Addy's First Christmas!

What wonderful memories were made this weekend.  We decided to stay in CT for Christmas and we'll be heading to Texas to spend time with Andrew's family tomorrow.  Christmas Eve started out a little chaotic with all of the wrapping that had to be done.  I'm not usually known as a procrastinater, but this year was definitely an exception.  I even had to run to CVS Christmas Eve morning to get Andrew and Adalyn a card.  Andrew and I, along with 2 other couples, bought for a family for Christmas.  It was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me.  I know she won't remember, but we took Adalyn when we went to go drop off the toys and clothes, hoping that she at least would get some sort of feeling for what Christmas is all about.  We then headed to church service and then off to dinner for the traditional (well tradtion in my family) chinese food Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas morning was so special.  My mom and dad, brother, and grandparents were at my parent's house and we all watched Adalyn tear into her gifts.  I can tell you that she liked the wrapping paper more than anything.  If I could speak for her, I would tell you that her favorite gift was her jumperoo.  I've never seen a baby smile so much!  This girl loves to jump.  My favorite gift:  I have 3.  My surprise bracelet and matching earrings from Andrew, my 50mm 1.4 lense (yes!), and my mom gave me her old speedlite since she never uses it.  Finally, I can get some quality shots indoors.

We then stuffed our faces of Christmas dinner that Mom slaved over and I believe Andrew and I were passed out by 9pm.

Here are some photo highlights from the day:

In our Christmas PJs on Christmas morning.  Another family tradition of mine:  PJs from the pets on Christmas Eve.  It's the one present we are allowed to open.

Addy with her Great-Tutu

With her Grandpa and Mimi



Opening her gift from Santa!



It was My Pal Violet!  This is thing is AWESOME.  Seriously, get one for your kid.

I like the paper the best.

Learning to play the piano like Mommy.



Happy + Spoiled





A special gift from Uncle Mike.  He had a needlepoint made of the sky above Norwalk, CT on July 30th at 4:18am (her birthday and time!)

 

Andrew's first of many Christmas mornings putting toys together!

Santa-Ru!

A shot of our first family Christmas tree.  We didn't chop it down, but it's real!

Mom and Dad's tree

We hope everyone had a blessed day filled with the peace, joy and love that comes with knowing that on this day our Savior was born <><

Thank you, E-mealz!

What's the hardest part of being a stay at home mom for me, you ask?  Well, it was being responsible for dinner...but then I found E-mealz.

In short, E-mealz (http://www.e-mealz.com/) is a website that provides you with a dinner meal plan with recipes and a printable grocery list included.  The recipes are SUPER easy and yummy, and it's so nice to have the planning part taken out of cooking dinner. I'm actually finding myself enjoying cooking now!  And as a new wife, I'm cooking something new everyday and building up my culinary skills.

With grad school on the horizon for Andrew, we have been on a strict savings budget, and since E-mealz takes weekly sales and seasonal items into consideration, we've been able to cut our grocery budget.  Groceries in CT are ridiculously expensive and I'm embarrased to say that we were spending $150 a week at the store.  After subscribing to e-mealz, we've cut our weekly budget down to $100.  That's $200 a month savings people!

To wow you even more, Andrew and I choose the family meal plan (for 4-6 people) and often have leftovers for him to bring for lunch, saving us even more money.  AND, we choose the Low Carb meal plan, so we're eating healthy too.  This is a shot of the Balsamic Chicken & Peppers with Spagetti Squash in the making:

They also have meal plans designed for specific grocery stores, though they don't yet have a Stop & Shop or Shop Rite plan (our 2 grocery stores). I'm hoping they will one day (E-mealz people, are you reading this?)

With the recipes being so easy, I'm also feeling less overwhelmed with Adalyn being on solids.  That is going very well by the way.  New this week were sweet potatoes and peas.  She's also started to grab the spoon from me.  She's growing up way too fast!



Mommy had a lot of cleaning up to do before bed.



Weekends

Even as a "stay at home mom", I really look foward to the weekends.  I have help with Adalyn, I get some ME time, and we get to spend time together as a family.  Most weekdays, Andrew is up at 5am to go to the gym, out the door for work by 6:40am, and usually gets home at 6:45pm.  By that time, I've usually made dinner and given Adalyn a bath.  We eat dinner together around 7, I nurse Adalyn around 7:20, she's in bed by 7:45, and then I'm off to the gym until 9:15....and then we crash and start it all over.  The weekends are a much needed break from this routine.  In fact, the only thing routine about our weekends are my 8:30am Body Works class at the gym on Saturday, and church on Sunday morning.

This Saturday, I came home from the gym to this.  I just had to grab my camera.  Such precious Daddy and daughter moments.

Andrew and I really try to keep Sundays as the Sabbath.  I get dressed for church and then it's right back into jammies to do nothing but cuddle.

I wish we had one more day!

And just some random baby dance fun (Andrew recorded this while I was at the gym on Saturday.  Oh, and that was his outfit choice.  I would have put her in pink camo)

Photoshoot Fail

My friend let me borrow her 50mm f/1.8 until Santa brings me my 50mm f/1.4 for Christmas (I hope!)  I was dying to get some good bokeh shots with Adalyn.  Not only did I have the least amenable subject today, but the lighting was also terrible.  This just further increased my desire for a speedlite.   Not one single usable shot:

At least Jada cooperated.

Real poop stinks (don't read if you're eating).

For those of you that don't have babies, you should know that breastmilk poop does not stink.  It actually smells kind of like buttermilk to me, so changing dirty diapers has been far from gross.  Well, that all changed when the cereal finally processed through.  OH.MY.GOODNESS. DISGUSTING.  I gagged for a minute, got myself together and then proceeded to use half the carton of wipes.  I will never look at oatmeal the same again.  And then I decided that since I had fresh, ripe avacadoes on hand, it would be a good idea to have Adalyn try some.  Let's just say that the little she swallowed (did not like it at all) made for another fun diaper change.  But isn't she all worth it?  I mean look at this sweet baby girl:

I can't believe Christmas is almost here.  Maybe it's because it has been unseasonably warm here, but it just doesn't feel like the Christmas season for some reason.  I think we need some snow.

As Promised

Solids have been going well.  Adalyn's tried rice cereal and oatmeal so far.  If I get the energy to make some, she'll get to try some sweet potatoes this week. 

Her first "meal":

And if you wanted to see how it ended:

I got pooped and puked on today,...

...got about 4 broken hours of sleep last night, our shower is leaking and the plumbers dragged mud everywhere because it's pouring out, my BABY is starting to eat solids, and I'm completely overwhelmed because I haven't read a single book about baby food and planned to make my own. 

ahhhhh that feels better. 

Pre-mommy Alex would have had a meltdown today.  New mommy Alex just left the apartment and had a great time playing with other mommies and babies for 3 1/2 hours (I LOVE those ladies and it's going to be so much watching all of our babes grow throughout the year.  Oh, and the poop happened while playing with A on my lap).  Nothing will make you chill out and learn to go with the flow like a 4 month old.

That's right - I said F-O-U-R month old.  I not sure how it happened so fast (or how it's almost Christmas!), but it happened, and her pediatrician thinks it's time to start solids.  I, of course, disagree with her, as I've read a lot about delaying food until 6 months.  So, we will continue nursing as normal, but I'm going to add one meal a day in the early evening.  We are starting with rice cereal and we'll switch to oatmeal next week and then start some fruits and veges.  I'll post some adorable pictures of her  first meal when I get them off my camera, but for now, you can enjoy these:  



This is for Colleen :)  I <3 this outfit on her so much!



Jada now acknowledges that she has a little sister.  And Adalyn has taken to grabbing, not petting her fur.

Sophie goes everywhere

She LOVES her exersaucer, but I can tell she is already getting bored.

She has found her feet and now loves to put them in her mouth.



4 month milestones:
 - She's still in the 100th percentile for height
 - She rolls tummy to back all the time and rolled back to belly once when we were in TX for Thanksgiving.
 - She eats her feet now.
 - She is almost sitting up!

I really love this little angel, but I'm hoping she sleep a heck of a lot better than last night!