Christmas & Christmas Eve (post 1)

Here's the mega overload post of many, many Christmas photos. (I'm sure you've all been waiting anxiously.)

We went out to the Buffaloes and had Christmas with Sam's side (minus his brother in Albuquerque). The Buffaloe cousins were even harder to photograph on the couch than usual this year, if you can believe it. I think this one captures their personalities fairly well (courtesy of Barb and her "find your face selfie trick!) plus it has a surprise photo bomb by Papaw/Santa in the back.

James appropriated Amelie's Wonder Woman sword (briefly)

Present-opening chaos:

Here's that couch pose that I like so much. (I should do a progression/comparison for all the years I have! ... if I can find them.)

We put together a gingerbread house (it happened once and now it's tradition - they kept asking about it!) James doesn't see why he can't just eat it already.

Sam convinced me to just let them have it the first night.

The preschool where Amelie and James go puts on an annual Christmas concert.

There's a cookie exchange at the end, which, let's face it, is really what James cares about.

Notice his dapper Reindeer vest.

Amelie looks like she's up to no good.

We took advantage of the dress clothes and decorations to snag a few photos as well.

I love these of the kids under the tree. They all look like outtakes, ha!

We went to see the magic tree at Cherry Hill after services on Christmas Eve (as is tradition). I'm sure Leah's breaking all kinds of rules here, but she loved it. Next, year, I'll try harder to get a family picture.

My phone made a compilation of the Christmas Eve photos as well. I was wishing I'd gotten a photo of the candelight part of service as well, since it's so nice, but I was busy enjoying the moment (and wearing the baby) and then I decided that might be tacky anyway.



Here's Leah on Christmas morning! Her first Christmas, with Christmas tutu courtesy of my coworker Whitney. She was a good sport about the bow.

Amelie opening presents. (Also a good sport about the bow.)

James says this is a "bone and arrow."

More present-opening chaos:

Sam and I went to see The Last Jedi on Christmas night. Movie theater selfie here:

Dentist

Amelie and James are still in the no-cavities club. They gave Leah a toothbrush in honor of her 2 tooth nubs.

James still didn’t like the cleaning, but he did a much better job than 6 months ago. 

Year In Review

So my phone made a "Best of 2017" video for me. I love these things - and I especially love that I didn't have to do any editing, the iPhone just created it.



I still need to upload some of the metric ton of photos from Christmas (the phone made a Christmas eve video for me, too!) but this was a nice compilation with some Christmas videos, too. I can't decide which is my favorite.

Here's the 2016 video (I tried to link, but I couldn't find it on the blog ... maybe ... I never posted it? I don't see how! Ha!)




Okay, apparently I had a 2014 video, too, which I found scrolling through old Facebook posts, but I'm not sure how else to put it on here.

9 Month Well Visit

Leah and I went to her 9-month well-child visit yesterday. Amelie was planning on coming with us, but changed her mind at the last minute.

In the waiting room:

Height: 2 feet, 3 inches (about 10th percentile) 

Weight: 17 pounds, 7 ounces (about 30th percentile) 

Head circumference: 44.5 centimeters (about 50th percentile)

Here are some things Leah is doing right now:

• Pulling up & cruising around the furniture
• Babbling (lots of noises) 
• Waving (it also sounds like she can say "hi!" but she's probably just imitating us)
• Eating lots of foods (she loves beans)
• Banging her toys together (and utensils) 
• Passing toys hand-to-hand
• Loves drinking sips of water from a cup
• Has two teeth!
• Wakes several times each night (our worst sleeper yet)

She’s doing just great!

Here’s a link to her 6 month visit. 

Leah Crawling & Cruising

This post is a little overdue! Leah is incredibly mobile. She rolled and scooted super early, and could get all the way across the room just scooting slowly on her back without making a noise.

Once, having placed her in the middle of the rug, I came back in the living room and couldn't find her for a minute. Leah was under the couch, quiet as can be.

I shouldn't have been surprised, since this happened when she was not quite 3 months old!

Here is a picture of her trying really, really hard at 5 months:

And still not quite there, but so close at 5.5 months. It's been very exciting at our house for the big kids.

I wanted to get a little better video, since she really can go a long way (from the living room all the way through the kitchen to the dining room, for example) and she gets up on all fours to do it, but after several attempts, this is the best effort I have on camera.

6 months old:


Now she's crawling fast and cruising along the furniture. James very, very, very excitedly reported that she let go and stood for a second (this was independently confirmed later).

Leah at 9 months old:


Amelie walked at 11 months, and James walked at 14 months. Somehow, I think she'll be sooner -- and the 3rd baby is the one you'd like to stay put longest! She keeps us on our toes, that's for sure. 

Putting up Lights

Here are James and Leah helping Sam put the Christmas tree up.

Baby Leah discovering the tree. We got a prickly one and so far it's worked to deter her from pulling off the ornaments. We only put up the non-breakable ones just in case. Amelie and James have probably been somewhat limited by the prickly branches, but they've still done a fair amount of rearranging (or rather knocking off and putting back on).

Here's the finished product: 

We also put up just a few lights outside. Here's James, helping again. 

The finished outside lights: 

Festive mantle. I love sending and getting Christmas cards, but I'm so behind this year! We have a stack that still need to be stuffed/sent.