Christmas 2011

We celebrated Barrett's first Christmas in Dallas with our families.  We first went to the farm in Dallas to visit with my side of the family. It was Barrett's first time to meet his great-grandparents and other extended relatives!!

Barrett with his Great-Grandpa and Grandma 

Barrett and Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Jerry

Me and my sweet baby sucking his thumb!

(And apparently missing a sock...)

Hanging out with Aunt Julie and Uncle Tom

Family pic!

Helping Daddy open presents

Enduring kisses from mommy :-)

Barrett with Grandma and Grandpa

Even the puppies were excited about opening the stocking stuffers, 

especially since most of the things were for them!!

After hanging out at the farm for a few days, we headed to Travis' brother's house about an hour away to see his side of the family.  Barrett got to meet his cousins, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Shane, and his other great-grandparents!!  It was a pretty exciting trip for him :-)

Barrett with Great-Grandma Dolores and Great-Grandpa Howard

More pictures with Grand-D and Great-Grandma Dolores

She's got her hands full with 3.5 month old Baby Barrett and two year old cousins Carson and Avery!!

Barrett loved hanging out with Aunt Kelly :-)

(And Avery was so sweet to give him kisses and try to share her goldfish and milk with him!)

Avery begged to hold Baby Barrett and was so excited when she got a turn.

They both were pretty serious about it!!

Taking a walk with Daddy

Travis and Carson playing with his new fire truck

Travis, Barrett and Cousin Catherine playing in Barrett's new play gym from Grandma!

Overall, a very merry Christmas!!

A Long Day...

For the past few days, Barrett has decided that he doesn't want to sleep anymore.  Playing and giggling with Mommy is so much more fun than sleeping!!  So, instead of sleeping for about 14-16 hours each day, he has only been sleeping about 8-10 hours each day. Nothing about our routine or our day had changed; all he has wanted to do was play and talk and coo and grow!!  For a few days, this wasn't a problem for him because he was still happy and giggly.  (Mom got a little worn out, though...)

But today, his happiness came to a crashing, shuddering halt. Last night, he didn't go to bed until 11:30pm, and then he woke up after only 8 hours of sleep (this is not normal for him!!). He was happy for about two hours. Then, he was fussy, whiny, and tired (with only a few moments of happiness) for the rest of the day. It was obvious that he was tired - yawning constantly, circles under his heavy eyes, and a lot of behavior that just isn't normal for him. But, no matter what tricks I tried for him, he was refusing to sleep!! Nothing worked - not the swing, the crib, nursing, walking, bouncing...nothing.

Finally, after trying to get him to nap for several hours, I gave up.  I needed to take the cat to the vet, so I loaded everyone up in the car.  Barrett screamed and the cat cried for the ten minute drive to the vet, and it was so miserable!!  I couldn't wait to get to the vet and back.  So, of course, the vet office was closed for lunch when I got there. *sigh* With a screaming baby and a crying cat, I didn't know what to do.  I couldn't go home because I didn't want to go through this whole process all over again, so I just started driving.

And driving... and driving...

Never have I ever been so grateful for the long straight drive on highway 90 where you can drive for miles and miles at 70mph without traffic, lights, or any distractions in general. As soon as I got out on the highway, everybody calmed down.  For an hour, I drove up and down highway 90 (20 miles out of town and back, twice), relishing the fact that Barrett was finally taking a much-needed nap.

(You can almost see the baby in the mirror...) 

After an hour, he began to stir a little, so I went back to the vet to drop off the cat, and then we went to base to visit Daddy and have a change of scenery.  Barrett was the sweetest baby while we were there, cooing and laughing at all the guys who talked to him.

He started to get cranky, so we came back home, and he was back to his fussy self, obviously still tired.  We nursed for a while, and he napped for about two hours. I was woefully unproductive during this time, because all I wanted to do was snuggle with my sweet baby and help him sleep.  He woke up horribly cranky and out of sorts, so I quickly put his pjs on and nursed him again. He finally settled down in his crib at 6:30 this evening, and I can only pray that he gets the rest he needs tonight.  Growing is serious business!!

Today was a long day, but everyone is peacefully tucked into bed now (even Travis!), so I am finishing the chores and preparing for our road trip to Dallas tomorrow. We are all looking forward to seeing the family for Christmas!

Pray for a well-rested, happy little boy tomorrow.  It would sure do great things for my spirits :-)

Christmas Cheer continued...

As promised, here are some more Christmas pictures!! (And, Christmas cards are on the way... Time slipped by me this year, and I will have them in the mail by tomorrow!!)

These are some of my favorite pictures so far.  The sun FINALLY came out again after two weeks of cloudly, rainy days, so the light was AWESOME for these pictures!  I'm still learning how to work my camera, but with such a precious subject to photograph, cute pictures are easy!!

Grandmas, be prepared... Your hearts may melt a little bit on some of these photos :-) Enjoy!!

Can we say cutest little elf ever!?!?

My First Christmas 2011

Wearing our penguin outfit and hanging out under the tree with the handprint ornament we just made

He was a little tired for these pictures, but his cute little faces are just priceless

The weather was sooooo nice, AND Daddy came home at 4:45pm (which is insanely early for him), so we were able to go to the park to play and take a walk! Barrett went down the slide several times with Daddy and then also by himself.  We love when Daddy comes home before the sun goes down!!

A little too much light from the sun, but those baby blues are just too precious.

Best shot of the day, by far :-)

I love his sweet face!!

A little Texas elf!

Well, I have am having way too much fun dressing Barrett up in Christmas clothes!! I can't help it...he looks like an elf in everything I dress him in, especially with the hats on.  But, I don't want his bald little head to get cold, and I know I only have one Christmas with a baby this small and this willing to wear just about anything, so I am taking full advantage of it. :-)

I have been trying to get pictures of him in all his outfits, so here are some of my favorites so far:

Every kid needs a first Christmas outfit :-)

(Do you see the elfish resemblence?!?!)

Trying to escape...

A Texas elf!!

Looking totally cute and adorable under the Texas tree...

Another very elfish picture!

(Santa's favorite elf, of course!)

I never knew a snowman could look so cute :-)

(I love that round little tummy!!)

Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!!

(And it's hard to see, but this outfit has santa feet!)

Super excited about his new Christmas pjs from great-grandma Jerry!

My sweet little boy! :-)

Kids' Christmas Party

Travis volunteered our house for the kids' Christmas party for the entire squadron this year, and it turned out to be quite an event!!  First of all, I would like to document that it hasn't rained in Del Rio in MONTHS, but it was pouring down rain on Saturday morning, the day of the party.  This only made things more interesting!!  After some rearranging and moving all the outdoor activities inside, we managed to make it all work out.  The only thing that didn't get moved inside was the deep fryer, but Travis put up an umbrella and a fence (to keep the kids away from the hot oil), and he still managed to make some awesomely delicious fried turkeys!  We also initially did not set up the bouncy castle because of the rain, but after the kids had been here an hour, it became an absolute necessity.  So, the guys set it up and let the kids bounce away their sugar highs!!  And cleanup was surprisingly easy, although I think I will be vacuuming up sprinkles and wiping up sticky spots for weeks to come...

The party was a great excuse to put up all the Christmas decorations, and then once we set up all the craft tables, our house was full to the brim with Christmas cheer!! I never made an official count, but I think we had about 20-25 kids show up, along with their parents.  After the kids left, we had some other adults come over (or come back after dropping off their kids) and stay to hang out for a while.  Travis rented a standing heater for the patio, so we were able to sit outside.  It was a really fun party, and I think everybody had a great time!!

Some photos from the epic event:

Activity #1: Make your own gingerbread house!

Some of these kids got pretty creative! 

(Most of them just sat there and ate the candy 

while Daddy tried to put graham crackers together with frosting...)

Activity #2: Make Christmas ornaments out of pipe cleaners and beads

(This turned into a jewelry making station, which was way more fun anyways!)

Activity #3: Making Rudolph out of candy canes

(Really though, it was the "eat a candy cane while playing with glue" station...)

Activity #4: Making stained glass ornaments out of die cuts and tissue paper

(The older kids loved this one!!) 

Activity #5: Decorating wreaths made out of green paper plates

(These turned out really cute!!)

Activity #6: Decorating (and then eating) sugar cookies and gingerbread men

(This was the most popular activity, by far)

More sugar cookie madness...

At one point, I had to ask... "Nicholas, is there even a cookie under all that frosting and sprinkles??"

Activity #7: the bouncy castle

And, finally, a visit from SANTA!!

Travis' friend Russ accepted the task of dressing as Santa for an hour at the party, and he was a huge success!

Some kids cried, others listed off the things they wanted, and one gave Santa the third degree:

"What did I ask you for last year?...Your boots aren't right...Where are your gloves?...How did you get here?...Why aren't you fatter??" (Ahh, from the mouths of babes...)

Barrett's first Christmas with Santa!!

Even Travis took a picture with Santa this year :-)

Barrett (3 months old), Ainsley (1month old), Trey (2 months old), and Anna (1.5 years old)

The theme of the party was "tacky Christmas sweaters" so here are our outfits for the evening. 

(And yes, those are red women's pants that we are both wearing...)

Shana, Ramani, JJ, and Travis

(Apparently we all shop at Walmart, although Shana and Ramani both added some bling to their sweaters!!)

Travis' turkeys were a huge hit!  Delicious, as always!