Our {Dallas} Christmas

    Today we had our third Christmas. This time it was with Mimi, Chrissy, and Ryan in Dallas.

 Chrissy got new glasses, so we were having fun and trying them on. C looks pretty darn cute in them!

Cousins

    Connor had such a good time with his big cousins, Timmy and Ellie. They were so good with him and were constantly playing with him!

My Parents

    I am really close with my parents, so I was really excited to see them! My mom has been to NC a couple times since Connor was born, but I had not seen my dad since we were in Texas just before Connor's 2 month birthday. We video chat with them often, but it's just not the same. 

 Spending time with his Grandpa.

Our Visit With Big Grandpa

      Every time we go to Texas, I make sure that we go see my grandpa. We now call him "Big Grandpa" because that's what Timmy and Ellie call him. I was so excited to see him! From what my mom tells me, he was happy too!

 Their second time seeing each other :)

Our {San Antonio} Christmas

     We had a rough night with Connor, so we took our time getting up this morning. Plus, Santa came when we were in North Carolina, so there was no rush to see if he came ;) 

 All ready to open presents.

Our {San Antonio} Christmas Eve

    We spent Christmas Eve in San Antonio at my parents house. Before we put Connor to bed, we took some fun pictures of him!

Bath Time

    We always struggle when it's bath time and when we are out of town. At home we put him in a sling in the bath tub, and when we are on the go we usually get in the tub with him. This time we decided to try something different and sit him in the sink. It worked out great and he had so much fun playing. 

 Playing with the soap.

Dogs

    Connor has always loved playing with Kylie, but at his Aunties house there were more dogs to play with. He loved Riley and Lola. His attention was always on them anytime they were in the room.

Lola tried to give Connor kisses 

Connor Gets to See Mimi

    It was so good to finally get sleep last night, even though Connor woke me up a few times and I was on my own. Aaron and Ryan drove overnight and got in around 10:30. The drive took them 18 hours, so they made great timing! I was so happy to have him arrive safely.

Connor was happy too!

Last Night of Work and Flying To Texas

     Yesterday was my shift at the hospital and it was bittersweet. I was only there for a year and a half, but I am going to miss my coworkers so much. They surprised me with a little going away party.

Our {North Carolina} Christmas

    Merry Christmas! Well, kind of. As I mentioned in the last post, we are having our Christmas early because we are going out of town and don't want to take all of our presents. 

     We were up quite a bit last night with Connor. Thankfully, he didn't wake up for the morning until 8:30. Not too bad for his first Christmas. Aaron made a comment today saying that for the next 15 years we will never be able to sleep in on Christmas again. He's right, and I'm okay with that! I love waking up early to open gifts and can't wait for Connor to play with all his new toys. 

    We didn't stay in bed for very long before we went to see what Santa brought for Connor.

Those must have been some really good cookies!

Connor checking out what Santa brought him.

Santa got him this wooden toy with all sorts of fun things to do.

He liked spinning the letters.

Whoopsies!

    While Connor played with his new toy, I made breakfast. It was quick and easy.

    After we ate, Aaron separated the presents. We opened ours first, and then helped Connor with his.

 

    Aaron bought Kylie a bone, but it was so messy that she had to eat it outside. When we checked on her a few minutes later, she was covered in it. Needless to say, she had to get a bath tonight. 

She liked ripping the tissue paper to pieces.

    Aaron and I decided to get each other small gifts this year since we are spending a lot of money to go back home for the holidays.

Connor got his daddy Dominoes

 

I got him Risk: Battlefield Edition. He saw it when we were in Minnesota and really wanted it.  

He got me a Brighton charm and spacer for my bracelet.

After we opened up our gifts to each other, we opened up presents from my mom and all of Connor's.

My mom got me Brighton earrings and other little gifts.

 You can never have too many socks.

 Connor started getting frustrated right about now...

Aaron bought him some clothes.

 Grandpa got him 2 new tractors.

 We took a quick break for a bottle and then opened more presents.

 We loved the Notre Dame hat, sweatshirt, and sweatpants my sister and brother-in-law got Connor.

 All of his new toys

 He got a ton of new pajamas.

New clothes.

Christmas as a family of 4 is so much more fun than when it was just the 3 of us!  

Our {North Carolina} Christmas Eve

     Tonight was our Christmas Eve. You are probably wondering why, so let me explain. We are going back home to Texas for the holidays and did not want to haul all of our presents around the country, so we decided to make the Friday before we leave our Christmas Eve and Saturday our Christmas.

    Here's how we spent our first Christmas Eve as a family of 4: First I got Connor dressed in his Christmas jammies. It is not an easy task these days. He rolls all over and tries to get away from me!

 

 First his shirt.

Connor Has A Tooth.... Well, Almost!

    I feel like Connor has been teething for forever... Yesterday I looked in his mouth and saw that he is finally cutting his first tooth!

Connor: Eight Months Old

Dear Connor,

    Oh my gosh... today you are 8 months old! You are definitely the cutest 8 month old in the whole wide world. We can't believe how fast these past months have gone by. You are so much fun and have a very strong personality. Most of the time you are very happy, but sometimes you have a little temper and give us a hard time. You have started giving us kisses, and they are the best! Slobbery, but still the best! We can't wait to see all the new things you are going to learn this month.

Love always,

Mommy and Daddy

New Pajamas

    This little cutie has been rolling all over the place. He isn't crawling, but can get wherever he wants to go by simply rolling. He is still sick with a cold, but seems to be feeling much better then he did over the weekend.

His new Christmas pajamas fit him perfectly.

      Aaron had to stay late at work, so I fed him dinner (pears, sweet potatoes, and a "mum-mum" cracker) and got him all ready for bed. I was able to keep him awake until Aaron got home at 7:45 so we could read to him. He went right to sleep after his bottle.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

   Every night this week we have read Connor a story before bedtime. It's one of my favorite times of the day. Tonight we read him Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was a cute book my mom and dad sent him for Christmas.

 

Family Pictures

    On November 15, we took family pictures at a local park. We haven't had any professional pictures of Connor since he was a few days old, and I really wanted them for our Christmas cards that we send out every year. So, it was the perfect time to get them done!

 

Connor Meets Santa

    We took Connor to see Santa Claus today. I have been looking forward to this for awhile and was so excited to go. Connor had a rough night last night and woke up with a little cold, so we weren't sure how he was going to act. Thankfully he was good the whole day until we got home.