Christmas Eve

Every year, on Christmas Eve, we travel to spend the evening with my husband's side of the family. The only difference this year was that the festivities were held at his Uncle's house, instead of his Grandma's. The change of location worked out seamlessly, and we all had a great time eating dinner, exchanging White Elephant gifts and watching the children play in the living room.

When we were in Ohio earlier this month, a relative gave Zoey a "Baby's 1st Christmas" bib and a pair of socks that look like presents. We did our best to get a good picture of her wearing both, so we could send it along with a thank you card.

The bib is kind of big on her, but we made it work. 

It's still so cute!

(Daddy cut the socks out of the picture, so this one won't do!

"No more pictures, please. No more!"

"Ay yo! Let me down! You're crampin' my style!"

Such attitude! I have no idea where she gets it from? ;)

Best full length shot we could get!

At least her socks and bib were cute because I was totally underwhelmed by the rest of her outfit. It looked so cute on the hanger, and I guess the top isn't too bad, but the black pants that matched, hung off of her! And that doesn't happen often, so I was shocked! I decided to put her in jeggings instead, and looking back, that was a mistake as well! Something is just off about the whole thing...Oh well, her cute face outshines whatever she's wearing anyway, right? :)

~~~

Each year there is a different theme for the White Elephant gifts. This year, it was Hawaiian. I brought a bag of "Leis" (Lays) chips and a bottle of Febreze Hawaiian Aloha room freshener. I ended up taking home two Hawaiian inspired car fresheners, one of which is a cute hula girl that is supposed to sit on the dashboard! Won't be going in my car, but it's a cute idea.

Trying to sneak someone's pineapple juice

My Father-in-law, showing off his gift!

After dinner and the gift exchange, the tradition continued as we headed to Michael's parents' house for a Secret Santa gift exchange. Michael and I both received exactly what we wanted from our Secret Santa's and were happy that our gift recipients were also pleased! (I had my MIL and Michael had his younger brother :)

It was a late night, as usual, but also a lot of fun and totally worth it!

Late Night Promise

I realized that in yesterday's post, I failed to mention that Michael's coworker's birthday celebration, was a day of brewery tours! Mmhmmm. Any idea what I'm about to say next?

Last night, after putting Zoey to bed, I stayed up and did a little cleaning, and waited for Michael to get home. When he finally arrived, only a few HOURS later than expected, boy was he a sight! I won't rat him out too badly, but suffice it to say, he had a good time! In his altered state, he may or may not have promised to vacuum the living room and sweep and mop the kitchen floor! And I may or may not have plans to hold him to it! ;)

Today, Michael watched Zoey while I went to my hair appointment and then our friends Micah and Shannan came over. They are officially moving back home from Hawaii, which means we'll get to spend time with them and baby Lillie, once she arrives!! I know Michael is super excited to have one of his best friends back and I can't wait to grow my friendship with Shannan, and have another sweet baby girl to love on! 

They were so sweet and brought Zoey a Christmas present. We're going to wait to open it, but I took a peek inside the bag, and it's awesome!

"Hmm, what to have for dinner??

Tomato paste? No.

Almond milk? No.

Coffee? What the heck is "coffee"? 

Mmmm! What can I make with 5 cans of black beans?!"

Standing

Michael left early this afternoon to celebrate a coworker's birthday, and since my mom is going to be coming over to our house in a few days for Christmas, I decided to take Zoey over to her place today. We had a lot of fun listening to Christmas music and watching Zoey dance and play with her toys; she's getting quite a collection at Granny's house! 

She loves this toy. She starts rockin' and bouncin' each time the songs play.

The other day, before her bath, Zoey stood on her own, without holding onto anything! So, I wanted to see if she'd do it again today, and sure enough...

STANDING!

We couldn't believe how long she stood! 

She looked at me, and then looked away, and then teetered a bit before loosing her balance.

Once again, as cool as it is to see her do something new, it saddens me a bit because that means she's growing up! Won't be long before standing is just another everyday thing, and then comes walking! Ahhh!

Scrunchy Face!

Gets me every time :)

Shopping Cart Snooze

This cold weather has started to take a toll on Zoey's cheeks. I haven't decided which lotion I want to use on her skin yet (there are SO many to choose from! Do you go "baby"? Do you go natural, or does it even matter? What if I pick the wrong one and she breaks out?!), so for today, I just dabbed a bit of Lanolin on each cheek, and a little on her chin.

"Hey! My cheeks feel funny! What'd you do to 'em?"

I'm sure any parent will agree that, once you take one picture of your precious baby, it's so hard to stop! There was no reason for me to take pictures of Zoey this morning, other than me thinking she was so adorable and feeling like I just had to capture her adorableness. A few pictures turned into a bunch, and before I knew it, she was pretty much begging to be let down from the changing table! Oops! LOL

She definitely has her dad's hairline! 

I love her swooped bangs! I don't even really have to brush them; they won't go any other way!

While waiting for me to get ready, she went shopping in my closet.

Silver Wristlet: $15

Baby: Priceless!

Zoey and I had a pretty eventful trip to Target this afternoon. It started out fine, and then she got tired. Once she got tired, she got cranky and wanted to be held. I hadn't made it half way through my list, so I put off picking her up for as long as I could. After carrying her around and steering the cart at the same time (and bumping into countless racks), she finally let me put her back down. Slowly losing her battle with the fatigue, and just stared blankly as I rolled along. A few minutes later, I caught her eyes starting to close, and eventually, her head started to nod forward. At that point, it was seconds until she was fast asleep. I carefully tucked her jacket, and a portion of her blanket, behind her head and positioned her until she looked comfortable. I'm so glad that my instincts about her being close to falling asleep were right, because I really wanted to finish getting the things on my list!

She refused to sit properly, with her legs through the holes. And then, she fell asleep like this!

I had to reposition her quickly, before someone reported me to the authorities!

Much better! 

We got lots of quiet "Aww, how cute"'s, as we made our way through the store.

This evening's "toy" of choice: a measuring cup

I love how she treats each item as if it's the best thing ever and like she's never, ever, ever going to let it go! 

You can always tell when she's played with her daddy by looking at her hair clip!

Either, it will have fallen off somewhere, or it will be dangling by a few hairs, holding on for dear life! Sign of a fun time :)

LOVE!

Who Done It?

Zoey slept until after 9 am this morning! I don't know what I did to deserve such a nice treat, but I appreciated it, that's for sure! It is no secret that I am not a morning person, and as much as I treasure seeing my little girl's face every morning, she looks even better after 8 o'clock!

One of her favorite spots to pull up: the freezer drawer. 

"I'm comin' for ya, Momma!"

A few days ago, I told Michael how sad I was that one of Zoey's first books is now torn. I told him that I thought it was the work of either Zoey or one of the dogs; since I didn't see any bite marks, I leaned more heavily towards Zoe Zoe. 

Well, seeing the book again made me want to physically show him the damage, and upon doing so, I got an interesting response! All of a sudden, a sly smirk came across his face and he said "Oh, thaaaat's the book you were talking about?"..."I maaaay have stepped on that one..."! 

Oh good grief! That response told me two things:

1) He wasn't really listening to me when I told him about the book the first time, because if he was, one would think he would have inquired about which book, and then confessed his sin! 

2) When I see a damaged item, I need to add "Daddy?" to the list of suspected culprits! 

(How did I not already know #2??)

I think it's still got a lot more life in it! That is, if Michael steers clear of it ;)

Getting Crafty

For me, decorating my home for the holidays is a process that pretty much lasts from whenever I start, all the way up to the day the holiday arrives. We've got our Christmas tree up, our stockings are hung and I even have some gel decals on a few of our windows. And today, I decided I wanted to add some festive, homemade snowflakes into the mix. 

I Googled "How to make paper snowflakes", because I wanted to go beyond the basic skills I acquired in elementary school. One of the first sites to pop up was Martha Stewart's, and I thought, who better to help me add some holiday cheer to our front windows than the Queen of Crafts herself? So, I carefully followed the step-by-step instructions and, I must say, I am quite proud of my first attempt!

A pretty close match, don't cha think?

I love it!

Unfortunately, the tutorial only showed how to make the one snowflake design, so I was on my own with the rest of them. There was a picture of a decorated window on the site, so I did my best to recreate what I saw...

My finished products! 

All that's missing are my electric, self-timer candles on the windowsill, and then the front room will be complete.

Zoey has been pulling on/sticking her finger in her ear for the past two days and I immediately thought "Ear Infection!!". I called our pediatrician's office this morning and made her an appointment for this afternoon, so I'd still have most of the day to watch her. 

Our pediatrician is so awesome and was totally calm when he walked in. After I explained what I had witnessed, he gave me a kind smile and proceeded to carefully check Zoey's ears. I could tell right away that he didn't see anything of concern, and that he knew he wasn't going to. Yet, he never made me feel silly for being there. Instead, he explained that her ears look great and she was likely messing with her them because of the pain caused by her teething. He informed me that babies have trouble localizing pain, so when they feel it in their mouths, they will sometimes touch their ears or even bang on their heads! Poor babies!

I am so relieved that her ears are fine. My husband had ear infections as a kid, so we didn't want to take ANY chances.

Trying to make a break for it!

That poor paper never lasts long!

We'll be back in the office in a few weeks for Zoey's 9 month well visit, but for now, she weighed in at just over 21 pounds. I didn't get a percentile, but I think she's starting to level out a bit :)