christmas with the cox's

we had another christmas celebration over the weekend

with ronnie's side of the family.

 

brette got some pretty cool new toys from her grandma and grandpa

and aunt sheri was showing her just how it all worked.

a turtle ball pit.

perfect for a future dz.

and how cute is this zebra ride?

we just need brette to be a bit taller.

hopefully she'll be riding it in no time. 



 

b also got an adorable santa pj set.

i'm really hoping i can still put her in the robe again next christmas.

too cute.

 

and that wraps up our holiday celebrations.

until next year...

 

 

now back to my diet.

things went astray.

christmas day

how was your christmas?

ours was filled with

family

church

food

presents

traveling

desserts

and love.

 

of course, brette's first christmas was more for ronnie and i than her,

but i loved getting to share all our holiday traditions.

on christmas eve we went to see santa.

she loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

that night we went to mass as a family.

(my parents, my brother, sis-n-law, their two girls and us)

and the only spot available for six adults and three kiddos

was in the second row, dead center.

i was praying that brette made it through with no tears,

and we were in luck!

all the girls did wonderful.

and brette got to show off her new dress i bought her.

 

 

 

then it was back to our house for pizza and the anticipation of santa.

once everyone left and we got brette to bed,

ronnie and i watched a christmas story,

my favorite xmas movie and a turner christmas eve tradition.

the next morning b woke up at 5:45 (oh. hell. no.)

 i fed her and read her xmas stories

until 7:00 and decided it was time for dear old dad to join us.

i made hot chocolate, put on some christmas tunes

and turned on all our christmas lights.

the setting was perfection.

 

 

 

we showed b her gifts under the tree and

ronnie and i squabbled about his lack of skill using the video camera.

(um yes, i do want heads in video.)

so then he wanted me to redo it all so he could refilm it,

but i refused, so now, when brette watches the video of her first christmas,

i have no head. 

sa-weet.

i swear, sometimes...

 

then b went down for a nap and ronnie thought

we should do laundry and pick up the house.

i'm sorry.

i don't do chores on the holidays.

so once again, i refused.

you can tell ronnie and i were not off to a great start.

when she woke up

i dressed her in my old christmas dress from my first christmas.

i love that my mom saved all these dresses.

 

 (ahhhh-dorable)

 

 

 and we hit the road to my parent's house.

aunts, uncles, grandma, cousins

everyone was there.

i think total we had 24.

it's chaotic, but fun.

we ate lots and lots

and then went back for more.

we opened gifts and talked for hours.

i loved it.

i am already anticipating the amazingness of next year

with these three little ladies.

 

(matching pj's provided by aunt jaime)

 

so yeah,

basically, we had a wonderful day.

hope yours was just as special.

happy holidays!

 

 

here comes santa claus

its the eve of the big day.

baby boops is sleeping

and after her nap

we are f i n a l l y going to take her to see santa.

there were lots of christmas things i wanted to do with her:

sleigh ride, christmas tree farm, gingerbread houses, elf on a shelf

but she's a little too little.

this is the one thing that even though she'll have no clue what's going on,

 i'll still have a picture to show her

that she met santa on her very first christmas eve...

right before he had to take off for his trip around the world.

 

our other plans include evening mass and a family pizza dinner.

then off to bed to await our big morning with

just the three of us.

then we'll head down the highway to grandma & grandpa's house

to share the holiday with our other twenty family members

over a big turkey dinner.

should be fun.

 

and since i don't get to mail out a card to every special person in our lives,

here is our 2013 christmas wish for you.

 

 

merry christmas to all and to all a good night.

 

2012 card

2011 card

2010/2009

 

small baby, big head. among other things

brette had her six month check- up yesterday.

i love our pediatrician.
she totally laughs at my jokes.
and isn't this kansas city mural in her waiting room awesome?
b and i spend each visit studying the wall.

 

but unfortunately,

it did not go well.

it was nap time and brette was tired.

there was lots of crying.
and some crazy screaming.

the three shots in her leg

didn't help at all.
we spent the rest of the afternoon resting together
on our couch and she was a new baby
by the time ronnie got home.

here's an update of her stats.

 

weight: 14 lbs 14 oz (15th percentile)

height: 25 1/4 in (25th percentile)

head circumference: 17 cm (65th percentile)

 

small baby.

big head.

but still healthy.
it's crazy that she had always measured right at the 50th percentile,
until now. 
and she doesn't look little,
but apparently, compared to others she on the tiny side.

 

b also started eating veggies this week.

we gave her some peas and

she loves them.

she's scarfing down everything we give her.

hopefully, she'll be an easy eater.

 

while brette eats peas,

i'm trying my best not to inhale

the six dozen cookies/candies i have.

being on a diet with christmas treats in the house

is a special kind of torture.

pray for me.

my diet is over on monday.



so far, i've lost 9 lbs.

i would be crazy happy if i could get to twelve.



baking for the holidays

 

 

we had our annual family christmas cookie exhange.

its a tradition for the girls in the family.

my grandma, aunts, cousins, sister-n-law and nieces.

it was amazballs, just like always.

brette missed out on most of it because she

s  l  e  p  t

pretty much the whole day,

which gave me plenty of time to help with all the baking.

 

everyone brings cookies they bake ahead of time:

 

sugar cookies

caramel drops

peanut butter cookies

chocolate covered cherry cookies

chocolate peppermint cookies

cowboy cookies

dream bars

no bake

and fudge

(i'm sure i'm missing some)

 

and those are just the ones we exchange.

but then...

 

we spend the rest of the day making more:

peanut clusters

dipped pretzels

oreo balls

peppermint bark

peanut brittle

peanut butter blossoms

pretzel kiss bites

chocolate chip cookies

 

it is a crazy sweet chocolaty gooey awesome family fun day.

but it just wasn't the same without mickie. (sad face)

 

 

here's to another christmas!

 

 

 

little signs, big baby

we had a busy weekend

full of christmas festivities,

so for now, i'll leave you with a few photos.

 

little signs that my baby is getting big.

 

1. drunk on milk,

but able to hold her own bottle.

 

2. cutting her first tooth

 

3. drinking water from her first sipping cup

 

 

4. wearing her first pair of real jeans.

 

 

 

brette: 6 months

growth:

our doctor's visit is next week

but i put brette on the scale and she was

about 15.5 pounds.

not sure on her length, but i'll update you after our well baby visit.

she's definitely outgrown her 0-3 month clothing

and some of her 3-6 month clothing as well.

most everything she wears now is 6 months

minus a few exceptions.

she's in size two diapers and

probably will be for awhile.

the main thing brette "grew" this month was

her first tooth!

she literally just got it last week,

right at 6 months old.

it's her bottom right centered tooth.

and no, i'm not a fan of teething.

between her 6 month growth spurt and that,

we've had a few rough days.
i never know if she's hungry or if her tooth hurts.

there's a lot of trial and error right now.

 

one big change we saw this month is her connection with me.

she's becoming quite the mamma's girl.

sometimes i'm the only one that can hold her.

its expected since we spend all day, everyday together,

but i'm hoping this phase is short lived.

not that i don't love the love,

but it makes things a lot easier if i can pass her off to

her grandma for a bit if i need to do something.

 

another darling little change in brette is her reaction to ronnie.

she can definitely recognize people now and she has

a soft spot for her daddy.

when he walks in the door at night she is all smiles and laughs.

its so cute to watch.

  

 

sleeps:

b is still doing great at night.

goes down about 7:30-8:00

and gets up at 6:00-6:30.

i still put her down every 2 hours for a nap in her swing

and that has been working great.

it's like i found brette's napping secret recipe.

my only "complaint" would be that we don't have a definite schedule.

everything depends on how long she sleeps and her wake up time.

so it can very day to day.

we've reverted back to swaddling too.

i tried the whole not swaddled thing

and brette wasn't having it.

i figure i can battle that another day.

  

eats:

we're still on the exact same nursing schedule as last month.
6:30
10:30
(cereal)
 2:30
5:00
7:00

(unless she's going through a growth spurt or teething,

which means this last week has been waaaay off.)
 she drinks water everyday.

not a ton, but i always try to offer it to her.

we still practice drinking out of a cup a couple times a week

and she's getting better.

but we also bought her a new cup with a straw

(thanks for the suggestion!)

and she is a pro at that.

she can suck down the water really well through a straw.

now every time ronnie and i have a drink,

we are sharing. (as long as its water)

the biggest news with brette is that we started her on food.

so in between her 10:30 and 2:30 feeding

i give her a little bit of cereal.

(watch our video)

i found out that she eats it a lot better

if i mix it with breastmilk instead of formula.

go figure.

in fact, yesterday she ate her first serving

and then a little bit more.

i'm really excited to get her started on veggies

and put "people" food in her mesh feeders.

but i'm going to give her a full week of just cereal to make sure

she has no bad reaction to it

and then move on.
  

 

plays:

we play around here a lot.

brette's new favorite game is to drop

whatever i give her on the floor,

then i pick it up and

she drops it again.

believe me, this is only fun for her.

we're still reading a lot and

spending time in both her excersaucer and her bumbo.
this month i plan on busting out her bouncer
and see if she's ready to do some jumping.

all toys still go in her mouth

so we have to keep things clean.

she also loves to watch people dance.

i'm going to have to catch ronnie on camera

because he's been sharing his smooth moves and she dies laughing.

  

firsts:

she got her first tooth.

she had her first solid food.

she can semi-sit up under supervision.
she had her first meeting with her great grandma

and made her first trip back to illinois,

where we also celebrated her first thanksgiving.

 i'm so excited to get her eating all kinds of things

and have her sit up consistently on her own.

i expect we'll see both things in the next month.

things are moving fast.

happy 1/2 birthday, baby girl!

 

i tried to get a good tummy time shot,

but then this happened.

screw you mom, i'm just going to put my head down.
e v e r y t i m e.