Merry Christmas Week!

Nadia in her gorgeous nativity dress from Bob and Kathy looking stunning by the tree!

Our Christmas package - all wrapped up!

Christmas jammies from Auntie Al

Christmas is coming... and we're so excited! Santa will be visiting our house very soon!

First Day of School

So Friday, December 18 (at 9 weeks) was Nadia's first day of school and my first day back at work. The day was much tougher on me than her. She went to her class with Ms. Susan and Ms. Melanie, took a nap, had a bottle, played, and napped some more. I had updates from someone (teachers, aides, other parents, the director) about every 20 minutes during those four hours and peeped in on her a couple of times myself! Then we (Nadia, Andy, Uncle Jordan and I) had lunch all together for an hour - the saving moment of the day. I knew then that if I can see and hold and play with her every day for that hour at lunchtime, we'll make it through this going back to work thing! Then Uncle Jordan kept her for the next 2 1/2 hours until the end of the day. He and Nadia had a great time together with lots of laughing and cooing and napping. She wore her precious Reindeer dress and Christmas tights with attached socks (which sadly didn't make it in the picture - more to come on that!) and looked adorable.

Auntie Al sent some cute Christmaswear expressing Nadia's Christmas wishes in a bold fashion! Can't wait to see you soon!


Last night we had a Belize Trip Reunion Party and Nadia came along. She was the perfect party guest and stayed awake the entire time entertaining all. She was so happy and alert, it made me wonder if Andy and I at home have been boring her in the evenings! Last night she slept from 10:15-5:45 this morning then ate and went back to sleep until 8:30. She's truly the best baby in the world!

Sleeping Beauty

Last night Nadia slept from 10:00-6:00 and I roused her to eat then. She ate and went right back to sleep and is still sleeping now at 9:00! Way to go Nadia! (She hasn't had any tylenol since 7:30 last night so that's not having any affect. At 10:00 when I put her in her bed we did have a long chat about how I needed her to sleep in her bed rather than my arms right now, and she went right to sleep without being rocked or saying another peep!)

Growing like a weed!

Nadia had her 2 month doctor's appointment today and weighed in at 11 lbs 6 oz and 23 1/2 inches long! She is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height! She also got her first round of immunizations including one oral and three shots. She was so alert and happy all through the appointment and then came the nurses with the shots - poor thing, her little legs are swollen and it's apparent they hurt. Hopefully a good night's sleep will help.

Christmastime is Here!

With the big tree at church

Nadia and Buster Bear at 8 weeks - look how long she is!

Studying on Santa - she loves to touch his beard, furry cuffs, velvet suit and belt and buckle.

Bundled up for a blizzard?

In the hand smocked gown made by Mrs. Judi from church worn on her first day in the nursery at our church.

In her Christmas dress worn first to the Baby's First Christmas Brunch at church. She was the cutest baby there of course!

Christmas Time!

Nadia is so interested in this snowman! I don't know if it's because he's her size or what exactly captivates her, but she has looked intently at him for hours today. She'll reach out and touch him and grab his nose or scarf. She'll pull him closer to her and then push him a little farther away. She has studied his every detail with great interest much to my approval since I have such a love for snowmen. She is equally intrigued with a similarly sized Santa from Gran's.

Last night Nadia went a six hour and then a five hour stretch between feedings! We're nearly "through the night" though I have to admit I'll really be sad when she is truly sleeping through the night. I enjoy our sweet time around 2:00 or 3:00 when it's quiet and dark and just us.

She is definitely studying on things longer and looking with more focus and examination of detail these days. She looked at every picture and lay still listening as I read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See" to her several times today. While I've been reading to her all along, she hasn't really paid attention to the pictures nearly as much as she did today.

She's trying, though without success yet, to find and put her paci back in her mouth. When we accomplish this one - it will revolutionize our days and nights as "paci re-putting" is quite a consuming part of our day. She's getting very close when it lands near her face! Keep trying Nadia!

We also have our nanny all worked out as of today. Sarah Beth is going to be with Nadia while I'm at work on Mondays at our house and then for a couple hours each afternoon Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday just down the hall from my office at church. Sarah Beth is wonderful and so loving and caring and will do a great job. She's great with her and will be very attentive and stiumlating and nurturing and energetic, etc - all the things we were looking for. It's still breaking my heart to think about going back to work, but knowing she's going to be with someone we feel great about is making it better.

We also had our diaper shower Wednesday night - Nadia received her first diapers in every size - 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s! We'll be storing some of those for quite a while, but it will be so nice to pull them out when she gets to each new size. All the Server Girls Leaders had brought all kinds of nice food and lots of diapers and wipes. It was a great time of informally hanging out and passing Nadia around.

First Visit to Nana and Granddaddy's!

Grinning with my Grin-Daddy!

Smiling at my Nana!

Waving to the camera

Playing away in my French Beret!

We loved visiting Nana and Granddaddy and can't wait to go back soon when they are moved into their new house! Nadia had her first Sunday morning stay in the church nursery and slept the entire time, so the workers didn't even get to hold her (must to their disappointment). She got to be shown off to all of Nana and Granddaddy's church family. She's now been to three states including NC, SC and GA as the start to many more travels to come!