Since Malia turned 6 months old in October, we decided to piggy back her photos with holiday photos for our Christmas card. Again, we used Shawna Smith to take our photos. She got some REALLY good ones of everyone, together, individually and as a family. She even got some great ones of my parents with the kids.
Yeah, I know, I’m a bit late.
This years holiday season has TAKEN over any kind of personal projects. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, Bridal Shower & Bachelorette Party (for the wedding Shane and I are a part of in January) – life has been pretty hectic. No excuses – but I finally have 5 minutes to sit down and post the pictures.
My good friend, Shawna, has been taking photos of family and friends for years. Each time I tell her that I want her to take photos of my kids – she laughs it off. She has no clue how truly talented she is – I would give anything to have that “eye”. So I pretty much booked her by telling her that I was depending on her to take Malia’s 6 month photos. She gave in and produced some of the best photos of my sweet baby girl. 
Today crept up on me. I didn’t even realize Malia was 8 months today until about 10am –oops! Little Miss is so busy these days, she is keeping me extra busy. I love just watching her learn, explore and grow….but not too fast!
Latest and Greatest:
*Still nursing every 4 hours.
*Solids 3 times a day. She’s eating almost everything I can get my hands on. She has loved everything thus far. I am proud to say that all of her food is made by yours truly. She has not had one ounce of pre-packaged baby food.
*Sleeping pretty good for the most part (of course last night was the longest stretch in history for her – 6:30pm-5:30am). Fingers crossed she keeps it up!
*Wearing 12 month clothing.
*Almost wearing size 5 diapers.
*Learned how to blow/spit bubbles. This kid loves to raspberry!
*Will grab anything in sight.
*Still thinks her brother is the coolest person in the world!
*Had some over nights away from mama this last month – they didn’t go so well. She definitely misses me if I’m gone too long.
*First tooth popped up – the lower right. The lower left should be here any day!
*Getting her “big girl” car seat on Tuesday. Not only is SHE over her infant car seat, but so are we! She’s got to be pushing 24lbs at this point!
*Finally got to meet her uncle Danny – and boy did she love him.
This year, we went early. I learned my lesson last year (read HERE) where I made the mistake of going late. I ended up getting a deal using Google Offers (kind of like Groupon) where I paid only $10 for my Santa photo instead of $23. I am proud.
Jackson was pretty pumped to go see Santa, I’ve been talking about Santa all week and showed him some photos of what he looked like in case he decided to freak out once we arrived. I told him that whatever he asked Santa for, he would get as long as he was a good boy.
As soon as he saw the man with the white beard, there was no hesitation, he walked right up to him, sat on his lap and whispered, “Goldfish”. I just about died. Guess what my son is getting for Christmas?
Malia – she just did whatever her brother did. They both smiled, because I have trained them to do so and we were done. Jackson talks about Santa every day. I LOVE Christmas.
This year I was BOUND AND DETERMINED to start a new tradition – cutting down our Christmas tree at a tree farm. This was a tradition that was a part of my childhood that I truly cherish and remember as one of best memories. I want my children to have the same memory – and I want to start young as my parents did with me and my siblings.
The tree farm I used to visit was called Mt. Pilchuck Tree Farm and it closed down in the late 90’s. When searching for a tree farm to go to with my family, I stumbled upon Pilchuck Secret Valley Tree Farm. It wasn’t the same tree farm I went to as a child, but it was pretty darn close! Excitement set in as we drove up.
As soon as we got out of the car, Shane and I were hit by a wall of coldness. We didn’t dress accordingly, so we knew it had to be somewhat of a quick trip. Luckily, we found our tree in about 15 minutes, cut it down, bailed it and the kids and I hung out in the hut next to the woodstove drinking hot chocolate while Shane strapped the tree to the car.
Overall we had a great time, but think it will be even MORE fun next year with both kids mobile. The tree is already up and decorated…more pics to come!
