Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas...a week late! We had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of Jesus. I had to go back to work the day after Christmas so I didn't have a chance to upload pictures or write a blog until tonight. Here are lots of pictures of our Christmas weekend.

We went to visit Santa the Saturday before Christmas. I just knew that there would be a long line since it was so close to Christmas so I had called and made a reservation. The only reservation open was during nap time so we showed up early just in case we could wait in line and were pleasantly surprised that there wasn't a line at all to see Santa! He was so sweet. Cayden had a handful of his beard. I felt so bad but he was sweet and so kind to Adalyn. I was so proud of her for sitting on his lap (even if she wouldn't smile). After the picture we held her and she actually responded to Santa's questions. She was SOO excited to see him. She points every Santa image she sees and says "Santa HoHoHo".

Christmas Sunday outfits. I love this dress!!

 She loves holding her brother.

 After we got home from our Christmas Eve party with Jonathan's family. Our kids were tired but we had a nice time.

 Going to put reindeer food out in the yard.

 Christmas Eve PJ picture. I love these two. Could their polka dots/stripes be any cuter? I think not!

 We read the real Christmas story and Twas the Night Before Christmas as a family.

 Leaving cookies for Santa! (When she visited Santa he asked her to bake him some cookies.) Billie made us a cute Santa plate last year for Christmas so I was so excited to use it this year!

 Santa came to our house!!

 Our yearly stairs picture before the kids come downstairs to see if Santa came. I'm looking especially lovely:)

 Adalyn loved her bear from Santa.

 Adalyn also got some Elmo slippers. She bent over and kissed each one. So cute!

 Nana and Papa gave Adalyn a pretty awesome doll stroller and she was/still is pumped about it. Since I had to work the day after Christmas, we weren't going to be able to go to my parents' house the day after Christmas like usual so my parents came to our house to spend Christmas day. It was nice to have them with us during Christmas morning activities.

 Happy boy. He is such a content baby.

 Love this picture of Adalyn coloring with her daddy. We took our time opening gifts. Every item Adalyn opened she took her time to open and play with it. We took breaks for Cayden to eat and for us to eat breakfast. We actually still had a couple gifts for Cayden left to open by the time Adalyn's nap time rolled around. I really like the laid back feel of it. Hopefully she'll still be so sweet about that in the future instead of tearing into all of her gifts and asking for more.

 Adalyn had to take a break to nurse her bear. Oh.My.Goodness. So cute. She was so serious about it.

 Cayden tried cereal for the first time Christmas afternoon. He tried out his new bib he got for Christmas. Adalyn was so excited about his bib (because it matches hers) that she had to go get hers from the kitchen to show him. 

 Not a fan.

 Look at that lip. She really wanted to have a turn feeding brother. (But she didn't want mommy's help so she wasn't allowed.)

 Christmas night my mom had a gingerbread house kit for Adalyn to do. We weren't sure how well she'd do with it, but I know she loves any type of craft so we thought we'd try it. She LOVED it. She placed every piece of candy and would show my mom where she wanted the icing. And since she's so careful, she stayed completely clean!

 She was proud of her house! It's still sitting out and just today she pointed to it and said "I made that."

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families. We even got to see my brother and kids for about 12 hours on their way through our town to my parent's house. Today Jonathan and I actually took all of our Christmas stuff down and put it away which is earlier than usual, but right now I'm quite relieved that it's done for the year:)

A Christmas Weekend

I've missed many posts about our fun weekends from the past few weeks. Somehow we have been go-go-going without much down time. On top of our busy schedules we had a sinus infection and stomach bug hit our house. I'm hoping to find the time to write all of the past posts about some fun getaway weekends with our friends. While I have a few minutes tonight I thought I'd post about this past weekend.

We drove into Louisville to spend the day with Jonathan's mom. They have a really cool indoor light display made out of Chinese lanterns. I saw it online and thought Adalyn would love it. The day we were going there just so happened to be Breakfast with Santa so we started our morning off with lots of sugary breakfast foods and a wait in line to get a picture with Santa.

Ready to go see Santa!

 Waiting in line after breakfast.

 Don't adjust your computer. Yes, this Santa was a really good Santa and after we waited in line Adalyn and Cayden both sat on his lap so nicely but somehow our camera had the focus off and all of the pictures turned out like this. So sad!! Guess we'll be visiting Santa again for another picture.

After we visited Santa, we went to go see the luminaries. They were really cool! Adalyn liked them but we were starting to get close to nap time so she was a bit sleepy and whiney:(

 After the lights we went to the Christmas village and waited to see the Snow Fairy in her castle. Adalyn was pretty excited. The problem was that there were lots of moving stuffed animals in a scene behind her chair and Adalyn was so interested in them that she wouldn't look at the camera for a picture. Funny girl.

On Sunday I dressed the kids in matching outfits for the first time. I bought these outfits at the Bella Bliss warehouse sale last summer. They were only $10 each (which is insane if you know how much Bella Bliss clothes normally cost) and I couldn't pass them up. This was one of Cayden's first monogrammed items. At the time I couldn't fathom my unborn child able to fit into this outfit, yet here he is! Of course I had to try to get pictures. Here are the best ones. Never are both kids looking and smiling at the same time.

Can you tell how much she loves holding her brother? Sweet babies. (Those 3-4 fingers are always in his mouth! Always.)

 I love how tender she is in this picture. She was kissing on his cheeks.

 Both are smiling even though they aren't sitting picture-perfectly. I love how Cayden is holding onto Adalyn's dress in this picture. He loves his sister. 

4 Months

On the 26th of November Cayden turned 4 months! First of all, I am obviously waaay behind on blogging. I just don't have time to sit and write posts or upload pictures. Second of all, how is my baby boy 4 months old (now he's actually 4.5 months old!!)??

Cayden had his 4 month appointment and we found out that he is a healthy little peanut! And he did so well with his shots. He stopped crying before I could even pick him up from the table and that evening he was never even fussy. Here are his stats:
Length: 25" = 25-50%
Weight: 13 lbs, 4.5 oz = 10%
Head: 15 3/8" = 2%

He is a laid back happy baby. He honestly is the perfect baby. If you just look at him he smiles! He has rolled over a few times, and actually rolled over for the doctor on cue as she was asking if he was rolling over yet. He has tried out the bumbo and I think he really likes sitting up to look all around. The first night I sat him in it he just sat and watched the UK basketball game with his daddy. I had visions of years down the road seeing my boys watching the games together.

Adalyn continues to love on her brother and she is so sweet with him. I nurse him but also supplement with formula. After I made a bottle the other night Adalyn swiped the bottle off of the counter and was trying to feed it to Cayden before I could even catch up with her. He is a very loved little boy. He is hungry all the time and I believe if I allowed him to, he would take a bottle 24 hours a day. Our doctor gave us the go-ahead to start rice cereal so I think that will happen in the next week. I think he will love food! It's funny that he loves to eat so much and his cheeks are chubby but the milk doesn't seem to stick to any of the other parts of his body. Maybe he has his daddy's metabolism:)

Here are some pictures I took this month:

 Adalyn crashed our picture taking party. As I was taking his pictures in the crib she climbed into the crib! I couldn't believe she got herself in there! Right after this picture she leaned over and gave him kisses. So sweet. (Please look past the hot mess that is her hair. Her pony tail had already come out for the day.)

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Ohio this year. Both of my brothers and their families were going to be at my parents' house and we hadn't all been "home" at the same time for a few years. We were excited for some family time, but not excited for the road trip. We have decided to never travel on the night before Thanksgiving again. We were in stopped traffic multiple places. But at least it was worth it!

For years now, I've run a 5k on Thanksgiving. Last year one of my brothers and I ran it together and it was my first and last race after Adalyn and before Cayden since I found out about a week later that I was pregnant. Ha! This year, Jonathan is into running and my brothers kids ran and our entire family came out to walk and support us. When the alarm went off bright and early Thanksgiving morning I honestly questioned why we PAID to wake up and "run" instead of sleeping in and watching parades on TV. But we got going and it ended up being a beautiful day. Jonathan came in 2nd in his age group and I was just happy to finish with my niece and nephew.

After the race while Jonathan was waiting for the medal ceremony.

 Adalyn with her cousins.

 Brother/Sister picture. We got this same picture last year:)

After we ate a delicious turkey dinner made completely by my mom since we all came in from out of town and didn't bring any dishes, we went outside and took some family pictures.

 My parents with all of their grandkids.

 Our whole family. I have to say that I'm impressed that both of my kids are looking at the camera and one is smiling especially since the camera was on a timer.

 Then the guys went outside to play football and one of my nephews spotted an Eagle. Pretty cool!

The guys had a pretty good game of football going on while the rest of us stayed warm inside.

I had to get some pictures of my little turkeys!

She was trying to tickle his chin so he'd smile. So cute.

My brothers and I all took piano lessons growing up, but my brother Aaron is the only one of us able to play by ear. He was trying to get Adalyn to warm up to him so he was playing songs that she knows. She loved it so she wanted to play the piano with him. I think she truly thought she was playing. It was so cute. She was all about playing the piano for the rest of the weekend. 

Friday night my aunt, uncle, cousin and kids all came over to visit. We had a great time catching up and hearing about Black Friday deals. (I didn't do Black Friday shopping but Jonathan and my dad were up at 5:30 to get their shopping in!)

I love this Little Man outfit and matching hat! C's head is tiny so I never put hats on him. I found this one for $3 at the Gymboree outlet so I had to get it. Love it! He's so handsome!

My dad with his boys and their boys. 

Getting some cousin lovins.

It's so hard that we only get to see some of my family once or twice a  year. The kids grow way too much in that time! But we did enjoy a few uninterrupted days of hanging out together!

Adalyn thoroughly enjoyed her cousins. They were so sweet with her and let her act like she was playing  Beyblades with them. It was pretty cute. On Saturday after all of the cousins left Adalyn was wandering around the house sad. I really think she missed them all!

Before church on Sunday we had to get more pictures. Of course.

 We couldn't get both kids looking at the camera and smiling. Oh well. Such is life and the outtakes are pretty cute anyway.

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Of course a 4 day weekend was still too short, but we enjoyed the time we had with family. The ride back home on Sunday afternoon was a bit of a stresser because a certain 2 year old did not nap at all, but we made it home safe and sound. Now we're ready to jump into the Christmas season!