Christmas Morning 2011

Smiley's first Christmas was a perfect one. Santa didn't forget that there was a new little one at our house! Audrey was up and at it very early Christmas morning. As we were coming down the stairs, she said that she woke up during the night but went back to sleep "fast, fast" before Santa saw her awake! Smart girl!

Santa is very good to us and brings each girl three fun surprises and fills their stockings with treats! Shelby Claire got a toy train, a telephone and some desperately needed pajamas! She also got sippy cups but we think those must have been for her stocking but just didn't fit inside!

She seemed to love all of her surprises and especially the telephone!

 

For Audrey, Santa brought two Playmobil sets- a zoo and an outback canoe set. She loves to pretend play so Santa new just the right toys to bring her. She also got a new pack-n-play, stroller, and high chair for her baby dolls. Santa must have known Granny and Paw Paw were going to give her a Bitty Baby and wanted her to be prepared!

He must not care for pretzels that much! :)

After playing with the surprises Santa brought, we then dove into the presents that we had gotten for the girls. Audrey got more books and puzzles and Smiley got more PJ's and some books of her own. Audrey had picked out a special book for SC as her gift and Shelby Claire had gotten Audrey a new princess book. Both girls loved their presents from each other and we've read the princess book a million times already. 

Around lunch time we packed the girls and all of our stuff up and went south to my parents house for Christmas with them. Good times!  

Christmas Eve 2011

We spent Christmas Eve quietly at our house this year. It was Smiley's first Christmas and we spent it enjoying each other. After our normal routine of dinner and baths, Audrey finally got to open the present she was after a few weeks ago.

 She and Shelby Claire both got a new Christmas book and a new pair of Christmas PJ's. Audrey was very excited about her book- she loves new books and couldn't wait for us to read it to her! She didn't care as much for the PJ's because they were footies and she has gotten in a kick where she only wants to wear night gowns. Just FYI, nightgowns in baby girl sizes are not easy to find!!

 Ready for Santa to come!

 Audrey was fine with the PJ's when she saw that SC got some just like hers. She's really into wearing matching clothes with her sister!

 After putting out our cookies for Santa, we were ready to read books and go to sleep!

Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas Eve Eve with Clay's family at his brother's house. They live about 45-50 minutes from us and we don't see them nearly enough. Melissa was definitely a wonderful hostess. She had Christmas crafts for Audrey and Garrett and they even had their own Christmas dinner plates, cups and placemats at their table.

I love this picture of Garrett. He's ready to eat!

 Melissa even made all three kiddos their own personal sized pound cake. Audrey ate every last bit of icing off of hers!

 This is what Clay does when he sees me with the camera out. I was trying to get a nice picture of him and his brother but this is the face I get.

 When I protested, this is what he did. I can almost get a picture of my 3 year old easier than I can of my hubby.

 Smiley loved her first experience of opening gifts. She played and played with the paper and bows.

 Sweet Audrey had a ball being the "elf" and handing out the gifts to everyone.

 Garrett loves to build things and put things together. This is a lego something-or-other than Too Too and Grandaddy gave him. He had it put together completely the next day. We gave him a kinex roller coaster. I read reviews online that it takes 9 hours to put together. That should keep him busy for at least 2 hours. :)

 Shelby Claire got a new tricycle that we can strap her into and Audrey got

 Cinderella's carriage, mice, and fairy godmother.

 Our family of four on Smiley's first Christmas.

 The hosting family... this was the first time we've all gotten together since Clay and I have been married. At least the first time I can remember. It was lots of fun and hopefully we will do it again next year.

Shad and Melissa gave us all the book, Radical, by David Platt. We are all going to read it as a family. I am excited about starting it as soon as I finish the book I am currently reading!! I've heard it is a life-changing book!

10 months

 Little Smiley is 10 months old. She has four teeth, can eat anything but especially loves whole bananas, and can stand on her own. She is full of the sweetest, most laid back personality ever. 

 She loves her sister and especially her momma! She's at the stage where she cries whenever I leave her sight. It's sad that she is so worried but selfishly I love it. I love that she loves her momma! I know that it won't be long when she is breaking loose and trying to walk on her own and won't need me as much.

 She can wave "bye, bye" like a champ and has mastered the words, "bye bye and dada" and on occasion will say "momma".

 She doesn't care to ride in her carseat at night so everywhere we go after 5:00 is with our inside light on.

 She seems to be phasing out of one of her bottles a day- will be down to 3 before much longer. She doesn't eat any baby food anymore- once she learned to pick up food and put it in her mouth herself, she wouldn't have any part of the baby food. Now she eats whatever we are having and macaroni and cheese is her favorite.

At 10 months, she weighs 20.4 pounds which her sister didn't reach until she was right at 2 years old. She's right on track with her weight and Audrey is petite. It's really nice because SC was born in the winter and Audrey in the late summer. Due to the differences in seasons, SC wasn't able to wear the clothes Audrey wore so now that she's putting on some weight, she's caught up with Audrey's seasons. The clothes Audrey wore in the late winter of 2010 are the clothes Shelby Claire is wearing now.

 SC is a wonderful sleeper and has been since she started sleeping through the night. She only wakes at night when she is sick (she's had a few colds) and has trouble breathing.

 She's easy to take around with us and just generally goes with the flow. We fully expect her to be walking by the end of her 10th month because she is already walking while holding one of our hands.

We started working on sign language with her this month and she's gotten "more" down pat. That was a pretty easy sign to teach her and she picked it up with just one "lesson". She is highly motivated by food so I'm hoping the other signs are that easy to teach her.

She has us all wrapped around her sweet, tiny, little fingers. Including her big sister. This could be trouble.

Happy Birthday, Jesus Party

Audrey had a little Christmas party at her school. She enjoyed herself and I enjoyed being with her. My mom came up and kept Shelby Claire for me so I could just go visit with Audrey. It was nice.

 Audrey got her first taste of Sprite at the party. I guess when you are in 3K you get to have Sprite instead of juice to drink! Ha! She didn't care for it much and asked for water instead. Whew. I won't even tell y'all how bent out of shape Clay got about this Sprite business!

 Ms. Jill, Audrey's sweet teacher. This lady has four little girls of her own.

 After she ate, Audrey hopped up and went straight for the book center. It wasn't long before she had a group of little boys over there with her. Where were all the little girls? Sitting in their seats waiting for the teachers to tell them they could get up. :)

 They look very nice in both of these photos. It didn't take long before this sweet little book session turned into a full-on wrestle match with Audrey in the middle!

 Here is Ms. Rhonda opening her gift from Audrey. Audrey was beyond excited about giving both of her teachers gifts this year. She was very concerned about what we were actually giving them. It made it a whole lot more fun for me!

The party was quick and over before I knew it. I brought her home with me to see Granny and she fell asleep very soon after that. Later when I asked her what her favorite part of the party was... she replied, "the goody bag". ;D