Two Christmases

Our Christmas celebrations were wonderful and we feel so blessed to have loving families to spend time with. It was most definitely a memorable first Christmas with Ladybug. Although, she tuckered out on us when we opened our stocking stuffers so we're going to have to work on her stamina! The stockings are my favorite part of Christmas.

Christmas #1 - New Boston









Christmas #2 - Temple

Us

Just a quick note, things have been so busy with Christmas, celebrating, and work. I haven't had time to breathe or catch up. We're on our way now to Temple for Christmas #2. I will share plenty of photos and fun very soon.



p.s. Yes, that little bug is wearing cute, pink Nike's!! Thanks Nanny and Gdad.

At 22 Months

Christmas has snuck up on me like a whirlwind and now I'm sitting back with a glass of eggnog thinking about how special today is in so many ways and how Ladybug is 22 months old today! The last few months have seen just a few little changes here and there but this past month there has been many:





*She does a little "role call" as she watches the pictures cycle through on the digital picture frame and she says "baby" when she sees herself.

*She crouches down on the ground saying down...and then pops up and says up likes it's a little game.

*I love it when she looks at me and says, "Hey baby."

*New words that she has learned are: purple, sock, shoe, cool, Jack.

*We've been singing Jingle Bells this month and she loves to shout "hey" at the right spot. She loves to babble along as we sing Deck the Halls as well.

*She understands us when we say, "Let's go upstairs" "Where are your shoes" or "I'll be in Mama's room" and follows us wherever we go.

*She's wearing size 18 months, size 4 shoe, size 3 in diapers and weighs 22.5 pounds.


You can see last month's chair picture here.

Santa Claus!

She may be frightened of the jolly red man in the suit but she sure does like the gifts he dropped by!

We have watched her carry those cupcakes all over the house.

We have watched her push that little stool around so she can climb onto the couch and other furniture!

And do you see the pink Sing-a-ma-jig laying on the loveseat? She won't have anything to do with it. In fact, if we push his tummy to make him sing she gets scared. If we move him closer to her...she starts crying those crocodile tears.

Right now, the Sing-a-ma-jig is sitting on the stairs...like a scarecrow. It's working like a charm, though unintended.

Merry Christmas!

Santa, we've been good

We're celebrating our Christmas Eve at home tonight instead of tomorrow since we'll be traveling. Right now, we are all snuggled up in our new Christmas jammies waiting on Santa Claus. Good thing we talked to Santa in advance about stopping by early!

Wordless Wednesday

I love a good mail day...

I love when the mail comes this time of year. Today did not disappoint as there were several Christmas cards with lots of cute photos. Plus, Ladybug received a letter from Santa at the Northpole!

It was an awesome surprise and Ladybug enjoyed me reading it to her. I could tell right away that Mimi knew all about it. Thank you Mimi!

I wish we received Christmas cards all year long. Do they just brighten up your day too?

In fact, letter writing in general seems to be a dying art with so much technology around. I'm going to make that a New Year's resolution for 2011. Sending one letter or card each month to someone special to let them know and brighten their day.

Won't you join me?

Huggles,
Deana

Her new Favorite Thing

Bug loves this little Christmas purse that one of T's work friends gave her. I'm pretty sure she's carried it everywhere!

We are Family

Family photos are so much fun! Although there was a lot of groaning and moaning before I was able to get everyone outside for this. And the funniest part of it all...after they got some previews of the photos they wanted to change clothes and snap a few more!

This was taken by me, courtesy of my favorite tripod and running back and forth. Fun times.

Family Christmas Photo

Sharing our Christmas card pictures. Isn't that gingerbread house delightful?

I'm very happy about how these turned out. It was so much fun!

Holiday Huggles,
Deana

Photo of the day

That's my girl....

either sitting on a present or standing on one!

Santa Visit

We braved the mall masses and took Ladybug to see Santa Claus tonight. It was an experience to remember!

Waiting in line to see Santa...




Waving and watching with a careful eye as we get closer and closer to Santa.



A little coaching and chocolate bribery from Mama before it's our turn.



This was our second take, the first time we stopped to see him she was crying and upset so I let another family go in front of us. I was hoping she would watch the other children and then become more comfortable with him.

I asked Santa for a quick pass on the lap for the photo and I stood RIGHT THERE with tears in my eyes too.



After the photo, she takes a prize from Santa, waves and yells out, "BYE." She is so ready to get out of there. I thank Santa and she's still heartily saying BYE.



This is our photo from our first visit with Santa...most definitely memorable!~

A New Tradition

I'm going to have a Christmas ornament tradition with Ladybug by giving her one special ornament every Christmas. Of course, I wanted this year's to be extra special since it is our first Christmas together. All of the Baby's First Christmas ornaments just didn't feel right to me since this is actually her second Christmas.

So, for this year, I decided on Hallmark's "Our Family" ornament that is also a photo holder. I'm planning to write her a message on the box or packaging every year as well. This year's message says:

You've been with us for 11 months now and we have enjoyed every minute. I love how you have blossomed and grown learning something new every day. We are so excited to be having our first Christmas with you! We waited so long for this! Love always, Mama and Dada


p.s. That's a little sneaky peaky of our Christmas card photo...

Snow Globe Revisited

Just a quick photo of the day. I wanted Nanou to see the front of the snow globe. You can't really tell, but it actually blows little snowflakes around inside. =)

Wordless Wednesday

Advent Calendar

The advent calendar is a kit from Stampin Up. Very easy to put together and great quality. I wish I had purchased an extra kit to wrap presents inside!

I think Ladybug is just a fan of what's inside.~

December Daily

I think I'm crazy to attempt doing another December Daily this month.

It's crazy busy with work doing 6 day work weeks, not to mention the crazy hours coming up too. It's the crazy chores that I try to keep up with while working so much...like the laundry. Plus, there's a lot of fun things to do this month with Ladybug and where's all my extra crazy free time?! I need to find some!

Then I see day 1 and day 2 of my album....and I think, yes this is time well spent.

Snow Globe

T and Ladybug outside setting up our giant snow globe.

Now we're decorated inside and out.

Happy Sunday,
Deana

Trimming the Tree

We put up our Christmas tree last night, another first for our little family. Bug knew something exciting was happening and she definitely wanted to be a part of the action. She started off doing so well as we were fluffing the branches and then it was all about seeing what was in the decoration boxes and scattering them about!



She can be a little tornado when she wants to be! Oh, and our tree is only decorated from the middle up as she kept pulling off all of the ornaments that she could reach!

The tree is pretty, in a child proof sort of way. =)

After all the decorating, we sipped hot chocolate and shared a few marshmallows. Yummy.



I can't believe it's only 3 weeks until Christmas...

A year ago today...

We received our phonecall finally that we had a baby girl! Then a few hours later, we received these pictures of our precious China doll!

I try not to dwell on the fact that we had waited for over four years for that moment. I do remember after we had been waiting only two years T saying to me, "Do you want us to switch over to special needs?" I distinctly remember replying, "We've waited this long, how much longer can it take?!"

She was the one for us...long before we even knew it.

She was most definitely worth the wait and such a sweet blessing!

We don't even remember the waiting now...

but we will always remember this special day.

From Trash to Treasure

Last night I was driving home from work around 10:30 and as I turned into the alley I noticed someone's trash by their driveway. I don't dumpster dive or bring home found items to refurbish...but this was something special.

I grabbed my phone and quickly sent a text to T:
Someone has something special for the trash! Let's go get it!

He says back to me:
Seen it. You want it?

Are you kidding?! My heart is racing and I'm so excited:
Sure! Come on!

T takes his sweet time while I wait with the car running in the driveway:
Let me get shoes.

He jumps in the car and I leave the garage door up. We head back down the alley to the special house with something special. I'm excited and also second guessing whether this really is someone's trash. But I want it. I want it bad.

We reach the house and I pop the trunk...knowing this isn't going to fit in my car. T picks it up with a quick swoop and props it onto the trunk. He's going to hold it and walk while I drive back to the house! Oh yeah, this baby is ours!

I slam his door that was left open and get back in the car and start slowing driving back to the house. I look back and T says, "Go...go!" Hmm, maybe he's nervous about this too. I punch it and look back to see him huffing and puffing trying to keep up.

We did make it safely back home with something special. AND we didn't get caught!




A little something special for you sweet Ladybug.