Merry Christmas!

I wanted to quickly tell you what we've been up to.

For starters, Steve's had a cold for a few weeks, but it's down to a bad cough now.  I finally caught it on Tuesday, just as I thought I had escaped it.  Turns out, Peyton caught it when I did, so now we're all sick.

Last time when Peyton was teething, he had a cold, or at least cold symptoms.  So that could be part of his deal, but it's safe to say this time he definitely has a cold as well.

Tuesday was Peyton's cranial band appointment and he's been released to wearing it only at night!  He's had major improvement and will continue to wear it at nights only for another month, when we'll (most likely) have his last appointment and be done with it!  Yippee!

I'm teaching a program in the Spring called Girls On The Run with my friend Megan, who invited me to be a coach with her.  She brought it to her school this year, and so far there's been a lot of interested girls, so we're super excited about it.  Yesterday we completed our CPR/AED requirement.  Happy to have that under my belt!  More to come on Girls on the Run!

We took Peyton for his first visit with Santa on Tuesday.  He did exactly what I thought he would do - he was in awe of everything and just had this blank look on his face, then after they rang the bells to make him look at the camera for his picture, he looked at Santa and went in for the beard!  I wish we could've let him explore Santa a little more, but it was such a rush to let the next kid in line see Santa, that we were off before we knew it.

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!  xoxo!

"And she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins"

~Matthew 1:21

Christmas Greetings!

Here's what our Christmas card looked like this year!

Ho Ho Ho!

Another fun weekend was had!

Friday I went to dinner with my friend Amanda and her son JJ.  It's so sweet to see JJ interact with Peyton, and it was nice to catch up with Amanda.  Amanda and I have known each other since kindergarden.  It's crazy to think that JJ is as old as we were when we met!

Saturday, my friends Siobhan and Megan came over to exchange gifts and have a play date.  Megan got the boys super cute hats, so of course we went picture crazy!

Saturday night we went to a Christmas party where Santa showed up!  It was so fun to hear and see the kids talk about Santa coming.  I think we even felt like kids again and can't wait for next year when Peyton can participate.

Today, we stayed in our PJ's all day and got stuff done around the house.  We're a week away from Christmas and a few weeks away from a new year.  I'm excited for both!

The Big Boys!

Owen ~11 months, Brice ~6 months, Noah 3 years, Peyton ~9 months

Owen (left) was being a ham.  He wouldn't sit still for the life
of him.  Makes for super funny pic's!  And I thought
it was weird that Brice & Peyton are doing the same thing
in this picture!

Owen on the move.  Two seconds later and he
was on the other side of the room!

Owen finally decided to sit still, but not in his spot. ;)
Meanwhile, Brice & Peyton are patiently waiting.

These boys could pass as brothers.
(& yes, that is a 6 month old sitting next to my
above average 9 month old!)

Noah opening his gift.

Peyton opening his gift.  Didn't make it past the tissue 

paper though.  :)

Noah lovin on his stuffed animal I gave him. 

Cuties

CUTIES!

This is later that night at the Christmas party.

We joke that this is Peyton's wife-to-be!

Peyton was glued to the beard, which

Santa kept saying was gonna fall off if he 

kept pulling it!  Bwahaha!

"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.  In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall."

-Larry Wilde

Nine Months!

Another month has flown by!  Peyton turned nine months on December 14th and also had his nine month check-up that day.

We learned at his check-up that he's:
22 lbs, 4 oz - 75th percentile
29.5 in - 85th percentile
18 in head - 65th percentile 

The appointment went well, and as blogged about earlier, we learned he's getting four teeth in.  That was the most exciting part of the appointment!  He also got tested for anemia, which is routine for a nine month check-up.  We didn't receive a call back, so it's safe to assume he's good!  The peditrition also shocked us when he said to stop the pureed solids and start feeding him whatever we're eating.  Huh?!  Already?  (freak out moment!  he hasn't even begun finger foods! eek)  But I've learned by talking to friends, I'm not behind at all, and if anything, we're now more confident about feeding him more random things, like what we're eating!  haha.

I read that babies build body fat rapidly until around nine months, when they start to slim down.  So Peyton's probably at his peak, and I think I've noticed a possible slim down already.  Sad!

Ok, time for the fun stuff!

At the beginning of month nine, Peyton started laughing all on his own, out of the blue.  We thought it was SO funny and assumed he thought it was a way of talking, because he wasn't really doing anything he thought was funny.  It's more of a "matter-of-fact" laugh as opposed to a "that-was-funny" laugh, if that makes since.  Now, I've noticed he does it a lot when he's tired.  So who knows for sure exactly why he does it!

Also at the beginning of this month, he started to hold his bottle a tiny bit.  He's always grabbed onto the bottom of it, but he actually started to put both hands around it.  As soon as that started, it stopped.  :(

He's getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.  He loves this!  He'll also scoot backwards while trying his hardest to move forwards.  At the beginning of the month it was a struggle to get up on all fours, while now, it's a cinch.  Last night, he actually got on all fours, then pushed himself up into a downward dog position.  Crawling is around the corner!

He's still saying dada, and now consistently says "mom," which cracks me up!  He's totally not linking mom to me, but it's funny to hear "mom" instead of "mama."  The "n" consonant is in full affect.  I feel like there's been others, but those are the top three.

In the head shape department, we received a compliment in early Dec at a Christmas party (while he wasn't wearing his helmet) that he has a nice shaped head.  We also received one the other night from our server who was in love with Peyton and said, "he's so cute!  and look at his perfect little round head!"  Again, Peyton wasn't wearing his helmet (obviously) nor did either of them know about it.  Steve and I just looked at each other and smiled... HUGE!  :)  But this just goes to show you how much people DO notice a babies head shape.  Especially a boys.

Towards the end of the month, I noticed Peyton really starting to bang things around.  If he has an object in his hand, he'll bang it on anything.  And hard!  Do girls do this?  I feel like he's totally starting to act like a boy!

And for fun, here are his nicknames to date:
Peytor Gator
Peytors
Peydee
Pey Pey (Steve HATES this one!)
Marshmallow - well, not really a nickname, but one of Julie's students called him a marshmallow and I loved it.  He totally looks like a marshmallow!

Nine Months!

Loving on daddy

Christmas photo shoot (by me)

Likes that Christmas tree

Finger food for 1st time on Dec 14th

"Getting a burp out of your little thing is probably the greatest satisfaction I've come across.  It's truly one of life's most satisfying moments."

-Brad Pitt

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth...

...and that's just what Peyton will get!

At his 9 month appointment on Tuesday, I asked the peditrition if Peyton was getting any teeth upstairs, because "I think he's getting one."  Turns out, he's not just getting one, or two, or three, but FOUR teeth ALL AT ONCE!  I thought two was torture (let alone one), but who ever heard of four?!

He pulled Peyton's gums back (oh!  that's how you do it!) and the whole top of his gums looked the same to me, and that would be because the whole top of his mouth is swollen.  Poor little guy!  You could see the outline of all four teeth and I nearly cried for him.

He said Peyton will probably have a few by Christmas.  Well, he was dead on last time with his prediction, and I think he's right again.  This time I swear I can see his top left one peeking through, just about to cut.

For a baby with four teeth coming through, he's been an absolute delight.  I can't get over it.  (knock on wood.)  I think we're in for it next time with baby #2, because we surely hit the jackpot with this little guy!
------------
A few weeks ago Peyton started making these weird faces.  We would laugh so hard at him, but turns out, I'm pretty sure he's making them because his top teeth are hurting.  I suppose you would make faces like this if your top gums hurt too & didn't know where the pain was coming from!  At his doc appt, he made about every face imaginable all within 10 min of us sitting there.

"Adam and Eve had many advantages but the principal one was, that they escaped teething."

- Mark Twain

Prescott! And The Nutcracker!

Friday afternoon we headed up to Prescott to see my sister Laurie perform at Acker Night.  Every year she clogs at this event and it's so much fun.  The Square is completely alive with hundreds of people, events, booths, music, and hot chocolate.  Laurie is part of a clogging group and they dance for a few hours to Christmas music and it's very cool!

After, we ate at The Prescott Brewing Company and it was just such a fun and cozy night.  The weather was actually very nice.  I think it was 49* (or was it 39*? either way it was nice!) that night, much warmer than previous years!

Can you find Peyton?

Peyton was up until 11:30 pm and did A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  There was so much to look at that he was busy the whole time, and by dinner, he just laid in my dads arms staring off into space, he was so exhausted he couldn't even make a noise or movement.  

The next day we lounged around and had to head back to Phoenix later in the day.  We had such a fun time, I just wish we could've stayed longer.  Next time!  THANK YOU Laurie for your great hospitality and for giving us your room for the night!  

My mother-in-law Joan invited me to see The Nutcracker Ballet with her on Sunday.  I was SO excited for this!  I hadn't seen it since I was a little girl.  We had a really good time and I'm so happy she thought of doing this together.  Now that I'm older, I can appreciate the talent and the beautiful props, dancing, etc of The Nutcracker.  As a matter of fact, I wanna make this a yearly tradition now and cannot wait to see it again!

Afterwards, Steve, Peyton, Dennis and Andy met us for dinner at Famous Dave's.  Another late night for Peyton, he's had so many lately, but luckily he does well and he's used to his schedule by now so he's not affected (aka WE'RE not affected!), as in, he doesn't wake during the night, etc.

What another wonderful weekend!!!

Pic's of Acker Night!

Sunday morning, right after Peyton woke up and I fed him, he laid on Steve and after about 5 minutes he was OUT!  After Steve got up to eat himself, he laid back down and then he was OUT!  What worn out boys from a busy Fri & Sat!

"I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich."

-Dan Wilcox & Thad Mumford