Baby's 1st Christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and Andrew settled down for his first cut of hair... Andrew had his first Christmas, and what a whirlwind it was!

In the span of the past week and a half, Andrew has hit lots of milestones and had tons of fun. Sometimes he had a little too much fun, and that made for interesting exits from places, but all-in-all, he was a trooper!

Here are the highlights!

1. Andrew's first haircut: Andrew, although fully able to rock the baby mullet, said goodbye to his shaggy do and opted for a cleaner cut. I thought that I could cut his hair and after one clumsy clip, I called Grandma Mary to finish the job. Andrew watched the Elmo Song on Youtube about 20 times to help him stay still, and Grandma gave him a sweet style. Once Grandma left, I cried because he now looks like a little boy and not my tiny baby. In a BRIEF moment of weakness, I thought, "I need another one because Andrew is growing up so fast"... Let me reiterate it was a BRIEF moment. We are just fine with one. Anyway, Daddy was the photographer, so he snapped all of 1 picture of the entire event. You'll see the new hair in action in the Christmas pictures.

2. He started work on a molar. Two words: awe some. This bad boy tooth is taking FOREVER! Poor Andrew doesn't know what to do; however, he has mastered the full blown tantrum with legs and arms flailing and head rearing back. Aww, my little man is growing up. I have no pictures of this, but there will be showings nightly from 5-8 pm... and sometimes an encore between 1-4am. Yay, us.

3. Andrew's first Christmas Eve at Great Grandpa Gesino's house: We arrived at 6:30 for dinner and presents and tons of babies! My cousins all had their little ones, so the kids 5 and under were under foot no matter where you turned. Here's the rundown: Andrew- 10.5 months, Wyatt- 1 month, Ellie 2 months, Chelsea's son- 7.5 months (oops I forget his name, but he's so cute), BLT, the triplets- 18 months (each), Taylor- 3 years, Macy-2 years, and Jackson - 5 years. All the babies checked each other out and took turns burping and making diapers.... It was the perfect Christmas celebration. What about presents, you ask? As soon as the wrapping started being pulled from the presents, he flipped out. Apparently, Andrew is the only baby who doesn't enjoy playing with the wrapping. We went home, and he got to open them in the morning.

More to come...

:)

Anne

O' Toilet Bowl, O' Toilet Bowl

O' Toilet Bowl

(sung to the tune of O' Christmas Tree)

O toilet bowl, o toilet bowl,

How shinning is your porcelain.

O toilet bowl, o toilet bowl,

I'd like to scale your basin.

Each day I fight to sneak a peak,

You're there so my 'rents can take a leak.

O toilet bowl, o toilet bowl,
How shiny is your porcelain.
O toilet bowl, o toilet bowl,
I'd like to scale your basin.

Right next to you is toilet paper,

It adds some fun to my bathroom caper.

O toilet bowl, o toilet bowl,

How shinning is your porcelain.

O toilet bowl, o toilet bowl,

I'd like to scale your basin.

The only time I give you a snub,

Is when I see the giant bath tub.

Here are some fantastic toilet/bathroom moments.... Enjoy! Also, he does stick his hand in, but luckily he never reaches the water... or at least that's what I told myself. From now on, lids down ladies and gents.

:)

~Anne

'Tis the season to take pictures...

Would you like to send out one of those heart-warming family pictures to send out with your Christmas card? I sure would! I love getting those pictures, so I dress Andrew in his finest red pajamas and Christmas bib. He's picture perfect anyway, so this shoudl be fun and easy. Right? WRONG. Thank goodness for digital cameras, and being able to take COUNTLESS pictures that you can preview before printing (although we still printed a bunch to be sure).

Anyway, after approximately 30 charming pictures of Andrew and/or Lady in front of the freshly decorated tree, we gave up. Some of them weren't so bad; however, the crazy eyes and evil grins just didn't do our sweet babies justice. Maybe a Christmas photo is a pipedream? No! We can't give up this easily. Now, who's the poor schmuck that gets the honor of being our Christmas photgrapher? Grandma and Grandpa... haha Shacklett suckers!

So, here's the winner and a couple of close seconds.

Happy holidays!

:)

Anne

This Time Last Year

At this time last year, I was 7 months pregnant. On the right, is December 8th at a shower. I still had cheek bones and ankles.
























By December 15ththings started to "pop" as they say, and I was extremely fun to be around. I think it had to with my legs looking like tree trunks, hormones surging through my body, and Jason telling me it looked like I ate the girl in front of me at graduation. Anyway, as one could imagine, I had trouble choosing a picture for our Christmas card. I found something wrong with each and every shot. The shot to the left was taken after my graduation from TWu, where I waddled all the way across the stage.

The shot below was taken on Christmas morning. After a breif scare and an overnight stay in the hospital for observation, I was looking quite beautiful. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a shirt stretched to the farthest possible point. (I wore this shirt yesterday, and thankfully it was baggy.)

Wow. Here's to 35 pounds ago....

:)

Anne

Toddlers make great sitters.

It's true. Toddlers make good babysitters. Check out the sweetness below. After a riveting game of memory, it was time for pajamas and singing to get Andrew ready for bed. Jack and Macy helped with the singing. (By the way, I'm so sorry we judged, Great Uncle Al... Jack is a-maz-ing at memory. None of us had a chance.)

Another idea that seems to be lost on people over the age of 2 is naked eating. Naked eating is amazing. Andrew naked eats in the kitchen, in the living room, and sometimes on the changing table. He has no negative body issues about his baby boobies or his beautiful Buddha belly. He's Buddha-ful. The food goes on forever, and the cheeks, they never end.

I love Fat Baby. He's my favorite.

:)

Anne

PS: After several weeks at day care, the new sitter and I chat quite frequently. Finally feeling comfortable with me, she asked, "Do you always call him Fat Baby?". I laughed and replied, "Of course not, sometimes I call him Stinky Baby."

Where does the time go?

Has anyone seen November? It FLEW by. Holy smokes. It's damn near mid-December, and I'm finally posting about the glorious month of the Turkey.

Andrew spent the entire month doing two things: crawling and eating. Sometimes he did both at the same time. Sometimes he did one, so he could do the other.

And don't bother asking to share. He's definitely not down with that.

Oh yeah, he's been growing, too. He's been growing a few jacked up teeth and a baby mullet. It's mad trashy, but we love it. And it seems to make him happy. If only his tuxedo onesie still fit...

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving, which is now Andrew's favorite holiday because the whole thing centers around his favorite past time: eating. Although offered a fabulous feast of holiday goodies, he stuck to the basics. He feasted on Ritz crackers, the occasional smear of mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. He had at least a 2 year old's share of pumpkin pie. Attaboy! Way to make mommy proud.

Hmmm... What's my plan of attack with this Turkey fellow?
No mercy for the bird.... take him down.

See you later, turkey! I have crackers to eat.

I had all these plans for a cute picture with the turkey, but Andrew had different ideas. What do most 9 month olds do after stuffing their faces? Go riding on motorcycles with their super cool Daddies. Chris tried many different safety helmets; however, in order to protect the entire head, he had to settle for one from Dumb and Dumber. Way to go, Daddy!

After Andrew ate and rode the hog around Oklahoma City, he took a crawl threw his new fun house from Aunt Lisa.

Thanks for a fabulous Thanksgiving everyone! We can't wait for Christmas!

:)

Anne