Christmas 2010

We had a really nice Christmas this year, although the circumstances surrounding it were certainly unexpected. My grandma was suddenly hospitalized with severe pneumonia and in ICU on a ventilator the week before Christmas. Because she was in Fort Smith, along with my mom who wanted to stay near her, we cancelled our plans to travel to Mena and had our family Christmas dinner at my brother's house in Ft. Smith on Saturday afternoon. Nick and Brandy were wonderful hosts and the meal was amazing! They did all the cooking so Mom could just relax. I made a sweet potato casserole and Chris smoked a turkey, but they did the rest and it was yummy! It was certainly not the same as being at Mom and Dad's house with all my grandparents there, but we made the best of it and were able to go visit grandma at the hospital after we ate.

Also, since this was my year to work Christmas Eve (night), we treated the night of the 23rd as our Christmas Eve and the 24th as Christmas morning. Ayden never knew the difference, and Santa was kind enough to comply with our change in plans :) We had a blast making cookies, putting out reindeer food, and reading The Story of Christmas and The Night Before Christmas before tucking Ayden into bed in his snuggly footed Christmas pj's. He fell asleep early (thanks to no nap that day) and Chris and I were able to get the train table, gifts and stockings all set out. Chris had worked all week on the trampoline and it was ready and waiting in the backyard with a big red bow! Ayden woke up Christmas morning and was super surprised and excited with all the toys! We had Uncle Nick call and pretend to be Santa and say he left a present outside...at which point we bundled Ayden up (it was COLD and RAINY!), covered his eyes, and led him out to his new trampoline! He was SOOO excited!! He would have stayed out there all day if it wasn't freezing! We are already looking forward to pretty spring days when he can play all day on it! After we came inside, Ethan finally woke up and Ayden helped him open his gifts. Then we had our 2nd annual Christmas morning breakfast of Monkey bread and bacon and it was VERY good if I do say so myself. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and watching Christmas movies before I headed to work that night. We still have all of Chris' family to celebrate with as soon as we get a chance to head to Mena which will hopefully be soon! All in all we made some wonderful memories having Christmas with our two sweet boys!!

putting out the reindeer food!

sneaking some of Santa's milk!

Look what Santa left!

Seeing all his presents....

Opening his stocking!

Tearing into his gifts!

A cold day for a trampoline, but Ayden didn't mind!

Ayden helping Ethan open his gifts!

Baby's First Christmas!!

Monkey bread and bacon, yum!

New bed tent and Buzz Lightyear costume

Christmas at Uncle Nick and Aunt Brandy's house.

Pappaw and his boys!

showing Pappaw his sweet little grin

playing with Uncle Nick

My very favorite men and boys!!

Chris carving his turkey!

Ayden eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich...of course!

Me and Aunt B

Me and my sweetie

Mom and Dad

Me and with adorable boys

Opening gifts from Memaw and Pappaw

Reading the annual Cunningham/Anderson Christmas poem

by Uncle Nick

Memaw loves her grandsons!

he is just SO kissable!

This is how I roll!!

Big milestone for Ethan today--he rolled over! Here is my happy boy after his big achievement!!

Interview with Ayden

Today I decided it would be fun to ask Ayden a few questions and record his answers. As I suspected, some of his answers were hilarious! I don't know where he comes up with some of these things, he is a little ham! Here is the interview and his exact, word for word, answers!

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A cowboy"

What is daddy’s job? "Well, I don’t know."

What is mommy’s job? "You go to your job and get your computer."

What’s your favorite thing to do? "I like to smell flowers and then say ah-choo!!" What??LOL!!!

What does mommy like to do? "Wash dishes" Ha!!

What does Ethan like to do? "He loves to poop and pee " LOL

What does daddy like to do? "He likes to swim in his underpants." This answer made laugh so hard!! Makes me wonder what goes on around here when I'm gone! :)

How old is daddy? "I don’t remember"

How old is mommy? "3 years old"

What is your favorite food? "Peanut butter and jelly"

What is mommy’s favorite food? "Salsa "

What is daddy’s favorite food? "A hamburger"

What is your favorite TV show? "Max and Ruby"

What is mommy’s favorite TV show? "A girl (pronounced grill) movie"

What is daddy’s favorite TV show? "I think it’s football!!!"

What is your favorite animal? "The giraffe. He’s nice."

What is your favorite color? "Purple"

What’s your favorite restaurant? "Lobster "

Video link

If you can't get the video to play directly from the blog, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjYVgR5ilTE

Baby talk...

Sleeping cutie...

This is how our sweet little man sleeps these days, or nights, I guess I should say :) I am currently on the search for a bigger swaddle blanket as it appears he is nearing the 14 pound size limit :) He sleeps 4-6 hours at a time like this!!

And I just had to include this one...it speaks for itself, but I will add....

PRECIOUS!

Christmas Parade!

Monday night we went to the downtown Rogers Christmas Parade. It was the first parade we've been to in years, and Ayden's first parade ever! He absolutely loved it of course! His favorite part was the marching bands from the 2 high schools, especially the drums :) He got a really cool glow stick and hot chocolate to warm up and was one happy boy! Ethan snuggled with mommy most of the time, but he could have cared less about the whole cold ordeal :)

Ayden trying to whistle...

Who's who answer

All who guessed got it right! ;)

3 months old!!

My, oh MY, how is time passing so fast???!! Ethan Jeffrey is 3 months old today! I am so totally head over heels in love with this little man! We all are! He is starting to develop his personality and let me tell you- it is precious! Here are some things about our little man at 3 months:

-He is wearing size 3-6 month/6 month clothing and size 2 diapers

-He is sleeping very well at night! We tried a thousand different things before I had to go back to work to figure out a way to get him to sleep and stay asleep without having to nurse, and we found a solution! We wrap him up snug in his swaddle blanket and put him in his bouncy seat on vibrate. The bouncy fits perfectly down inside his co-sleeper bassinet and right next to the bed, so it's just perfect! He sleeps 4-5 hour stretches like this!

-He is still not interested in taking a binky, but we are not giving up hope yet!

-Speaking of which-that's right-Ethan is 3 months which means my wonderful 12 weeks of maternity leave is up and I'm back at work. This past weekend I worked two 12 hour shifts and although I'm sure he missed me immensley, Ethan was very easy on his daddy and did great! Thank goodness both my boys have switched easily between breast and bottle, they just like to eat! :)

-Although his nights are getting more predictable, his daytime napping is anyone's guess! He naps 2 or 3 times a day, while nursing. I don't really mind that there's no set routine to his napping and that he naps while nursing, because it's a good excuse for me to kick back and watch a Lifetime movie guilt free :)

-After a bout of what I am almost sure was colic between about 3-9 weeks old, Ethan is now the calmest, happiest baby you have ever seen! We started him on probiotic drops after his 2 month check-up at the pediatrician, and they have made a world of difference. Probiotics help regulate digestion and also support immunity, they are really great and probably everyone should take them!

-He is still nursing 6-8 times a day, 2-3 times at night, and takes about 3 supplement bottles a day. He's serious about his eating!!

-He is starting to "talk" in coos and oohs and ahhs and it's just precious. Who ever thought these little baby noises would be just as exciting with the second child? But they are!

-He loves to lay on a blanket in the living room floor and kick and smile and look around. He finally will tolerate a little bit of tummy time and is getting close to rolling over.

-He loves when big brother talks to him! He just lights up anytime he sees Ayden.

Happy 3 month birthday Ethan! We all love you very much!

Who's who?

I love taking pictures of my boys sleeping...well, let's face it, I love taking pictures of my boys doing anything! But yesterday I took a picture of Ethan sleeping in our bed, and then today I was looking at the post I did when Ayden was 3 months old, and found an almost identical picture! Same bedsheets, same pose, and similar pj's. To me, they look more alike here than ever! What do you think? Can you tell who's who?

Little Elf

Thanks Uncle Nick and Aunt B for the cute new shirt!