Baby's First Christmas

Christmas 2014,  oh yea baby. We had Nana, Abuelo, Papa, Cecie, Kiko and his girlfriend Brooke over to our house for Christmas dinner. After Christmas morning and Christmas day was all over they asked to do it over again. Victoria asked for 100 hundred candy canes, a penguin stuffed animal, a Care Bear and Santa brought her those and them some. O'Neill asked for a light up singing Rudolph, Star Wars stuffed storm trooper and darth vader and got it. All in all Christmas was a success. The children's favorite present was from Cecie who gave every child an electronic piano. My favorite present was my adult scooter so I can play with the kids! 

Rebecca playing at Kindermusik - she loves her music

So our elf, Sprinkle Sparkles, brought O'Neill and Victoria two kittens. (They were born early so the elf brought them down from the North Pole a few days before Christmas) The black kitten was named Midnight and the beautiful calico was sometimes called Lilly and sometimes Butterscotch. The children absolutely LOVED them and even JZ was getting in on the kitten love. They lived outside and were so cute. Unfortunately, Victoria is now allergic to cats. She was so upset and though her eyes were red and puffy and her throat was scratchy she insisted she wasn't allergic and promised not to touch them and always wash her hands. Our sweet house helper took them home and Victoria seriously cried for 20 minutes. Better to have loved and lost than not loved at all...

O'Neill performing his Christmas show with his classmates. He was so great!! He was so proud that his sister had to watch HIM instead of the other way around…

Rebecca turned 10 months and is just the happiest fattest baby. She is getting 4 teeth on top and has the 2 on the bottom. She is crawling everywhere, trying to pull up everywhere, loves looking at touch and feel books. Her favorite game is "How Big Is Rebecca?" and putting her hands up. One thing about this girl is that she is a true Daddy's girl!! She is all about JZ. Loves his voice, wants to be held by him - so precious.

This was the year of the luggage and everyone got some. Victoria asked where we are going and since we didn't have an answer she said she will meet us in Rio.

My three angels!!

So we haven't slid down the technology slide yet giving an iPad, Wii, PowerWheels, etc. But they did get a pedal car - and it's been a hit!

The cookies and carrots. Victoria wrote the note all by herself and told Santa to "In Joy" the cookies. V and O made the cookies with Cecie and I seriously think they ate enough icing to fill Santa's sleigh

V got her Black Footed South Africa Penguin she wrote in her letter to Santa. Seriously- this kid is one of a kind.

R showing off her excellent pincer grip

 Holding her bottle! Showing her milky smile and teeth

I love this - Victoria went to a painting party and her masterpiece is up top and the example is below.

Christmas is fun but exhausting!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Took the children to see Santa and it was an adventure…more like a nightmare. We rushed to pick up V from school and headed to the downtown Neiman's. We had 15 minutes to take the picture before Santa went back to the North Pole for the night. After getting everyone dressed O'Neill decided to take off his socks and shoes just as we are headed into the store. A hair bow and lovey fell into the wet gutter so V is wearing a wet yucky bow. Then R has a blowout diaper while O is melting down and telling me he does not want to have his picture taken! Head to the bathroom to change the diaper and luckily nothing got on her dress. Walk back downstairs to take the picture and then V has to go to the bathroom…so back up we went again. O'Neill is now crying because he does NOT want his picture taken. So I'm preparing myself for a picture with two kids when we are walking back down to see Santa and R spits up all over the floor Neiman's. BUT a Christmas Miracle happened - we got the best picture with Santa!! Then we walk back to the car and I have a parking ticket! (5 minutes past and I see the meter maid). Oh I love the holidays.

After the Neiman Santa experience I can handle anything. So I decide to take the children to the Dallas Children's Christmas parade. I was a little nervous taking all three by myself and luckily a nice man took pity on me. He was meeting his family who had been saving a spot since 8am that morning (2 hours prior). Thus we had second row seats with borrowed blankets and camp chairs. It was the best parade: there were at least 20 bands, every super hero made an appearance, huge balloons, Miss America, Miss Texas, Star Wars, cartoon characters… I might have had the most fun. And Miss Rebecca was a super trooper just fell asleep in my arms even as the drums went by. Bless her heart!

Victoria had her Christmas tap recital. She was the cutest soldier and did a good job. So proud of her and she has that marching down!

Baby turned 9 months and she has four teeth - 2 on the bottom and 2 side top teeth. As O'Neill says she can: turn over, wave, crawl, clap, eat "big" kid food cut up in small bits, sit, and trying so hard to pull up. She is so much bigger than Victoria and O were at this age. She is wearing 12 -18 month clothing!! I love her fair hair!! It is staying pretty fair even in the winter. She is babbling all over! And is the funniest thing to watch when she eats. She Loves her food. And her Mama  - she has a little bit of separation anxiety and it doesn't bother me one bit - I'll hold her all day long.