Christmas in Birmingham

We traveled to Birmingham a few weeks ago to celebrate Christmas with Poppy and Cissy.  We made good use of their new deck and fire pit.  It was so nice to sit out by the fire and relax!

Saturday morning it was time for gifts and babies in Christmas pjs!

After we finished opening gifts, Miller was back to playing with his old favorite, Poppy's train.  He was just minding his own business when a special visitor waltzed in...

He wasn't too sure what to think about Santa.

I guess he bites his toes when he's nervous ???  He finally got a little brave and got close enough to tell Santa that he wanted a fire truck with a big ladder for Christmas.

 

An early gift from Santa!

 Later that afternoon, we broke out the gingerbread train that La La and Brad brought.  It was a hit!

That night we celebrated Lauren's birthday.  She was so sweet to let Miller help blow out her candles.

 Cuddled up for cartoons the next morning!

Poppy and Miller checking out a gift from Uncle Brad.  Miller loves his "piggy" as he calls it {piggy back}.

 Time to load up!  I'll miss all of these sweet Christmas clothes.

We had a great time, Poppy and Cissy!  Thanks for everything!

Jacob - Seven Months

Waaaaay behind on this one and so much to catch up on with the 'ole blog, but I'm a little OCD about documenting things in order.  On December 13th, Jacob turned seven months old.  What a crazy seven months it has been, but we are loving every minute with sweet Jacob.  He is such a cuddle bug and I try to remember this up side when he is being a clingy momma's boy :)

Stats:  No pediatrician appointment this month, so no stats

Sizes: Size 3 diapers, 6-9 month clothes

Schedule:  We're still on a rough three hour schedule with Jacob taking 2-4 naps per day depending on how much we're home and how well he sleeps.  Ideally, he sleeps from about 8:30-10:00, 12ish-3ish, and a catnap around 5:00.  He really struggles to be up much longer than about two hours so sometimes we have to squeeze a catnap in just before lunch and push the afternoon nap back a little bit.

Sleep:  Still sleeping swaddled from the waist down with a paci and lovie.  He sleeps through the night, but usually needs a paci around 5 a.m.

Eating:  Still breastfeeding.  Also eating pureed sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, green beans, peas, apples, pears, bananas, peaches, prunes, yogurt, oatmeal, and rice cereal.  We tried Puffs about a week ago and he likes them ok.  Sometimes they are a great distraction while I get his food ready.  The boy does NOT like to wait for his food.

Likes:  eating, his lovie, his paci, mommy, daddy's voice, Miller {sometimes}, sitting up to play, exersaucer {for limited amounts of time},  kisses {giggles like crazy when you kiss his chest or tummy}, being tickled, books

Dislikes:  playing alone for more than a few minutes at a time, waiting for food, being on his tummy, when mommy walks through the room and doesn't come pick him up

Milestones:  About a week after he turned six months old, he was sitting up on his on pretty well.  He has perfected it now and rarely falls over.  About half of the time he can find his paci if it's close by and put it in this mouth.  This is huge!  It helps a lot at night and I'm trying to give him plenty of time to try and find one on his own before going in to give him one.

Jacob is such a joy and a blessing and I wish I could just freeze time so that I could keep him little.  Thank you, Lord, for this sweet baby boy!

December Days

December is in full swing which means lots of cute Christmas clothes and fun activities!   We attempted a mini photo shoot before church one Sunday, wet hair and all!

Miller makes it quite difficult to take pictures these days.  He gets super silly and tries to make Jacob laugh...

 which in turn makes Jacob do this...

Last week we went downtown for Guntersville's tree lighting ceremony.  It was a fun night with lots of things for the kids to do.  I didn't manage to get any pictures of Miller while we were there, but did get at least one decent shot before heading out.

Jacob was a sweetie and hung in there like a champ despite not napping very well that day.

 This past weekend we went to see Bryant's sister and her family in...

She is 37 weeks pregnant and therefore can't travel, so we went to celebrate Christmas with them at their house this year.  It was such a nice, relaxing weekend and we LOVED Franklin.  We can't wait to go back!

Malley checking out her new stroller.  Somebody's ready to be a big sister

I guess Miller thought Scott needed a little help opening their gift.

Malley girl was getting in a little baby holding practice before baby Annie arrives.  I love her sweet face and how proud she looks. 

We attempted a cousin picture before church on Sunday.  Again, Miller wasn't very helpful...

 I love this one.  It looks like Malley and Jacob are saying, "What is his problem?"

 Annnnd... cue the tears.

Let's hope our Christmas card pictures go a little better tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Birmingham with my dad and step-mom.  We had such a fun, relaxing time and we even managed to get a few pictures which is a rarity these days.  Dad had his train setup and waiting for the boys!

 Miller spent almost every minute we were there driving it.  I can't blame him; it was pretty cool.

 Thanksgiving Day we snapped a few family pictures, but the sun in our eyes made it difficult.

That night Cindy's sister and her family stopped by for a little while.  We ended up on the back porch being serenaded by Blake and Skipper.  Miller joined in too and the boys were so sweet to include him despite his lack of musical ability ;)

He got pretty upset when I couldn't take the keyboard banging anymore and made him stop.  He started to cry and then he got this look like "aha!" on his face and ran inside.  He came back out with his own "nano" to play.

Jacob enjoyed the music as well!

No trip to Poppy and Cissy's house is complete without a gingerbread man from Savage's.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving full of many great memories!  Now, let the Christmas festivities begin!