The Final Post of Christmas

After opening presents at home on Christmas morning we headed to Nick's parents house for breakfast and more gifts. Once we arrived we realized that we had forgotten our gifts at home, so I volunteered to run back and get them.  We then ate a yummy breakfast and opened gifts. Caleb and Mckinlee were once again beyond spoiled, and the rest of us enjoyed exchanging gifts White Elephant style.

We relaxed for most of the day after gifts and just watched movies and played games. We then ate Christmas dinner and packed up to head home. 

That night we celebrated at our home with my dad and sisters. My dad bought Caleb a 25 ft train set, and to say he was in heaven is an understatement! He LOVES it.  We spent most of our time watching him play with his train and laughing. 

 This is Mckinlee's twin by the way. They are identical as babies...yea we are screwed when she is a teenager!

Christmas was so great this year.  It was a great 3rd Christmas with Caleb and a great 1st with Mckinlee. 

Santa Came!

Santa came to our house Christmas Eve night, and he left a ton of goodies from the North Pole. Our Elf, Up, must have given him a good report.  Santa must have been searching Mama's pinterest ideas because he even left a trail of lights leading to the presents for the kids to follow the next morning.

I barely slept that night. I was so excited to see the joy on my babies faces the next morning.  However, my kids decided to sleep and sleep and sleep until 9:30.  WOW! They never sleep that late. 

When Caleb and Mckinlee awoke they quickly discovered the lights leading to the living room.  Once they arrived in the living room Caleb quickly ran to his train set and said "My choo choo".  Mckinlee was very interested in brothers toys as well, and she finally discovered some of her own.  They had a blast playing and moving from toy to toy.  Daddy showed them how a bunch of toys work, and we played and played. 

I decided they needed to take a break from playing to eat a little something, and Caleb informed me that he wanted pizza.....not really what I had in mind...but it was Christmas after all.  So, Caleb enjoyed a Christmas movie while eating pizza at 10 am :).   

Christmas Eve

The night before Christmas Eve when we arrived back from my mother's Caleb was still a little wound up. We were allowing him to sleep in gram's guestroom, and to get him to go to bed I told him that he could watch a show on TV. He does not have a TV in his room at home, so this was so exciting to him. I turned on Toy Story, and told him that we needed to say our prayers first.  Usually we say a long prayer and thank God for various things from our day. Well Caleb closed on eye, folded his hands, looked at the TV and say "Jesus Thanks Amen" as fast as he could. His eyes were then glued to the TV. I lost it. It was so cute.

After Caleb finally went to sleep "Grammy's Santa" came and placed presents in the living room.  When Caleb and Mckinlee awoke the next morning they were both so excited. Caleb exclaimed "My bike, Mine", and quickly ran to ride it.  Mckinlee loved her toys as well, but I think she got more excitement out of watching her big brother.  She also loved the recordable book Grammy made them. I was so excited because she was still tiny enough to fit in Caleb's first Christmas pj's.  Caleb was 4 months on his first Christmas wearing a size 6 month sleeper, and Mckinlee is 10 months haha. She looked so cute in them, and it brought back so many memories. 

 He was a little upset that I took his binky from him :)

We all showered and got ready we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's for annual Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange.  Aunt Libby outdid herself again with amazing food. It is funny how hard it is to enjoy the good food with 2 kids now.  Nick and I are lucky if we get to take a bite before our food gets cold, but I guess that is the life of a parent. 

After we all ate we exchanged gifts. Caleb loved all of his presents, and Mckinlee was so excited about her new cradle...as was I. It is so vintage and adorable. She loves pulling up on it, and I think she could actually fit in it because she is so tiny. 

Once gift exchange was over it was time for us to head back home. We packed up, and headed north.  We arrived north with just enough time to run home, change clothes, freshen up, and head out the door again.  Lucky for us both kids slept amazing in the car.  We headed to Nick's parents house for the Ryan family Christmas Eve.  It was a blast, and Mckinlee looked sooooo cute.  Everyone kept calling her the sugarplum Princess.  She rocked the adorable Mudpie Christmas outfit, and the amazing tutu that her meemaw made her.  The only thing she was missing was her bow...she refuses to keep bows on her head now. Caleb played so well with his cousins that night, and he was so independent. He truly is growing up way to fast. 

After the party was over we headed home to jump into bed and wait for Santa Claus to arrive. 

The 4 Posts of Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope that you all enjoyed celebrating our Savior's birthday, and that you had a Christmas filled with love, happiness, and family.  We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and this was the first year that Caleb really understood what was going on.  He was beyond precious.  I have so much that I want to remember about this Christmas with my babies so be prepared for bunches of posts about it...4 to be exact. 

Leading up to Christmas I really tried to instill the true meaning of Christmas in Caleb. I really want him to GET it. I do not want Christmas to only be about Santa and presents to him, but I want him to understand the true reason for the season.  Since he is still so young this year I tried to teach him about Jesus in simple fun ways.  One day we colored pictures of the nativity scene and turned those presents into ornaments for his grandparents. While he was coloring we would talk about each page, and discuss the Christmas story.  He also unwrapped books every night leading up to Christmas, and there were a few about the birth of Jesus. He especially loved The Christmas Story book from my childhood, complete with my coloring and writing within its pages.  When I would ask him who was on what page he would say "Maarrreee". "Gaaaaeee" (Joseph), "Befleheeemm", "Cow...Moo", "Star", "Baby Jesus".  It melted my heart to see him understanding the Christmas Story.

On Wednesday night after Nick and I got off work we headed to my hometown.  Thursday we were lazy and allowed the kids to play at grammys, cooked dinner, and visited with family.  Friday we were all over the place. We visited the "office" for lunch and stayed there until around 3. Nick then took the kids back to grammys to nap, and Gram and I did a little shopping.  After shopping we rushed back, ate, got dressed and headed to my mothers house for Christmas with her and my brother's family. 

Caleb LOVED playing with his cousins. He does not get to see them very much since we live so far away, but he has so much fun with them when we do see them. He was a hoot playing on the bed with the older girls, and his laugh was music to all of our ears. He played so hard that he was sweating, and he and Mckinlee both slept hard that night. 

Mckinlee 10 Months

I am seriously slacking when it comes to taking monthly pictures and writing Mckinlee's monthly post.  She is almost 11 months now and I am just getting around to writing her 10 month post. I guess better late than never? 

I seriously can not wrap my mind around how fast we have gotten to this 10 1/2 month point.  I almost lost my breath last night when I realized that a couple weeks after Christmas I will have to send out her FIRST BIRTHDAY INVITATIONS! Seriously? How is this happening? 

Mckinlee at 10 months

Eating:  You are eating three meals a day with snacks in between. You have basically sworn off all baby food. I can sometimes get you to eat some baby food fruits but it is few and far between. You will however, eat the baby food pouches (score).  I also put baby food fruits on toast like jelly for you and you love it. 
You have been on a bit of a nursing strike.  You are just coming around a little. So far you have nursed 2 times today and had 2 bottles.  The doctor recommended I give you a couple of bottles of formula a day due to weight issues, and ever since then you have a hard time nursing. You have dropped your 11 am milk feeding and you push it back to right before your 1 o clock nap.  I am hoping we can continue breastfeeding until you turn a year but we will see how it goes. 
You still love table food, and there is seriously nothing you turn down.

Sleeping:  You are still sleeping great.  You nap from 9:30-11 from 1-3 and sometimes nap from 5-6.  You are going to bed around 8:30 or 9 and sleeping until 8:30 am.  You are sleeping in your bed in your own room. 

Size: You are still a peanut. You weigh 15 lbs 2 ounces and you are 26 1/2 inches.  You were below the  5% for height and weight and your head circum. was in the 25%.  You are wearing any where from 0-3 to 6-9 month clothing. You have finally outgrown 0-3 month sleepers.  You are wearing a size 2 shoe and a size 1-2 diaper depending on brand.

Speech:  You are so smart. You say dada, mama, Bella, baba, and bye bye.  If we make noises you repeat the noise we make.

Exciting New Things:

• You laugh all the time now.
• You have no fear. Dada will flip you, fly you, pretend to drop you etc and you just laugh. 
• You always climb up the gate and squeal when dada gets home.
• You dance all the time.  At the first sound of music you stop what you are doing and start dancing.
• You love to pat me really fast and squeal.
• You have taken a huge interest in anything and everything Caleb. You always want to do exactly what he is doing and you get mad if you can't. 
• I think you are teething...we shall see
• You are still a mamas girl, but you are going to others easier now. 
• You loved Santa.
• Your hair is growing, and you are becoming more and more beautiful every day.
• You will not keep your bows on anymore :(.  You always pull the headband down around you neck and pull your bow off to eat it.
• You are still so snuggly and perfect. 

I love you my sweet girl.  Even though you are almost one I like to think you are still a little bitty baby. The fact that you are still the size of a 4 month old helps with that picture a little :).