Merry Christmas, Part Two

Christmas day was outrageous! Noelle had, by far, the most presents. She seemed to enjoy all of the attention! Chris and I enjoyed opening her gifts this year, but I know that we will really enjoy watching Noelle do it herself next year! I've heard that's as fun as playing with the toys! We were so blessed by the generosity of our families. Needless to say, Noelle won't have to go naked and she won't be bored.

In addition to all of these fun toys, Santa came and left Noelle some baby food in her stocking. :-) It's too bad she can't enjoy it for a few more weeks.

By the time it was the adults' turn to open presents, Noelle was zonked out. Christmas is hard work when you're a baby.

Merry Christmas, Part One

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and families. It goes without saying that our Christmas was extra special this year because of our beautiful baby girl! Here are some highlights:

On Christmas Eve, we had Noelle dedicated at our church. We were so glad to be able to do this when all 4 of Noelle's grandparents could be there. This was a really special time for our family as we recognize that God has entrusted us with this precious little girl.

Here are some pictures when we are all dressed up after church:

Our families had a wonderful time playing with her. We caught some of her newest tricks on film:

Pictures!

Here's a recap of our weekend in pictures:

First apple juice (unfortunately, no funny faces):


Noelle playing with my cousin's kids:

Here is Noelle's dress that her grandma smocked for her (it's hard to see, but it has candy canes on it):

Visiting Rebecca (my college roommate):
And from Chris' weekend:

And another--Chris is on the left:

:-)

I'd like to use a sick day, please.

Well, this has been a week of "firsts." I still can't believe how much Noelle can change from week to week!

Chris went hunting this weekend, and so my mom came to pick me up and we made our first trip to Houston. We've been able to see my mom's sister & family, and we also saw my college roommate. I've had a super time with all of them. Plus, the shopping is WAY better in Houston! (Although the traffic is WAY worse!) Anyway, so this is the longest Chris has been away from Noelle, and I know he missed her mucho! We're headed back this afternoon and I'm anxious to see Noelle's reaction to seeing her daddy.

On with the firsts...Noelle had some apple juice for the first time. She's been a little "stopped up" since starting cereal, and this definitely helped move things along. I was primed and ready with the camera to get her face when she tasted this new stuff. No cute faces, though. She seemed to really enjoy it.

She's also rolling all the way across the room now. She can only go in one direction, so we're having to constantly pick her up and turn her around.

She also got her foot in her mouth and sucked on her toes. Boy is that a weird thing to see. I was getting her ready for bathtime, and I looked down and she had her foot in her mouth! I didn't think she was flexible enough, but she is.

The other first was one for me. I've had a cold while we've been gone. This is my first time to be sick as a mom. Definitely not fun. I was very fortunate to be with my mommy so she can take care of me. I think that moms should be immune from any illness for at least a year! Gone are the days of being able to call in sick to work. :-)

I'm at my aunt's house, and so pictures of the weekend will follow later! There are some cute ones!

Progress

Noelle finally rolled over all the way! She has done it 3 times...once a day for the past 3 days. It is definitely still an accident when it happens, but it's been so fun to watch her! I missed the very first time because I was at the grocery store while Chris was watching her. Bummer. But it was cool that he got to see it! I figure that there are going to be many milestones that I see first since I'm with her more. Anyway, I've gotten to see her do it the other times. Noelle seems pretty pleased with herself when she makes the last half turn. She is also getting to be much more content when she's on her tummy. Yea for progress!

Cereal is going pretty well. I think her digestive system is finally getting used to it. Man, I thought diapers were bad before...I don't think I want to feed her any vegetables or anything. Can she live on cereal until she's potty trained? :-) I'm also wondering why they are developmentally ready for solid foods about the same time they have mastered spitting and blowing spit bubbles? Noelle is having lots of fun playing with her food. Between spitting up and messing with cereal, I don't think I'm ever going to have clean looking clothes.

Naughty or Nice?

So much for a cute Christmas picture...

Solids, Bad Hair & Sleep

The latest update from the Mathis world:

Solid foods are going OK, but not as well as I thought they would when we first started. Apparently adding the cereal has done a number on Noelle's digestive system, and we have found a pretty fussy baby on our hands the last couple of days. I called the pediatrician's office and they gave me a few tips, but said to stick with it for now. We'll see...

Sleep is better. I think the main difference is using the sleep positioner. (Even though it could be due to the cereal, but she's really not eating much of it at all yet.) She did wake up the last 2 nights briefly, but before that we had 5 or 6 days in a row with no crying. Yea!

And lastly...I thought you might enjoy this picture we took after bath time.