Christmas-y photos!

Here are the photos I promised. I call these Christmas-y photos because not all of them were taken ON Christmas day.


Christmas jammies on Christmas morning.

opening gifts. she was THRILLED with her Pooh bear from Mema.

Christmas cards!

Tupper Family photos on January 1st

Ta-da!

Captured

There are moments as a mother that you wish you could just stop time. Freeze it so as to hold onto this moment a little longer. As Noella is getting older I find myself wanting to put life on pause more and more and it kind of breaks my heart. I realize this tiny creature isn't so tiny anymore. She's getting so big and independent. She is developing her own personality and not relying on me as much as she did as a tiny newborn. She will be 10 months in only 14 days. Where oh where is this first year going?

slacker

So i missed posting about Noella's ninth month by 10 whole days but MAN have we had to pack a whole lot in lately!

But first about the Miss.

She is nine whole months now. Ho-ly cow. She's been in this world for as long as it took to make her! And she's amazing.

She can stand by herself for about 15 seconds if she's good and distracted.
She figured out how to eat cheerios and is actually getting most of them in her mouth.
She loves to talk.
She desperately wants to take off walking but chickens out. I don't blame her. It's much easier to be carried everywhere.
She can finally lower herself down from the entertainment center. Thank goodness for small miracles.
She is a super duper attention ham. She literally leans out of the grocery cart, my arms, the car seat anything really, to catch the attention of a passerby.
She giggles all the time which makes my insides melt a little.
She said Mama finally! It was the day before Christmas too which made it extra special.
She loves to snuggle.
She has 4 teeth which she frequently grinds. It drives me nuts.
She still loves to play with the shoes.
She also loves dumping out the bucket of toys so she has no room to crawl and isn't interested in them once they are sprawled over the floor.
She's graduated to 12 month size clothing and size 4 shoes.
She's as tall or taller than most 18 month olds i know.
She has enough hair to put a tiny clip in now which makes me so so happy.
She also has only met one food she didn't quite like which was an orange slice but i don't blame her. They made me pucker a little. She even eats buffalo chicken. She can't get enough of that stuff.

She's been a super amazing baby lately which leads me into our Christmas trip! We were petrified of driving 4 plus hours to NY to see Jason's family but she did wonderfully. She only fussed when she had a diaper that was full to capacity or when she'd been in and out of the car all day. The first night sleeping with her was pretty awful but was understandable. She even slept in our bed for a while which was pretty magical until i got a foot in the ribs. Then it was not so fun.

She ADORED Jason's family. Especially his sister Julie. I don't think she's laughed so much with anyone before. She also had a great time meeting her cousins. She's the youngest grand baby by 12 years on that side and the first one on my side of the family so she is especially treasured.

I will admit i loved this Christmas more than any others that i can remember. Noella was in such a good mood and was so interested in making noise with the paper. We all had special Christmas jammies and got to be the only ones eating breakfast in the hotel that morning. This month has been crazy but it's been full of great memories too.

I promise to post some pictures as soon as i get all 256 off my camera. :)

oh the holidays!

I have been stoked for Christmas this year. Seriously beyond excited. I've been looking at Christmas things since August. I spent Thanksgiving afternoon making Christmas-y things with my sister-in-law Jennie. She made some ornaments and I made a Christmas wreath for our door. I'm positively ITCHING to put it up already. I can't decorate until December 1st though per request of the Mister. I think I can survive until Thursday. We'll see...

This is Noella's first Christmas (obviously) so it's going to be particularly special. It's also the first Christmas Mister and I are on our own so that is also super exciting. We are going back to NY to spend the holiday with Jason's family. I've decided to make a special Christmas cookie I grew up with and put them into tins for them. I sure hope they like them.

We have almost every one else crossed off the Christmas shopping list. It's odd because I'm so used to having to shop everything last minute. I have them all tucked away into a closet hoping that if I don't see them then the urge to get them wrapped won't be so... urgent. After all, I do have a whole month before they need to be wrapped AND an awfully curious 8 month old to wrangle.

Now for some Thanksgiving pictures!

Olive fingers!

She has an obsession with Daddy's hats.

Hanging with the ladies in the Kitchen.

2/3

My baby is two thirds of a year old. Eight whole months. Ho-ly cow. What a big girl.

Here's a lovely collage of some favorites of the past 8 months.


She amazes me everyday. She is such a sponge! She doesn't miss a movement. She follows me all over the apartment and is so excited when she reaches the kitchen because it's all so very new for her. She also is particularly fond of all the trash cans in the house.

And now onto the exciting part! The list!

CRAWLING! yep. She is a crawling fool.
self feeding. She's particularly partial to green beans and bananas.
She hates socks. Or rather, she doesn't hate them but she enjoys pulling them off.
She is finally okay with me using the bulb syringe to suck out her boogies. (gross i know but it's a triumph nonetheless)
She can say "da-da" and recognizes that Jason is Da-da.
She has figured out her bottle though she still prefers you hold it.
She is super talented with a spoon.
She is putting everything and I mean everything in her mouth.
She can bang two objects together.
She can pull up to her knees.
She loves to "dance" when she hears music. Really it's just rocking back and forth but it's usually to the beat.
She has suddenly discovered the headbands I make her wear and frequently pulls them down into her eyes.
She is the spitting image of her Daddy and honestly i look at her sometimes and think "if i didn't give birth to you, i wouldn't know you were mine" but i'm okay with that. Her daddy is awful cute.
She LOVES my camera and comes after me when i'm taking pictures of her. Usually just for the strap.
She's become a rather lovely baby which makes my heart melt. She gives me "kisses" when she wakes up or when she's really excited and even though they are sticky and wet, they are my favorite thing in the whole wide world.
She has become a pretty good napper again which makes things lovely.
She also cracks herself up all the time. It's another favorite of mine to lay in bed with Mister on a Saturday morning and listen to her talking to giraffe and then there's a sudden squeal of delight. It makes me giggle.

She weighs 21lbs and 11oz and is 30 inches long. She's a tall, solid girl and boy does she get heavy to haul up and down stairs but secretly, i love it because she holds on so tight and is so so happy when we get to the goofy looking scarecrow hanging on our door. Her eyes light up when we swing the door open and she knows she's home. I love the feeling of knowing that she recognizes our little home.

Favorite picture of the month:
I love this picture. She's so darling and just look at those chubby cheeks!

Oh how this little creature makes my swell with pride and sing!

Company

She's crawling and so she has literally been following my every move around the house. Including to the bathroom while i was cleaning.

See? She makes things so much easier to clean for me... after i finished the video, she spotted the trash can... Man am i in for it!

Pancake eater