christmas!

on the morning of christmas eve is started snowing. and it did not stop. its snowed and snowed and snowed. i personally was happy about it because all of our previous snow had melted and we were going to get a white christmas! overall i think we got about a foot of snow.

 this christmas eve was pretty mellow. jeremy went during the day to check our mail for the last time before christmas to see if we had more packages. we pretty much had dinner and then later that night before bed xavier listened to his auntie jenna read him "the night before christmas". she bought him one of those hallmark books and recorded herself reading it so he could hear. it was pretty awesome.

we left cookies out for santa and then started finishing up the wrapping and putting the presents out. once we were done with that, we headed to bed.

we woke up and santa came! i was so excited to see xaviers reaction to all of the presents.

of course, we let him open his first. well, the ones he wanted to open. he got through the first one or two and then decided that he just wanted to play with those. jeremy and i really opened up the rest. i was kind of disappointed because i thought he would just want to tear them open, but i guess he is still too young. 

after we cleaned up most of them mess we just let xavier play with his toys and we opened up ours. we didnt get a lot of the presents we ordered for each other but we had presents from other people we could open, which was nice. samara came over after we were done and we opened each others presents. we pretty much lounged the rest of the day. we went to our neighbors for a little bit but we couldnt stay long because we were reheating some food up that our dear friend sharon and tom made and gave to us (we were supposed to go over their house for dinner but an unfortunate thing happened and plans changed but they had to cook a 25lb turkey and gave us a lot of it with fixings for our christmas day). that night we just hung out and messed with our new gifts. pretty mellow and oh so nice. oh, we also had to take a bunch of pictures of xavier, but here are a couple:

 nana got him this onesie to wear today! adorable!

grandma got xavier this santa outfit to wear. how cute!

xavier is 8 months old!

look at this face. dont you just want to kiss it?

yep! he is 8 months old! its so crazy how time flies so fast when you have a little one. xavier has advanced in leaps and bounds and continues to do so. everyday is a new adventure with him and he makes me smile and laugh everyday. its so awesome!

*xavier is on the verge of walking. yes, i said it, walking. its craziness! he has taken 4 consecutive steps and is always trying to walk. 

*we always catch xavier standing up by himself. 

*he is still babbling away. he laughs everytime i repeat after him. 

*i dont think i mentioned this before but xavier recognizes sign language. i have been signing to him since he was about 3 months old and for the past couple of months he has been recognizing it. he understands "eat", "hungry", "more", "please", and "thank you". i have been teaching him "mommy" and "daddy" as well lately. i cant wait for him to sign back.

*he loves books. he likes looking at them, but also likes to taste them. hehe

*he has 2 teeth. chomp chomp!

*xavier loves this apple drink here in germany called apfelschorle. we gave him a taste of it once and now he always recognizes the bottle and tries to get it. all it is is apple juice mixed with carbonated water, and other natural things too like lemon juice and such. no sugar added, so its not too bad for him, right? we rarely ever let him have some, but sometimes we give in.

*for some reason xavier does not like to eat baby food. he will have almost half of the container and then he stops and doesnt open his mouth anymore. we have to trick him into eating it! i know he is hungry too. its nuts!  

he truly is such a joy and im so blessed to have him in my life.

leading up to christmas...

christmas was very good this year! it was so much fun with xavier. we did a lot this season and it was so nice to actually do so. last year i was pregnant and sick and didnt enjoy food all that much and didnt really want to go out and do anything in fear that i would get sick.

this year we made it to 2 christmas markets. one that is about 15 minutes away in a little mid-evil town called esslingen. that one was fun and very intersting. we had bread on a stick and i tried gluehwein for the first time - which wasnt the greatest drink ever. there was a parade of people dressed up in weird looking costumes and a guy telling stories with a torch. there was also a huge pyramid that was in the center of the market, it was pretty darn cool! the other market was just in downtown stuttgart. we started that market off by eating the biggest pretzel i have ever seen! we browsed and browsed, bought a couple of things and got a bite to eat. we had a bratwurst that had potatoes in it. it reminded us of a breakfast burrito type meal. it was good though. we were there for about 3 hrs. before heading out though, we had to grab some starbcks. and the awesome thing is that xavier slept the whole time!

we went to jeremys office christmas party and that was really fun. i always enjoy seeing the people that jeremy works with, especially sharon, renee, and josie. the party was at the commandants house. they are from louisiana so they had jumbylaya, seafood gumbo and the like. his wife also made this huge tray of almost bite sized cookies that i could NOT stop eating. they were delicious! they had the white elephant present exchange and after that we left. it was a pretty good party.

one thing i almost forgot to mention is that we ordered our first brand new car! its a metallic black volvo xc-90. it's pretty amazing and I can't wait to have it here!


most of our christmas shopping we did online again and we ordered about 3 weeks in advance, which wasn't long enough. some of xaviers presents didn't make it in time and still haven't came and the same with mine and jeremys. lame!

a couple of days before christmas i made sugar cookies for the first time. i was quite happy with the way they turned out. we decorated them that same night. these were the only cookies I ended up making this year. maybe next year i can make more.

i think we had a pretty good start to the christmas season. it only gets better on christmas day.

i want mom, and only mom!

it has begun. xavier has started wanting only me. i love being him being such a cuddle bug with me but i would love for him to not want me all. the. time. if he sees me he automatically wants me and will throw a fit pretty much until he gets me. i feel bad for jeremy because he can't console him right away. if i dont go to his want for me then it takes a while for xavier to calm down and actually enjoy being with his dad. =( its sad. i hope this phase doesnt last long.

on another, cheery note (which in fact, kind of goes with this), xavier can say "momma". i keep asking him to say it and he has a few times. i dont know if he truly understands that he is saying my name, but it sure seems like it. for instance, yesterday we were at the exchange and i had been with him the whole time while jeremy was getting some last minute things for me. when he was done, jeremy met up with me to check out everything and so he took xavier with him and while they were rolling away i heard xavier say "momma" because he didnt want to leave! is this just wishful thinking on a moms part, or is he really saying it and knowing what he says? i think its cute nonetheless! =)

icckk...

i have no motivation at all to go through photos today. maybe later.

massages and teething

since xavier cut his first tooth (november 17th) it has been quite hard to get him to sleep at night, and now with the jet lag, its insane. one night he just couldnt stay sleeping and no matter if i held him, rocked him, sung to him, he wouldnt stop crying. so i just laid him down and massaged his feet. he fell right to sleep!!! it was amazing! i continue to massage him to get him to sleep and it works so well. i even do his legs, not just his feet. he must really like it and/or it takes his mind off the pain. im not sure but im diggin' it!

xavier is 7 months old!

wow! we are past the halfway to a year mark, i cant believe it! xavier is getting so big and i love him in every single way possible. he makes me smile every day and i am so proud of the little man he is already becoming.

*xavier is now crawling! and he is pretty fast!

*he loves to pull himself up onto things! he has always liked standing and now he can lift himself up. he always gets happy when he has accomplished it! he gets pretty brave too. he will let go and then fall down on his butt. he will also move along things and try to transfer from one thing to another. its really funny. when we have our feet hanging off the couch he uses them to pull himself up, even if we are standing. if i dont have my legs off the couch and then move them, he will stop climbing on jeremys and go to mine. hahaha  

*he loves to climb all over me. hes been doing it subtly for a long time but now he thinks that i am a jungle gym and will go, go, go!!

*xavier's first tooth is coming in! and that sucker is sharp! he has bit down on me and it is not pleasant! i hope that he doesnt bite me too often once he has more teeth! eek!

*xavier LOVES electronics. jeremy claims that he is REALLY his son now! hahaha whenever he sees a phone, remote, controller, mouse, ect. he HAS to have it. its like crack for him! hahaha i dont want him to get used to playing with those things though so i pretty much never give them to him!

*xavier loves drinking out of a sippy cup! 

*he has been talking for a while but now he says "dada" and he has said "momma".

i cant believe how much he has grown and still continues to do so. he is such an amazing little guy that is always making me smile. 

our family's first thanksgiving.

we celebrated our first thanksgiving this year as a family! it turned out to be a great holiday!

i woke up around 10:30 which is later than i wanted to but i am still trying to get adjusted to the time change. when i got up i made the stuffing so it could cool before putting it in the turkey and got the turkey rinsed and such. jeremy got up a bit later and helped me with the turkey. before i knew it we put it in the oven. i got in the shower and got ready for the day. it seemed to go by super fast. xavier was pretty good. there were times that he wanted his mom but overall he did great!

tom and sharon came over around 3 because dinner was supposed to be at 4 but i put the turkey in late so it was around 5:30. we had some hors d'oeuvres that sharon brought over in the meantime. we also made this onesie for xavier and i got him dressed in it. =)

 isnt it just cute? that is his actual handprint! =) a little sloppy, but it works!

the turkey got done around 5:30 and it looked like this:

this was by far the best turkey we have ever made! yum!!

the whole dinner table! =)

after dinner i was super exhausted so i took care of xavier while sharon and jeremy cleaned up a bit. i was falling asleep on the recliner! i felt so bad. tom and sharon left, but not before snapping this super cute photo! 

xavier loves them!!!

at around 7:20pm i fell asleep until about 10. i woke up and then a bit later jeremy and xavier woke up and we were up then until about 3. samara came over for a bit and hung out with us too. it was a really nice day. i got a photo of the fam, but its not the greatest because xavier isnt looking, hahaha:

it will do. =)

i also like this photo! 

such handsome men <3

i am so thankful to have such wonderful people in my life and for all of the gifts that God has given us. im very blessed <3

pumpkin picking, pumpkin carving, and halloween!

xavier had his first halloween this year! obviously. im pretty sure that he had a lot of fun with everything!

monday - 10.25.10

after my sisters got home from school this day we ate dinner and then headed to apple charlies. apple charlies is a cider mill which also had a pumpkin patch and some farm animals to see.

we picked out our pumpkins first. xavier just LOVED the pumpkin patch. he couldnt stop looking at everything! it was so cute! i could tell he was excited. i sat him down so i could get some photos of him with pumpkins and it took so long and so much effort to get him to look at me, he really wanted to eat the pumpkins! which it didnt happen until i gave up for a bit and then went back to trying to get one of him. then i got this photo:

i was sooo happy with the way it turned out, even though its a bit blurry. the same thing happened when i tried getting one of me and him. he just wouldnt look! and finally i got a cute one:

after we picked out pumpkins we headed over to the mill and got some apple cider and donuts to take home with us. then we went to the animals where we got to look at chickens, deer, a bull, an ostrich, some pigs, and some goats and i think a llama. it was pretty cool. xavier liked them all:

you can tell he is smiling in this one!

i like this photo too:

we weighed our pumpkins and then headed out. i was glad i took him to the pumpkin patch for his first halloween! he really enjoyed it!

saturday - 10.30.10


the night before halloween we carved our pumpkins! xavier was really interested in trying to eat the pumpkin, again, and the newspaper that they were on! we had a lot of fun with my sisters carving!

he wanted to eat it!

we tried making it look like a baby! hahaha

from left: martha's, megan's, michelle's, and xavier's!

sunday - 10.31.10 - halloween!

we went to church in the morning and then out to breakfast. when we came home we kind of hung out and i fed xavier some food. i wanted to get him the "my first halloween" onesie but by the time i got to get it they were all out but had the bibs. so i got that and it works! he is so happy on halloween!

so happy!

 at around 4:30 we headed out to my grandparents house. we always went trick or treating there growing up and i wanted xavier to have that experience for his first. it was really fun but he didnt last long. he fell asleep after 1 block! but boy was he cute!!!!!!

my cute little baby link (from nintendo's zelda)

getting ready to head out!

at our first house!

our first house!

riding in the wagon!

tuckered out!

all of our pumpkins lit up on halloween at my parents house:

he had a great first halloween! it was so awesome!

xaviers 5 and 6 month blogs!

sooo i am a horrible mother and i totally didnt do a 5th month blog! we left for vacation a day after and the days prior i was getting everything ready! i feel though that i can still remember all of his advancements from 4 to 6 months so the only thing that will be missing is his weight and height at 5 months. not too bad! anyway so i guess i will just say things that have happened in the 2 months.

5 month photos:

current stats at 6 months:

weight: 20 lbs ish
height: 27 1/2 ish inches

6 month photos:

*xavier can turn from his back to stomach! sometimes he rolls to get places. =)

*he likes the song "twinkle twinkle little star". i can sometimes get him to sleep by singing it.

*xavier is now eating solids. we started at 4 months and gave him some here and there but now(starting right before 6 months) its a regular thing! he is very interested in everything i eat and has loved everything i have given him!

*he likes to blow raspberries. he does it a lot and sometimes the drool that he creates and spits out is intense!

*xavier does this weird thing with his thumbs. he with take them and kind of twist them on things. he does it on my arm sometimes and since its just digging, it hurts!

*he is getting the hang of using a sippy cup. he likes it a lot!

*he is getting pretty mobile but still isnt quite there. he scoots, rolls, and turns but no crawling yet.

*xavier can sit up by himself for long periods of time. he just loves to sit and play with his toys. sometimes he will still fall and sometimes he even lunges forward like he is going to crawl. haha

*xavier loves to be tickled! he knows when it is coming too, its too cute!

*i think xavier is ready for his crib, we are going to start getting him used to it as soon as we get home!

*xavier is always moving! no matter if hes on your lap, on the floor, in the bath, or nursing! he just wont sit still.

*he reaches for things and will find his pacifier and put it back in his mouth.

i still cant believe how much he has grown in just 6 months! its crazy! these next couple months are going to be awesome with first thanksgiving and first christmas! yay!!

knitting!

so i have found a new hobby!! knitting!! i was always a little scared to even attempt it since it looks soooo complicated, but it totally isnt!! i have a great teacher that has already taught me 2 stitches and a wonderful, smart husband that taught me from the book how to bind off. if you havent already guessed, i am more  a hands on learner rather than by the book when it comes to hands on things. =) soo, thats all i wanted to say. i hope i stick with it and make xavier a sweet little cardigan! hehehe

here is my first knitted creation:

since this is my first ever knitted item, its obviously not the greatest, so we are using it as a dish cloth! =)

ohhh and xavier can sit up by himself for the most part! today he sat up by himself for over a minute. its sooo cute watching him balance himself. i reckon(yeah, i just said "reckon") he will be sitting up by himself pretty good in a couple of days. he started doing this a couple of days ago and has only gotten better. =) yay!

 still a little wobbly, but he is definitely doing good. =)