Chritmas 2014

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.

I just love it.

Ever since I can remember, I have always had a giddiness when Christmas time comes around. And it wasn't ever really about the presents for me when I was younger (yes, I loved getting presents), but it's the season I love.

 

Twinkle lights.

Decorating the tree.

Christmas music always playing.

Cookies.

Pictures with Santa.

Christmas cards.

Family traditions.

Christmas movies.

 

It's all magical to me.

And now that I have kids, I love it even more.

I get sad when Christmas day is ending because that means the season is over and we have another 11 months until it comes again.

 

Here are some pictures of our Christmas Season.

 

Santa

 

I was super sad that we didn't have any tears this year, but Livve's pouty lip almost made up for it.

 

Baby's First Christmas Photo Shoot

 

Looking at Christmas Lights

 

 Christmas Eve

 

 Christmas Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be honest, Christmas Day was pretty crazy!

Jack woke up in an awful mood because he had stayed up so late on Christmas Eve at my parents.

He wanted nothing to do with his presents at first.

And his Strider bike that Santa brought was making him cry?

 

We were supposed to have dinner with Jason's parents, but they were sick, so instead of staying with my family, we decided to just go home and have a quiet evening since our kids were over Christmas. Ha.

 

Still my favorite, and it was a season to remember as Livvie's first Christmas.

Olivia {7 Months Old}

Little Ms. Independent over here.

Our Livvie Lou is becoming such a big girl.

And that she wants to be. 

I swear she does not want to be a baby anymore.

The quote, "Thou she be but little, she is fierce" sums her up perfectly.

Our little peanut does everything in her power to keep up with her brother.

Her shins are bruised as proof.

Her new favorite activity is pulling up on everything. She does it all day long...

And she is trying to climb, too.

She will pull up on something and then start lifting her leg in an attempt to climb up on it.

At about 6.5 months she mastered crawling on her hands and knees opposed to army crawling. She crawls this way 100% of the time. 

Her favorite destination is the bathroom (just like Jack's was), where she attempts to climb into the tub (because she loves bath time). 

So, that bathroom door is kept shut...

She also loves find all the cords in the house to chew on. Oh, how you forgot all these things...

Everything she finds she continues to put her mouth...still in that fun phase!

And, feeding her is becoming near impossible because she wants to feed herself.

Again, little Ms. Independent...

I can't feed her with a spoon anymore because she just grabs it and wants to do it herself. Giving her a spoon of her own to play with while I try to feed her doesn't seem to work either.

I've tried the pouches and they are just a mess because she grabs in and squeezes it everywhere. I saw on amazon that they sell special caps for the pouches so the food can only come out when you suck it and not squeeze it. Looking into those, but right now the thing that seems to work best is just giving her actual food instead of pureed food.

I've been stemming fruits and veggies and then mashing them a little and giving her chunks off my finger. If I try and have her do it on her own, she just shovels it all into her mouth.

So, eating has been our biggest challenge this month.

 

Otherwise, Livvie continues to be bubbly, happy, and giggly.

She is so much joy to be around, and we all love her to pieces!

Here are Livvie's facts at 7 Months:

Clothing Size: 3-6 month; 6 month

Diaper: Size 2

Eating: Nursing or bottle every 3 hours or so (takes about 5-6 oz from the bottle); Eats 1-2 small meals of fruits/veggies a day

Napping: 2 naps/day (morning nap around 9 or 10 for 1.5-2 hours and afternoon around 2:30 or 3 for 1.5 hours)

Sleeping: Down around 7pm, wakes around 6/6:30pm. Still wakes 1-2 times per night between 1:30-4:30. I need to just let her cry (because I do that when she wakes earlier in the night when I haven't gone to bed yet), but I'm half asleep when I go and get her in the middle of the night and just do it without thinking out of my mother's instinct reaction....

Firsts: Real crawling

Favorites: crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything; loves the bathroom and bath time; 'flying' up in the air as we hold her; TV...

Dislikes: Still cries for a minute or two when going to sleep

Olivia {6 Months}

Went to write Livvie's 7 month post and realized I never published her 6 month one because I forgot to upload her pics. At least I wrote everything and took the pics when she was actually 6 months...
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Six months this past Saturday and what a great month.

Livvie continues to become such a sweet baby.

She has turned a huge corner from when she was a newborn.

 We've had a big month with lots of milestones.

Livvie has been army crawling all month, and is getting really fast.

Her favorite place to go is the bathroom...why are my kids obsessed with the bathroom?

She is starting to push up on her hands and feet, so I'm sure the real form is just around the corner.

Since 5.5 months, she's been able to go from a horizontal position to sitting up.

She loves that she can sit and crawl around and be a part of the action.

She still doesn't want to miss a thing, and loves playing with her brother's toys.

Brother does not love it so much...
 

 Just a week ago, she started pulling her self up to a stand as well. 

It has only been a few times, but we've got the crib lowered now because this girl will probably be trying to climb out of it soon at the rate she's going.

About a week after 5 months, her two front teeth broke through. 

Just like with Jack, I had no idea, and my mom had to point it out to me.

Fail...again.

While I love the toothless grin, seeing those two little teeth sticking out is pretty adorable.

Right at six months we started cereal, and Livvie loves it!

I was avoiding introducing solids because nursing is just so easy.

And we tried at 5 months with Jack, and he really wasn't into it, so we ended up waiting another month - and even then, he wasn't impressed.

But I should have known Livvie is her own person and would have been into it because she wants to do everything we do.

Seriously, I feel like she isn't even a baby anymore, and she's only 6 months.

Trying to not be emotional about it, but it's been a rough few days...
 

 Sleeping continues to be going well.

We're still at 3 naps/day: Morning nap around 9; afternoon nap around 1; late afternoon nap around 4. 

She's still somewhat of a cat-napper and 2 of the 3 naps are 45min-1 hr; with the other one sometimes being 1.5-2 hours.

We might be transitioning to 2 naps soon, since sometimes two naps are going over an hour and we have skipped a third nap a few times.

Nighttime sleep is usually from 6:30/7pm - 5:30/6am.

Livvie does anywhere from a 7-9 hour chunk, so usually waking between 1:30-4. If she wakes around 1:30/2, she will usually wake again around 4.

Still, such huge improvements, so I'm not stressed about it, and I feel pretty rested most of the time.

We had Livvie's 6 month check-up this week, so here are her stats:

Weight: 14lb, 10oz  (20th percentile)

Length: 25.5 in (35th percentile)

Head: 16.5 in (35th percentile)

Diaper Size: 2

Clothing Size: 3-6 Month/6 Month

Eating: every 3 hrs. or so; takes 5oz from the bottle when not nursing

Firsts: 2 front teeth; army crawling; pulling to a sitting and standing position

Likes: cereal, brother's toys, laughing at brother, being outside, stroller rides, bath time

Dislikes: Going to sleep (still cries for a few minutes almost every time we put her down), snuggling

Can't believe we've passed the half year mark...

{October}

Already over a week into November.

Can't believe Fall is half-over.

We've barely even had Fall here in California.

So hot.

And the trend has continued into November.

At least the leaves have finally started to change.

October was a super busy month for us, but we were able to do some Fall activities...despite the un-Fall-like weather.

First was our annual trip to Apple Hill.

Jason and I have been doing this since we were engaged and it's such a fun tradition.

Apple Hill is made up of tons of apple farms (and wineries). During Fall they have tons of activities going on at the farms for families and kids.
Or you can just go to indulge in apple-everything.

Even though it was so warm this year and we had to wear shorts, we still enjoyed the apples galore.

It was crazy trying to do this outing with 2 kids this year and it was kinda a bust and we couldn't stay long because Jack was so tired when we got up there. It's a 2 hour drive from our house, we got there at 10, and by 12:30, after the second farm, he fell asleep in the car while driving to the next.

So, back home we went...

Next up - the Pumpkin Patch.

We have a great pumpkin patch about 30 minutes from our house that is on a farm and has tons of activities for kids.

 

 

 

 

After picking out our pumpkins, we let Jack go over to feed the animals.

He might not be an animal lover...

  

And we couldn't resist letting him take a ride on the tractor train.

He is so into trains right now and absolutely loved it.

He kept waving to us from across the way.

October always means Grammy's birthday.

This year we celebrated 1 0 3.

Truly amazing.

A few weeks before her birthday, Grammy took a fall in her home and after a trip to the hospital, my mom and aunt decided it wasn't best for her to live by herself anymore.

So, we had her birthday party at her new home's attrium.

Grammy loved every moment and wouldn't stop smiling.

 

 

When I found out I was pregnant a little over a year, one of my wishes was that Grammy would be able to meet this baby.

I'm so glad that was able to happen.

Olivia is Grammy's 11th great-grandchild.

The day after Grammy's birthday party, my sister and I went to Game 5 of the World Series.

It was a dream of mine to go to a Giant's World Series, and after not going the last two years, I didn't want to miss this chance. 

With 3 World Series in 5 seasons, I figured it could be awhile until another one happens.

It was a blast.

No regrets.

And, a Giant's win (and shutout)!!

And lastly, Halloween.
I had hoped to continue the 'Jack' costume theme again and have Jack be a Cracker Jack box, with Olivia as a peanut.

But there were no costumes to be found, and I sure wasn't going to be making them...

So, I chose personal costumes.

Jack was a railroad/train engineer to go with his love for trains.

And Livvie was a strawberry to go with her strawberry blonde hair.

Neither Jason or I are big into Halloween, but it was so fun watching Jack trick-or-treat this year.

He walked up to each house and knocked on the door; said his 'tick teat' and grabbed a piece (or two) of candy.

And after each house, he would say 'tank you' and then wave and say 'byeeee' as we walked off.

I wish I took pictures, but I was holding Livvie. It was so adorable.

So, there is our October!

Looking forward to a very mellow November!