Three Months

We are FINALLY out of the newborn stage! I wish I were one of those mommas who just adore tiny little newborns, but I'm not. I love my babies when they're sleeping like (mostly) decent human beings and when they can give you full-body smiles. Basically, three months is the beginning of the awesome baby stage for me!

Aaron went through a miraculous transformation about a week before he hit three months old. Suddenly he decided that naps were desirable (mostly), his crib was a lovely place to sleep, and that nursing is a great way to fall asleep instead of a time to squirm and arch his back (I felt like I was nursing a giant flopping fish. Not exactly relaxing at 3 am). Did I mention that I love three-month-olds?

Other Aaron skills:

*trying really, REALLY hard to get his hands to grab the things he wants. Like my black pearl necklace. Or his feet.

*DROOLING. Aaron is our first drooler--he will be receiving a pack of bibs for Christmas to reduce the number of outfit changes we go through every day.

(not sure how obvious it is, but there is definitely a drool bomb happening here)

*smiling, laughing, cooing, shrieking, singing...this boy LOVES to talk. But he loves being talked to even more! Nothing makes Aaron smile like a face-to-face conversation.

*gnawing on his fists. All. The. Time. He's also started chewing on his pacifier. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was teething...

Delicious fists! And, also, a bib for drool protection

*sleeping in his own room. I thought I would be happy to have our bedroom back, but I was surprised to find myself a little bit sad to have my baby leaving. I kind of miss his tiny little snores and being woken up by a flailing baby punch to the face...  But he seems to prefer the consistency of sleeping in his crib and will usually go down without too much fuss (he likes Jon to put him to bed--I can put him down for naps, but Daddy is necessary for bed).

*Still won't go to bed until around 9:30, and still has no consistent schedule at night. Some nights I get a nice long chunk. Some nights he's still eating every 2 hours. It's such a thrill to go to bed every night with no idea how long I'll get to sleep before being woken up by a hungry (or gassy) baby.

Poor third child, being "adored" by his siblings

*chubby, chubby, chubby! He's definitely packing on the pounds (although still not quite Seth-size yet). We'll have to see the official weight at his appointment next month.

*will generally go to bed without screaming when Jon puts him down in his crib. Pretty much never works out like that for me.

*loves to stand. All. The. Time.

"How YOU doin'?"

*sometimes after he's done nursing, I'll look down and see him just grinning at me. Then he'll chirp and sing happily for several minutes. Possibly my favorite thing in the entire world.

*sweet, happy baby. All this kid wants is food, the occasional nap, and someone to talk to him. If he's got those three, he is just the sweetest, most content baby. I think I'm in love.

Christmas Pictures

My awesome friend Tara decided to do some Christmas mini-shoots this year, and I figured it would be the perfect gift for the Grandmas. My kids aren't exactly cooperative for photo shoots, so I wasn't expecting too much, but Tara is obviously some kind of miracle worker. I am in love with these pictures.

My handsome man, who has absolutely not received permission to get this old.

Stop it.

My beautiful little girl.

And my sweet, sweet little baby boy.

Some other favorites: 

(If you were paying very close attention, you'll notice that Lightning McQueen and Mater are also featured in our family pictures. It wasn't worth the battle to extract them). 

Christmas Means...

...Jon & the kids surprising me with a beautiful Christmas tree:

Our house smelled like heaven when Jon brought this in.

...making Christmas ornaments, and then making a huge mess with the leftovers: 

...sitting on Santa's lap at the ward Christmas party: 

"Seth, can you stop talking so we can take a picture?": 

Absolutely not. 

Seth had to make sure Santa got the full list, and he did.

Catherine could have cared less if Santa got her list: 

She wasn't going anywhere near him.

And Aaron...well, Aaron is just happy with whatever: 

...awkward family pictures in the foyer: 

Version 1: Catherine flipping everyone off

Version 2: Seth flipping everyone off

Merry Christmas, the Blood way!

Co-op Christmas Party

As part of our co-op Christmas party, we did our own little Nativity play. Seth got to pick first, and he picked Joseph:

Obviously he was VERY excited about his role.

Now, for the most adorable Mary & Joseph picture you've ever seen: 

(please ignore the part where Baby Jesus is a skein of yarn.

We were at a house full of boys--not a doll to be found).

 And my favorite part of the Nativity:

"Catherine, do you want to be in the Nativity?"

"No."

"Do you want to be a sheep?"

"NO."

"Do you want to be an angel?"

"NO!"

"Aren't you going to be in our play?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

And she stuck to her guns, despite all adult pressure to the contrary: 

Did I mention how much I fear for the teenage years?

The full cast: 

Seth is LOVING co-op with these kids.

Snow Day

Our first Christmas present came early: a lovely snowstorm! 

We dug out the snow clothes, bundled the kids up...

...and realized we needed bigger snow clothes for Seth.

Those 2T snow pants just aren't cutting it anymore.

But 2T snow pants or not, out we headed into the snow: 

There were some snow angels: 

And some sliding: 

Catherine was not pleased with the landing: 

Then it was off to the hill for some sledding! This was PERFECT sledding snow: 

I didn't get a picture of Catherine's very short trip on the sled.

It was very memorable. 

So memorable that she'll never get on the sled the rest of the winter.

Seth had a great time, though: 

Now let's hope for some more snow this winter, cause this snow was completely unacceptable for snowman making (which was all Catherine wanted to do). 

December Advent

My advent chain worked out so well last year that I decided to do it again this year. It was also a great way for Seth to visually understand how many days were left until Christmas. Here are some of the fun things we had on our list this year:

*write letters to Santa

*make paper snowflakes to hang up

(we did make the snowflakes, just never hung them up. Mom is a little tired this year.)

*played "Build a Snowman" dice game

*watched Christmas movies

*make ornaments for friends & family

*make Christmas cards

*make treats & took to friends & neighbors

*science experiments with candy canes

*drive & look at lights (we never actually did this...oops...)

*hot cocoa bar (a BIG hit with the kids)

*make gingerbread houses

*make snowman pizzas

Seth was SO into the whole Christmas thing this year. He remembered all the decorations and all the traditions and was SO EXCITED for everything. Which was very helpful since I'm still a bit sleep deprived and would probably skip a lot of things if Seth didn't care so much. (Although I will confess to having skipped putting up outside lights this year. Luckily no one seemed to notice or care). I promise to be more festive next year!

Thanksgiving

We began our Thanksgiving with our very own feast, complete with Rice Krispie turkeys:

Seth was learning about Thanksgiving for school and this feast was the last day of school. He helped plan the feast and even helped write the grocery list. My favorite Seth additions? Lohr's Apple Cider and a pomegranate. He'd never had one before, but wanted to try it. It's now his favorite fruit. In related news, I am incapable of opening a pomegranate without shooting little pieces all over my kitchen. 

It really was an all-out feast: turkey with homemade gravy from the drippings, stuffing, corn, potatoes, rolls, and pumpkin pie for dessert (with whipped cream, of course! Another Seth request). 

We debated for several weeks about whether we would be making the trip to West Virginia for Thanksgiving. But since Aaron ended up being a pretty easy-going baby, we figured we could survive a few nights sleeping all together in one room. 

Our plan was to drive out Wednesday, but a Tuesday-morning weather report prompted Jon to change our plans. He called at 8:00 am to tell me to get everything packed. We were on the road before 11:00. Pretty darn impressive, if I do say so myself. I even had time to do the dishes in the sink!

It was a very long drive, with rain pouring down on us the entire 7+ hours. So grateful we left when we did--by the next day the rain had turned into this:

Seth and his cousins were thrilled with the snow.

Catherine went out for a brief moment before deciding it was too cold.

She spent most of her time playing with various relatives in the playroom: 

(playing cars with Uncle Daniel & Evan)

We had a lovely couple of days with the Bloods. Everyone managed to make the trip with the exception of Scott & Mary, who would have had to fly across the country with three kids. 

Aaron meeting Aaron

(Obviously I need a better picture--my Aaron was being a punk)

Aaron's First Thanksgiving: 

(forgotten in the chaos of packing: the cute "First Thanksgiving" outfit Grandma Cathy sent)

Aaron & Eowyn: 

This picture really doesn't do justice to the size difference between the two.

They're only a month apart, but Aaron looks like he eats a few Eowyns for breakfast every morning.

And, of course, the Bloods: 

It was so nice to get to spend time with our family! I just hope Mom Blood is glad we came (even if Jon did eat too many mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving, leaving none for the people at the other end of the table).