Merry Christmas - Part Three

Our post Christmas celebration included a trip to Saratoga to visit my mom's family.

Great Grandma loved spending time with her grand and great grand kids. This is my brother, his wife and their daughter Evey.

Every year my family spends the afternoon of the 27th (my Grandma's birthday) playing bocci ball at a local in door court. The whole family gets in on the action - and Andrew's no exception!

Merry Christmas - Part Two

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Brandyn's family in Fresno.

On Christmas morning, Andrew woke up early, and found that Santa had left one VERY special present for him - unwrapped under the tree - a xylophone.


Andrew received a lot of very nice gifts - but I think he enjoyed playing in the boxes and paper more than anything!


Andrew loved all the time he got hanging out with his cousins.

And, of course, we squeezed in a little nap time too. Andrew had trouble going to sleep... so obviously, I had to help him.

Merry Christmas - Part One

A very merry Christmas it was at the C Family house! I'm so behind on our blog updates and so much has happened over Andrew's first Christmas - that I want to document it all! So a three part series. The first showing our pre-Christmas at home, then actual Christmas in Fresno with Brandyn's extended family and finally a post-Christmas with my extended family.

The first weekend in December we picked up a tree.


Andrew helped with the lights!

And with the decorating.

Baby Sign...

So Andrew's day care uses sign language to help communicate with the babies. Ms Stephanie is helping us learn too. So far Brandyn and I are using "milk," "all done," "eat/food," and "more." We make the signs when we talk to Andrew so that he can hopefully learn to use them back to us and tell us what he wants/needs before he can actually talk.

Yesterday I tired to add a new sign to our repertoire - "stop." Which looks like this... (try to ignore the scary looking guy... they were the only pictures I could find.



As soon as I did the sign... Andrew started busting up laughing. And then I remembered... I wasn't thinking at all about my future in baby sign when I spend 20 min. making Andrew laugh with my impression of "Who's gonna get chopped!" I guess I created the "monster" who laughs at his mom trying to tell him to stop!! My bad.

Wrapping up the year!!

About this time last year, I got ambitious and wrote down my goals for 2009. As the year comes to a close, and I look back at my goals, I think I did OK. I was able to get some accomplished... and others... I'll just move over to 2010 and make them top priority!!

My list of 2009 Goals:
- Begin composting at home. Done! We have a large bin/barrel that my parents gave me for Christmas last year in our backyard to collect our scraps. And with all that Andrew has been eating - the peels, rinds, and cores - have been great contributions to the compost!
- Grow a few of vegetables/fruits/herbs in our back yard. Nope. Need to move this one over to 2010. Something I definitely want to make a priority!
- Cut my hair and donate to Lock of Love. Done! And I can't believe I didn't blog about it! At the end of August, I cut off 10 inches - and STILL have enough left for a pony tail! :)
- Participate in the March for Babies. Nope. After MUCH consideration, I decided that walking a long distance, only 6 short weeks after having a baby, was probably not a good idea. But 2010 March... here I come!
- Get back on the healthy living/eating bandwagon. Done! I'm back to meal planing, Weight Watchers recipes, and packing my lunch! Since returning to work in June... I'm down 15 pds... and counting!
- Become a mom! ;) Done!! ;)
- And my optimistic goals for breastfeeding. First... 3 months (while I'm on maternity leave)... then I'd LIKE to get to 6 months... and I'd really LOVE to get to a year. Let's see how it all goes. Done!! (Sorta). I made it to six months.

Now... to think about the rest of my 2010 goals!

Must be Santa, must be Santa, must be Santa, Santa Claus!

Music Class!!

As a working mom, I often feel like I miss out on all the Mommy and Me classes and fun activities. So when I heard about this music class offered on Friday mornings - I jumped at the chance to step out of my home office (I work from home on Fridays) and head to class!

The class was 45 min long, with lots of singing, dancing and playing instruments. While Andrew bangs on his drum at home all day long... he was less interested in making music... and much more interested in watching everyone else. You can tell by his inquisitive gaze!!!

Thanksgiving!!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving with loads of family! My Mom hosted, as she always does, and the house was packed with 18 Aunts, Uncles and Cousin!

Here's Andrew with the Turkey - they are the same weight!!!


Andrew had a GREAT time playing with his cousin Evey.

A few days later, cousins Leslie and Alex came for a visit too! Here's Aunt Shelly trying to wrangle the two boys. They are about 6 months apart in age. LOOK OUT!!


Our visit to the country side included the most beautiful clear and vibrant rainbow I've ever seen. It even had a DOUBLE arch - can you see it!?!