HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The perfect way to end the BEST year of our life!

SEVENTEEN!

Today is my sister Brittany's 17th Birthday!!! Everyone loves celebrating their birthday, but with everything Britt has gone through the last 4 years, each birthday is especially special. For her Christmas & Birthday gift, she received a full day of beauty at Mario Tricocci from the Nashville Zics. My mom dropped her off at the salon this morning and when she picked her up, she was all glam! (Which is perfect, because they're headed Downtown to see Wicked tonight...again!)

Ever the rebellious teenager, Britt decided to get her hair highlighted without asking Mom's permission. Of course, we all think it looks great. I told my mom, "Hey, with all she's been through..So what if she wants to dye it PURPLE!"

I made them come by as soon as she picked her up. I couldn't wait to snap some cute pics of her in her gorgeous new look.

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH BRITT. YOU'RE STUNNING! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Lola and Her Diamonds!

LOLA GETS HER EARS PIERCED 

If you click on the link above, you'll get to see Lola getting her ears pierced! The whole family came out for the event while we were down in Florida. We had a blast and really love how our baby girl looks with her new little diamonds! The action happens about 3 minutes in. (PS...Please don't think we're mean parents!)

I couldn't resist!

Little Baby Butt!

Smiles for GiGi

Hi GiGi, It's Lola!

Mommy put me in the new outfit you got me for Christmas this morning. I love it. Don't you think I look cute? Thank you so much! I love my cute new shoes, too. You're the best.

XOXO

Aunties come to visit!

Lola's "Aunties" Jessica & Kristin came to visit today. They had so much fun playing with her and she loved hanging out with them. She can't wait to play with her new toy, too!

Cooking with Daddy

I went to go get my hair cut and colored last Tuesday, and as I was walking out the door, this was the scene in kitchen. John & Lola were making lunch together. She was loving the spatula!

Rice Cereal

I've started giving Lola a little rice cereal here and there over the past week--mostly to get her used to sitting in her booster seat and eating from a spoon. Yesterday and Today, she did very well. We got about a half a tablespoon in yesterday and about a tablespoon today. She actually ate dinner with us this evening--we went to Dad & Sue's for dinner and she sat at the table with us. Mommy would take a bite of her dinner and then Lola would get a spoonful of cereal. She's pushing less and less out at every feeding and I think she is really getting the hang of it. 

I'm so excited for this new chapter in feeding! I can't wait to move on to Sweet Potatoes. I have been planning on making her baby food forever, so I did a trail run a few weeks ago. I must say, I make some good Sweet Potato puree! She's going to love it...I hope! I have to look back at the list of wedding gifts we received and send the person who gave us our Cuisinart an extra thank-you note!!!

I'll post some pictures soon of our little cereal eater...

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Now that we finally have a working computer and printer again (!), I was able to upload Lola's Santa picture. Better late than never, right?!

We took Lola to visit Santa for the first time when we were down in Florida earlier this month. We waited until we got down there because we wanted to make sure Grandma could come along with us. While we were driving to the mall, Lola feel asleep so when we got there, we had to break a Cardinal Rule--never wake a sleeping baby! Thankfully, she wasn't upset with us and sat on the jolly ol' fella's lap so we could get a keepsake!

Welcome home, Mac.

Lola got a TON of toys for Christmas, so today, we dropped Lola off at Camp Grandma & Grandpa and headed to the mall to get ourselves a new, little TOY. We LOVE it! And of course, I'm freaking-out excited by all the awesome, creative things I'm going to be able to do with it! John's happy to have access to his iTunes again, and we're both rejoicing at finally having Internet access again. We're looking forward to chatting through the webcam with our family in Flordia, too!!!

I have to convince myself to go to bed and not stay up all night playing with it....Lola will be up promptly at 5 am-ish!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all our family who helped make our fun new gift possible with your very generous Christmas gifts!!!

Christmas 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We hope you all had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did. This year was so special, for obvious reasons! Getting up on Christmas morning and getting to give our little girl her gifts was so fun! We didn't get her much--she got plenty of toys and other great gifts from all her very generous family--but we each gave her something special that (we hope) she will treasure always. And then together, we gave her a Winnie the Pooh Christmas ornament that we hope will hang on her tree when she's grown and has a family of her own.

We celebrated Christmas Eve at Uncle Jerry & Auntie Joan's and Christmas Day at Uncle Kenny & Auntie Cheryl's. You can see the Christmas Eve slide shows HERE & HERE and the Christmas Day slide show HERE. (I accidentally made two Eve slide shows...Oopps!)

Our first Christmas morning together...

The story behind this book is that I saw it in a little shop on our first anniversary trip up in Michigan. I promised myself when I got pregnant, I would give it to our child. It meant more than you can imagine to be able to make good on that promise I made to myself! The tittle of the book is "Can You Imagine How Much I Love You?" 

John did this all on his own--you may all think I'm the creative one, but he's tough competition. He loves to sing "When You Wish Upon A Star" to her. So he wrote her a little "letter" with the lyrics that will hang in her nursery.

Christmas with Mom

Each year, we celebrate Christmas with my mom and exchange gifts a few days before actual Christmas. It used to be just the four of us. Now, it's SEVEN of us (John, Silvia and Lola being the additions!) We went out to 94 West for brunch and it was SO good. Then we went back to Mom's and enjoyed each other and some goodies!

You can see all the pictures of today HERE.

Just a few...

The traditional shot in our family: Baby in front of gift mountain! GF already teaching her to play the drums!

What a beautiful couple.
(Sidenote: Look for Silvia in the new Johnny Depp movie,
Public Enemy)

We were so happy we caught this moment on camera.

Celebrating our 4th Christmas together.

Two Peas in a Pod.

I'm in love with this picture.
I think my mother looks SO VERY beautiful.
That smile is filled with love for us all.

Lola in front of the tree

Almost 5 months...

It's hard to beleive Lola is almost 5 months old! Time is flying by. We wish we could make time stand still right about now--she's still in the imobile stage, but is now at an incredible stage of awareness and alertness. I like it call her "interactive"!

Her favorite things to do right now are:
-Babbling and saying "ah-goo"...pretty much "talking" to anyone that will listen
-Rolling over--she'll roll from one end of the room to the other if we let her
-Grabbing on to her feet while being changed...and pulling her socks off all the time!
-Standing up (with assistance, of course) and playing in her Exersaucer
-Putting everything in her mouth...Teething has begun!

She was 13 lbs. even at her 4 month check up. We go back on 12/30 for the rest of her 4 month shots. She's increased her milk intake in the last few weeks (now gets about 28 oz./day) so I wouldn't be surprise if she's gained a full pound. She's right on track to have doubled her birth weight by 6 months.

Here's a few from this past week.

Protesting Mommy's constant documentation of her life.

Mommy LOVES when she takes her socks off...all the time!Getting creative with the afghan.

Always with the fist in the mouth.

Would you believe this is my sister Brittany's toy box?
It's about 15 years old and the perfect new addition
to Lola's room!

Playing with her Puppy

She loves her Taggie ball from Uncle Rich & Aunt Jan.

Pretty baby.

Her onesie reads:
"This is my little black dress!"

Christmas in Flordia 2008

Last Saturday, our last night in Florida, we celebrated Christmas together. The most special thing we did all night, as far as I'm concerned, was take the generational picture of GiGi, Mommy, TiTi and Lola. It's really something seeing the four of those ladies together.

We had an awesome dinner (surprise, surprise!) and then exchanged some gifts. I was so happy everyone loved the pictures we gave and especially the coffee mugs! John and I got a few gift cards to the Apple Store--we're headed there the day after Christmas to go buy our new Mac--so we loved that!

Enjoy the pics. We miss you all SO VERY MUCH!