Merry Christmas!

We went to Centre for Christmas...it was awesome!  We left on Thursday after meeting David at work for lunch.  His Shop Boss Dan cooked a pig on the grill, which Dave went late at night to help him start, and it was yummy.  Marlee did so good with the new environment and all the people there.  We left for Alabama around noonish and spent the first night with the Sanfords, Jon and April were there for dinner.  My family from New Orleans came over to visit along with my sister, brother, and dad since they had just gotten in town for the holidays. 

On Christmas Eve day we went to the shooting range like last year and brought Cousins Kelly, Andrew, Lauren and Uncle Joel with us while Mom watched Marlee.  But we were there less than an hour b/c some sherriffs came to shoot and we got worried that they would ask for our license, which we didn't have, so we left.  We had dinner at the grandparents house on Christmas Eve and did presents with the Carpenters, then spent the night at my parents' house. 

Christmas morning was so cool to experience with a child...even though she doesn't get it yet and couldn't open her presents, but she definitely got spoiled with gifts!  Glad my sister was in town too!  Christmas day was also Beth's b'day, so we went back to do Christmas with them and her b'day before going over to Sissy's for Christmas dinner with the Roberts/Formby's.  Natalie and Marlee exchanged gifts...crazy to think Marlee will be up and running around next year.

There was many a good meals and lots of picturesque moments.  The best picture moment was waking up to a WHITE CHRISTMAS...yes, it snowed several inches in Centre, Alabama on Christmas morning/day.  It was magical, and I could just imagine the excitement of many children that morning!

Uncle Jon and Aunt April have been here visiting for a few days back in Nashville as well before they go to Cinci for New Years.  We've watched some movies and made some good food.  Glad they got to come visit since we didn't get to stay in Centre very long this year. 

Now working on getting together with the Auburn girls this week...

Marlee is 4 months old AND rolled over tonight!

Marlee has been much happier during tummy time lately...we've been practicing rolling over (with a little help from me), but I've been preventing her from rolling all the way over during the day in hopes that she'd do it after Dave was home from work.  We gave her 1 practice roll by tucking her arm, then put her back on her tummy and with no positioning help she rolled over!  We even caught it on video!

Can't believe she is 4 months already!  She is loving to sit up (supported) and stand up (supported), and it's so fun to see her interactions with toys (putting everything in her mouth) and with people...Daddy's pretty good at getting some laughs from her.  Pretty soon she'll be sitting up alone and eating people food!  Glad she is happy and interactive for this holiday season!  Plus, she's now been sleeping 8-10 hrs straight at night...hope it keeps up!  She usually isn't down for the count until 11ish, but I'll take it!

The holidays are always a busy time!  Daddy babysat Friday night so that I could go out with my old work girls at the Yellow Porch.  Brittnye and I shared some yummy food!  Julie and Mallory came over afterward to play with Marlee.  It was the funniest thing when we arrived b/c Daddy had to change her due to spit up and the footie pants he had her in were up to her armpits...they were technically the right labeled size, but it was hilarious looking!  On Saturday we spent all day listening and dancing to Christmas music while baking and making handmade gifts for our family.  Then Sunday we went over to Kari's new townhome to visit with her, Rebekah & Mike, and Lee, Leah & Sarah...it was so great to be around my girls!  I can't believe Sarah is already 18 months...seems like yesterday she was Marlee's size!  Leah keeps saying every 4 months it just keeps getting better and better!  Since Bekah and Mike live here now, I hope we can all visit more. 

We are eating lunch at ABEC tomorrow with Dave's coworkers before leaving town (last year we'll travel away for Christmas more than likely).  Excited that the Carpenters and Uncle Joel will be up from NOLA to visit Marlee for the first time!  We can only stay til Sunday, wish we had more time to spend with family, but at least we are getting to go at all.  My sister is in town too!  Should be getting some visits from friends and maybe some family the week after Christmas too!

Well, Dave should be back any minute from helping cook overnight for lunch tomorrow...we are gonna be tired and sorry tomorrow night, but the holiday spirit will lift us!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

These are the holiday cards I made this year online, but didn't buy & send them out snail mail.  I emailed them and posted the card on Facebook for family and friends to see.  Trying to do things on the cheap this year...we are barely doing any gifts unfortunately...but fortunately we are creative enough to do some homemade ones.  Christmas is only a week and a half away, and in just one week Marlee will be 4 months old!  She is growing so fast and doing more and more everyday!  She is getting more coordinated by grabbing, holding, moving around objects.  Everything is going into her mouth, and she's entertaining herself more.  She is still sleeping 5-8hrs through the night and taking naps throughout the day...still usually just 30-45mins at a time.  This is officially day 3 of no swaddling during the day though, just at night.  It is becoming much easier to tell what she wants/needs, and she's letting us rock her to sleep most of the time when she's ready for a nap.  Still not a fan of the paci and is still trying to figure out her thumb (some days she finds it and some she can't).  She's had several diarrhea diapers over the last week, not all but most are...no fever yet but slept a lot on Thursday night/Friday day.  She'll be going for her 4 month check up soon...more shots :( but excited to see how much she's grown!  Bebe (David's mom) came this weekend, his dad was supposed to come too, but he got sick.  It ended up snowing a few inches, so we just hung out at the house, Dave even couldn't get out of the neighborhood for work on Monday.  It's REALLY cold outside still, snow not all melted.  And with our luck it couldn't have happended at a worse time...our downstairs unit went out!  Downstairs has been freezing, but Dave is working on it, if he can't fix it we'll have to call someone.  We'll see!  Busy weekend with friends ahead...hope the weather cooperates!

Holiday Season!

She has the "what cha gonna bring me?" look...cute! Thanks to my mom, we have our first xmas tree in Nashville. It's a small, fake one on a table with white lights and perfect size for the ornaments we have at the moment. But we will continue to collect them, especially for Marlee. We are usually gone much of Dec and don't bother with a tree, but we knew we really wanted to get one once we started having kids...hope to have a real one next year!

We've been traveling a good bit, and Marlee is doing fairly well, even though her schedule has been slightly off this week. Most nights she hasn't been down for the count until near midnight, but is still sleeping close to 6 hrs or so once asleep. She's now taking more naps per day, and until today they were mostly exactly 30mins long, but she's asleep right now for her second nap for over 1 1/2 hrs...earlier she was in bed for 2 hrs, even though she woke up a few times, she kept falling back asleep. I hope she's not getting sick. I'm worried because she's been having diarrhea too (once last night and once today, so far), but she doesn't seem to feel bad otherwise...she's not eating as much since she's sleeping more...so we'll see.

Her 4 month check up/well visit is coming soon...might push it to after the new year if we can. It's so exciting that we'll have our first Christmas as a family! She is getting so fun! Her coordination is getting better and she's getting even more in her mouth! She's so close to rolling over and loves to be assisted to sit up...gets the biggest grin on her face! Her "talking" is so cute and she's even "taking turns" to have a conversation. Now she is too big for her 0-3 month clothing and is in 3-6month size and still size 2 diapers. She'll be eating people food before you know it!

Bebe and Gramps are supposed to come this weekend, but Larry is sick, so it might just be Beth. Next week we have a playdate with Wolf and Reed. Mommy gets a dinner night with the girls, and then Sunday we are going to hang out with Bekah and Mike, Lee, Leah and Sarah at Kari's new home...excited! This is always such a busy time of year!