Tuesday, December 28, 2010

White Christmas 2010

Aubrey's First Christmas will be one to remember! This was looking out our front door on Christmas morning!




It was still snowing really hard at the point!



The pool deck...



Front of our house from the road...


Granddaddy's barn...


Granddaddy's pond...


Aubrey's first time in the snow after we returned home from all the family festivities ...Here, my hair was blowing in her face, so I said, let's turn the other way for just a second so my hair will blow away from our faces...


It literally took her breath away...and I swept her inside...forget the picture!


The view from the floor just inside the front door as Aubrey and I sat nice and warm and watched the big kids play!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Santa's Village

Santa's Village was very cold this year...and crowded...and Santa was a GROUCH with capital letters (can you believe that??)....

But we still had fun because we were there with each other. I love my family so much.



Decorating gingerbread cookies...


Eating said cookies...


Posing with friends...


Picture with Santa in which he chastised me for my flash not firing properly...

Did I mention that Aubrey woke up, screamed incessantly in the 35 degree weather as I tried to keep her in my baby sling, covered in a blanket, as she refused to take a bottle, and I changed her on my knees in the cold bathroom twice, finally got her to nurse as I carried her in the aforementioned cold weather, all while trying to keep myself from being exposed by trying to keep a blanket across both she and I, as I held her 14 pound body in my arms that I thought would eventually fall off, as I wound my way through the Santa house, as people in very close quarters watched and tried to figure out, "Is she really nursing a baby under there?" where I proceeded to pop her off just before I got to Santa, and turned on my camera in a real hurry so the other cold folks behind me wouldn't have to wait, where Santa then chastised me for my camera flash not firing? But I digress... ;-)


Picture where chastising Santa was not looking at the camera when the flash did fire properly...


Picture of Santa looking at Aubrey (probably silently chastising her for being born into such an incompetent family!)...




Listening to Mrs. Claus' niece read a Christmas story...

Again, I have a GREAT sense of humor, and in times like this, it serves me well! Merry Christmas!

Aubrey is 4 Months Old!

...and I am very late at blogging about it!

Needless to say, as Aubrey gets older, finding time to blog about her has become a challenge! That, combined with the Christmas season has made me fall into a blogging hiatus, intentionally or not.

These pictures was taken after church on December 5th, the day she turned 4 months old.



So Aubrey Jill, what are you up to these days? Well, first of all, you and I are enjoying our last days at home together since I go back to work after the first of the year! I have loved being at home with you and Alden, but I am just better at everything when I am working. I also miss my kids at school, so I will be ready to get back to what I LOVE to do, which is teaching. I am also secretly excited because I saved my favorite part of science for when I return to work...Space! (I know, I'm a nerd.)

The last few weeks have been sort of like living in the Twilight Zone around here as far as Aubrey is concerned. You know that thing I said when she was 3 months about her sleeping all night? Well, bragging was apparently a mistake! Aubrey went through a stage for about 3 weeks that had her Daddy and I about to pull our hair out! She would finally go to sleep with us rocking her around 11pm to 12 AM (!!!), but when we would lay her in her bed, she would immediately wake up and begin to scream. I tried to let her cry it out for about 10 minutes while I spoke gently to her...what a joke! She was running this show and she wasn't going to have it. We finally were able to get her to sleep in her vibrating bouncy seat, so that was her spot for a week or so. By some miracle, she broke out of the bad habit and is back in her bed, but I won't discuss how well she's doing now for fear of the curse of the brag. She is also still sleeping in her swaddle blanket. I asked our doc about getting her out of it, and he said we probably should be moving toward that...until I mentioned that she's like a little Houdini and always manages to get her thumb to her mouth somehow! He said we should keep her swaddled to prevent her from becoming a full-on thumb sucker! I have to agree.

At Aubrey's 4 month checkup, she received 2 shots and got all of her statistics taken. She weighed 13.4 pounds, which is about the 50th percentile. Her height was astounding though...not really, because all of my children have been really LONG...but she was 26.5 inches...the average height for a 7 month old! She is now completely out of any 3-6 month clothing and has moved into some 6 month, but mostly 9 month outfits.

She is still nursing exclusively, meaning no formula, but starting some solid foods, as well. So far, she has liked sweet potatoes, and really seems to love carrots and prunes. I have tried peas and green beans, but she doesn't seem too crazy about those. I have decided to leave off fruits for a while (for the most part), but I have let her try peaches as a treat! She also eats table food (I am a Southern girl, what can I say?) so she has been indoctrinated to gravy, grits, mashed potatoes, and a little ice cream.

She is absolutely the happiest baby. She loves her brother and sister and seems to be smiling all the time. These smiles are so precious, because they are so big, her little eyes have to squint shut so her cheeks can spread out! She is rolling all over the place and will be sitting up before long. I am trying to keep her little as long as I can, but it doesn't seem to be working!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Merry Christmas from the Baggetts

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card
Create modern Christmas photo cards at Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

A-mazing Shutterfly Cards This Year!

This year, the same as last, and last, and last, Shutterfly will be creating our Christmas cards! We love the new cards this year! I have so many that I LOVE!!! I think we are planning on using the bifold cards or the flat cards. For all the past years we have used the long and narrow photo cards and we like those, too! One of the best things I discovered THIS year (why didn't I know this in years past???) is that just because a card design says "Happy Holidays" doesn't mean it has to stay that way!! We, as Christians, think the best way to wish everyone a happy holiday season is to acknowledge the very reason for the season which is Jesus Christ.  Therefore, our Christmas cards must say something that includes the words "Merry Christmas!" I was so happy to see that I could take most of the cards and change them to say anything I wanted them to. Way to go Shutterfly!

Also, Shutterfly is really FAST! Last year, I had just discovered that Aubrey was on her way and I wasn't really feeling well. I messed around and waited on doing Christmas cards to the point that I thought I was out of time. At the latest possible hour, I threw together a card using a beach picture in black and white (my love) and it turned out beautiful...actually one of my favorite we've ever done!

We are now anxiously awaiting Monday when our photographer, the amazing Shelley Creel, will have our images ready for us to view. For the record, she was more than amazing with our 3 children...ages 12, 4, and 4 months...all at once...in the same picture! We were not stressed out this year either, and that's saying a lot. Thinking about what I imagine the pictures will look like, I have selected a few Shutterfly cards I think we might choose for the Baggett Family Christmas Card!



I like this one since we have 3 kids, each would be featured, and the group shot would be on the inside...It also matches the Christmas pajamas the kids are wearing in their picture!


This one would also be cute for our family of 3 kiddos...And I like that I can use black and white as well as color!

I'm also toying with this one since I have a deep LOVE of black and white...Here, I can have a group shot of the 3 kids as well as individuals of them as well.

Now you'll just have to wait until we unveil the official Baggett Family Christmas Card 2010! In the meantime, head on over to Shutterfly and create your own Family Christmas Cards! Shutterfly is running a cool special for bloggers...50 free photocards for blogging about your fav cards this year! To learn more, visit here.

Merry Christmas!!