Christmas

This year was a very special Christmas as it was Grayson's first.  We woke up on Christmas morning, packed up the car and drove to Charleston to spend it with family and friends.  Grayson wore his Christmas pajamas and looked adorable.   Julia and Ethan were with their mom, stepdad and other family in Florida so we will celebrate with them on New Year's Day.

We spent Christmas day with my mom, Tim, Mindy, Emma, Ali, Luci, Grace, Rosie, Dan, Dominic, Vincent, Gabby, Paul, Anne and Tim and Mindy's friends, Emily, Jason and their kids.  The kids had fun running around and playing and it brought me back to when my cousins and I spent holidays at our grandparents in Villa Grove.  We have some great memories (black spinning chair, drinking 7-up from their special metal cups, playing games in their basement with the lamp that pulls down from the ceiling, sneaking into the caboose at the park, playing in the neighbors playhouse, etc)  from back in those days and I hope Grayson will have special memories with his cousins as well.  The kids exchanged presents and Grayson got a cute activity set that goes from infant to toddler and has all kinds of fun stuff to play with.  It was a great Christmas until around 4am when I started throwing up and was sick for the next 24 hours with the stomach flu.  Emily and Jason were both sick around the same time as me and then Craig got sick, Emma, Mindy, Tim, but luckily no one else got sick, especially the babies.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year and are very blessed to have wonderful family and friends.  We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Notes on pictures below:

We took Grayson to visit Santa at Macy's.  It was so cute watching him experience it all for the first time.   He had fun walking through the waiting area because they had all kinds of fun stuff to look at.  I wasn't sure how he would react when he sat on Santa's lap, but he did great.  We also stopped by the Walnut Room on the 7th floor and took some pictures of the beautiful Christmas tree.

My cousin Stu and his girlfriend Sarah got Grayson a handprint ornament.  I thought it was so cute so I decided to get a footprint one as well so we can start a tradition and capture these every Christmas.  My mom and Craig worked on getting these done while I documented it with photos.

Oma gets the kids the best ornaments for whatever their interests are that year.  It's such a great tradition and we plan to do that with Grayson as well.  She got Julia a black dress, Ethan a new driver ornament and Grayson a my first Christmas ornament.

Julia remembers reading The Christmas Story when she was little all the time around Christmas and even memorized the words.  She loved that book and wanted to buy the same book for Grayson and read it to him every year.  How sweet!

We opened presents on New Year's Day with Julia, Ethan and Grayson.  Julia got lots of clothes and a portable turntable (new version of the old school kind that she asked for) and Ethan got lots of clothes, sunglasses and a helicopter.

I made a stamp out of the picture below.  It's one of my favorite pictures of him.     

Grayson ~ 3 Months

My little boy is 3 months old!  Where has the time gone?  He has the best smile that melts our hearts and is such a sweet little boy with the cutest expressions.  He is very alert and loves to check out what is going on around him.  His favorite time of day is in the morning when he wakes up (he gives us the biggest smiles) and bath time where no matter what kind of mood he is in he instantly gets happy when gets in the water.  He also loves his daily walk and loves to look at the trees and sky.  He is cooing a lot more and is starting to tell some good stories.  He is really drooling a ton and blowing bubbles so we started putting a bib on him so his shirts stay dry.  He's also laughing and gave Craig the biggest belly laugh when he came home from work the other day.  He lights up our lives so much and we are so lucky to have such a sweet, smiley happy little guy that is full of love. 

We moved him from the rock and play to the bassinet part of the pack and play.  He transitioned really well into this pack and play so I'm hoping the same goes for when we move him to his crib.  He is still getting up 2 times a night for feedings around 11/12 and 3/4 and then is up for the day around 7.  He normally has his morning nap in his stroller when we are on a walk and sleeps about 2 hours and then takes another nap around 1 and 4, but these are normally cat naps.  We are doing all of his naps in his crib now so hopefully he will transition well when it's time to move him into his bedroom.  

We hired a nanny and her name is Marta.  She is such a sweet lady and Grayson adores her.  She has watched him several times so we can all get used to me being away.  She is bilingual and will only be speaking Spanish to Grayson so he will also be bilingual.  My maternity leave ends 12/26, but I will probably go back the next week and go into the office 3 days a week and be home the other 2.  I can't believe I will have to leave my little baby and go back to work in 4 weeks.  

Grayson, you are the most amazing little miracle and I'm so blessed to be your mommy!  Your smile is the best and luckily you got the memo that your momma loves to take pictures so you constantly give me the best smiles.  We love you so much!

We hosted Thanksgiving this year and Grayson wore his turkey outfit that said Mommy's Little Turkey and had a turkey on his bottom.  Uncle Bryan, Lauren, her mom Linda, her son Aidan, Oma, Julia, Ethan and Craig's friend Jason came for Thanksgiving.  Grayson had fun hanging out with Uncle Bryan especially when they had a thumb sucking party.

Tim, Mindy, Emma, Ali and the girls came to visit for the night.  Cousins Emma and Ali love helping with Grayson and they are so great with him.  It was so nice seeing them and catching up.  They adopted a little girl named Grace and she's 5 days older than Grayson.  We are so excited that they will be so close in age.

We went to visit Allison and had to put the boys in their matching outfits with their mustache pacifiers that Allison's mother-in-law gave them.  How cute are they!!  They will kill us someday for taking that picture, but we couldn't resist.  These boys are going to be some heartbreakers some day…already have their mommas hearts.

Cutest little brother smile and pout