Merry Christmas

Pregnancy #2 Update

At 15 weeks I feel ginormous!

 My first trimester was really difficult. Although I was mostly just nauseous, it was bad enough that I wanted to throw up just to feel better. At 9 weeks I tried drinking a very concentrated ginger ale and I threw up that night. Once in November and December I had bouts of stomach pains and vomiting.  I'm still not sure why but they were awful.  Soup has been the only thing that sounds somewhat appetizing. I've been having a lot of tomato soup! On December 16th my doctor's appointment went well and the heartbeat sounded great. Tommy and I even heard a kick!

On Saturday, Mimi and Papa came up to stay the night and then drive on to New Mexico for Christmas. It just happened to work out that Matt's work invited us to their suite at the American Airlines center for a college basketball double header. Because we conveniently had a babysitter ;) we could go! We just stayed for the second game and although I was having some stomach pains in the beginning, they went away and it turned out pretty fun.

Christmas Activities

Tommy loves this Little People Nativity set. I knew he would and that it would be used for years to come! For FHE we opened it up and talked about the Savior's birth.

Tommy's first Christmas cookies-more like sprinkles with some cookie! 

Santa's Little Helper

The library had a Christmas marionette puppet show and afterwards the big man was there. Tommy was waving and saying "Hi Santa" until we got up to the sleigh;) Then he seemed to be bolted to me.

When I was telling Tommy about Santa, he was looking at our fireplace, and then got a sour look on his face. He started to whine and say, 'presents! I want presents! my presents!' He wanted them right then....so it begins.

There was a reindeer outside the library for the kids to pet. Tommy had no fears here.

On Sunday we went to our Stake's Sing Noel Choir Performance.They did a really great job and even had a children's choir (Tommy's favorite part).

I love doing lots of activities in December and starting new traditions. It helps me to stay in the Spirit of Christmas and remember the true reason for the season.

Tommy- 23 Months

A typical morning...he loves his shoes...all shoes

His most frequent sentences include:
'I wanna see'
'I can't see it'
'I can't reach it'
'That's funny'
'That's scary (or pooky)' (said this at Target when he saw an Indian man with a turban....sigh)
'I want to play'
'I did it!'
'(name of someone or something) , Where are you?'

He wears size 7 shoe
He is just now fitting into 2T clothes.
His bottom 2 year-old molars are popping through-explains recent finger chewing and biting his clothes
His sleeping has changed. He wakes up by 6:45-7 and will fall asleep again by 10:30....Unless we're in the car late afternoon he won't go back to sleep for the day...not so good...
*loves chiucken nuggets, fruit snacks, chocolate milk, and most recently egg nog;)
*favorite music-still the Wiggles,and now Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, AND Santa Baby-as soon as we get into the car he says 'I want Santa Baby!' :)

Zoo and Early Christmas!

Mimi, Papa, Lori, Maggie, and Danny came up this weekend and we headed to the zoo. It was a beautiful day with a slight breeze and the animals were SO active!

We were lucky enough to hear this lion roar a lot. Tommy was enthralled. 

This tiger was pacing back and forth. We all got a good look at it.... 

especially Danny. 

We found some monkeys on the loose ;) 

Always Tommy's favorite part-the Parrot Paradise.  

That night Mimi and Papa offered their babysitting services and we took it! We just went to the mall but it was still fun. That night we had an early Christmas. Don't mind Tommy's pumpkin jammies;) 

Getting some yummy sour patch kids-he loves them! 

His first train set and it is now ALL he talks about and plays with! 

He was 'wowing' it with a sour patch kid and then immediately said "open! open!" 

On Sunday we said goodbye to Mimi and Papa and later that night we finished decorating the tree. The little elves hung the ornaments all along the bottom-so cute. Then we went to the Colleyville Nativity display. It wasn't as big as last year's but it was still neat to see so many different types and sizes of nativity's. Then we came home and tried to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional but we didn't hear much. Thankfully we have a DVR! Monday morning we had to say goodbye to Lori, Danny, and Maggie. The next few days always begin with Tommy saying 'maggie!' in the mornings.,,,hopefully we'll see them again soon!

Houston Thanksgiving

When you have Thanksgiving in Houston, you can....

go swimming AND...

have a "sleigh" ride... thanks to Papa

Tommy would spit these balls out and make Dylan belly-laugh! It was great.

Tommy was fascinated with Mimi's new washer and dryer. He was mesmerized watching the clothes spin.

Rolling a basketball back and forth was also a big hit. Tommy had to be reminded multiple times to open his legs so he could get the ball.

Peek-a-boo Maggie!

Well Thanksgiving was really yummy. Almost all of it was store bought so we didn't have to do much during the day...really nice;) It was so relaxing I really didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving! Tommy's favorite part though, was the 'juice' (The sparkling cider mixed with Sprite) I had to bribe him with it to eat the turkey and potatoes. He was borderline addicted!

That weekend we went to the Children's museum where Tommy got to drive...

play with the trains....(and didn't care if I left his sight or not, which is rare these days)

go fishing...

play with dump trucks and bits of rubber....

sweep the floor....and he loves it...

play fireman....

go grocery shopping...

show Papa how the firetruck works....

watch beautiful Maggie get her face painted...

and see Papa and Daddy out like lights!

Tommy & Maggie were lucky enough to get a guitar lesson from Papa. He was very patient with them. Maggie also gave us a few numbers of ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle.

The grandkids also had their Christmas pictures done and here's the results. It was extremely difficult to get them all looking at the camera and smiling. I can't imagine the fun we'll have next year;)

Looking sharp!