Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We have had a crazy, wonderful holiday season with lots of great family time, and now that we have a new camera, I have pics!!! The snow that we got at my parent's house was amazing. Robby would not venture out for the first day or so, but once we got him to go outside, he of course loved it. However, he absolutely refused to wear a jacket, strange child that he is. Here are some great pics of him playing in the snow with Ten Cup the dog.

We also had a season of lots of fun new games, including Bananagrams (my favorite--check it out!), Wits & Wages (right up Bryan's alley), and Dicecapades. The pic below is my mom and Bryan arm wrestling during a particularly heated match of Dicecapades.

Juliet of course loved her first Christmas. She is sleeping like a champ up to 13 hours per night, and when she is awake, she is usually as happy as a lark. In the pic below she is modeling her new Texas Rangers hat. No prize for guessing who bought that for her!

Bryan and my brother Curtis also really got into the spirit of things with the snow. They build a snowman who stayed up for almost a week. Then, they took turns face planting into the snow. I will never understand some things about the male mind. Not my idea of a good time, but I did enjoy the spectacle!

One of the biggest blessings of this holiday season is that my sister-in-law Jenna came through a very scary and life-threatening ordeal with pulmonary embolism and other blood clots to her heart. She was released from the hospital on the 23rd, though she has a long road of recovery ahead of her. She and Juliet are very good friends and nap buddies.

This pic is from our family Christmas at our house (one of the few days we seem to have been home this season). Robby loved opening his stocking, though I am not sure he knew what to make of the slinky he got :). It has been quite a holiday season, but all of my holiday decorations are now boxed up and safely back in the attic where they belong. We are soon headed to Dallas to ring in the new year and new decade!

As I look back on this milestone year that included some wonderful moments such as the birth of Juliet and the recovery of Jenna as well as some very hard times with the loss of our nephew Samuel, I am joyous in the knowledge that God has a plan for our lives and that thus far His plan has included many blessings for our family.

My prayer for this upcoming year and decade is that it will hold as many joys and blessings as the one to which I must soon bid adieu.

Pictures and Other Updates

So, it turns out that it is basically the same price to purchase a new camera as to repair our old one, thus a new one is now ordered and on the way. Hopefully once it arrives, I can up my ante on blogging again.

I do have some fun Christmas pics to share though:

This is the pic that Robby's school sent home yesterday from when Santa visited the school. See my earlier posting for the story about this :).

On Saturday night, we went downtown to see Santa as a family. This excursion to see Santa went much better, though probably only because we got in the sleigh with Robby. He would not give Santa the requested high five or say one word to him. By the way, if you live in Ft. Worth and are looking for a Santa, I cannot recommend this one highly enough. You can take your own pics, if you buy one it is only $7, and the money goes to charity. You can find the hours here. Plus, Sundance is so pretty this time of year!

We went to a party at our church last night. Of course, Juliet had to wear a Christmas outfit! She was very cooed over, and we all had a really good time. I hope to post more on that party soon.

Robby has started to really develop an interest in books of late. We took him to Half Price the other day, and he kept picking out different books to go and read on this chair. Right now though his favorite book is Hug by Jez Alborough hands down. I hope that what we are seeing is the beginning of a lifelong love affair with books!


Robby was born sucking his thumb, much like his mommy. Juliet has just picked up the habit in the last week or so. She, like her brother, favors her left thumb.

Robby for whatever reason loves to wear this hat. It is actually his PahPah's hat, but from the moment Robby saw it, he felt it should rightfully belong to him. His PahPah, being a grandfather and thus a pushover, never even tried to reclaim it back.

Another favorite pastime--tower building. Robby is really good at building them on his own these days. What he is not good at? Putting the legos away once he has finished with them.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

So, yesterday Santa came to visit Robby's school. He was apparently not okay with seeing Santa at all. His teacher said he literally clawed her when she tried to put him on Santa's lap. But then Santa offered him a candy cane, so he was okay after that. Moral of the story--we need to do much more with Robby about not taking candy from strangers :)

After we picked him up though, we ran over to Hobby Lobby where it looks like some possessed Santa stalker has set up shop--there are santas everywhere, and Robby wanted to talk to each one (nevermind that they were just figurines). Afterwards, when we were driving home, we would point out Christmas lights, and he kept saying "More Christmas lights please." He clearly has some of his tah in him. And, he clearly has some good Christmas spirit! (We also let him watch Elf--I didn't think he really liked it, but when it was over, he cried, so maybe he did).

All of my Christmas stuff is out of the attic, but the boxes have yet to be unpacked. That is my goal for this week. We did get a supercool advent calendar from my uncle and aunt yesterday, but Robby really needed to open more than one, so I think we are already on like day 4 for that :)

I am determined to go to downtown for a picture with Santa this year, so I will post that when I have it. In the meantime, our camera is broken, and I don't have much in the way of new pics.

My Big Boy

I feel like Robby hasn't gotten enough time on the blog lately, so I decided to give him his own posting today. He really is a great big brother. He loves his little sister, and so far he really has not displayed a lot of jealousy. He has gotten to have some fun adventures this month, and here are some snapshots of those.

Robby and Pahpah on the big red tractor!

It is so fun to move dirt!

Robby has learned a fake camera smile. I wonder who taught him that??


We Texans find 50 degrees a little cold to go galvanting around in, so we have to dress appropriately

Robby loved the bounce house at his school's fall carnival.

Robby loved the mohawk when we showed it to him in the mirror.

Going for a walk and playing with a dandelion

My Sweet Girl

Juliet will be six weeks old on Friday. I can't believe it. She is doing just great. When we took her in for her one week checkup, she is already up to 9lb 6oz from 7lb 2oz at birth. She was in the 50% in weight and 90% for height (not like that measurement is overly accurate at this point though). She has started sleeping for up to 7 hours at a time at night and then feeding and sleeping for another 4 or so hours, so we are doing good on that front as well. She also has started smiling at us sometimes which is just the best.

Sadly, she has lost all of her front hair, so she looks like we gave her a monk's tonsure. I use bows to cover this up :)

Here are some recent pics:

Such a sweet outfit :)

Juliet loved going to Robby's carnival

Juliet loves baths. We call them her spa days

Big boy and sweet girl

Mommy and Juliet on their first day back to church

Robby and Juliet playing on Robby's new playmat

Chillin in some polka dots

Big yawn!

Halloween

So, I know I am quite late on this, but here are some fun pics from Halloween. Robby had a big trick or treat event at school that Bryan got to participate in--they went around to local businesses who passed out candy. Robby loved the whole thing!

Juliet did not go trick or treating this year, but I couldn't resist putting her in a little outfit for some pics. She is doing just great. She eats well and is working on sleeping in her own bed at night. Her alert periods are growing longer, and she is generally a contented baby. She loves to be held more than anything else in the world.

Robby loves being a big brother. He is very affectionate with Juliet, and he always want to share with her and to play with her. However, sometimes this tendency can have negative results, such as the time he snuck into her room while she was napping and started piling toys on top of her....

Snapshots of Daily Life

We have really enjoyed the last two weeks (when we haven't been too exhausted), and I thought I would post some snapshots that give an idea of what we have been able to enjoy: spending time with grandparents, playing with cousins, taking walks (Robby has a stroller he has to push too), taking naps, hanging out with friends, hamming it up for the camera, and bonding together as a family.

Pictures!!

I keep wanting to write her birth story on here, but it takes more dedicated time than I seem to have between feedings, etc. right now. So, in the meantime, pictures!!!

Juliet soon after birth striking a thoughtful pose


Juliet checking things out in this crazy new world

Snoozing in the hospital

A homecoming that Robby wasn't quite sure what to make of

Continuing her favorite past time of sleeping

Fresh out of her first bath and ready to go!

Waiting to see the doctor. (She continues to maintain her weight, and they said she is doing great. They also noted that she is a very pretty baby. We, of course, expected nothing less :)

Just chillin' at the house after the doctor's visit

Robby gives the baby a kiss while Mommy finishes up a diaper change (who knew that such a little person would need so many of those!)