Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, Bryan and I both went up and got Lex out of bed.  We brought her down and let her see her gifts by the tree and took a quick family picture.

Our first Christmas as a family of three!

We love this girl SO MUCH!!!

 

We started with Lex's stocking.  She got a little Mickey Mouse, a Minnie Mouse ball, and a book.  Then, we let her open the rest of her presents!

 

Mama and the baby with a Christmas present!

 

Lex got a Minnie Mouse that sings the hotdog song, some bath toys, a Cabbage Patch doll, some clothes, and some pajamas.  Nothing too big and fancy this year, but stuff that she can use and have fun with!

 

Lex decided to just stand on her own for several seconds...as you can see, Daddy was somewhat shocked!:)

We put Lex down for her morning nap and opened our presents together.  It was nice to not have to hurry!

 

After a late breakfast at home, we went over to Pat and Linda's for the rest of the day.  We opened gifts and had a yummy meal for dinner.

 

Lex had fun helping Grandpa and Grandma open their gifts!

 

She is warming up to Uncle Drew!:)

 

We had a really awesome Christmas.  Alexis did so well being out and about and being off of her normal routine.  We are so thankful for a fairly easygoing, flexible baby!  I'm sad that her first Christmas is over already!

Stair Climber!

Well, at not quite 8 1/2 months old, we have a stair climber!

Alexis rarely even goes to the steps, so when she did I thought that I would just see what she did.  She stood there for quite a while playing on the stairs like they were drums.

Then, the next thing I knew, she just hiked her little leg up and climbed up the first step like it was no big deal at all!  I took a very quick picture (hence the blurriness) and then went to catch her when she fell...because I knew she would!:)  I didn't let her play there anymore, so I don't know what would have happened if she tried again.  Thankfully, we have a door at the bottom of our stairs so we can close it for now.  Our little girl is growing up so fast!!!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Bry had to work in the morning and then we headed over to Mom and Dad's for the afternoon/evening!  

Lex found her stocking!

Me and my girl!

Peyt, Bry, and Lex

The newly ENGAGED couple!  Tyler proposed to Kate before everyone got there...so exciting!:)

Grandpa and Grandma reading the Christmas story to the kiddos

The cousins...this was the best we could do!:)

Lill and her mama in matching aprons!

My sis and I with our sweet girls!

 

When we got home, Bryan and I decided to go ahead and open our stockings that evening.  It was fun to do it slowly and just the two of us.  We had lots of fun ahead the next morning with our sweet Lex!:)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We are a blessed family indeed!:)

'Twas the Sunday Before Christmas

Yesterday was Christmas Sunday at church and our annual Christmas gathering with the Gass', Grandma, and Jim!  It was a really great day!  (Pictures are, once again, out of order!)

Alexis and Daddy before church!

We had so much fun playing a new game called Quelf!

Our beautiful baby girl in her pretty Christmas dress!

Playing the game!

The sweet cousins at church!

Slow dancing during the silly game!:)

Lex snuggling with Tyler

The kiddos opening gifts

 

We played a new fun game to exchange gifts!  We sat in a circle and passed gifts around until the Christmas music stopped.  It was a nice change from our usual exchange game!  We had such a good time.  Next up...Christmas eve!:)

'Twas the Saturday Before Christmas

Yesterday, we kicked off our Christmas festivities by going to Indianapolis for the Campbell family gathering!  We spent the afternoon at Ned and Melissa's house and we had a really good time.  These pictures are out of order (of course!), but cute nonetheless!

Alexis, Zoe, and Lillian received and modeled cute hats that were made in Africa by the people that Ned works with on a regular basis.  So cute!

Lex got her first official Christmas present!

The Bobbsey twin daddies changing diapers!:)

Lex was SO good!  She took a quick nap with Mama while we opened gifts.

She got some fun new toys!:)

The whole family, minus Grandma and Grandpa (they stayed in Florida).  We always have fun when we're together!:)

Happy Birthday, Bry!

Today, my sweet husband turned 28!  We got to go on a date tonight to dinner and a movie while Aunt Kate and Tyler babysat.  It was a fun day!

We sent this picture to Daddy while he was at work!

Daddy and his girl with the card she got him! 

Alexis and I are pretty crazy about this guy.  I couldn't ask for a better husband for myself and daddy for my baby girl!:)

"Seeing" Santa

Well, Lex didn't exactly get to see Santa for her first Christmas!  We took her to the mall one evening around 6:30pm and the line was very long.  We had some other errands to run and we knew she would be getting tired so we decided not to wait.  This picture was the best we could do!  Next year, hopefully!:)



Alexis: Eight Months Old!

Yesterday, our little Lex turned eight months old!  Getting her monthly picture is getting more and more interesting!:)

 

 

Alexis, here's what you are up to this month:

• No doctor's appointment this month so I'm not sure about your stats!  You seem to be slowing down a little bit on growing.
• You are wearing mostly 9 month clothes and pajamas, size 3 shoes, and size 3 diapers.
• You sit up on your own from laying down, crawl, pull up on anything and everything, and are starting to do a little bit of cruising!  You have even let go of the furniture for a couple of seconds before you plop on your bottom.  You move pretty quickly these days!
• You love to play with your toys and you really love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!  You watch it in the morning while you lay in bed with Mama and Daddy and sometimes at other times through the day.  You don't care much about the tv unless you see and hear Mickey!
• You still have just two teeth on the bottom.
• You are nursing approximately 6 times per day and you eat baby food twice per day (usually breakfast and supper).  You really like apples, carrots, mangoes, and sweet potatoes.  We have given you puffs a few times and we've tried a sippy cup with water in it.  You are interested in both of these things, but you haven't mastered either yet.
• You are sleeping from about 7:30-8pm to about 7am.  You still get up once to eat between 3-5am and sometimes you fuss for your binky around midnight.  You take a morning nap that lasts anywhere from 30-90 minutes and an afternoon nap that is about 1 1/2-2 hours.  You are not a very consistent napper and I just don't think you are going to be!:)
• You have been finicky about taking a bottle this past month.  You are very particular about the milk (you won't drink milk that's been frozen) and that makes Mama a little stressed.  We're working on it! 
• You have started clapping your hands together.
• You sometimes make the cutest "scrunchie" face when you smile!
• You say da-da ALL the time and you've said ma-ma a few times.  We're working on that, too.:)
 

Sweet baby,

 

You have grown and learned so much this past month!  It is so fun to watch you discover new things.  You are very determined and persistent.  I hope that those character traits stay with you forever!  You are also sweet and loving and you make your daddy and I so happy every day.  We are looking forward to experiencing Christmas with you!  I love you, baby girl!:)

Lately (in pics)

We've been busy lately!  Here's just a few things that we've been up to:

Alexis and I went over to put up Grammy's Christmas decorations...she played in her "baby jail" most of the time!:)

My friend Anna started up a ministry for our church's college students.  We went to the church to put together care boxes and Lex got to play with her buddy Brody!

Lill and Lex...BFFs!:)

This might be my favorite picture ever.:)  Lex loves to do a scrunchie face when she smiles so we got a picture of her and Daddy doing it together!  Ha!

During a particularly tough stretch of "no nap" days, I decided to just hold Lex for a short nap...cuddling with my sweet baby is one of the highlights of my life!

Last week, Bryan and I worked in the nursery at church.  How fun for our friends' kids to be our kid's friends!:)  Alexis (~8 months), Hadley (~14 months), Emerson (~12 months), Lillian (~16 months)

Happy 5th Birthday, Peyton!

On Tuesday, our Peyton boy turned FIVE!  It is so hard to believe that five years have flown by since that sweet little baby made me an aunt.  I have loved every moment of watching him grow into a funny, onery, and loving boy.  We went to his birthday party at the YMCA on Sunday.  It was a shark party so of course we went swimming!:)  It was very fun.  Lex sort of tried swimming again and she still wasn't a fan.  Hopefully by summer she will be more interested in it!

The birthday boy with all of his presents!

Passed out from all of the excitement...silly boy!!!

Peyt and Zay with the shark cake

Lill and Lex hanging out at the party!

Opening one of his gifts from us...nerf guns!

 

I can't wait to watch him continue to grow up.  He makes being an aunt a joy!  I love you, Peyton boy!