Christmas Day

Oh my . . . . . . It is almost February, and I am just now blogging about Christmas Day. Wow! This is going to be a picture overload and the words are going to be few. Ha!

This is what we woke up to Christmas morning! I love that Scout is 1 for 1 on having a White Christmas.


Here is where Santa left Scout's goodies and stockings. I think Santa was going for a pink theme this year.
Scout spent a few minutes playing with each toy before moving on to looking at the next thing.
But, her favorite was defintely her rocking horse.

Scout and Granpappy had to do a little bouncing.
After looking at what Santa had brought, we braved the snow and headed over to my dad's house for breakfast and to open our presents. Can you tell what we are doing below? We had a good, old-fashioned snowball fight!

And then, we built a snowman.
But, Scout had to stay inside where it was warm.

After all that fun, we ate and opened presents. We had yummy breakfast burritos and grits. Scout tried a little of the grits and liked them. She also opened her presents. She got some ABC blocks, overalls, a savings bond, and some other things.
After finishing up at my dad's house, we headed home to cook our Hamburger Stars before heading over to the community center to have Christmas with all of Daniel's family. Scout got to open a few more presents which she enjoyed very much. We had a great time eating all the yummy food and playing dirty Santa.

Scout loved opening her presents.


We took our first family Christmas picture including Scout.
And Scout waited patiently with Uncle Avery and Aunt Amanda for the Dirty Santa exchange to start.
After all the fun at the community center, we headed home. Daddy built Scout a snowman, and we took her out in the snow for about two minutes so that she could see it. We also took a few pictures. Don't you love the blue snowsuit? Her Janny and Granpappy got that for her before we knew she was a girl!


At the end of the day, we relaxed at home. Daniel and I opened presents from each other, and Scout opened a few more of her presents and her stocking. Christmas Day was certainly exciting!

Celebrating Eight Months

Today, Baby Scout, you are Eight months old.

Sleeping Patterns: Baby Scout, you are a great sleeper at night. You usually go to sleep between 8:00 - 8:30 and get up between 6:00 - 7:00. You don't usually wake up during the night unless you have a belly ache. This month we have stopped swaddling you and are a full-time crib sleeper (except for morning snuggles with momma). We still do a bedtime routine of cereal, bath, pajamas, books, eat and then bed. This month we have tried something different. Instead of letting you go to sleep while you are eating, I feed you with the light on to try to keep you awake. When you are done eating, I lay you in you crib and turn off the light. I rub you back until you fall asleep (usually less than ten minutes). This works better, because I don't have to try to put you down and keep you asleep. You also tend to stay asleep longer and put yourself back to sleep if you wake up. Naps are a different story. You still hardly ever let me put you down for a nap. We just hold you so you can rest during the day, and you will usually sleep for about an hour to hour and a half. When you are just waking up, you are a little grumpy. It takes you a few minutes before you want to play.


What You Like To Do: Baby Scout, you love to play with all your toys you got for Christmas. You love the basketball goal and mailbox so much. You also like to sit in your chair and look at (chew on) books. You are really starting to enjoy having you friends over to play or playing at your friends' house. You are all starting to interact with each other, and it is so fun to watch you play. You still love to swing outside. We have not gotten to do this much because of the yucky weather. You love to visit Daddy at work and wrestle with Daddy at home. You also enjoy attending all Basketball games. You really like to watch the game and take it all in. You really like it when we let you play with your food. Sometimes, I put a baby yogurt on your tray and let you play with it with your hands. I think you think its fun to make a mess. You have seemed to enjoy being in your exersaucer more this month. Most of all, you like to bounce.

New Things You Have Done this Month: Baby Scout, this has been a big month for you! You had your last kindermusik class for the semester but will start back at the end of February. You saw your first musical Christmas lights display and enjoyed watching the lights twinkle very much. You survived your first holiday season with flying colors. You opened presents from December 20th to December 31st and loved all the special celebrations with family. You attended your first South Christmas Classic Tournament and loved watching all of the ballgames. This month, you spent your first night with an egg over your crib. This is an old remedy that is supposed to help with teething, and it has worked great for you! You did a little traveling this month to Alabama to meet your Great Aunt Betty and Great Aunt O'nita. You did great on you first New Year's Eve. We even let you stay out a little past your bedtime to attend a New Year's Eve party. You were such a good girl! This month, you did your first army crawl forward (you have been scooting backwards for a while now) but have only done it one time. You also got your second tooth on New Year's Eve. On January 10th, you got to go out in your first big snow. We took you out in the 7 1/2 inch deep snow for about five minutes. It came all the way up to your behind! Speaking of behind, you now know how to pull yourself up off you behind. You have done this totally unassisted about five times. This month was the first time you attended Trivia at the Mexican Restaurant. You didn't know many answers. Ha! January 14th was the first time you were able to consistently feed yourself puffs and you drank from a sippy cup with mommy's for the first time on January 11th. You got your teeth brushed for the first time this month, and you don't seem to mind it. Finally, for the first time this month, you were able to wear a hair bow without a headband. You now have enough hair to keep it in place. This month, you have really started to say more sounds. You say uh-ma (mama), da da, and gu gu (good girl, we think). You have also started to want momma more this month and are starting to realize when I am not around or in the room with you, and you don't really like it. You will also reach for momma, daddy, and other people. You also make a singing sound like an owl. Today was the first time we used your umbrella stroller, and you did great. You have been a busy girl.

Eating Patterns: Baby Scout, you have sort of become a picky eater. You eat Stage 2 foods and small amounts of table food. You have tried Mum-Mums and puffs, and you now like to eat the puffs and Mum-Mums and can feed them to yourself. In the morning as soon as you wake up, you have cereal (your favorite is wheat) mixed with fruit. You usually eat it all and finish the left over fruit as well. At lunch, you have a fruit and a vegetable. You have also tried turkey and chicken at lunch. Your belly didn't really like either one, and you liked the chicken better than the turkey. If you have a baby food fruit, I give you a table food vegetable and vice versa. You have tried cottage cheese, peas, green beans, peaches, bananas, pears, avocado and carrots. You have also had small bites of grilled cheese, a blueberry muffin, and bread. This totally stresses mommy out trying to make sure the pieces are small enough that you won't choke. At dinner, you have rice cereal mixed with a fruit. Your favorite food vegetable is squash, and you favorite fruit is apples. You don't really care for any green vegetables (table or baby food). In addition, you nurse four or five times a day for fifteen to twenty minutes.


Dislikes: Baby Scout, you don't really have much that you dislike. You don't love getting your nose wiped.


Diaper Size: Scout, you wear a Size 3 diaper.


Clothes Size: Scout, you wear all size 6 - 9 months and 6 - 12 month clothes. Your pajamas are all 6 - 9 months too. But, I just bought you some 12 months pajamas.



Eye/Hair Color: Scout, your eyes are a brown color, and I think they are going to stay brown. Your hair is red and is getting darker and longer each day.




Scout,

You are eight months old!
We can't believe it!
You are a precious little girl!
We love you!

Super Bowl Ready?

Do you know anyone who is ready for the Super Bowl? I know we still have a few more weeks before this glorious event takes place, but I am excited about it already. Perhaps you are enjoying the playoff games; Daniel and I are watching the Packers and the Falcons right this second! The best place to watch the Super Bowl is somewhere that has a gigantic flatscreen T.V.! Did anyone you know get one of those for Christmas this year? If you did, perhaps you might be interested in TV stands for flat screens. Unfortunately, we have a built-in entertainment center that limits the size T.V. we can have in our living room, and we don't really have any other area in our house that needs a T.V. So, no T.V. stand needed here. Even without the big T.V, the Super Bowl should still be fun to watch! Are you ready?

I know these two cuties are ready for the Super Bowl. What about you?

Christmas Eve

O.K. . . . . . . .I am really slow at getting up our posts about the holiday season! But, finally, here is what we did on Christmas Eve.

Both of our families came to our house on Christmas Eve. We had a small houseful of 13 people. Everyone brought finger foods to eat. After eating, we let Scout open her presents. This took forever because she would open a couple and then take a break. Makayla helped her open most of them. Here are a few pictures from our evening.

Do you notice the wrapping on this package? Makayla figured out that it is easier to use a stapler instead of tape to shut you packages. And no use wasting those scraps of wrapping paper anymore! As you might have guessed, there is a story behind this fabulous redneck wrapping job. Maybe I will write about it another day.

Me, Makayla and Scout opening a present from Nana - A fun Melissa and Doug Nativity.
Makayla and Scout opening another present. This went on for a long time.
Scout sort of opening a present by herself - her cookie jar. My plan next year is to encourage everyone to take things out of the packaging before wrapping, because I think Scout will want to play with them immediately. Don't you think that is a great idea?
Scout sitting in her Pink Dinosaur Ball Pit. Scout opened most of her presents from Janny and Granpappy at their house on Christmas Eve Eve, but we saved this one for our house on Christmas Eve. I love this picture of us.
Here are Daddy and Scout baking cookies for Santa. Santa seemed to enjoy the Wal-Mart Chocolate Chip Cookies just fine, and I think Scout had fun helping lay them out.
Scout and Daddy read "The Elf on the Shelf" for the last time. I can't wait until next year when Scout will actually understand to look for the elf.
Scout and daddy put the cookies out and then Scout went to bed. Daddy stayed home with Scout so I could go to Christmas Eve Midnight Service.

Hopefully, that covers what happened on Christmas Eve. Coming soon - Christmas Day!

Baby Jesus and Christmas Eve Eve

I have totally been a blog slacker over the last couple of weeks. This is partly due to the fact that I got a Kindle for Christmas and have been reading it so much. But, I have had several people comment that they have been waiting to read about Scout's first Christmas, so I figured it was time to get back on the blogging wagon, and I will start with Christmas Eve Eve and hopefully will add Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve pretty soon.

First of all, our Christmas season was such a blessing. Back on December 13th our family was chosen to participate in a special tradition at our church. Each year, the Baby Jesus is passed from family to family during the advent season. He comes with a little journal where you can reflect on your time with Him. We received Him, and I let Scout hold him. I love the joy on her face in this picture. This will be part of her first Christmas season that I will never forget and was the start of many exciting days for our family.

Now on to Christmas Eve Eve. Christmas Eve Eve morning, Makayla, her BFF Corrina, my mom and my sister came to my house. Of course, Scout got to open a couple of presents with Makayla's help.

But, the real reason everyone came to visit was to bring my Christmas present, a new camera. They thought it would be nice for me to have it early so I could take some good pictures of Scout's first Christmas.
Here is my first picture with my new camera, Scout and Makayla.

Corrina helped Scout open a present too - A Little People Nativity. She also got the Little People Wisemen and Stable. I look forward to getting these out each Christmas.

Christmas Eve Eve's afternoon was spent at Janny and Granpappy's house with Janny, Grandpappy, Tanner, Uncle Avery and soon-to-be Aunt Amanda. Scout was so blessed with so many fun presents including an adorable piano, a precious pink polka-dot chair, two little riding cars, a Fisher Price Giraffe, and so much more.

Here is Scout playing Giraffe with Uncle Avery.
After opening a few presents, Scout was tuckered out. She needed a little nap before she could go at it again. This was perfect because it gave us time to eat.
Daniel's mom and dad got Scout this precious pink polka-a-dot chair. Scout absolutely loves it. When she opened it, she played in it and patted it like it was the best thing ever! And, it looks so cute in her playroom next to her pink lamp Janny and Granpappy got for her. She has her own little reading corner where she enjoys chewing on her books, Ha!

Uncle Avery and Aunt Amanda got Scout the cutest little Christmas storybook with a little hand puppet. This will be another thing we treasure getting out each year at Christmas.

Scout was so blessed to receive so much from Janny, Granpappy, Avery, Amanda and Tanner. Daniel and I racked up too with hunting stuff for Daniel, a gift card for me, and both getting money from Daniel's parent. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve Eve!