merry christmas

 from our family to yours...

wishing you a very blessed Christmas!

breakfast with santa

Goodness I have a lot of blog catching up to do...hopefully I can do some serious updating.

This weekend we had our First Breakfast with Santa at the country club.  Funny story the original Santa moved away last minute and so prepubescent Santa filled in.  Seriously, not sure if this Santa could vote yet.  But we still had lots of fun and a breakfast filled with biscuits and gravy so who can complain.

Mama, Declan and the Doogie Howser Santa...so funny!

Declan did great and wasn't phased at all...he looks bored with Santa in this one.  He also had no clue what was going on so next year should be much more interesting.  I'm also obsessed with baby Christmas outfits...he's sporting his reindeer hat and reindeer booties for Santa.  I'm loving the cuteness while I can.

"baby, it's cold outside"

So, yesterday it was in the 80's.

And today it's in the 30's.

Welcome to Texas weather. 

I'm sure I've made it known before that I'm not a fan of winter weather.  Give me my flip flops and my sunshine any day.  We lived in Chicago for a few years and I feel those couple years gave me my share of winter weather for a lifetime...it was brutal.  I still have nightmares of standing outside in 4 feet of snow waiting for the bus to pick me up.  I remember our first winter in Texas and they called off school for bad weather one morning because of some flurries and so my mom and I headed to the mall.  A light snow was nothing for us.  Now some 15 years later and any word of bad weather and I'm hibernating with the rest of my fellow Texans.

Notice my kid's not a winter fan either.  Kind of reminds me of the younger brother from "A Christmas Story" heading off to school.

So, we'll be hanging out indoors for the next few days staying warm and snuggling with a few pugs.

four months

dear declan,

my sweet boy i'm so late doing your 4 month update, mainly because i'm in disbelief at how quickly these months are flying by.  didn't i just sit down to write your 3 month update?  i was looking at pictures from your birth the other day and goodness how you have grown.  this has been such a fun month because your personality is really starting to show.  you're such a smiley and happy baby and on November 14th you surprised me (and yourself) with your first belly laugh.  thankfully we called daddy at work and you did it once more for him!  such an incredible moment.

you're really filling out my chunky monkey.  you're weighing in at 13 lbs. and 7 oz.  you're also an even 2 feet tall!  we're gradually transitioning your clothes over to 3-6 mos.  definitely in the pants and snapped onesies for length.  also, we finished up all our size 1 diapers this month so you'll head over to the 2's.  you love sitting up and are so strong in your core.  the pediatrician called you a curtain climber ha!  we busted out the bumbo this month to see how you'd do and you love it.  you love being able to check out what's going on around you.  you're sleeping like a champ going from about 9 pm to 6 am and then a morning nap about 7 am to 10 am with an afternoon nap from 1 pm-4 pm.  you love meal times and let us know for sure when it's time.  you also hate the mid break for a burp and scream at your bottle for more.

you celebrated your first halloween this month and were quite the hit visiting friends and neighbors in your costume with daddy carrying you.  you loved handing out smiles and your daddy loved eating your treats.  you too are quite the pair!!  i love nothing more than watching the two of you bond.  your face lights up when he walks in the room and if you're still napping when he comes home from work he can't wait to wake you up for some smiles.

little man we love you more and more each day!  i am so excited for this next month for the holidays and celebrating your first Christmas!!

love always,
mommy

the bumbo & dumbo

pug was checking out declan in his bumbo chair a few days ago.  why do i have a feeling these too are going to make quite a pair when it comes to getting into stuff?

the birth announcements

I'm sitting here addressing the super cute birth announcements y'all helped me decide on a few weeks ago. I can't thank you enough for helping me decide on which Tiny Prints birth announcement I should choose from because if it were up to me I might have just sent out all 5 designs or better yet never made a decision so they never even got ordered.  You saved the day! 

Want to see them?

The design is the Tiny Prints Today's Special: Peppermint and I adore how they turned out.  Good pick!  I love the quality of each card and the detail of the rounded corners just makes them.

I even had room to add one of my favorite pictures on the back with Declan in his pug knit hat. And because I'm one of those ubber paranoid people I did blur our last name and his middle name, so in case your wondering these won't get mailed with that.

Thank you all so much again!

 Disclaimer: All opinions are my own.  A huge thank you to tinyprints.com for providing us with the cards.

book shopping

I really tried this past month to carve our a little time for me to sit and read.  Even if it was just a page or two at a time while he napped I felt like it did a world of difference for me because I was missing it so.  Hopefully, I can keep it up and we can discuss our reads more often once again.

So, here's my reads:

"Cuckoo's Calling" by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling:  I have only read one other thing by Rowling and that was book #2 of the Harry Potter series.  Don't ask how that happened.  And I just never got around to the rest.  All the hype about her actually being the author behind this book and because I do enjoy a good crime novel I decided to give it a chance.  I'm torn though.  Keep in mind that I read this at a very tiring time in my life and over a long period of time so even though I did enjoy the story I felt like it was drawn out more then it needed to be.  If I could of sat down and read more at a time though I might have feel differently.  I like that she didn't stop at the Potter series though and has branched into a new genre.

"Where'd you Go Bernadette" by Maria Semple:  I just finished this this week after seeing so many recommendations for it on pinterest.  Very cute and witty.  The author really keeps you engaged and it's a fast read.  It would make a good travel read if your going away for the holidays.  I'd definitely suggest it.

And that would be all of it unless you could "12 hours of sleep by 12 weeks" a riveting read on newborn sleep ha!  I've got a few on my maybe list to read next but would love to hear your suggestions before I pick up something new.