Merry Christmas!!

lil' Santa Claus

stocking stuffers!

she loved sitting in this basket with her stuffed animals!

Emma ate 2 whole brownies.. she was soooo hyper!

Look what I got from Santa!!

We have had a crazy 1st Christmas with Emma and our family!! It has been really fun with lots of games being played, but a whole lot of company in our home! We have had 5 dogs, 1 baby and 8 people trying to sleep under one small roof for a week! Whew!!


It was really special to watch Emma open her presents and look at the lights and be apart of it all! On Christmas Day Emma said "Mama" for the 1st time where it was clear as a bell! She was crawling towards me and it was sooo cute! She is also such a busy body- she crawls around the floor fast and then stops and flails, then does it all over again!


We also had a party for all of our family who live here.. We had a Mexican feast with various types of enchiladas, tamales, real hot hot sauce and too many desserts!! It was a full house, but really fun! We drank lots of eggnog, wine & whiskey!


We are hoping to catch up with the Tices this week and maybe have them over Friday..


Then Sam & Juliette are coming to hang out and celebrate the New Year with all of us!

I loved all my presents this year.. Daniel did a much better job compared to my White Diamonds and zip-off mesh pants I received last year.. no offense to those of you who like White Diamonds.. (I think it smells like an old lady perfume).

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were able to celebrate it with family & friends!

9 months old &

not a baby anymore..

It is so sad

how did this happen so fast?

Nothing could bring a mom more mixed emotions than
your baby growing up

We want her to walk and talk and play games with us
but we also want her to stay small and innocent and sweet
I kindof dread those toddler years, but then again I can't wait to see her say 'I love you, daddy' and give him a big hug...
I kindof dread those teenage years, but then again I can't wait to see her get all giddy when she has a crush on a boy...

I guess that is why parents have more babies!
So enough of all that...
9 month old birthday- born 3/10

Emma had a wonderful doctor appointment..

waiting in the dr. office

She weighs 18.2 lbs (a gain of almost 2 lbs from 6 months) and 28 and a half inches (gain of 2 inches) She is still in the 50th percentile in weight and 75th for height... yea for Daniel's genes kicking in!! I always hoped his legs would get passed down to our daughters!!
She got her finger pricked and didn't even mind at all!! Just looked at the lady while she squeezed her little finger! She said the blood work is perfect, no vitamins or anything needed.. and the lead test came back negative, so good.. I was a little worried because our house is so old!
Well, here are some pics from the last week.. The Christmas cards are in the mail so you should get them by this weekend!!
getting ready for the big photo shoot!


Emma loves her new car seat from Grandma & Grandpa Gee


giving Gauge a hug!

beautiful December days

We are having great weather here in MS.. it is a little warm, but it is so nice to be able to play outside! Today, when Emma wasn't napping we were outside, at the park swinging or by the pond walking through the woods! This weekend we are getting our tree and taking Christmas pictures.. I hope that we can get Emma to smile at the camera.. it is hard when noone is there to make her laugh!!

On a different note, Gauge, our black male lab had a seizure yesterday.. It lasted about 5 minutes.. that is about the 3rd one that we can recall so far.. This isn't new to me because my yellow lab, Pooh Bear, used to have them a lot. The vet would give him phenobarbitol, but it didn't really do much.. so we will just have to wait and see what happens with Gauge.. If anyone knows of anything more about these, please let me know.. I have heard they are common in large dogs of this breed and that they don't cause any pain for the animals..they are just hard to watch! Well, needless to say, he didn't miss a beat and was back running wild today!!

Back in God's country...

aka Mississippi! as my dad likes to call it...

playing at the park today!

We had a great time in Texas and I already miss it!

I had been home no more than an hour and go in to the kitchen to find a dead mouse... I was not happy - to say the very least!!!!

Daniel is making dinner and I was so excited to see him and for Emma to see him... then I find out that he is making tuna... like the big slab of it.. not my favorite... and I look over and see the little dead mouse on the sticky pad.. he obviously tried to get away.. Daniel was so excited to see it worked! Happy homecoming to me! :(

Emma & Reese!! - their baby pictures look so much alike!!

Well, we got our Christmas things out and will get a tree this week and try and take some Christmas pics to send out soon!

our new fireplace heater!! It works REALLY good!

Dancin' Emma & dancin' Santa

Emma & Tai in the leaves

Pauline, Emma & Tai

Emma's new camo pajamas