Merry Christmas!

This post is going to include a lot of pictures. I'll be brief with my wording... ;) We have had a very fun and very busy few days. First and foremost, our baby is 8 months old. Seriously? Seriously. On Christmas Eve, her 8-month-birthday, we attended the family service at church after taking her to CareNow where she was diagnosed with a slight ear infection.

in the church pew

After church we attended a Christmas Eve party. Lainey is being airlifted onto Santa's lap.

checking him out...

still captivated by Santa...

This little 8-month-old weighs around 22 pounds (thanks to CareNow's scale). She is crawling and eating only table food...and baby oatmeal. She refuses to eat baby food, but still loves, loves, loves her bottle. Occasionally she puts her own pacifier in her mouth, but we're still working on her consistency. She'll pull up on things every once in a while, but unfortunately, she always chooses things in bad places (i.e. the tub with the hard tile floor underneath).

After the Christmas Eve party we went to Aunt Tisha and Uncle Greg's house to eat our traditional Mexican feast. It was fabulous, but Lainey started to melt down towards the end so we had to leave before everyone else.

Here is a picture of our tree.

We opened presents at our house Christmas morning, and then we headed to Bud and Yiyia's to celebrate with cousins, aunts and uncles, and great grandparents. We missed my parents this year; they are dealing wtih a ton of snow in Colorado. We miss you guys! You too, Uncle Matt. :)

totally more interested in the paper than the presents

Yiyia attempting to pass out gifts to some very eager kids.

Lainey fell asleep on Bud's lap after opening presents. This picture was taken through the window becuase I didn't want to open the door and awaken her! She's surprisingly grown to enjoy napping on people. She never used to... but over the past month or so she has really become a snuggler (only when she's sleepy). Sadly, this baby barely naps. She generally sleeps about a total of two or two in a half hours a day, divided into two naps. Her bedtime is a pretty firm 7 or 7:15, and she generally awakens around 6 in the morning. And no, she doesn't sleep for 11 hours straight. She usually awakens a couple of times for a pacifier plugging.

Yiyia and her three kids - Greg, Ben, and Allyson (and one granddaughter who thought the flash was too much)

Today we went to see my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dan in Fort Worth and got to visit with my grandparents and cousins Kate and Anne and their husbands Stefo and Brian.

Lainey with my cousin Anne

Lainey with my cousin KateThank you for a fabulous lunch today, Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dan. And thanks to everyone for a special Christmas. It is one we are sure to remember. :) We feel very, very blessed - in so many, many ways. AND, speaking of Christmas blessings, our little neighbor Keegan was released from the hospital on Dec. 23rd. He is home now, but things are still a bit challenging for his parents who are trying to manage him, his medicine, his tubing, the paperwork, everything. I hope to post some pictures this week of the little man at home. Happy New Year to everyone, and thanks for checking in on our little one! We hope you are enjoying your holidays! :)

Fun with friends

Friends Leslie (and baby Sydney - 4 mos.) and Sara (and baby Ella, 10 mos.) came over to play yesterday. Leslie is in town with family for the holidays, so we were excited that she was able to come play! Here are some pictures from our day...

Group shot - Leslie, Sara, and me

Lainey bonking Ella with a toy. Nice.

sweet Sydney

Lainey with cute Ella (who is walking at 10 months!). Wow, and she is fast...

Lunch with cousins

Lainey has some adoring cousins. After church we all went to eat and the girls just loved, loved, loved on Lainey. Pretty sweet. :) I'm glad that Lainey will grow up with these girls - and they live so close, too. Lainey will be in Kindergarten when Kate (on the right) is in 5th grade; they will both attend the same school. I love that!

Baby Avery

We met Lainey's newest friend, Avery Ann, at the hospital on Thursday. She was the exact same height and weight as Lainey when she was born. However, I still can assure you that Lainey was never that tiny. :) No, I know she was, but it's just hard to remember. Little Avery is beautiful, and she is so perfect. Mom Cheryl and Dad Chris are over the moon and should be headed home from the hospital today. :)

Santa

Lainey and Santa... this is from Breakfast with Santa at church. Thanks to Yiyia and Bud for taking her! She looks like she had fun. :)

You know you've been in the hospital too long when...

your 15-month-old can show you where the stethoscope goes. Cute Keegan! He'll hopefully be home by Christmas. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Crawling!

If you don't want to hear crazy Reagan barking in the background, turn down the sound on your computer! She really only crawls like this for seriously off-limits things. We are looking into stair gates and hope to get some baby-proofing done before Christmas. :) 

Baby comparison...

Inspired by Amy :) - Samuel and Jane Ann's mom - I motivated myself to post some "baby comparison pictures" so we can see Lainey vs. Abby and Lainey vs. Ben. I'll let y'all be the judge, but from these pictures, I think that she looks more like her dad. The pictures are slightly off age-wise, but you can kind of get the idea. 

Lainey, 7 months

Ben, 6 months

Abby, 12 months

Dry's Christmas party

Last night I was able to attend the our good friends', the Dry's, annual Christmas party. Lainey had her very first sleepover with Bud and Yiyia and slept the BEST she ever has. Almost a full 12 hours. Why won't she do that at home?? Anyway, Ben stayed home because he is still recovering from the nasty bug that invaded our house. Thank you, Mary and Allyn, for keeping Lainey so I could have a fun night out with friends. This is the picture of the girls in the bus on the way to Joe T Garcia's in Ft. Worth. Sherry, we missed you!!! This is a picture of Casey, Tracey, Laura, Jenny, and myself. 

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Lindsay joined us after she had worked a long, long day! 

Time to baby-proof?

This is what I found little one doing. Mighty proud of herself, don't you think?? :) 

Do Not Enter

playing peek-a-boo in the crib... ;)

I don't think any amount of Lysol could eliminate the germs in this house! It's awful. It started with Lainey on Saturday evening - she had a questionable diaper. Then I woke up with a stomach bug and slight fever Sunday morning, and the previous night's questionable diaper evolved into a confirmed case of grossness. Tuesday comes, and we go to the doctor for Lainey and she has rotavirus. She was vaccinated for it, but she still seems to have gotten a light case of it. Then yesterday, Ben left work to come home because he was sick with the stomach bug...and he's been truly in bed since yesterday afternoon, sleeping and trying to feel better. Last night was a long night for Reagan, Lainey and me (not going to go into details, but it involved changing sheets, changing diapers, and several pacifier plugs and one nighttime feeding just to get her settled). I hope tonight goes better! We need to get well around here. I am Lysol-ing like a mad woman but feel that our house needs a good deep clean to get rid of the germs!

There are some benefits to this madness: 

1. It's giving Lainey and I a lot of bonding time. She doesn't want to be set down when she's not feeling well, apparently, so I'm toting her around on my hip and learning to do (more) things one-handed.

2. As a by-product of #1, she's actually being a little snuggle baby. I love it. She'll just sit with me and let me hold her and sometimes she'll fall asleep. Sweet since she is so wiggly when she's well. 

3. I don't have to get dressed (or get the baby dressed) until I absolutely can't stand it anymore because we aren't leaving the house these days. Yesterday it was 1:30. Today... maybe later. 

4. Ben is catching up on sleep. That's always good. :) 

5. I'm not out spending money. That's good. :) 

Family picture

For the first time in nearly two years, all of the Harris adults were together without kids. We decided to commemorate the event by taking a picture - do you like our "prom pose" on the stairs? The last time we were together like this without the kids was at a wedding in January, 2007. Included in the picture are Ben's mom and dad (Mary and Allyn), Ben's sister Allyson (next to me) and her husband Chris, and then Ben's brother Greg (to Ben's left) and his wife Tisha. 

Keegan and sleeping family

I went to visit Keegan again today and was able to sit in on his PT session. Look at the boy stand! He is so funny - he stands and then figures out that he's standing and then he decides to sit. Here are a couple of pictures of him standing and playing with various hospital things.

Go Keeg!

And, as I am typing, this is what's happening in our master bedroom. Lainey has resisted napping alllllll day long, so go figure - when we all lay on the bed to catch up, Lainey decides to fall asleep. Ben and Reagan joined her for a little shut-eye.

A close-up shot - look at those rolls! Love to squeeze them!

Moving!

So, it's not the prettiest way to move, but the girl is on her way. So far the biggest motivators are remotes (What is it with remotes?? And cell phones? And cameras?), Reagan's toys (gross), and my day planner (a coveted possession). :)

The Elf on the Shelf

Lainey received an early gift from Santa - the elf on the shelf! The little elf flies to the North Pole to see Santa every single night and tells Santa if Lainey has been naughty or nice. And then by morningtime, the elf is back on "the shelf". Each morning he is in a new spot and keeps his eye on Laniey and her behavior all day long. Lainey is not supposed to touch the elf because if she does, he will lose some of his magic and his ability to fly back to see Santa. However, Lainey's elf sacrificed a little of his magic so that she could get to know him a little bit.

receiving the package and seeing if it was edible... (Santa delivered it to Dickey's BBQ during lunchtime.)

Oh what fun - a brightly colored box.

after the green box is removed...

Poor elf - he never had a chance.

The elf is playing possum, hoping he'll be left alone.