It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas & Sydney @ 10 Months!

Wow! Can-not believe it is already Christmas time! Everyone is SO excited about Christmas around our house, especially Jayda! We decorated the Christmas tree last week and put up Christmas decorations and she literally could hardly contain her excitement! She was jumping, singing, running, and dancing all over the house ALL DAY! It was lots of fun! She is SO ready for Christmas! Everyday she wakes up and asks if she can have her chocolate, so that she can for one eat some chocolate in the morning, but also check one more day off on the countdown to Christmas. It has been really fun seeing her sheer joy and excitement. It has also been really neat this year to explain to Jayda more about the birth of Jesus Christ and why we celebrate Christams. Now that she is a little older and more mature she can understand things better. We got the girls a little people nativity scene so that they can play with it and set the scene with baby Jesus. Jayda also has a little kids bible story book that she is really into and likes to set up her nativity scene and then read the story of Jesus' birth (in her own words). I think it is very important to remember the real reason why we celebrate Christams because sometimes it is easy to get all caught up in Santa and presents and all that good stuff. Sydney has really enjoyed all of the nice Christmas decorations/trees/lights/
nativity scenes etc. She likes to try and touch the Christmas tree or an ornament on the tree and then pull her hand away and laugh really loud. She knows she's not supposed to do it, but tries to sneak it in before I see her. It is hilarious! The other night we got hot chocolate and went out looking at Christmas lights in a nearby neighborhood. We had so much fun checking out all the lights and both of the girls were mesmerized by all of th. We also put the lights out in the yard this past weekend and the girls were SO incredibly excited! Jayda helped Jacob and I put the lights up and she had so much fun! They look so pretty and the girls love them! Christmas is so fun with little ones!

While I have time and while I'm thinking about it I'm going to go ahead and throw this in...Sydney at 10 Months (in 2 days, December 11th, 2010):

-She pulls up on everything to stand up. She really likes chairs, couches, and people's legs. She has started cruising, a little bit, when she is standing up.
-She follows us all over the house, wherever we go. Even if we go to the bathroom Sydney will crawl as fast as she can over to the bathroom and try to open the door. If she can't open it, she will sit up and wait for you to come out, and then bolt in when the door opens. Don't know why but she always tries to pull up on the toilet and play, yucky Sydney!!
-She is a very speedy crawler and can go almost as fast as if she were walking.
-She has a total of 4 teeth now! Her top 2 teeth came in over Thanksgiving. She has been teething for the past couple of weeks and she had a bit of a cold all at the same time. So, she was not too happy. She seems to be past all of it for now, thank goodness!
-Sydney is officially weened to a bottle now. It took me about a month to wean her from nursing. She is doing really well taking a bottle now and gets very excited when she sees her "ba-ba". She is not eating as many solids now that she is getting more milk.
-She is not liking baby food as much these days, but prefers table food. She has always eaten whatever we give her off of our plate, but now I've started giving her some big girl food of her own. So far she has tried cheerios, rice krispies, cheese cubes and banana puffs. I think I'll be chopping up lots of food now that she seems to handle it pretty well and really likes it! Probably helps that she has 4 teeth now too!
-Sydney can say "Da-da", "Ma-ma", "A-da" (for Jayda), and "Doh" (for dog).
-She loves to watch, touch, talk to, and play with our dogs, Harley and Nina! She gets SO excited to see them and could sit and watch them forever! She likes to stand up at the back door and watch them through the door. She stands there and says "Doh, doh, doh???" It is really cute! Anytime she hears them bark she also says "Doh?"
-Sydney is a very happy, laid back baby. She goes wherever we go without much of any complaint. It is so nice to have a sweet, laid back baby! Don't get me wrong, she does have her moments and can get pretty mad at times (especially if she is tired or hungry), but for the most part she just goes with the flow.
-She LOVES her big sister more than anything! Today Jayda was at school and when Sydney woke up I went in her room to play with her. We had fun playing with her toys for about 30 minutes and then she started crawling out of the room down the hallway saying "A-da, A-da, Aaaaa-daaaaa??". She was looking for Jayda, but Jayda was still at school. It was so funny because it was like she had fun playing with mommy, but she had enough of that and wanted her sister. Too cute!
-Sydney is wearing 9 months clothes, but is about to be in 12 months and still in size 3 diapers. She weighs 18 1/2 pounds now.
-She likes to randomly throw herself backwards while you are holding her. She thinks it is soooo funny and just laughs and laughs. You can imagine how fun that is for whoever is holding her!
-Sydney can drink out of a sippy cup! One day while daddy was babysitting apparently Sydney crawled over and picked up Jayda's sippy cup and started drinking away. Who knows what she was drinking. I didn't get to witness this myself, but did hear all about it. Guess that transition won't be too hard for her.

I took some cute pictures of us decorating the tree last week and then some more the other day of Sydney while Jayda was gone to school. Also took a few of them in their Christmas outfits together once Jayda got home. I think they turned out pretty cute...enjoy!

Jayda is SO ready to help me decorate the tree! Yay!


We had to put Sydney in the booster seat while we decorated because she kept trying to get into everything.


She could not be more excited about this!


Sydney was happy to get out of the booster seat and check out all of the new Christmas decorations. So fun!


What a yummy book Sydney!


She found the window seal and figured out how to stand up and look outside. "There is all kinds of cool stuff to look at out here!"


Sydney decided to join in on the Christmas excitement too!


Again, Jayda was overjoyed to help us put Christmas lights up outside.


Sydney loves to play in the fridge. Anytime it is opened she is the first one over to check things out. She used to crawl over and look in but now she crawls over and then stands up, and tries to pull things out of it! Fun fun!


Jayda cheesing at dinner the other night with a red gatorade mustache.


Sydney trying some cheerios and cheese for the first time. She likes it!


Sydney dressed up in her "Baby's First Christmas" outfit.


Pretty little girl smiling for mommy.


I got her to hold the "Baby's First Christmas" photo album. Thought it was pretty cute!


Then, we had to pull out one of Jayda's "First Christmas" outfits and put Sydney in it for some pictures. So cute!


She loves to play with her "Night Before Christmas" teddy bear. She really likes to put her finger in his mouth while he's talking. She thinks that is so funny!


And there she goes again.


She is calling for Jayda because Jayda just got home from school. Sydney was still napping the other day when it was time to pick Jayda up from school so Michelle picked her up for me. So, Jayda had just gotten home and Sydney is wanting to see her.


She crawled over to the window to look outside for Jayda and is yelling through the widnow at her.


"Yay, sissy is home!!!"


Thought this was a cute picture of Sydney sitting in the kitchen.


Such a pretty picture of Jayda in her Christmas dress by our tree.


She loves the "Night Before Christmas" teddy bear too. Good thing we happened to have 2 of them!


Favorite picture of the 2 of them together! Don't ask me how many pictures I had to take to get this one, or how many different singing snoopys and fiddle playing reindeers I had to hold over my head to get them to both smile, and look at the camera at the same time. Yeah, quite the trick!

Quick Update!

We just got back from being in Huntsville for a whole week. We had a great time staying at Oma and Oupa and Nanna and Pawpaw's house! We drove in the sunday before Thanksgiving and came back home last sunday. It was such a great week to spend with our family and just relax. Jayda had lots of fun helping us cook the Thanksgiving meal and getting everything ready for the big day! Sydney also had lots of fun crawling around the kitchen while we were busy preparing! I didn't get too many pictures this time, guess we were just too busy having fun! We ended up having a great Thanksgiving feast with both of our families and it was delicious! All of the girls went out shopping on friday while the boys stayed home and took care of the kiddos. It was so fun being out with all the (grown up) girls and we found some great deals so that was even better! We had a great holiday and now look forward to Christmas!!

Me and the girls had a popcorn and movie night recently when daddy was out playing softball. Jayda is really getting into movies these days so she sat and watched The Fox and The Hound...the whole thing! Sydney watched it with us for a little bit before she had to go to bed.

Jayda and Sydeny all ready for movie night!


Say cheese girls!


On saturday, November 20th, we went out dinner for Justin's big 25th birthday. We had a yummy dinner, but will def get a sitter the next time we go out for a nice dinner! :)

Sydney's first time to eat table food (banana puffs). She also tried yogurt puffs for the first time that night. She loved them the first time but won't really eat them anymore.


Justin and Lourdes on Justin's birthday!


Our little fam at dinner.


The girlies together, couldn't get Sydney to look at the camera!


Thanksgiving Pics:

Sydney hanging out in the kitchen while we cooked for Thanksgiving.


Her favorite thing to play with were Jayda's cereal bars. They were crushed to pieces by the time Sydney got done with them! But, at least it entertained her!


Jayda helping Nanna make deviled eggs for Thanksgiving. She is such a good helper in the kitchen!


Sydney started playing with Jayda's baby doll today and loved it so I just had to put a cute picture up. She likes to look at it, talk to it and chew on it. It's so cute!

Fun in Fall!

We have been doing lots of fun things these past few weeks! I cannot believe it is already the middle of November and getting close to Thanksgiving. It is crazy how fast time flies! I've been taking lots of pictures lately, as usaul, so there are quite a few in this post. Enjoy!

Jayda loves to dress Sydney up all the time! This is one of the hats she likes to put on her. Amazingly, Sydney doesn't seem to mind it that much.


And, Jayda loves to dress up herself, all the time! She went for the pumpkin this day. It was just a few days before Halloween.


The day before Halloween we took a mini-vacation down to San Antonio. Jacob had some work to do down there on saturday night, so we went along with him to have some fun. We stayed at the Marriot River Walk, which was really nice, and just hung out for the night. Me and the girls went to dinner at an italian restaraunt just below the hotel right on the river walk. That night they were having a halloween parade of boats coming down the river, so Jayda loved watching that while we ate dinner. After dinner we sat out by the river and had some ice cream, then went into the River Center Mall and let Jayda play on the playscape. After we had done all of that Daddy was done with his work stuff and met us back up at the hotel. On halloween, the next day we went down to play at the hotel pool. They had a really nice heated indoor/outdoor pool that Jayda absolutely LOVED and a hot tub, plus some ping pong tables. We played down there most of the morning and then went to meet Kitty, Christian, and baby Ewan for lunch. It was so fun to meet Ewan, and even more cool that Sydney and Ewan are right about the same age. We had lots of fun catching up with them!

Taking a ride on the river taxi at the River Walk.


We walked over to the market in San Antonio and found this. Jayda just had to ride the bull, of course!


On Halloween we drove back from San Antonio just in time for trick or treating! We met up with Riley to make the rounds around the neighborhood. The girls had a blast trick or treating and loved getting all the candy! They could have kept going all night if we would have let them!

Family picture on Halloween in our front yard, so fun!


Jayda, the go-go girl, and Riley, as Aerial all dressed up to go trick or treating on Halloween.


Sydney with her daddy on Halloween in her "Team Daddy" cheerleader outfit!


Last weekend we went to Hutsville to celebrate Oupa and Pawpaw's birthdays. On saturday we had a yummy birthday lunch with Oupa. We gave Oupa his presents and celebrated with some delish carrot cake. On sunday we had a birthday party for Pawpaw out at his house. We hung out most of the afternoon, ate lots of yummy food, played Klint's new Kinnect game, and rode the 4 wheeler while the boys played a game or two of football and basketball. Pawpaw opened up his presents and then we had some great deserts to celebrate. We had a great weekend of celebrating our dads birthdays! Oh, and Jacob and I even managed to get away to the Lady Antebellum concert in The Woodlands on saturday night. The concert was a-maz-ing and it makes me love them even more! Soooo good!!

Sydney loved riding on the zebra at Nanna and Pawpaw's for the first time!


Sydney swinging at Oma and Oupa's house.


Oupa opening up his birthday presents from us.


All the girls out on a 4 wheeler ride. Sydney now loves it too, no surprise!


Sweet sisters on the 4 wheeler together. Jayda was so excited to hold Sydney up there!


Pawpaw with his grandkids at his birthday party.


All the brothers with their Dad at the birthday party.


Sydney turned 9 months last thursday, November 11th. So, Mommy of course had to get some pictures of the little munchkin. I also got some professional ones done of the girls the day before and they turned out great! I know I've said it before, but I LOVE Portrait Innovations and always get great pictures when we go there (which is a lot!)

Sweet little smiley Sydney at 9 months.


Sydney thinks it is so funny to stand up at her activity table. She talks, yells, sings and laughs at it!


And this would be one of those times that she is yelling at it, so hilarious!


Playing at her table.


A little somebody loves to get into the refridgerator! If she sees it open she makes a mad dash over to get into it before it closes!


*If you don't want to read about weaning a nursing baby, you may not want to read below. Mainly writing it for my memories...sniff,sniff!

When Sydney turned 9 months last thursday she had a check up. It went pretty well, however after talking with the pediatrician I decided it was time to start weaning Sydney to a bottle. She had been exclusively nursing for the first 9 months. She hadn't grown quite as much at this check up as she had been growing up until her 6 month check up and when they took a routine 9 month blood sample, it showed that she was slightly anemic. She was by no means under weight, but had now dropped to slightly under the 50th percentile for weight and she had been staying in the 75th percentile for weight. She also started crawling between her 6 month and 9 month appointments so that could be part of the reason she had not gained as much weight. I had thought my milk supply had gone down some, plus breast milk does not have as much iron in it, at this point, as formula does. So, because I needed to start supplementing with formula, she had to learn how to take a bottle. This transition was very rough for both me and Sydney. We had tried giving Sydney a bottle before but she never would take one. She could not figure out that milk woud come out of it so it just made her super, super mad! So, for most of last thursday I spent the day shoving a bottle down her mouth while she screamed bloody murder, literally, and I balled my eyes out! It is just so hard to switch to a bottle (at least for me) when you have been nursing for 9 months, not to mention she was growing inside of me for 9 months. So, that is 18 months that she has been attached to me in some way. Whew, ok, moving on. Jacob got home that night and wanted to try giving her the bottle. At this point she had not had any milk since 10 a.m. and I had given her no solids, lunch or dinner, so that she would get hungry enough to take the bottle. He tried and was unsuccessful as well. I didn't know what we were going to do! I had nursed her for the "last" time and we were not going back! Aaahhh! Not only am I upset that she will not take the bottle, but my hormones and emotions are going crazy and I'm near tears every other minute! After trying unsuccessfully for quite some time Jacob said he wanted to try putting ice cream on the end of the bottle to see if that would make her take it. I said, oh no, that won't work, but go ahead. At this point I just wanted her to drink the milk from the darn bottle and didn't care how it happened. We didn't have any ice cream, but we did have a left over ice cream cake from Daniel's birthday. Jacob decided to put some icing from the cake on the tip of the bottle....and wah-lah!! She took the bottle!! Hallelujah! I could not believe it! Daddy finally got Sydney to drink milk from a bottle! So, the problem was that Sydney just did not know that milk could come out of the bottle and once she sucked down the cake icing, she then got some milk and drank the rest of the bottle. Thank goodness! For the next few days I have been putting different things, like yogurt, on her bottle to get her to take it. As of today, she no longer needs a sweet treat on the end of her bottle and takes it without fussing. I am SO happy that she is doing this so well! I am still nursing her for the first feeding early in the morning and then she has a bottle with half breast milk and half formula for the other 3 feedings.