Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Week Two Of Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent doing some last minute preparations then heading over to Mom’s for a mini get together.  We had a feast then went to the candlelight service at church.  It was packed and our boys were on the bored side, though the service itself was good.  I think we’ll probably skip that for a few more years.  Afterwards we headed back to Mom’s to open presents.  Tommy took some great pictures of our family, but I’ll have to post those later.  I only have a couple snapshots for now.  I think I’m fried with picture-taking.

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We got to spend Christmas day here.  It was nice and relaxing.  We had Christmas morning with just us, then my Dad, Gram, Jesse, and Savannah came over for a way-to-big lunch and Mom joined us after church for present opening.  Sadly Caleb’s family and Denise missed out because of work.

059My boys!  I love them like crazy.

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We didn’t get the boys a whole lot of gifts, mostly books and puzzles, because they really didn’t need much and I knew they’d get lots of gifts elsewhere.  (So many, in fact, that I don’t know where we’ll put them all!)  But we did get Josiah this one special thing…072 073 074 He’s wanted this, a truck and horse trailer, for MONTHS.  We figured any 2 year old that can stay focused on one thing for that long deserves to get it!

The family get together:078 079 He’s drenched in sweat because he and Savannah had such a blast playing outside.

081I think I spent all of Christmas fetching paper from his mouth.

083  088 Josiah and Elijah got cowboy hats for Christmas!  Oh, and these toys are just a drop in the bucket of what we have.  I think something is going to have to go!

9 Months Old And Lots of Fun

Elijah is nine months old!  He’s a wonderful little boy with the greatest smiles and giggles.  He’s moving right along in his development and his personality blossoms more by the day.  Our guy is so much fun to interact with and he and Josiah have a blast playing together.  (I had to scrounge for pictures for this post because I’ve used most of them already in previous posts.)

001 - CopyHe loves to swing now, but we don’t get to do it nearly enough.  Poor 2nd child!

This little cutie has his normal smile, his super happy smile, and his goofy tooth bearing grin.  He’s such a cutie that sometimes I can hardly stand it!  He now has 4 teeth and a space between the top two that he inherited from my side.  Mine and my brother’s went away, so we’ll see.  Elijah does this funny little thing where he points to something or holds something up and with the most serious look on his face he babbles like he’s telling something how it is.  He’s an entertaining little guy.

031 - CopyThis was seconds before Elijah’s first busted lip that he gave himself when he flipped over that bar his hand is on :(  Don’t they look cute playing together though?

Elijah learned to pull up to a stand a little over a week ago.  He also pushes up to his feet while crawling with hands still on the ground.  When Josiah is laying on the floor, he’ll “wrestle” him by climbing on top of him.  I taught Josiah to hold still and be gentle to help keep this safe.  They both love it!  It is so fun to watch, too.  Elijah has gotten so mobile that sometimes Josiah needs a break and asks to put him in the exersaucer for containment :)  He’s starting to protect his toys from him now since he has fewer safe places for them, so we are working on sharing.

020 - Copy Here’s the silly toothy grin!  He’s so proud to be standing.

023 - Copy It drives Josiah nuts not to be able to eat in peace!  (I know, I know, he’s way to big for the high chair, but he loves it because it makes him tall and I love it because it keeps him seated.)

Elijah really loves to eat now.  It’s like a switch has been flipped or maybe he is in the midst of a prolonged growth spurt.  He is great with finger foods, but he tends to hold remnants of them in his mouth for hours afterwards.  Savor the flavor!  In addition to the past mentioned foods he has now tried pumpkin, turkey, black eyed peas, black beans, rice, cheerios, and probably more things I can’t think of.

048 - CopyIsn’t he a handsome little guy?

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Christmas brought yet another bout of congestion for Elijah.  I didn’t think that was very nice of Santa!  Especially since it brought a poor night of sleep for Jacob and I that night.  He wasn’t really into opening presents, but loved eating bows and paper.  As is typical, he prefers Josiah’s presents to his own.  Josiah has enjoyed them all, though!

013 - Copy Silliness!

With 3/4 of his first year past, we can’t believe that time is moving along so quickly and that he is moving along in life, but we are so thankful for what he has become so far.  His laughs are contagious, his antics are laughable, and his fits, though thankfully few and far between, are impressive.  (He had his first real fit about two weeks ago when I took something away from him and had nothing to replace it with.  He turned beat red, shook like he was freezing cold and cried hard, producing big tears.  Yikes!)  Everyday when I kiss his hands while nursing, I can’t help but think about how all too soon they will be large and calloused and it will be weird and inappropriate to kiss them so.  He will always be cherished, but I’m soaking up his babyhood for all that it is worth.

Guess it is time to start thinking about a first birthday cake!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Week One Of Christmas

Last weekend we headed to Jacob’s grandparent’s house to celebrate Christmas a little early with his family.  We had a great time visiting, exchanging gifts, and eating some yummy food.

 

Opening his gift from Nana and Dandy!  He and his cousin Will got a leather belt with a belt buckle with a revolver on it!  We made him stop opening presents long enough to put it on and model it – that’s why the long face :)

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Elijah liked the bows best, but really enjoyed paper, too!079 - Copy 081 083 085  094

I had more pics of family opening presents, but my computer died while I was viewing them and they are now gone!  But here’s Mikayla happy with her Lite Brite gift.087104  106  114110  108  

This was one of Josiah’s favorite gifts.  It was his Daddy’s when he was a boy.  It is a rusty truck and flatbed trailer.  He used it to haul his new truck.  The other day I heard him showing it off to Savannah as they were telling each other about their Christmas gifts, and her response was “Oh wow, that’s um…um…” said in a monotone.  I laughed.

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Granny gave Josiah this rustic sheriff-type star to decorate his room and he immediately put it on his head as a hat, then on my head, and finally on Jacob’s head.  He cracks me up!142  145

We spent the night, so there was time for a little fishing in the canal.  I think this is his first-ever fish!  You can’t tell it here because he was mesmerized, but he loved it!069146 157 - Copy 158 - Copy