Christmas Traditions

I love the holiday season and I love having traditions that are exciting to look forward to every year. Finn is just getting to that age where I can start some fun Christmas traditions. I want Finn and Mal to be able to look back at their childhood with lots of memories and traditions to start with their own families one day. So, here's a recap of our Christmas season.

mixing our Christmas cookies

Cutting out the cookies - pardon the wine bottle - i don't have a rolling pin so that's what we used. i wasn't drinking any...yet. ;)

Decorating fingers, i mean cookies. Finn did not like getting his fingers dirty.

Yummy! Lots of cookies that I (and Finn) decorated. His look yummy huh?!
Finn had a short attention span during all of this so I ended up doing the majority. I think he'll really enjoy it next year! And Mal can join in some then too!

On our way to look at Christmas lights. Finn got chocolate milk and we drove through McD's and got a coffee treat and their yummy chocolate chip cookies. Finn enjoyed seeing the lights. However, he like seeing the horse drawn carriages more. (We went down Beverly St in Highland Park) He kept saying 'more horsies! more horsies!' even after we left the neighborhood. He also was on the lookout for Santas and snowmen.

Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve during the day was spent hanging around the house most of the day. Then, my parents and brother came over for Christmas Eve dinner and the Candlelight service at our church. We had a big 'ol pot of gumbo for dinner. Finn picked out a Christmas story to read before bed and set out cookies and milk for Santa. :)

We had Santa pancakes for Christmas Eve breakfast.

Yummy! Hohoho!


Christmas Day
This was our first Christmas not to drive on Christmas morning since we've been married...and it was wonderful! We spent a relaxing morning opening presents, playing with new toys, and having breakfast before we had to get ready to head to my parents (Nana and Pappy's) house in Arlington. We got there in time for lunch and then opened presents with my side of the family.

Yay! Santa brought a trike!

Getting the goodies out of thier stockings.

Sweet big bro and lil sis. Finn loves to hold Mallie.

We had a birthday cake for Jesus for our breakfast dessert on Christmas morning. (Yes, there is such a thing as breakfast dessert)

With Great Grandma (or as Finn says - Mamaw)

Our Family! :)

Mallory under the tree - Her first Christmas! (5 and 1/2 months)

6 Months

Mallory is growing so much and finally starting to get to that age that I love. She's doing great and is a happy baby most of the time. Her 6 month checkup was last Friday and the doctor said she looked great! Below are her stats and her developmental accomplishments.

Stats:
~Weight -- 13.11 lbs (5-10%)
~ Height -- 26 inches (50%)

What She's Doing:
~rolls over tummy to back
~rolls from back to tummy (as of Monday 1/17)
~LOVES to play in her exersaucer (she plays with the toys on it way more at this age than Finn did)
~is taking 5 bottles a day 6-7 oz each (I stopped nursing at Thanksgiving due to a stomach bug/low supply/soy formula for 2 weeks)
~takes 3 naps a day - Typically 9:00, 1:00, and 5:00. Her morning nap is usually her longest (2 hrs) while the other 2 tend to be 45 min - 1hr)
~we have not started baby food yet. We'll probably start in a couple of days or so. I'm not in as big of a hurry this time. Just one more thing to do ;)
~absolutely LOVES her big brother!! He can make her laugh like no other. He cracks her up. I'm so glad that they're already good friends--let's just hope it lasts.
~holds her hands like a Von Trapp
~JUST transitioned from sleeping in her carseat to her bed last week. She then proceeded to roll over to her tummy swaddled.

~ we're weaning from swaddling. she still sleeps swaddled with 1 arm in during naps and at night sleeps with both arms out but the swaddled still around her tummy and legs.

~still wakes up 1/2 the time for her 'dream feed' between 9:30-10
~when she's on her tummy scoots and turns all around on her playmat
~loves to suck on her fingers and the paci

~is wearing 3 month, 3-6 month, and 6 month sized clothes

That's all I can think of for now.

4 and 5 Months

Here are M's froggie pics from the last 2 months. She just turned 6 months on Tuesday (man-time flies!) and we have her doctors appt on Friday so I'll post her pics and and stats then.