All because two people fell in love...: December 2011

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Eve

This year, I hosted a Christmas Eve cookie party and hot chocolate bar. I prepared the whole week in advance and everything turned out great! I tried to take a couple quick photos of the snacks and hot chocolate bar, but we got back to our house from church the same time everyone else did and it was a mad rush to the food. The pictures definitely do not do it justice! The hot chocolate warmed in the crock pot and you could mix in a multitude of different toppings from caramel flavored marshmallows to butterscotch chips to crushed up candy canes- YUM! The cookies and snacks were wonderful, especially Mom's recipes :) I think this will be a tradition we continue in the future!

Hot chocolate bar

Mmmm snacks!

Daniel and Aunt Mary

Thomas and Shelly

Audrey and Tim

Beautiful girls in their fancy dresses and coats

That is one TIRED boy in his Christmas pjs!

The days leading up to Christmas

Wade was a lot of fun this year, understanding a little more about the holiday season. He was so intrigued by Santa and elves and the North Pole. So, I put together an advent calender with Christmas-y things to do each and every day to introduce Wade to a few of the fun things there are to do around Christmastime- and just to torture Mark ;) We read Christmas books (the Grinch was his favorite), did a few crafts (mostly involving glitter), watched Christmas movies (Frosty, Rudolph, the Grinch, and the Polar Express), drove around to look at the lights and many, many other things. It was much busier this year with so much to do!

Here's the beginning of the advent calender

The advent calender on Christmas Eve, all filled up!

Waiting, not so patiently, for Santa

But it was sooo worth the wait!

Twirling with Daddy under the Zilker tree

Under the lights

At the Zilker tree with Daddy

Helping make Spritz cookies

They turned out pretty good!

The last days of Star

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Star. When Santa comes on Christmas Eve, she rides back to the North Pole with him to rest up and help begin preparing for next year. Here are her last few days with us...

Day 16- Hiding in the Christmas tree

Day 17- Just chillin'

Day 18- Climbing in the vines

Day 19- Star brought a letter from Santa!

Day 20- A little gift from the North Pole, a Christmas cup

Day 21- A cute little chair, Star-size

Day 22- Morning message for Wade

Day 23- Hanging from the light fixture to check out the ornaments that Wade made

Day 24- Climbing the fish

Day 25- Last day, she brought Magic Reindeer Food to sprinkle on the lawn and a little note to say goodbye :(

Family photos

Just before Christmas, I enlisted the help of Maryanne and Shelly to help take some family photos. I was hoping to capture a few that turned out ok, not sure of how Wade would endure a 'photo shoot.' I had so many ideas of places, poses and scenes because I really didn't want the sit and say, "CHEESE," type. I also didn't want to have to try and get Wade to sit still :) I must say, I was thrilled at how they turned out! Shelly did such a wonderful job, she took about 300 pictures and I'd say about 15 to 20 turned out great (which, in doing some research is really above average- go Shelly)! I used so many on my Christmas cards because I couldn't choose just one or two! Here are all of my favorites from the batch:

"Lily" out of Scrabble tiles :)

Lily #2

Hanging around

I'm not THAT heavy, am I?!

Pulling Wade around in the wagon

Doing some tree climbing

Tree climbing #2

On Daddy's shoulders

Upside down!

Taking a walk

"One more time!"

Hanging on Daddy

Sometimes this is the only way Wade will hold still :)

It's a girl!

"See Mommy, this says 'gril.'"

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

And the verdict is...

We went to our big ultrasound today. So, drum roll please.... It's officially a GIRL!!

We're so excited to have a little sister for Wade! Little Lilian Brooks, or as Wade calls her, "Luly." She was so fun to watch at the ultrasound, moving and rolling and kicking all over the place. She went from laying with her head on my right and flipped all the way around so her head was on my left side. It took quite a while to get a good shot, she had her legs crossed and then a hand blocking our view when she decided to finally uncross her legs. But eventually she decided not to be so shy and we got a good view- she's definitely a girl! The technician said that her measurements were good and she adjusted my due date to April 27th (4 days later), give or take a week. Who knows though, Wade was 3 weeks early! She also said she was already 15 oz. and according to the weekly emails I get, 10-12 oz is average. She's a big girl already :)

In other (definitely more boring) news, I'm feeling fine except for a mildly sore back. I've gotten that familiar hunger back and am eating like crazy- if I don't eat something small every hour or so, I get very crabby and lightheaded, so I really have no choice ;) This little gal must really be bulking up just like her big brother did.

As I remind myself about what's happening developmentally right now, this is what my weekly email tells me, "Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now." Pretty cool, huh?!

We go back to the midwife at the beginning of January. Can't believe I'm already a little over halfway there. Can't wait to meet this little girl in April. By the way, the technician advised us that she'll be a Taurus. Sigh.

Now, on to cleaning out and (re)decorating the nursery. I'm thinking purple...

21 week belly