Update

Christina is the happiest baby I know. I can't believe how much she smiles and laughs. She hasn't actually laughed out loud yet, but she definitely seems to enjoy herself. In fact, everything seems to be funny to her.

She is growing and changing so much every day. She has started reaching out and grabbing things. She also seems to finally enjoy her toys. She actually even picked up her rattle on her own the other day, shook it, and brought it to her mouth. She wants everything in her mouth actually. It is so cute to watch her suck on her little hands. She hasn't yet discovered her thumb, but she tries to get the whole hand in there.

Christina also seems to chatter away more and more. It is great to listen to all of the different sounds she comes up with. She likes to join in on the conversations that Nik and I have. We just love it.

Here are some of the newest pictures:

Success

I finally got the tree up and decorated. It only took three days, but it's done. Take a look:






Christina seems to like the tree. She likes to look up at the lights, and I think she especially likes the bright start at the top of the tree.

Happy December

December is a good month . . . holiday shopping, Christmas music, cool weather, and if we are lucky we will get just enough snow to enjoy it and not to dread it (in NJ).

I am so happy to be spending this time with my little Christina. We have been listening to Christmas music and watching the Baby Einstein Santa DVD. I can't wait to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with her. Nik and I already watched part of Elf with Christina. Holiday movies are the best, aren't they? Of course Christina doesn't know what she is watching, but we like the movies, so it is fun to share them with her.

One of my favorites is Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Clause. I am sooooo excited to watch that one this year because I haven't seen it since I was a kid.

I'm hoping to get the tree up at the end of the week, and then it will really feel like Christmas in our home. Christina seemed to really like looking at my Mom's Christmas tree, especially the lights. So it will be nice for her to have her own.

By the way, this morning Christina was so adorable and sweet. Actually, she is always in a good mood in the morning. When I was pregnant, I use to love to wake up and lay in bed for a few minutes, feeling her move around. It was the best way to start the day. But now, wow, I couldn't imagine starting the day any better. She is all smiles in the morning, happy as can be. In fact, last night she was cute as a button also. I'm so lucky that she is such a happy baby. She must get that from her Dad.

Oh, and she actually slept through the night last night!! It was amazing. I actually dreamed last night, because I slept long enough to have a dream. I haven't done that in a really long time!!

The only down side to our achievement last night, was that Christina was in bed with me and Nik. Now if I can just get her to sleep through the night in her crib, we would be all set. I'm so proud of her though. This is definitely a big step.

Chocolate Chip Bagels

I didn't even know there was such a thing . . . yum . . .

Panera Bread is my new Best Friend

Black Friday

Did you shop on Black Friday? It seems every year I think that I won't go shopping, but then I give in. I just can't pass up the opportunity.

This year, I wasn't sure that it was going to work out, since I have the little one. But, my Mom and I went together with CC and she was such a little angel.

The first two hours, she slept. The next two hours she smiled, looked around, and enjoyed every compliment she received. This girl was born to shop, like her Mommy
:-)

Not only did I go shopping on Black Friday, but I shopped online all weekend and I'm still shopping today! Crazy, I know. But there are some really good deals out there. Since we have such a tight budget now, we could use all of the savings that we can get.

If you went shopping on Black Friday, was it madness? Luckily, my shopping experience went quite well. All of the employees as well as the customers seemed to be in a very good mood. There was lots of holiday cheer going around.

Speaking of holiday cheer . . we put the Christmas trees up at my Mom's house on Friday too. Yes, trees, she has two of them. We actually need two in that house considering how many gifts there are. They can't fit under only one tree.

I haven't put up my tree yet, since I was at my Mom's all weekend. I need to do that, but I always dread pulling all of the Christmas stuff out. We have this tiny closet with a million and one things shoved in there. It isn't easy getting the tree and the decorations out. Of course once it is all over though, I'm so glad I did it.

It's extremely difficult to do it all by myself and Nik is sick right now, so if I want his help, I'll just have to wait. I am looking forward to taking lots of pictures of Christina with the tree though. And hopefully this year, our dogs won't eat the glass ornaments. Last year I came home from work to find broken ornaments on the floor under the tree, only most of the glass was gone. The only conclusion that we could come to was that one or both of the dogs ate the glass. I knew they would eat anything, but this really put that theory to the test!

The dogs got to chow down on bread that night (per the Vet's instructions). Thank goodness they never showed any signs of internal bleeding.

Oh, the fun.