (he has now lost 70lbs!!!). He wanted to train for a race...so he did! His first race was an 8K. He did really good! This is Jonah B waiting for his Daddy to cross the finish line!

He finished 4th in his age group and 46 overall. He's already planning another race! We love you Daddy!!!

We attempted a fall shoot...it did not go extremely well. He just wanting to eat the leaves and drool ALL OVER himself. It was pretty cold and windy, though.

This was Jonah's first art project. I found something like this on Pinterest and wanted to try it. I was at home (one of my off days!) and we got a little stir crazy. I think he was bored of the same old toys. He played with this for about 20min until it was naptime.

My little artist :)