2013 Christmas Day Wrap-Up

It is so hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone already! It really did fly by this year for some reason. We had a wonderful holiday and our celebrations stretched over the whole week of Christmas. We had Christmas with Michael's side the Saturday before and Christmas with my side just yesterday. This worked out well for Jonah because he got to open gifts a bunch of different times. He really enjoyed the presents part of Christmas this year and man did he rack up. We are good on toys for a while. I had gotten rid of several toys he never plays with before Christmas but now I think we will have to get rid of even more!

We are truly blessed here in our earthly life!

These two pictures of Haley weren't from Christmas morning but I just had to get them on the blog. We had a little photo shoot one morning and I got some cute ones of her. Baby's 1st Christmas!!

Here's what Santa Claus left for Jonah. He got a Plasma Car, soccer ball, Mickey house shoes, vehicles for his train table, two big puzzles, Melissa & Doug magnetic Joey, Mighty Machines videos, MMCH DVD and the Planes movie! From us he got some clothes and a LeapFrog Reader with some books to go with it.

Santa didn't forget Haley either. She got some baby toys and some play clothes in 6 month size. We also got her more clothes, shoes and socks for the coming months. 

Haley just hung out and watched all the unwrapping. :)

Jonah checking out his goods.

Santa also brought our whole family the Hungry Hippos game. It was a hit!

Santa didn't forget Mommy this year either! I got my 10 year old dream and got my first American Girl doll (Kit). I read all the AG books growing up (there were only 4 of them at the time) and always wanted an AG doll. It was on my Christmas list for a couple of years. I never got one but now I have one!! It was a total surprise. Santa (cough, cough...Michael) did very good!

My brother and his wife stopped by Christmas Day and gave the kids their gifts since they wouldn't be able to be at our family gathering later in the week. Jonah got a pop up blind and shot-gun (not real, of course but makes the real sounding noise of one). He loved those!

I hope all your Christmas dreams came true too! I will share more from our family gatherings later.

From Our Home To Yours

Just popping in to share our Christmas card. Blessings!

Santa....I Can Explain!

Our wonderful and amazing local photographer is good friends with Santa Claus so she invited some of her clients to come see him at her studio and get some pictures taken. We jumped at the chance to not have to wait in a long line at the mall with two little ones. She had an adorable backdrop for Santa and Jonah and Haley did great! Christy posted some of the outtakes on her Facebook page this past week and I just had to share the one from our session.

Jonah was pointing at Haley but I'm not sure what he was saying about her. I love Santa's expression here to. Jonah didn't want to sit in Santa's lap but at least he didn't cry so I consider it a success.

Funny story is this Santa is actually the father of one of my childhood friends and he is the biggest jokester around. My childhod friend is also my hair stylist and she dyed his beard and eyebrows white so he could be Santa. It turned out great!

Santa Scavenger Hunt Checklist

This past Wednesday we had our 2nd Annual Cookie Decorating Party for the youth at my church. As done last year, we played a little scavenger hunt game with all the kids where they had to find all the things that Santa Claus will need for Christmas Eve. The kids enjoy it and love being the one to find the item. This year I made up a checklist for the kids to read (or look at the pictures if they can't read yet) to know what was the next thing we were going to search for. So I thought I would share if in case anyone else wants to play this game at home or at a kid's Christmas party.

Just click HERE to get the PDF document for printing and enjoy!

Sharing here: Spotlight Saturday

Christmas House Tour

Welcome to our humble Christmas abode! I am linking up to the Christmas home tour over at Kelly's Korner blog. Please go check out all the others that linked up too. :)

Our too-large-for-our-house Christmas tree. I love it and I love how full it is but it's very wide. It is mostly full of special ornaments. We all get a new one each year at Christmas Eve.

I have this big hutch in our living room that I change out for each holiday and season. It's really the only place that I decorate since we have such a small home right now. I enjoy doing it. We have since added the rest of the hardware. :)

This is another little table I decorate. I got the card holder one year at a DaySpring outlet. 

I bought this wreath at a yard sale and the red ornaments in a small collection at a thrift store. I tied them into the wreath last year and added the mesh bow. The bow gets smooshed against our glass outer door. :)

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our house this season. May your own home be filled with the warmth and love of Christ this Christmas and all next year!

Haley is 4 Months Old!

Our little Haley-bug turned 4 months old on December 5th! She has been a busy little girl and doing well. We went for her well-checkup today so I have all her stats now.

Weight: 12.9 lbs (16%)
Height: 23.5 inches (10%)
Head Size: 41.5 cm (69%)

Other Stats:
Clothes: wearing 3 months and they are good an snug. Also wearing some 6 month sleepers.
Diapers: wearing size 1 diapers still but will be out of those soon.

We did not get to see our regular pediatrician this time because we had to cancel due to the weather last week. So I don't feel like I have a good understanding of how on-track she is weight and height size. The pediatrician we saw basically said we needed to up her formula amounts even though I know she will only eat what she wants to eat. She is still up in weight so that is what I'm happy about. Our normal pediatrician usually says there is no worry because at least she is proportionate. I guess we will just have to see how she does from this appointment to her next one with our Dr.

The Dr. we saw did say she was right on track with all her developmental stuff. So that is great!

Here is our sweet girl at 4 months!

Look at those sweet leg rolls. I don't think she is starving! LOL

Her hair looks really light in this picture but I think it was just the lighting. It still looks dark brown to me.

Loves snacking on those hands!

Sleep:

Haley is still sleeping in her swing and I was relieved to hear from the pediatrician that it's ok for her to do that. We know that once she gains more weight she will need to transition to her crib. She usually goes down around 7:00 and sleeps until around 2-3 am. Then takes a bottle and goes right back to sleep until usually 6:00 am. We will take it! We are still swaddling her but she is getting stronger and able to break out pretty well. She also takes around 3 and sometimes 4 naps a day. Usually two longer ones around 2 hours long and then a late afternoon one for about an hour or so.

Eating:

Haley's eating has been a little off this past week or so but I think it is due to her having a tiny cold and some congestion in her nose. She normally will take 4.5-5 ounces every 4 hours. She is still doing pretty good with taking her bottle but a lot of times once she stops for a burp she won't take it back. This is the reason that I think her weight isn't as much as it should be. But she will still go 4 hours so I am not sure what to do on that. I say she will eat how much she wants and some days/weeks she wants more and some not so much.

Playing:

Haley loves to play with her hands the most. She licks on them and will try sometimes to stick her whole fist in her mouth! She also has just found her feet this week. She loves to grab her left one with her left hand the best. She is also batting at all her toys on her play mat and will even grab a hold of one of them and just hang on for a while. LOL She also loves to watch Jonah run all over the place and her first cackle was at him. He keeps her pretty entertained. She also still loves to watch the TV when it's on. Once she hears it she will crane that neck to see it. LOL She also loves to sit straight up and will use her belly muscles to pull herself to sitting up when she is on my lap. She has really good head control too.

Personality:

Haley is a mostly content baby. She seems to just go along with the flow unless she is getting close to meal time or nap time. Then she gets cranky but that's to be expected. She still can only go about 2 hours of awake time before she is really tired. She rubs that nose and eyes too which is so sweet and something that Jonah never did. She is a smiley baby and will smile and anyone who talks to her. She still is calmed the best by white noise and will usually hush her crying once you turn something like that on.


I can't believe Haley is 1/3rd of the way to being 1! Love our sweet angel-baby!

Christmas Pajamas!!

I went a little cuckoo about the Christmas pajamas this year and bought 2 different pairs for Jonah and a couple for Haley too. We were snowed/iced into our house for 72 hours this past weekend. So the pictures below will show you that I had a little time on my hands with my two kiddos and WiFi. LOL

 

 My sweet, sweet boy! I picked up some reindeer antlers for him to add to this outfit!

 Is there anything better than chevron baby leggings with ruffles! I submit there is NOT!

I am linking up here too. You should join us!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Currently....

I don't have anything prepared enough for a whole post but wanted to pop in. So I figure I will give the "currently" trend a try.

Currently....

WATCHING: My kids grow at warp speed!! I really have little time to watch TV unless you count Mickey Mouse Club House as TV. LOL! Haley is already into 3-6 month clothes and cackling, smiling, and reaching for things above her. Jonah is doing what all 3 years old do best....driving their parents cuckoo!

READING: No books for this gal right now. I am mostly keeping up with my favorite blogs and reading my favorite magazines.

LISTENING: Christmas music!! I love Francesca Batistelli, Dave Barnes, Michael Buble, Mariah Carey, Lady Antebellum and of course lots of the classics.

MAKING: Christmas budgets, Christmas gift lists, grocery lists, cleaning lists....and the list goes on. LOL

FEELING: Nostalgic in thinking back on past Christmases and those when I lived at home. I wish I could bottle up the excitement that I used to feel at this time of the year. Not a care in the world but when Christmas would get here. I just want so bad for my own children to have the magical Christmases that I remember growing up.

PLANNING: Michael and I are going to have Saturday all to ourselves (thanks to Nana & Papaw) to get the bulk of our Christmas shopping done. I am looking forward to conquering the stores and hopefully getting some adult conversation time with the hubs.

LOVING: I know this will sound cliche...but right now I am just loving life. Loving that I am healthy and that all of my family is here with me. I learned of a young father (he was actually a month older than me) that lost his life last week very unexpectedly and left behind two small children. I did not know him but I followed his wife's blog and so I feel like I knew him. I am just so glad I have my family to wrap my arms around.

What are you currently loving?

Thanksgiving Hutch

Hello! I have to admit I am little shocked that I have enough items to pull off a Thanksgiving decorated hutch. This is a first for me to even decorate for this holiday since we don't have a formal dining room. I have to say I'm loving it! I only bought a couple of extra pieces for this and then used what I already had or made for my Fall hutch. It literally took me like 15 minutes.

 Nice and simple banner with a great reminder.

I am in love with these owl plates!!

I have another little table behind our couch that I decorated up with items that wouldn't fit in the hutch. The plate is from Cracker Barrel from a couple of years ago and the floral arrangement I made years ago. The runner is from Big Lots a couple of years ago too.


Give Thanks free printable banner from HERE

Owl plates from Kroger

Chevron canvas made by myself

Glass cylinders and acorns and pine cones from the Dollar General Store

Green frames from Goodwill

Bless and Grace quotes on stands from Cracker Barrel several years ago.


Do you decorate for Thanksgiving?

Haley is 3 Months Old!

Our precious angel-baby is already 3 months into this world! Michael has taken to calling her "angel-baby" because she is just that! Our sweet, sweet angel. He has always called Jonah his "baby-man" so it's only fitting she gets her own name too. :)

Haley has changed so much from last month to this one. I think she has finally "aligned with the universe" to steal the words of our pediatrician. Here is her monthly pic and updates.

Sleep:

Haley is now sleeping through the night!!! But I feel I should disclaimer that she is sleeping in he swing. It's a cradle type swing so she is laid back but still inclined. She can't fall over or out though. But she has been sleeping consistently from 9:00 - 9:30 p.m. to 5:00-6:00 a.m. So we will take it for now. Michael is all concerned about the swing but I am not. I know she will eventually give up that swing as she gets bigger and can roll over. I am in no rush!! I know the second time around that nothing lasts forever and they will only be this little once. We will cross getting her out of the swing when the time comes. :) She is also taking about 4 naps a day. Usually two long ones (2 hours) and a couple of shorter ones such as her late evening one.

Eating:

Haley is up to 5 ounce bottles for the most part. She has her days where it takes her an hour to take the whole bottle and some days she only takes 4 at most feedings and then will take her 5 ounce bottle before bed. She can still be a stinker sometimes to get her to finish up bottles after her first burping. She just loses interest or gets distracted, I guess.


Playing:

Haley is busy girl when she is awake. She is still so content though and just happy to be wherever she ends up being laid or sat. She has been doing lots of kicking and cooing and trying to talk. She loves for someone to talk to her and just grins. It's the sweetest thing!! She has found both of her hands and loves to give them some good licks and munch on them. She follows us around the room with her eyes and turns to look when she hears familiar voices such as her brother's voice. Haley loves the TV too. We can sit her where she can see it and she will just lay there and stare for up to 20 minutes. She must love the colors and movement because I know she can't really see it yet.

Personality:

Haley is just such a content baby for the most part. She lets us know when she is tired and seems to choose sleep over food most of the time. She is addicted to the swing like I mentioned above and if nothing else will calm her then the swing will. She is a very smiley girl and has the cutest little grunts and noises that she makes. She loves to be on our shoulder so she can look around. I think she is going to be my baby that gets into stuff once she can move around.


I have just been soaking up every bit of Haley's baby-ness! I had really forgotten how much I missed having a little armful of baby to carry around. Oh and they smell so good!!