Christmas - part two :)

So after church, we headed to the nursing home to pick up Zeus's dad Agustin and bring him over to the house for a little bit.  Zeus cooked a light brunch for us and we had Zeus's dad tell us about the date and time and check all of our clocks (he's obsessed with clocks and watches).  We watched some Christmas themed shows that were on TV and then headed back to drop off Agustin at the nursing home before heading to Gus and Rebecca's (family friends) for Christmas dinner.  It was fun to hang out with and chat with them and eat some delicious food.  I made mini chocolate molten lava deserts like the one's at Chili's for our dessert and they were a huge hit.  I wish I'd gotten pictures of them! 

This is a larger version I'd made earlier in the month.  YUM!

A football game started while we were there and my x-football-player husband got sucked into it for a bit.  We ended up staying until about 7:30 pm when I reminded him we still needed to head home and open presents for Christmas.  :)  We headed home and FINALLY got around to opening presents at 8 pm Christmas Day.  No way that would  have worked when we were kids, but luckily Mia's only 6 months old this year and had no idea what she was missing out on.

Our little Christmas tree.

All lit up - I love it - wish we could keep it up all year.

Zeus wanted me to open my present first - he was really excited.  :)

Yay!  A sewing machine!!!  I'd really been wanting one lately but we couldn't really afford one.  Thank you Zeus and Santa and swinging hot deals on Craigslist!!!

Zeus got a battery-less crank lantern for camping and emergencies and camping - yay!  Santa and I are very practical, unfortunately for Zeus.

Luckily he REALLY loved what was in the envelope.

...coupons for some of his favorite things - toot rub, pedicure, baked items of choice, candlelit dinner of choice, shoulder rubs, etc.

Mia checking out her shiny presents.

Mia under the tree - if you look in the middle near the top, you can see the darling rocking horse ornament than my cousin Eric's wife Laura made for Mia - SO sweet!  She's starting a new tradition with Mia where she makes her a new handmade ornament every year.  We love you Laura!

Mia didn't really get the whole "present thing", but she sure had fun whapping and banging on the boxes.  :)

Reading one of her Christmas books.

She liked this one with the wrapping funky at the top.

Zeus's friends Marie and Troy sent Mia some DARLING clothes - you can kind of see them in the back right side - in this fun box.  :)  The best present EVER!!!

"Seriously mom?  You put me in the box?"

...and then it was back to normal...

...chilling in the exersaucer...

...and putting everything in her mouth (see her two bottom teeth in this one)...

...eating all her toes...

...and drooling like crazy!

"Okay mom, I've tasted all my toys and promptly tossed them to the floor, thus clearing off the tray.  Now what???"

"What do you mean, it's bedtime?!?!?"

...and to all a good night.  :)

Merry Christmas!



Our First Christmas

This Christmas we were planning on having a chill, laid-back, relaxed Christmas Day.  Zeus looked up what time Christmas Mass was at and we set our alarm for 8:30 am so that we could get up and ready and out the door in time.  Mia wore her little Christmas PJ outfit all day long cause mama thought it was so cute.

Yummy thumb-loving girl sitting up by herself on the Love Sac.

...and for anyone who doubts her sitting skills, here's one of her sitting up on the floor all by herself.  (no, she's not propped up!)

Happy to be on the Love Sac again and to have her thumb in her mouth... again.  :)

We got Mia in her pj's and took a few photos before putting her down for the night at around 11 pm, which seems to be her bed time of choice.  Papa's been working on "crawling position" with Mia lately during tummy time.

Working on "strong arms".

...and knee's up.  She actually even looks like she's crawling in this pic, but she's not.  Just reaching for a toy.

...and practicing her sitting skills.

So we SET the alarm, but it must have gotten snoozed and Mia ended up sleeping in until 9 so we didn't get up until 9 with her.  We decided we could make it to Mass still if we rushed, so we rushed like we've never rushed before and were able to get all three of us ready and out the door and to Mass right as it was starting.  We brought our camera so that we could get some pictures of our little family all dressed up for church.  Well, it was FREEZING outside, and a lot of people went up and took photos in the Church where they'd decorated for Christmas.  We thought it was a great idea and were able to get some nice pictures taken, thanks to the tripod I got for Christmas last year.  I thought to bring it in the trunk and Zeus braved the cold to go out and grab it.  She'd had a cute little black ribbon tied around her head, but it had fallen off and she was not at all interested in having it put back on so she doesn't have it in any of the photos.  Sad!

Papa and Mia

our little family

ignore my ridiculous foot pose in this one... I'm not exactly sure what happened there...

Our little family by the manger scene.

Mia and Mama

Papa and Mia

my baby girl and I

my two honeys

While we were setting up the tripod, the associate pastor who'd given the Mass came up to us and chatted with us for a second while we waited for some other families to get their photos taken.  He even asked where in the audience we'd listened to the Mass from and we told him from the back "Child Cry Area" where we sit with Mia so she can use her rattle toys.  I'm not sure if he was just trying to be sociable or if he thought that we'd just come with the tripod AFTER the service to get some pictures.  Shnikeys!

I've got a horrible headache, so I've got to cut this short.  More later....

4 days before Christmas and 80 degrees!

So, it was four days before Christmas, and we were sitting toasty at 80 degrees here in Texas.  Too crazy!  Because of the warm weather, I decided to dress Mia accordingly in one of her cute summery dresses.  Here's Mia, four days before Christmas on Winter Solstice.   :) 

This one of her propped up against the couch with her skinny little legs and chunky sandals was just too funny to pass up.  :)

My precious girl.

Smiles!  (I think she's relieved that I took the bow off her head.)

My little cutie pa-tootie.

Who me?  I'm just chilling under the tree mom...

Man is this dress yummy!  ...just like all of her other clothes apparently.  :) 

Trying to reach the gold icicle on the tree, but it turned out that it looks like she's holding the manger scene.

Yet another example of why we call her "Toots"!

They are apparently very tasty as well.

Okay, so I totally went a little overboard on photos, but I had 87 to choose from!  lol  Is she a first child or what?!?!  Happy Winter Solstice!

Merry Christmas Eve

A Christmas of Firsts

Our sweet little munchkin Mia in her "My 1st Christmas" outfit.

This will be a Christmas of firsts.  Our first Christmas as a married couple, Mia's first Christmas and our first Christmas as a family.  I'm way behind on blogging and have lots of photos to post as well as updates.  Hopefully I will be able to get caught up soon!  :)

Off to read Luke, tidy up the living room and charge all of the the camera and video batteries for our baby's first Christmas in the morning.  I'm hoping that visions of sugar plums dance in our heads and that Mia sleeps through the night so that we can all enjoy a silent night. 

I feel especially thankful as I sign off tonight for wonderful family and friends.  You know who you are but you will never know how much you mean to me and how much I appreciate all that you do.

Oh, and now that it's Christmas Eve, I finally have our family Christmas card done.  Maybe I can get our family update letter ready this week and send them out before the end of the year???  Better late than never?  Maybe.  Here it is.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

grandma?!?!?

So I was walking into the store the other day and looked down and realized that I'd dropped Mia's blanket off the diaper bag.  I had parked in one of the first stalls and was almost to the door of the store when I realized it, so I didn't really have TOO far to go to find it.  Well, just as I approached my car, this lady was walking my way and picked it up for me.  She said she'd seen it fall as she was pulling into a parking spot but didn't know if I'd realize what she'd meant if she'd honked.  We chatted as we walked back towards the store and she said that she'd had her two little nieces the day before.  Then she asked me how old Mia was and when I told her "5 months", she said, "Is she your first grandchild?"  GRANDCHILD?!?!?!  What the heck?!?!?  I said, "No, first child - we got a late start."  She was so embarrassed and mortified and apologized profusely and said she hoped she hadn't offended me.  I just laughed it off, but then later that day I started thinking about it and doubting myself.  I've always thought I look young for my age, but that lady totally blew THAT idea out the window.  The lady was obviously around 10 years older than I and when I said that we'd gotten a late start, she said she'd had her first child at 38.  What?!?! 

Needless to say, my quickly dwindling savings is now down $40 because today I bought some Olay Regenerist, which, according to the commercials on TV lately, works better than some $700 creams.  Let's just hope it really works and I have "visibly tighter skin in just 5 days." Otherwise I totally blew my savings plan to buy the newest Photoshop Elements for myself for Christmas.  Bummer.  I know I'm getting older and wrinklier, but grandma?!?!  I guess I'd better get use to it - I'm sure that when Mia starts school in 5 years that I will quite often be confused for being her grandma.  Sadness.

Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!

Recently my mom brought some of the baby things I’d tucked away in my "hope chest", (man, does that totally date me and make me feel silly, or what?!?!) and low-and-behold, there were a few of the old outfits my Aunt Sue had made over 20 years ago.  Apparently I’d snuck them (so very sneakily I might add) into my own personal collection.  Hehehe!  (ßsneaky laugh)  I’ve been anxiously awaiting the day when Mia would fit into them, especially this darling pair of teal overalls that I've loved for, well, about 20 YEARS.  She would always send the cutest outfits and I remember wishing I could use them on my dolls back in the day.  J  Well, today I pulled them out again and she’s finally big enough for them!  Yay!  She had kind of a rough day today, but looked so stinking cute that I had to take pictures anyway! 

Serious little girl + cute outfit = seriously cute photo of my baby girl.

I wanted to get a photo of the whole outfit with her standing up because it's just so dang cute and she looked so adorable in it.  We started out with me holding onto her hands, but at one point I let go to wipe some ever-present drool.  She could still stand by herself, not because of any incredible balance skills that she has, but because she was standing leaning slightly back against my legs.

Holding on to mama - her little armpits come up to about my knees!

Well, after I let go that one time to wipe her little face, she realized that she could stand up on her own and would NOT let me hold onto her hands for ANYTHING, little turkey!  I'd try to reach down and hold onto her hands and she'd shake them off every time after that.  Oh my!  She is SUCH a determined little thing, even at such a young age.  Hopefully it will serve her well as she grows up and sets goals for herself.  Man, just thinking of her being old enough to make goals makes me feel old and a little sad! 

What?!?!  You think since I'm only five months old I can't stand up on my own?!?!

See... no hands.  Told ya.

Ah, silly rabbit, Trix are for kids... but I must admit, it's a pretty cool trick and such a cute little rabbit to boot!