For We Need a Little Christmas

We wanted to put up our Christmas stuff while ibu...grandma...ibu was in town. She left early in the morning the day after Thanksgiving, so much to Darin's chagrin, we put up the Christmas stuff the night before Thanksgiving. 

 Belén was mesmerized by the lights.

I am just LOVING the Christmas season right now. I love that Shae can help decorate the tree and how he talks about snow and Santa and "pesants" and baby jesus and how he asked to listen to Christmas music in the car today.

Darin's childhood Humpty Dumpty ornament was by far Shae's favorite.

We went to the massive mall in Syracuse on one of the days that Darin was off during Thanksgiving break. Santa was there and wasn't busy at all so we took advantage of it. I talked Shae through what he should do and mentioned that he should ask Santa for something for Christmas. I reminded him how much he liked playing doctor and should ask for a doctor kit (since that is what I bought him). He did just that. Two days later, he happens to see the doctor kit in my closet (go me) and shouts, "Mom! Santa DID bring me a doctor kit!" hahaha...welllll....yes. He sure did. He reminds us daily about that doctor kit up in the closet and keeps saying he wants snow so that it will be Christmas.

 

 

And I win Best Mom of the Year award for not getting a picture of Belén with Santa. I was just so excited about Shae being so excited about Santa that I totally forgot about her. #secondchildproblems

I was pretty mad at myself the rest of the day for not taking the opportunity to get a picture while there was NO one there.  I also just get so anxious taking my own pictures when we visit Santa when clearly they want us to buy theirs, and my grandpa is a Santa which makes me feel extra bad...so it's not just #secondchildproblems, also #momischeap and #ignoresnocellphonepictures signs. 

9 Months

9 months in. 9 months out. So crazy that this girl has been in our lives for a year and a half now. It feels like she has always been a part of us.

That tongue. It is always hanging out.

Right after her 8 month post she started pulling herself up, on everything. She has now started taking small steps while holding on to things.

 

 

Including me. We're at that stage where it is hard to do anything without a baby pulling up on me. This is my view throughout the day:

Baby destruction is in full swing. The kitchen drawers emptied and bookshelves cleared by the end of the day.

Oh the joy it brings her...Oh and those juicy thighs...can't get enough.

She looooves her daddy. Shae was always quite the mama's boy (and still is to a certain extent) but Belén, she cannot get enough her daddy. I love seeing how excited she gets when he walks through the door, or when we are all on the couch together, she always tries to get to him. 

 She also really likes his facial hair...

Oh the bathroom. It brings her such pure joy. As soon as someone goes into the bathroom, she books it over. Trying to get her ready for bed while Shae is doing his nightly routine in the bathroom is pretty impossible. She tosses and turns until I let her go and then crawls as fast as she knows how to get there before the fun ends.

 And of course she no longer sits in the bathtub when it is her turn to bathe. Standing in the cold rather than the warm water is all the rage these days.

 As soon as she gets in the tub, she is sure to clear the sides of soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. 

Like I said, baby destruction. (Thankfully she has only pulled the Christmas tree down once thus far).

She's at a hard stage to be outside because she just wants to get down and move around. She is not content for very long in the stroller or in my arms and wiggles and wiggles until I put her down. We try to only go to playgrounds with baby swings since she usually seems pretty happy there.

 Can't do a photo shoot without this boy wanting his moment in the limelight.

 Not a very flattering picture of her, but this is the best I could do to get a pic of her 2 top teeth that have been coming in all month.

Those dang teeth have really been messing with sleep this month. I feel like she has completely regressed and I keep hoping it's just the teeth but I'm not sure that it is. She wakes up at least two times per night, if not more, and the past week has been waking up around 6 a.m. instead of her usual 7:30. Sleep training might just become a focus of the 6 week winter break.

 Taking pictures looks a lot like this: (getting videos is so hard because as soon as she sees me, she just comes over and puts her face right in the camera).

She is constantly getting herself stuck in something.

These Sesame Street puppets. Shae loved them around this age too. There's just something captivating about them. She freaks whenever she sees them.

Other things to note:

~She is a growler.

~She can suck out of a straw like a champ.

~She cannot nurse if anyone else is in the room. Really, she seems to have less and less interest in nursing these days which is so weird for me given how Shae was.

~She has ticklish bum cheeks (when we put cream on her she giggles her little heart out, and so do I).

~She's pretty stinking cute.

Ithaca Falls and Thanksgiving

We took a little mid-day trip last Tuesday to Ithaca Falls. It is not far from campus so we were able to pick Darin up from campus for a quick break to accompany us. 

When we got there, I asked Sharon if I could take a picture of her and Belén. This is what I got:

Now I see where Darin gets his photogenic genes.

Convinced her to turn around and so glad I did because I love this picture and these people!

Cutesy and silly faces with grandma. We are so thankful that grandma got to be with us for Thanksgiving this year!

 

So thankful for this silly boy and his goofy personality.

Squish the baby face! So thankful this little girl joined our family this year.

So so So so SOOOO thankful for this little family of mine. These guys are my life. I literally wake up to serve them, and I love it. 

We got a tiny 12 lb. turkey this year. Darin did his magic and it came out great.

I tried two new recipes this year. This one and this one. Have I ever mentioned my obsession with Mel's Kitchen Cafe? I am hooked. There is a 99.5% chance that if I am trying a new recipe, it comes from her blog. I really liked the Cranberry Chutney quite a bit. It tasted so festive and added some sweetness to the plate. I would definitely make that one again. 

Shae eats his turkey right off the cutting board. 

 ...and then hides his face so that I can't get a picture of him. 

Our grateful tree didn't go very far this year. Not because we aren't grateful, just because life got in the way I guess. 

Thanksgiving was pretty bittersweet because we had to say goodbye to Ibu (Grandma in Indonesian, Darin is trying so I guess I should too). 

We loved having her here to celebrate the holiday season with us. So so so grateful for family.