Throwback Thursday - Christmas 2012

I came across these in my drafts folder.  Never got around to posting them for some reason and in the spirit of Throwback Thursday, I now have the perfect opportunity.  LOL  Enjoy...

Both of my babies on Christmas

My seester and mama

I'm not even sure what to say about this photo....lol

I can't stand the sweetness.  

Hanging out with Aunt Marcy

Nana and her grandkids at Christmas

Crazy bunch

First family Christmas - Lance no smiling but baby's eyes are open

First family Christmas - Lance is smiling but baby's eyes are closed.   

Christmas Eve (and more from yesterday)

I forgot to mention that we went yesterday to see Santa and get a picture with him and Little Miss.  She fell asleep as we were in line and woke up right as I was placing her on his lap.  She didn't cry, but she wasn't super happy either.  This year, we had a grumpy Santa picture, but as my mama says, "all Santa pics are good ones".  I thought he was a pretty convincing Santa though.  :)

Before the Santa pics, we ate with Pops at Red Robin and then headed to Babies R Us to pick out a new carseat/stroller combo.  The one we have is definitely better than nothing.  It was one we got at a garage sale (which I guess is a no-no to start out with), plus the stroller is terrible.  It's difficult to steer and there's not room underneath for our diaper bag.  Before I had a child, I never thought about such things, which is apparently why I didn't pay attention when we got it at the garage sale...LOL  

Lordy mercy!!  I was NOT the only one who waited until the last minute for shopping!  It's crazy out there!!!  :)  Thankfully, I'm finished and have even finished the majority of the wrapping!!  I know - I'm terrible!  I'm so excited about this being Rossleigh's first Christmas.  I really wish I had been nicer to myself so that I wasn't so stressed/tired and could enjoy it a little more...Live and learn!  At least she is feeling MUCH better!!!  I cannot be more thankful for that.  

Finally, tonight was Rossleigh's first Christmas eve church service.  Mom and I've been going to the Christmas Eve service for as long as I can remember, and after Lance and I married, it remained a tradition.  This year, our number increased from 3 to 4 when Miss Rossleigh went with us.  She did GREAT!!  

On the way there, I mentioned to Lance that I didn't think she had pooped yet (oh, how your topics of conversation change when you have a child), and joked that we would probably wait until a quiet point during the church service.  Boy, was I right!!  About 5 minutes into the service, the oh-so-familiar sounds of the loud grunting started, so I took her out to change her.  LOL  Other than that and a little fussiness towards the end, she did really really well.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Sickness, Shopping, & Birthday

Rossleigh is pretty darn close to being back to 100%, but Megan is still in the hospital.  My hope is that both of these sweet girls are back to feeling like their spunky selves by Christmas.  :)

I was horrible this year about doing ANYTHING in advance for Christmas.  I should have done things before I had Rossleigh and underestimated how busy/tired I would be right after she came home.  WHEW!  I will be doing some running around for gifts both today and on Christmas Eve.  Horrible!  I will be much nicer to myself next year.  :)

Pamps was Lance's grandfather, Ross, and was one of Rossleigh's namesakes.  When he was living, his family celebrated his birthday with a shrimp cookout.  Ross taught Lance the secrets of shrimp boiling and Lance has been the chef since his Pamps passed away 10 years ago.  Every year, on December 23rd, the family comes over to our house for the shrimp cookout, but for various reasons, they/we decided not to do a shrimp cookout this year.  In remembrance of Pamps, happy birthday!!  :)

Reindeer butt!

Rossleigh received a little 3-pc Christmas outfit from Agnieszka.  How cute is she with her little reindeer butt?  Ha ha!!

Christmas cards

Soooo, I'm a little behind but I'm so excited that we ordered our holiday cards today!!  We should have them by tomorrow and then can start mailing them out!!  :)

Photo Shoot

Agnieszka (one of Rossleigh's Godmothers) came over yesterday afternoon to spend some time with Miss Rossleigh.  She happens to be a wonderful photographer, so I asked her if she would mind bringing her camera over to take some family pictures of us, as well as some studio-type pictures of Rossleigh.  Boy, did we get some GREAT shots!!  She ended up taking 367 photos, so these below are just the tip of the iceberg!  :)

Here are just a few of the family shots:

And here are some of Rossleigh:

Which are your favorites?  I'll be posting more here and there over the next few days, but just wanted to show a sample of the poses Agnieszka captured!  How lucky are we to have her in our lives??  :)  

We love Ciocia Aga (Polish for Aunt Agnieszka)!!!  <3

Rough day for Rossleigh!!

Well, really it's been the last 36 hours I guess that have been a little rough for my little one.  First, she had to go to the pulmonologist yesterday to get her Synagis shot (she'll have to do that once a month until April), so shot = no fun.  Then there was the nail clipping fiasco earlier today.  Still feeling bad about that, by the way...

Not too long after that, she was sitting upright in my lap and facing me, but kind of doing that head-bobbing thing that newborns do.  She does this often and in an attempt to get some good balance, she sometimes loses control and flings her head in one direction with a surprising amount of force!!  This time we butted heads...HARD.  Poor baby just cried and cried!!  :(  I know that my nose hurt afterward, so I can only imagine how she felt!

At least her daddy tried to distract her with the never-fail Christmas tree (this time it was one of the downstairs trees).  I personally think this is a pretty cute picture of both of them.  ;)

Oh, and to top it all off, on Monday, we go to the pediatrician to get her two month vaccinations.  So needless to say, after Monday, we're hoping for a pain-free week!!  LOL

I'll leave you with a video I took yesterday, I think.  She's just so funny!!  Rossleigh can be fussy, mad, hungry, upset...it really doesn't matter the emotion, but when you strip her down, she is insta-smile!!  She just loves the sensation of having no clothing!!  Uh-oh!  We may have an exhibitionist on our hands!  LOL

Have a good weekend!!

All about hands and trees

In the last week or so, Rossleigh has discovered her hands and let me tell you - she is ALL about her hands!!  When she's sleeping, they're in her face (and she's started pulling her hair to prevent her from falling asleep)!  When she's eating, she tries to put them in her mouth, making it a little difficult to fit that bottle in there too.  Fortunately, she's not about putting them down in her diaper yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's not too far down the road.  Ha ha!!

I did a little photo shoot today of her in her crib, getting ready to take her nap.  I know I'm biased, but I just think this whole "hands phase" is the cutest thing!!  :)

The other thing that Rossleigh is really into right now is Christmas trees.  She just stares in amazement at the lights and the shiny ornaments.  And if you tap the tree so everything moves a tad, just forget it!  She goes into a trance!!  LOL

A couple of nights ago, Lance was going to keep his eyes/ears out for Rossleigh so I could be downstairs cooking dinner.  I came up to let him know how much longer things would be and found this sight:

Apparently, she had been fussy and when he walked past the "Heritage" themed tree we have upstairs, she seemed in awe of it and stopped crying.  He tried sitting her in her rocker/bouncer and it was all the entertainment she needed.  He calls her the "Christmas Tree Inspector".  Hmmm...we may have to leave a tree up year round!!  LOL

Getting ready for Christmas

Since I'm still not back to work yet, I didn't have to take part in the dreaded retail/Black Friday festivities (darn)!!  Instead we got to work on decorating our house for Christmas.  Nana and Megan came over to help fluff our...ahem, FIVE Christmas trees (but this year we're only putting up 3) and start decorating a bit.  While Nana fluffed the trees, Lance got everything out of the attic and put the outdoor decorations out, and Megan and I put away the Fall decorations, cleaned up a bit and decorated the big tree.

In the midst of decorating, Rossleigh needed a wardrobe change (and BATH) after an incident with a diaper (yes, again)...While I was getting stuff ready for her bath, Megan held her.  I absolutely LOVE these pictures!!

Rossleigh LOVES her cousin, Megan!!  Nana refers to them as the Alpha and Omega.  With Nana's grandchildren, the order goes:  Megan, Conner, Jake, and Rossleigh, so she started and ended with girls!  At one point in the evening, Megan was holding Rossleigh.  After a while, Nana couldn't stand it and wanted to hold her.  After she took her from Megan, RCD started fussing.  Nana gave her back to Megan and the fussing stopped!!  We found out that Megan is the BABY WHISPERER!!!  ;)


After the bath, we ate Thanksgiving leftovers and then decorated some more!!  We got a LOT done!!  Lance and I still have a ways to go to be completely ready for Christmas, but we got a very nice head start thanks to Nana and Megan.  :)

Relaxing in Daddy's arms