Christmas Photos–through the years

I love giving and getting Christmas cards every year. So much has changed for our little family since we started sending photo cards!  (The first couple years of our marriage, I didn’t send photo cards – just store-bought cards.)  Here are our Christmas card photos from past to present:

2008 (pregnant with Russell):

2009:

2010:

2011:

8 months old!

This was a big month of growing up for Miss Meredith!

• I have no idea about her length/weight/head circ – next well check is at the end of January.
• Taking 2 naps per day at around 9:30 am and 1 pm – length varies by day.
• Bedtime at 7:15ish and wake-time at 6:45ish.
• Eating solid foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner: breakfast is either baby oatmeal mixed with juice or a jar of fruit; lunch is a fruit or a veggie; dinner is a fruit and a veggie.  We’ve added yogurt to our options now, too, which she likes!
• We have given her Puffs on occasion as a snack.  She is very good at getting them in her mouth, but sometimes sticks them too far down her throat.  I don’t really know what to do about that so hopefully time will fix it.
• Still exclusively breastfeeding 5x/day…but that is about to change as Mommy’s milk supply totally tanked.  That could be a whole post in itself.  I am trying to tell myself that at least she got 8 good months of solely breastmilk, no formula – and she still hasn’t had formula yet so there’s still hope – and I know in my head that formula is just fine for babies, etc, etc…I was just personally hoping to breastfeed her until 1 year like I did with Russell.  We will see.

Now, the fun stuff!

• Meredith is now full-out crawling, not just army crawling – although sometimes she will still army crawl to get somewhere quickly.
• We had to drop her crib to the lowest setting because girlfriend pulled up – twice!  What?!  How old do you think you are, missy?  (She hasn’t pulled all the way up since, but does get to her knees.)
• Likes Peek-a-Boo (especially pulling a blanket off her own head) and silly songs. 
• Loves to watch Daddy dance and to have family dance parties.
• Does not like her car seat.  She is really ready to move up to the convertible car seat – we just need to find time to go buy another one.
• She and Russell have started to play together a little.  He loves to tickle her and make her laugh, and wants so much for her to chase him (she’s just a little too slow at this point)!

Happy 8 months, Meredith!  We love you!

2 and 1/2

Two and a half is such a fun and funny age!  I just love to hear the things Russell comes up with.

1) While driving home the other day, we passed a car dealership.  Russell’s comment (no prompting):  “Look at all those cars.  It’s beautiful.”  Well, yes, I suppose you would think so!

2) I was cleaning out Russell’s little potty earlier this morning and Russell was standing behind me.  I must have done a good job, because he told me “That’s great wiping!”  Thanks for the encouragement, bud!

3) One of Russell’s favorite things to do is hide.  The other day, he was “hiding” (I could actually see him quite well) in a little corner of the kitchen.  When I looked over at him, he said, “I’m hiding.  Mommy, say ‘Peekaboo.’”

What a silly boy!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Our church had a birthday party for Jesus today.  I was so excited about this!  It seems like so many children’s Christmas events center on Santa: breakfast with Santa, pictures with Santa, movies about Santa.  {We decided this year that we will “do” Santa, but it will be very modified and very small.}  It was so great to go to an event for Russell’s age that was only about Jesus.

I had to get a couple pictures of the kids before we went.  I just love Russell and Meredith’s matching outfits!  Kacki is an awesome seamstress!

We got to church and spotted some friends:

We listened to a few stories and sang “Happy Birthday to You” and “Away in a Manger.”  (In the below picture, Russell was turned around playing with Meredith.  He is usually great about sitting for story time, but he was pretty distracted today for some reason.)

Then we did a quick craft and ate cake!  This was what Russell was waiting for the whole time.  At the beginning of the party, Diane (the leader/coordinator) went through the schedule for the party– well, as soon as Russell heard “cake,” that was it.  He asked me every 5 seconds when we were eating cake.

I know there are no pictures of Meredith at the party, but she was such a good girl.  There was nothing for her to do, but she was very content to play with a package of baby wipes and watch the bigger kids.

Such a fun party!  I do hope Russell is gaining a little understanding of Jesus’ birth.  I can sometimes see his wheels turning when we talk about it.

“And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” ~ Isaiah 9:6

Sharing

Yesterday, Russell decided that the Jump-Up seat wasn’t enough entertainment for his sister.  So he buried her with toys.

He kept making trips to get more, bringing them to her and saying, “Here ya go, Sissy.”  She enjoyed it… until she couldn’t see anymore.

The culprit/helper/sharer:

Oh, Christmas Tree

We got our tree today!

After the kids’ naps this afternoon, we drove to the same church we went to last year. They have a lot (that I suppose they rent out?) on which workers from a tree farm from the mountains sell Christmas trees. All the trees there today had been cut in the past week.

This sweet girl was quite content in the umbrella stroller.

Russell was a little interested in the Christmas trees, but more interested in the cars on the road behind the lot, just like last year. However, he loves to see the decorated trees at stores and our church – he always points them out and tells me they’re “beautiful” – so I think he’ll be much more interested in our tree once it’s decorated.

Once we picked our tree, the workers had to cut it a little with their chainsaw.

The look on Russell’s face was hilarious – he had his head tilted like this for a couple minutes without moving.

Before we left, I had to get a photo with my favorite girl!

The tree is home and up in our living room, but that’s it. Hopefully we’ll trim it tomorrow. Tonight, we decided it was more important to take a walk to our local park and enjoy the luminaries, candy canes, and Santa sighting. Priorities!

Crawling and Jumping

There’s a lot of movement around here lately!

Meredith has decided that army crawling is not good enough for her anymore.  She is trying her hardest to actually crawl.  She will sit down, then put her hands forward so she’s on her hands and knees, then try to move her knees and end up with her bottom in the air and straight-legged, and then sit back down.  She tries over and over but can’t quite move anywhere!

Russell started jumping (with both feet off the floor) a couple weeks ago.  He has now taken to jumping off of his bed.  I’ve decided not to fight this battle as it’s a low bed and he’s unlikely to hurt himself.  He enjoys it