A very special Christmas

Ryan and I had so been looking forward to this Christmas... Blythe's first! We both had some traditions that we were excited about starting with our new little family that we hope will bless Blythe and help her to understand what Christmas is all about.

We travel all over the place to see family around Christmas time, so we did our celebration in Austin before we hit the road.

The night before we left we had a little birthday party for Jesus, which was double awesome because we got to eat Blythe's portion of the dessert.

On our Christmas morning we went in to get her up... (Bella doesn't like to be left out)

Polka dots... it's what we do...

We got her suited up in her Christmas pj's... You know if you have a child this age that if you want them to wear something cute for a picture, you better put them in it 20 seconds before you're planning to snap the shot.

Our present to Blythe each Christmas is going to be a verse that Ryan and I will pray over her for the year. This year, we gave her the verse that was on her birth announcement. Our prayer for her this year is that as she grows up she will always go to Jesus. Ryan and I also exchanged verses for each other, and we're both really excited about having a focused scripture to pray for Blythe and for each other every year.
Bella got presents too...


And then the travels began... my pictures are in reverse order, but this is the Christmas card picture that we took with Ryan's family. Blythe's cousin, Levi, is just a couple weeks younger than she is. We can't wait to watch them grow up together!

Ryan and Trey with a couple of their stocking presents

Christmas morning in Houston with my parents and brother (Ryan was very kind to go along with my insisting that we have matching pj pants each year)

Blythe got some time with Uncle Greg

And, I meant to post these pictures when I put her tree up, but this is the tree in Blythe's room that has all of the ornaments that people decorated for her at my baby shower back in June. It was so fun to get it out!

We can't even begin to imagine how fun next Christmas will be when BEA is mobile! Fun times ahead!

4 Months

12 lbs. 12 oz. (40th %)

25 1/2 inches (90 %)

laughing

sitting in her bumbo chair

starting to hate her swing

attended 5 family Christmas events

getting into a bedtime routine

holding and grabing toys

rolling all over the place

The homies with whom Blythe chills

my old teddy bear and her puppy

Bella, of course

Avery and Charlie

Blythe has been so lucky to have so many great baby friends. I've got to get better about taking my camera along to capture the fun. I love pictures of babies all together!

The blog post where I share random thoughts

1. My dog sleeps later than I do- several hours later.
2. I think I might become a shower-at-night girl. It makes the mornings smoother with a baby.
3. Ryan thinks I need a hobby, and he's probably right. I'm going to start "baking with a purpose". I don't really have a sweet tooth, so it's safe.
4. I have come to the realization that I am not at all crafty. I wish I was, but I just don't have the patience for really detailed, slow-moving projects.
5. Having a daughter is like 1 million times more fun than I expected.
6. I wish that babies had snooze buttons.
7. I think I have the greatest friends and family in the world.
8. I'm burned out on house decorating and have been for a while. I would much rather spend my time in other ways.
9. Blythe is waking up from a nap right now.

-She's up, fed, and has a new diaper-

10. My husband is the best communicator and encourager on the planet.
11. Sometimes Blythe sleeps in a polka dot onesie with a polka dot sleep sack on polka dot sheets.
12. I don't think I would be doing cloth diapers if I lived in a town other than Austin, but I love them.
13. Ryan and I have hosted a Community Group at our house for almost 4 years and, no matter how tired I am at 6:45pm before everyone arrives, I am always energized and feeling closer to Jesus when people leave.
14. Ryan's cousins are some of my favorite people to hang out with.

The end.

Christmas fun in Lake Charles

Ryan and I had such a great time this weekend with Blythe in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Ryan's 92 year old grandfather lives there and every year we do an early Christmas weekend at his house. Ryan's dad has 4 sisters, so there are probably 20 or 30 adults at around 15 to 20 kids. It is nothing short of mass chaos.

Blythe with her cousin, Levi, who is two weeks younger

Blythe opening a toy from Lolli

Lots of eating

Lots of presents

More eating

Running in to open presents

Waiting for Santa to come... he makes a personal appearance

Cousin hang out time

Cousin time with Blythe

Exhausted after two very late nights


Levi, Trey, and Joy opening presents

Blythe getting her first stocking

Blythe and Levi talking to Uncle Trey

And..... Blythe's very first picture with Santa!

We had such a good time this weekend... it's hard to believe that real Christmas is still two weeks away!

3 Months (a little late!)

words/ thoughts that come to mind...

getting to be good buds with bella

bubble machine

rolling from back to tummy

smiling a lot

getting to be a great napper

very chatty

loving her playmat

hating the church nursery (boo for us!)

thanksgiving with all 4 grandparents

easy to take places... wonder how long this will last

new friends this month... charlie and knox

loves to stare at her hands

holding up her head

Square One

I have been so blessed over the last six weeks to get to be a part of a really special mom's group at Grace Covenant (not even our church!) called Square One. We've met every Tuesday morning and shared tips and tricks about being a new mom. It's been a great opportunity to hear from experienced moms about everything from sleep training (whatever that is!) to holiday traditions with a little one now in the mix.

Last night the Henegars (the parents of a really good friend of mine) hosted a dinner party for us at their home and had a team of grandmothers from the church watch all of the babies upstairs. They even had our husbands one-by-one go around the table to tell us how much they appreciated us. It was really neat.

I'm so happy that this group is going to go from a semi-formal discussion group to a play group!

Here we are at the party last night. I wish I'd taken a shot of all of with the babies. There are some Baby Gap models in this group!

How is this going so fast?!

I feel like our little bea was born yesterday! I'm not sure how she's gotten so big so fast! Before I had her, I never understood why people were so obsessed with their child's weight and height, but now that I'm a part of the work that helps her put on the weight, I think I understand a little more. It really is just amazing how quickly they grow and get bigger. I realize she's not on her way to college or anything, but it's still just shocking that she's already gained almost 3 pounds. So cool!

At birth:

7lbs. 8oz.

21 inches

Day 4:

6 lbs. 15 oz. (25th percentile)

21 inches (75th percentile)

Day 16:

8 lbs. (50th percentile)

22 inches (95th percentile)

1 month:
8 lbs. 11 oz. (25th percentile)
22.5 inches (90th percentile)

2 months:
10 lbs. 4 oz. (45th percentile)
23.5 inches (90th percentile)

Where's Waldo?

Making the Switch

Over at our house we're making a switch that we hope will save us some moola in the long run. They're great for the environment too, but I'd be lying if I told you that was my primary motivation.

We started with these while we got some baby care basics figured out- feeding, sleeping, etc.

And, for the last 4ish days, we've made the change to the BumGenius Elemental All-in-one diapers. They have been super easy so far. I picked this particular brand and style after reading this blog post

Does anyone else out there use these? And, do you have any tricks of the trade?

What you NEED to Race for the Cure

#1 A warm winter hat- pink, of course.

#2 A personalized breast cancer ribbon onesie


#3 Oops, scratch that... a matching personalized breast cancer ribbon onesie with your bestie

#4 Your bestie*

*this hand-holding was not posed (sigh)

Happy Halloween!

Personally, I consider tutu's "everyday- wear", but I thought it also made for a nice Halloween costume.