Happy Birthday, Jesus/Lissie's First Christmas

As I was thinking about what to write for this post, I looked back on last year's Christmas (see here and here) and reflected on how different everything is now.

And I've decided that Christmas is way more fun with a little one...and I'm guessing it only gets better from here.

Thankfully, Justin had the weekend off, and we decided to keep things low-key. We went to the Children's Mass (and having never been before, we didn't realize how early we had to be in order to get a seat) and enjoyed a yummy Christmas Eve dinner (Cornish hens and asparagus, yum!) at home, just the three of us.

We dressed Lissie in her First Christmas pajamas and got everything ready for Santa to make his rounds.

The next morning, Lissie had a fun time checking out what Santa had put in her stocking:

The Lolos and Lola came over, and Lissie had a fabulous time opening up all of her presents.

The grandparents also opened their gifts from Lissie:

We enjoyed a lovely Christmas lunch:

And spending quality time as a family:

All in all, it was the best First Christmas a baby could ask for! We truly are blessed.

Before:

After:

Do we really have to wait a year to do it again?!?

Of course, we still took time to remember the reason for the season. Happy birthday, Jesus! We love you:

Dear Lissie - Nine Months

Dear Lissie,

Nine months already! Daddy and I are in disbelief that you're inching closer and closer to that one-year mark.

We celebrated your nine-month birthday by taking a trip to the pediatrician for your nine-month checkup. You're as healthy as can be at 17.14 lbs (30th percentile) and 27 1/4 inches (35th percentile). Your pedi is pleased with your development, and echoed our thoughts that you're probably going to be one of those kids who skips the crawling stage and goes right to walking. Yikes.

We're starting to get ready for your first Christmas now, and we can't wait to see what Santa has in store for you later this month. Keep on being the good baby that you are.

Love,

Mommy

Here are some pics that we've taken this last month:

You've now been in the outside world longer than you were inside!

Did you really think we'd let Thanksgiving go by without a silly picture?

A happy dino and a sad one.

Tickling the ivories with your face....and showing off the hat I made for you.

Meeting St. Nick

Crawling is for babies, mommy - I'd rather stand and "walk."

Dear Lissie - Eight Months

Dear Lissie,

You are two-thirds of a year old today. Happy 8 months! You're a silly, happy, smiley baby and we love you so much.

Can't wait to see what's in store for us this month!

Love,

Mommy

Modeling your new headband handmade with love by Mommy

Cultivating your Asian Heritage



First banana experience (You have since grown to like them at least a little better.)

Showing off her two teefers!

A non-intimidating Lissie-bear.

Trying to e-mail Lolo and Lola while they were in the Philippines

Just a Girl and Her Dog

More of my favorite Lissie/Rupert pics. Best Friends Forever.

It's Fall, Y'all!

I. Love. Fall.

I love all of the oranges and reds as the leaves change color. I love the crisp sound of the fallen leaves during a cool run in the woods. I love all things pumpkin and apple and butternut squash. And, of course, I love that my birthday usually marks the first day of fall.

So, naturally, I had a blast introducing Lissie to my favorite season.

We enjoyed putting her in a pumpkin:

We enjoyed eating the pumpkin that we put her in:

(I had made the tastiest pumpkin/blue cheese soup, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and, of course, roasted pumpkin seeds.)

Lissie enjoyed eating pumpkin, butternut squash, and acorn squash:

We went to a Baby's First Halloween Party dressed as the Baker and her Cupcake:

We also squeezed in a trip to the pumpkin patch:

Hope you all are having a fabulous fall season, like we are! Happy Halloween!