Christmas: A story in pictures.

A Christmas Story, as told by Buggy.

It's Christmas Morning and we are so excited to get up early and see what Santa brought!

SANTA CAME!

And he brought me a new doll!

And Books!

And a ball popper thingamajiggy.

THIS IS SO COOL! Christmas is so fun!

I really love this paper stuff though.

Nom nom nom...

Then, I got all dressed up and went to lunch with Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Papa, GG, and D. Don't I look adorable?

Me with my Nana and Papa. I love them so much!

Me with my GG. She's the best!

Me with my Mommy and D.

Back at home playing with my gift from D: a rolly ball. I'm also sitting on my (finally) finished blanket that my Nana started before my Mommy even got pregnant.

After we rested at home for a bit, we headed to Granny and Papaw's for dinner. This is me and my Granny.

I had a blast playing with my cousin while Granny and Papaw watched.

However, this holiday season can be summed up in one, well two, words. WRAPPING PAPER!

Nom nom nom nom nom.

The End.

You know you take to many pictures of your child when...

Mom...seriously, stop!

Happy Half Birthday, Buggy!

I can't believe it. My Buggy is half a year old today! Where on Earth did the last 6 months go? On this joyous day, I would like to compose a short letter to my sweet angel on Earth.

Dear Buggy,

You are my world, my everything. The last 6 months have been the happiest, most blessed months of my life. Every night, I just pray that God blesses you and keeps you safe and sound...and also that you sleep for a while and let Mommy get some sleep. That doesn't happen that often though, because Mommy wakes up and just watches you sleep. Love songs have a totally new meaning to me now. I really could stay awake just to hear you breathing.

I can't believe it's already been 6 months, and I also can't believe it's only been 6 months. You are so important to my life and my existence that I can't even remember or imagine what life would be without you. I swear that before you came, my life was black and white, and now I'm living in vivid technicolor.

I wouldn't change a single thing that has happened to me since the moment you entered my life. Your daddy and I love you so much that I just can't even put into adequate words how amazing and blessed my life has become.

You, my sweet little Lovebug, are everything. And I love you forever,

Mommy

Also, a few pictures of my sweet girl celebrating her half birthday.

Buggy and my dad's old bear.

She has posed with this bear every month for a picture. At one time, she was smaller than the bear.

Sweet Angel.

Buggy and her favorite toy (of the moment) her Monkey.

Happy half birthday, Buggy. Mommy and Daddy love you more than life itself.

Christmas Bokeh

On a message board I frequent, I saw this link and thought "Hey, that looks easy. I can do that."

So...I tried it. And tried it. Kicked the camera. Tried it again. Kicked the wall. Cried because I stubbed my toe. Re-tried it... AGAIN. And finally...seemed to get some semblance of Christmas bokeh. They aren't the best pics, and honestly not what I wanted. I wanted to get the entire Holy Family in, but the camera wouldn't focus on all three, le sigh. That is okay. Jesus is the reason for the season anyway, right? Right? Eh, I'm probably just trying to make myself feel better.

Anyway, I present Christmas Bokeh.

Mommytography

Well, I've recently caught the photography bug. I've always loved photography, and always tried to take artsy fartsy shots, but I've never had a good enough camera to actually play with. My father recently got an Olympus E410 and I've been playing around with it for about a year or so. Then, I produced the beautiful spawn I call Buggy, and just take pictures of her everyday, sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds. I'm really trying to learn how to be a better photographer. I can edit the crap out of a picture and make it look good, but the actual composition, exposure and skill of photography has always been out of my grasp.

Here's a few shots I took today of Buggy modelling her new bow and headband from Little Mod Chic, an adorable little shop of baby boutique items that Buggy just had to have. She told me so. It wasn't me, it was her!

All photos shot with Olympus E410 and are SOOC (straight out of camera

1/50, f/5.6, ISO 800

1/30, f/5.6, ISO 800

1/50, f/5.6, ISO800

1/30, f/5.6, ISO 800

1/30, f/5.6, ISO 800

I would love some constructive criticism :)

The Solids Saga pt 1

Well, we did it. We caved. We started solids.

We were planning on waiting until 6 months to start any kind of solids, but Buggy has been eye-balling our food for ooohhhh 5 months of so, so we kind of anticipated having to start sooner than 6 months. We held out as long as we could, but in the end, I just couldn't continue to eat my delicious food and watch as her eyes tracked every morsel from my plate into my mouth.

So begins the Solids Saga.

The first night we started rice cereal. I was so excited. I pumped a little breast milk, and really her rice cereal ended up being just glorified thickened breast milk. It wasn't so much rice cereal as it was rice soup. We also decided to eat in front of the tv, because it was the SEC championship game, and I wasn't going to miss a single second of the Gator game. Unfortunately, while the rice cereal/soup was a hit, the game, not so much for my Gators.

Evidence:

"What's that mom? OMG, is it for ME?"

It's up...

It's in...

It's GOOD!

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Gators...

While the rice cereal was an obvious winner, the Gators were not. I guess the moral of this story is...
You can't win them all.

Stay tuned for part deux of the Solids Saga a.k.a The First Time Daddy Feeds Buggy.

CLW #2: Co-Sleeper

Well, the Cant-Live-Without #2 is really, now a Couldn't-Live-Without, as we can now live without it, because we can't use it anymore. Buggy has outgrown it. *pauses for a moment of "Awwww"*

However, the CLW #2 is the First Years Close and Secure Sleeper and we used it every night for the first, oh, 3 months of Buggy's life.

*not Buggy*

Well, okay, technically, for the first 3 weeks we were home, we slept in the den, in the recliner, with her on my chest. But, that was really only because I couldn't climb up into bed (it's a really high bed.) Then, we moved into our bedroom and put her in the bedside co-sleeper and she just seeemed SO FAR AWAY!

A week later, we took a trip up north to see the mother-in-law, and we purchased the First Years Close and Secure Sleeper to use in the hotel rooms. LOVED it. She was right in bed with us, and I slept so much better. I knew that we weren't going to roll over on her, and she was right there and I just felt so much better. We hadn't planned on bedsharing, but it really worked out really well.

I had such grand plans when I was pregnant. Buggy would sleep in a bassinet in our room until she was 6 weeks old, and then we would seamlessly transition her to her room in her own crib. Yeah, did not work out that way. I wasn't prepared for the connection and need to be near her all the time.

She's still in our room, but she is now in the sidecar co-sleeper, which I will focus on in another CLW post.

A day of Christmas Fun!

Today, Buggy, my parents, the hubster, and I did a little Christmas celebrating. A little holiday cheer was had.

First, we went to see the big man in red. Buggy was not totally impressed, but we did get a decent shot. She was, however, far more interested in the beard that the jolly elf had going for him. She latched right on to that thing with her hand, and didn't let go until the last second. If you check out the photo, you'll see jolly old St. Nick actually holding her hand. This was after we pried his much adored whiskers from her grasp of steel. I think she may have actually hurt him. Kid's got a grip on her, that's for sure. Let's hope these shenanigans didn't put her on Santa's naughty list.

We also decided a couple of weeks ago at our seemingly bi-weekly jaunt to Sonny's (Baby back ribs for Babies, people! It's for the babies!)  we saw they had their Salvation Army Angel Tree up. Now, we usually do this every year, but honestly the last year has been pretty hard financially, so we had decided not to do it this year. Kind of bummed me out, but alas, I was determined to get over it.

That is, until I actually looked at the tree and saw my angel. An angel I just had to get. A little girl who is 2 months old. They had requested a nursery monitor and clothes. That was it. I had to have her. So, I batted my eyes at the hubster, and had Buggy look at him all sad like, and of course, he not-so-begrudgingly gave in. So, I grabbed her off the tree and we decided to make this an annual tradition. We will get an angel off the tree, no matter how financially strapped we are, who is the same age as Buggy, and we will have her pick out gifts for the child.

Of course, she is nowhere near old enough for that this year, but nonetheless, we did it anyway. So, I went to my favorite consignment shop today and bought her about 10 outfits. Then we went to Target after the Santa visit, and got the monitor, a blanket, a small toy (Buggy did pick that out!) and a few other little items. Then I put a pair of shoes Buggy had never worn (she has gigantor feet) and some socks and headbands, and voila, Buggy had her first Angel Tree bag done! I think she felt pretty good about it.

She had so much fun bagging it all up, we let her just play in her bumbo (CLW#1) and I got this adorable snapshot of her checking out the tree.

All in all, a wonderful day full of old traditions, and new ones. I am LOVING this Christmas!