Merry Christmas 2012!

On Christmas Eve we went over to Zuzu's and had a yummy meal and fun times with the Garritys and Aunt Amy. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures, but I did take this video of the kids playing with Ben's present:

 

We awoke Christmas morning to find that "Nanta" had left us a Maw-mower! Yay!

Reading a book with Dada

Eating Pirate Booty from our stocking... for breakfast. 

Hey, it's Christmas, what are ya gonna do?

Santa Baby

Then Dodi, Bob-O, Alli, and Memaw came over for more presents! (And later Heather for dinner!)

Breaking in Mama's new handheld vacuum!

And in the middle of opening presents... SNOW!!!!!!!!

Magical, beautiful, amazing Christmas Snow!!!

Elf with Alli

Kisses from Bob-O

Cooking

Our snowy Christmas house, isn't it wonderful?!?

A very Merry Christmas was had :) 

Peace and love to you! 

Pre-Christmas Fun!

Pre-Christmas Adventures included:

A trip to Santa's Village here in Richardson with Zuzu and the Garritys

Going to see Santa:

This is my sweet friend Hillary with her Jordan and Hayden. Jordan thought that listening to Santa Storytime was way more important that looking at me while I took a picture! 

Sadly, Emmet slept through storytime...

Sidenote: Hillary and I have been friends forever. Our moms were nurses together before we were born, and once we arrived they took opposite shifts so they could keep the other's girl while she worked. So we grew up together and have remained good friends, though on and off about regularly seeing each other. Lately we have been seeing each other a lot and it has been so fun to reconnect and watch our kids play together! Here are our families getting together last month: 

Anyway, back to Santa...

Emmet and Jordan loved him... Hayden not so much :) 

We also rode a train in the neighborhood next to ours and Emmet loved it! 

Christmas cookie baking with Alli

Emmet's first Christmas cookie experience! Gluten-free of course! 

Allison's decorations...

Mine..

And it wouldn't feel like Christmas without a little temper tantrum, ha! 

Funny Emmet Stuff

I just wanted to share some of the funny things Emmet is doing and saying these days:

• When he gives me a big hug he says, "Ooooohhhhh Mama" or "Oooooohhhh Baby". I realized that is what I say to him when I give him a good hug! And now he does it to me, dada or the cat, "ooooohhh ditty dat". It is so sweet!
•  Dodi started asking him, "Whose baby are you?" and he says, "Mama Baby!" or " Dada Baby!"
• He says, "Night night baby" to babies we see asleep at the store.
• This week, he has been going through a biting stage and has attempted to bite me a few times. He tried to bite Dada tonight and after being told no looked at us, shook his head in agreement and said, "No eat Dada". 
• Loves to brush his teeth! "bruhss" If he sees Chad or me brushing our teeth he wants us to get his toothbrush so he can do it with us!
• Has been being extra silly in the mirror after bath time - making faces, practicing his smiles, kissing himself. 

"I want the truth!"

This is how the Jedis brush their teeth, Mom - no hands! 

And yes, my son has a light up lightsaber toothbrush. Guess who bought it...

Nanta

Emmet loves Santa ("Nanta")!!

We really weren't sure how this was going to go, because last year he was only 6 months old. But he LOVED him! He just sat on his lap and had a little chat. He did not want to leave! After our turn he just stood there and watched Santa with the other kids. 

Santa asked me how old he was and said he did very well for his age! He seemed impressed, so I think we are for sure on the Nice list! 

Merry Christmas!

*More pictures from our recent Christmas adventures to come!

18 mo checkup / 2 months gluten free

Emmet had his 18 month check up this week and got a great report! It has also been 2 months of being gluten-free.

• 23 lbs - which is a gain of three pounds in the last 2 months!! Actually, when we went in for his endoscopy, he was in the 19 lbs range. He still has weight to gain to catch back up with his peers, but we are on the right track. We are so happy he has plumped up!!
• 32 inches - a gain of an inch a half!
• Five new teeth (as previously reported)
• Tons more energy! It is so obvious now how bad he was feeling then and how great he feels now. 
• Continues to literally AMAZE us with what he knows: 
• Understands, illustrates and says "under"
• Understands and says possessives, ie. Mama nose, Ben wawa, Ditty Dat wawa, Emmy eaw (ear), and of course, MY!!
• Requests for things to be either on or off, especially the Christmas tree. He goes to it in the morning saying, "tree, dart (dark), light on, on, on, on"
• Can identify school buses, big trucks and airplanes by their sound from far away.
• We are trying to get him to put a T on the end of Emmet, so now he does that with everyone's name: Mamat, Bob-ot, etc.
• So many words!
• Loves loves loves swinging aka "nindry" (it makes him feel windy)
• Emmet has adjusted easily to gluten free because he is too young to know a difference. I am thankful for that. I know we are going to have to deal with that a lot in the future, but I am glad that we can at least get our foundation for now. 
• Our house is gluten-free, although Chad and I aren't completely. I did one month of gluten-free and didn't notice any difference, so I don't think I have a sensitivity to it. But we are all cutting back significantly because I don't buy any gluten. There are a ton of really good tasting and healthy options out there. I don't think I will ever want "real" pasta again! 

So all around, the doctor said he looks GREAT! What a blessing and a relief! Thank you, Jesus for healing our sweet boy!! We will go see his GI doc again in January. I just wanted to update those who may be wondering how the whole GF thing is going :) 

December Evenings

So since we live in Texas, it is in the 70s... in the evening... in December. In fact, in these pictures my child is barefoot. While it's not beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, it does lend to some fun outdoors time with Little Man. And, oh my gosh, he is cute!! 

Silly Emmy

Waiting with glee for Dada to get out the Big Truck.

Cool guy checkin' out his wheels

Best bud Elmo, of course

Poor Lily... she is so patient. 

Happy December!

Our Halls are Decked

Our tree is up! And I have been playing on manual mode with our camera. I now love to take pictures of Christmas trees!