Friday, December 25, 2009

First Christmas and Blessings


What a busy week we have had! Gamma got here on Monday, Gampa got here on Wednesday, and Nana and Papa Jay got here last night. Lola's first Christmas Eve was very eventful! We found a new breakfast place so we all went and had a Christmas Eve Breakfast. Then Gampa and I went Christmas shopping while Rodney and Gamma held the fort down at home. Gampa got Lola the cutest little outfit that says "Team Grandpa." She will enjoy wearing that!
After Nana and Papa Jay got here, we headed to church. Lola was so sweet during church. She was fascinated by the lights, especially when all the lights were turned off and the candle light started. It was so lovely and it was wonderful to introduce our baby girl to this family tradition.
After church we came home and had some dinner. Now in our family, we have a tradition of opening our stockings on Christmas Eve.  This started years ago when my grandmother would do all of our stockings. We were allowed to open one stocking stuffer (or "stuffin' stocker" as my family calls it) on Christmas Eve. Well, my grandmother and mother were like little kids and pretty soon, that ONE present ended up being the whole stocking! And, thus, a tradition was started! (It's a good thing that the tradition of opening other people's gifts to see what they were, then wrapping them back up,  didn't stick! I think when Lola gets a little older, Gamma might be a bad influence!)

Of course we took lots of pictures of our favorite present under the tree.  She even unwrapped one of Gamma's presents. Course she enjoyed the paper much more than anything!  Which I hear will be the case for the next few years. I usually make breakfast on Christmas morning (an easy egg dish) and this year, I decided I'd make some pumpkin pancakes. I had a pumpkin bread mix that I converted to pancake mix. I made the first two and then the pancake master (aka, my dad) came in and kicked me out. I tried to put cranberies in the pancakes, but Mr. Pancake told me I was ruining them, so I got out voted and he took over! I discovered that pancakes and bacon are not prepared as quickly as eggs. When we were finished, Lola and Papa Jay had gone down for a nap! Nana gave us a beautiful "Baby's first Christmas" ornament. We love it! She also brought us a bunch of ornaments that she made when Rodney was growing up. I loved adding those to our tree!  After all our presents were opened, Lola played in the paper.  She was almost buried in it! Gamma got her an exer-saucer, which she seems to like. It will grow with her, and I think she will like being able to turn herself around--that is when her feet finally reach the ground in it!
We did our traditional ham dinner this year and Lola was jealous that she didn't get to have any of it! And of course, we ate way too much! I had forgotten to get rolls, so mom headed out to get some (and the milk I forgot to get) but nothing was open (which was really nice, I think!) so she ended up getting us a loaf of white bread for our dinner. So we had the whole spread...ham, dressing... full setting of china and silver and real napkins with my favorite glittery dragon fly napkin rings...and a loaf of white bread!
We sure missed having Hannah and Jake here (and Kristi and Bob!) This is the first year we've been in this house that they haven't been here with us on Christmas. They have a new baby too, a few months younger than Lola.  I'm so looking foward to Lola having a cousin close in age as it seems all of the people we know actually have lapped us in the children department, so all their children are much older than Lola. So, yay for baby Jaycee...Cousin Lola is looking forward to getting to know you and hopefully they can be together next Christmas!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Five Months and Sweet Potatoes!

Lola Raye Sherrard is now five months old! Crazy how time flies and how we can practically see her growing right before our eyes. We think that Lola is going to be a lefty. She has started grabbing things, and always with her left hand. For her shower, we got this great little booster seat with toys attached to the tray. She is showing quite an interest in spinning the dragonflys and bouncing the birdy. And...all with her left hand. We are still sleeping in the bouncy seat, and still sleeping swaddled, but through the night again, which we love. I guess the swaddle and bouncy seat are ok, after all, we don't know any adults still sleeping swaddled in a bouncy! Knowing that the "real" food time is coming within the next month, I started making and freezing baby food this week. I got some green beans and carrots in the freezer, and tonight I started with the sweet potatoes.  To me, even, they smelled really good when they were cooking. We've been practicing with the spoon. On bath day, I've been mixing up a little rice cereal and "feeding" her. (A couple of months ago I tried this and she flipped out!) Then, when we are covered in rice cereal, I pick her up out of the Bumbo and plop her in the tub. (We bathe on the kitchen counter.) We've done that a couple of times, I can't imaginen it on a daily basis, it's such a mess! This is a far cry from the flipping out a couple of months ago!Tonight, with the smell of sweet potatoes in the air, I decided to try to something a little different. So, I pulled out the Bumbo and bib, and put some of the sweet potatoes in a bowl.  She made the cutest faces and we ended up with sweet potato all over the place, but I THINK some of it went down--I guess we'll see what color things are when they start coming out the other end to be sure! I get such a kick out of this kid! I'm amazed at what is intuitive with babies, and I'm just so impressed...how did she know to open her mouth to let me put the spoon in?


This I think she even is starting to recognize her name! Of course we are not making this easy for her with all the nick names.  But today, she looked at me when I called her name...albiet it took twice, but still, she looked at me after I said, "Lola." Changing, changing, changing!

We are so excited that this is her first Christmas. Rodney has taken her to the mall a couple of times this week, and she is always a show stopper when we take her out. The funny thing is, I don't remember ever asking complete strangers about their babies! I'm not sure I ask people even now that I have one. I wonder if this makes me a bad person, but I can honestly say I never stopped anyone in a store to say something about their child! Anyway,  I realize that this Christmas will be more meaningful to us than to her, and even though we got her in July, she is the BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thanksgiving and Pictures!


Last week, we changed up our tradition of going to Lubbock for Thanksgiving, and headed to Las Cruces. This is where I grew up and it's the first Thanksgiving I have been there in 21 years, first holiday in 20! It still feels like home!
We got to meet our new niece, Jaycee, who is the cutest little red head ever! And she is so tiny compared to Lola!  We went to our sister-in-law's sister's house (confused?) She lives not far from my parents, so it was still easy to have all the people we love together!
We took Lola and Jaycee to Sears to have a photo shoot of the two new cousins. It went OK, getting babies to do what you want them to is not so easy. But, surprisingly, we got some pretty good shots! I posted the pictures on the Share Site.
After Thanksgiving night, though, we had a bit of a scare. My dad went home early and called us to let us know that Bogey, our dog, was no longer in the yard. Historically, Bogey has had a difficult time of staying confined. We have on our tags that he's a fence jumper and to call us, however, that morning, I took his collar off.  So Dad and I set off looking in the car, Rodney went off on foot. Rodney's dad and brother headed out too and we scoured the neighborhood. FINALLY, my father in law found someone who was wondering the neighborhood looking for Bogey's family! He said Bogey was very happy to see him. And we were VERY relieved!

We also had Lola's picture taken with Santa, which was ok, but there was just no getting her to smile. But that's ok. She didn't cry!
A fun highlight of the weekend was getting to see my high school football team play in the state semi-finals--and win. It wasn't really a game, but it was good to see some old friends and we didn't lose! That was the first game I had been to also in 21 years!
Now we are getting ready for our work Christmas party Saturday evening. I was trying to make these really yummy cheese puffs covered in a toffee-like coating. But I don't have any idea what I did wrong, but both batches I made burned after half the time in the oven.  I'm disappointed! Oh well, there will be enough other good stuff!
I'm also pleased that I got my Chrstimas cards all done and out! It was fun making them this year, since I have such a beautiful little subject to showcase! We had OUR Christmas in July this year, for sure!