Christmas Day...

CHRISTMAS DAY...Santa came!

On Christmas morning, my parents, my brother, and Michael's Dad and Stepmom came over for breakfast and to watch Gage open his Santa gifts. It didn't take him long to realize he had new toys on the floor before he started crawling over to them!

Santa was good to Gage this year, just as I knew he would be. After all, Gage has been a good boy! He brought him several Leap Frog toys, Barney DVD's, pacifiers, socks, sippy cups, and a huge stuffed puppy! Of all the toys got, he loved the passys and sippy cups the most...imagine that!

While my Dad and Stepdad were cooking breakfast, my Mom played in the floor with Gage and his toys. I'm pretty sure she had as much fun as he did!

After breakfast, my Dad got in the floor with him. It is so funny to me to watch my parents play with him. They act like kids again!

Gage thinks his Big Daddy (Michaels Dad) is such a funny guy. I think it may be his deep voice.

Gage was in a great mood all morning and played really hard with the grandparents! He's a lucky little guy!

CHRISTMAS DAY...Granny Peg & Paw's

After breakfast, we went to my Grandparents house to have Christmas with my Dad's family. We have always gone at the same time every year for lunch and gifts. This year, Gage was the only one who got gifts and boy did he rack up! This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas. Gage was having fun sitting on Kyle's shoulders!

Kyleman (my cousin) got him a 4 wheeler and a Vtech Dancing tower. He is always so sweet about getting gifts for Gage, but has a hard time stopping ;) I think he buys him everything he sees! Gage LOVES his new 4 wheeler and laughs like crazy everytime he gets on it. The problem is...Mommy is terribly out of shape and has a heck of a time pushing it ;) Granny & Paw got him a Little People Tractor and Barn! He loves all the noises the animals make! They also got him this Dunk & Cheer basketball goal! It took him about 10 seconds to figure out that if you dunk the ball, it cheers for you!
Aunt Waynell & Dan got him a rocking bull. It is the funniest thing to watch him ride it! Aunt Welda & Uncle Gary got him a set of blocks and a See N Say game! I will be hearing animal noises in my sleep ;)Paw (my Dad) got him a Tonka truck to ride on. It has a steering wheel with blinkers, a horn, and a motor! I have a feeling with all these riding toys, my cabinets don't have a chance! It took them forever to put the silly thing together, but it was quite entertaining to watch!

CHRISTMAS DAY...Grams & Louis'

The last place we went was to Michael's Mom's house. We left at about 6pm to head out there and Gage had already started getting cranky. I really hoped he would sleep on the way, and HE DID! Thank Goodness! It took us about an hour to get there and he slept the entire way. When we got there, he was in a great mood!

He sat with Grams for a while and opened gifts. He got some bath toys, balls, stacking cups, Vsmile Baby and games, pajamas, and some Christmas ornaments.
He had a great time with more new toys, but his favorite was the paper! He thought it was so funny to play peek-a-boo with!

We are so blessed to have so many people in our lives to spend the Holidays with and to love our little boy! We are often so busy during the holidays that we forget to enjoy ourselves, but we are doing our best to do better! Gage made Christmas so much fun this year and I know it is only going to get better! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Now, my friends, I'm off the find a place for all these toys ;)

Chrismas Eve...

I'm going to apologize now for the next few posts being so long. I realize I don't have to tell every detail, but I don't want to forget anything. I would love to be able to show you every picture I took, but the problem is...I took over 500 of them during the last 2 days!

CHRISTMAS EVE...MeMe & Paw's
Because we have so many places to be for the Holidays, we split everything up into 2 days. I have always loved the Christmas season so much. This year was no different...as a matter of fact, it was better! This was Gage's First Christmas! I have been looking forward to it for months!

Our first place to go on Christmas Eve is to my Mom's house. We always go out there around noon or so. We open gifts, play games, eat, and tell lots of stories. I happen to have a pretty entertaining family ;)

Nana and PaPaw got Gage this horse. I had one of these when I was a kid and my parents said I loved it. I saw this at Babies R Us one day and just knew we had to have it! I was right...Gage had a blast on it-while it lasted :( For some reason the horse wouldn't go together properly, so my brother took it apart to fix it. We soon realized that it had some missing pieces and had to be exchanged for another one. I'm crossing my fingers I can still find one! They also got him some clothes, a Playschool walk n' ride car, and A CASE OF DIAPERS!!!

Nana & Papaw never look at the camera, but this is a good one of them and Gage!

MeMe and Paw got him lots of new toys too! My favorite thing they bought him is this...a Little Red Wagon! I had one of these as well...just not quite as fancy! Gage rode around in it for a while and had a lot of fun sitting and playing in there! I know this will come in very handy at the ballpark this Summer!
They also got him a Leap Frog musical table, some clothes, a couple tree ornaments, and one more thing...this book! It is the story of "The Night Before Christmas". When you open the book up, you hear my Mom's voice reading the story. It is recorded and we can read it every year on Christmas Eve! I'm so excited to be adding a new tradition to our Christmas! All the gift opening wore Gage out! He took a little cat nap and woke up just in time to play in the paper before we trashed it! I think that may have been his favorite part of the day!

CHRISTMAS EVE...Big Daddy's
When we left my Mom's we stopped by Big Daddy's for a few minutes. There, we exchanged gifts with our nieces and nephews and let them play for a while. They had a lot of fun, but I know they will have so much more when they are old enough to play together! They are still at the age where they are a little rough and not too sure about each other!

Big Daddy and Granny Karen got him the V-tech Alphabet Train! He loves all the blocks that go with it! It seems like there are about a million of them all over the house ;)

CHRISTMAS EVE...Aunt Vicki & Uncle Rusty's

Our 3rd, and last stop for the night was at my cousins house. The entire family gathers there on Christmas Eve for a huge dinner and usually a poker tournament. I'm not a fan of playing cards, but they always have a good time with it! We had to leave early this year because Santa was coming! This is us with the cousins...Gage, Rance, Me, Michael, Kyle, Raine, Jodie, and Sunny. Jodie is one of my friends from HS. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and met Raine there. They have been dating ever since! They are all some of my very best friends, and they all think Little Man hung the moon! Truth is...he is pretty fond of them too! Raine and Jodie (guy in the Arkansas hat and the girl in the red shirt) got Gage a Disney Bedtime Storybook! I am going to collect all the books in the collection for him!

When we got home and got Gage in bed, Michael and I opened our gifts from eachother. We set the timer on the camera and took this one of ourselves. I love it! I hope you have enjoyed the first day of our Christmas! We had a lot of fun and can't wait to share the rest with you!

Lazy weekends...

For the past few days, I have spent most of my time at home with this little monkey! Daddy has been working a lot of overtime so Gage and I have been home alone. I can remember a time in my life (actually, my entire life until Gage was born) I would have been extremely angry to have been at home for 2 days without leaving the house. I was such a busy body and sitting at home simply wasn't up my alley, and the thought of nothing to do would have put me in a deep depression. These days, however, things are completely different. The fact that we had nothing to was music to my ears, and I loved the fact that we didn't have to get ready to go all weekend long. I mean...I LOVED IT!

It seems like overnight, Gage decided to start getting into EVERYTHING! Last week, I could somewhat keep him contained in one room. He would sit in the living room and play with his toys for hours without even making a peep. This week, he won't stay in the living room for 5 minutes without getting into something he isn't supposed to. I have a feeling my hands are going to be full with this child ;)

As much as we enjoyed being in the house all weekend with nothing to do, it was nice to get out today. Michael took Gage to Bridget's this morning so I could start getting the house ready for Christmas. We are having some family over and the house looked like a tornado had passed through. I spent the day cleaning house, washing clothes, running errands, etc. Thank Goodness all that is finished and we are ready for the Holidays at last!

7 days...

I'm not believing that I'm saying this, but Christmas is only one week away! I realized today that I hadn't taken any pictures of Gage in front of our Christmas tree. I knew if I waited until Christmas Day, all the presents would be gone and it wouldn't be near as pretty. You know, the sparkle just kinda goes away when all the gifts aren't the anymore :( I was at home by myself, and to be quite honest, I figured trying to take pictures by the tree would be a mess. Thankfully, our tree is behind the couch so Gage hasn't gone back there much. He wasn't too sure what to think at first, but it didn't take him long to get into things.Hopefully I haven't created a monster and he will stay out from behind the couch for one more week! Apparently he thought the bows tasted terrible...ha! I just love those little cheeks!Only 7 more days...I'm getting more excited by the second!!!

Here comes Santa...

Last Saturday night Gage got to meet Santa for the first time ever! I was really worried about how he would act with him. I have seen so many kids be terrified of Santa and I was really hoping Gage wouldn't be. To be honest, before we got there, I told my Mom and Michael that it wouldn't surprise me if Gage tried to pull his beard off. I realize he is only 9 months old, but I'm telling you now...the child is a mess!! He is always doing something mischievous and looking at us like, "I don't know what the big deal is". He must get this from his Daddy because I'm pretty sure I was a perfect child ;) I'm also sure my Mom is laughing as she reads this! Judging by the pictures, I'm sure you can tell Gage wasn't afraid of Santa. He kept looking at him with the strangest faces, but I think he was just curious as to why he was wearing all that "garb".This is Gage's babysitter, Bridget. I have known her and her family for as long as I can remember. My Mom babysat her when she was a kid, and she babysat me when I was a kid. She is so wonderful to Gage and the rest of the kids and we are extremely lucky to have her! I love this picture of Gage and I. For some reason, I don't have many pictures of us together. I think it is because I am the one who is always behind the camera. I'm going to do my best to change that soon!

This is a good one of Gage and Daddy too! He is starting to look more like me, I think!
Instead of buying gifts for all 7 of the kids at Gage's daycare, we drew names. We drew Bella's name this time. She is the sweetest little girl and is always a mess! After we gave her the gift, she decided to thank Gage for it with a kiss! I think Gage liked it! How funny are kids these days?

After the party, Gage went home with MeMe so that Michael and I could go to a Christmas party. I'm sure they spent more time playing with his new toys from the party! Thank You so much for helping us this weekend MeMe! We love you more than ever!

I hope you all had a good weekend too!

Can you believe it is only 9 days until Christmas?

More Traditions...

In my last post, I wrote about the traditions that I have and have had with my family. Every once in a while I start reminiscing on my childhood days and I can't help but think about all the traditions we are going to start with Gage. I am so excited to be opening a new phase in life with him and my very own little family! This will be our very first Christmas as a family of 3 and I'm so very thankful!At this time last year I was about 7 months pregnant with Gage. When we went to my Mom's to open gifts, I realized that from now on Gage would be the "golden child" and the tree would now be surrounded with things that he "needs". Who am I kidding? The child "needs" nothing! However, I am more than ok with Gage being the golden (grand)child! As a matter of fact, I would have it no other way! Anyway, the first 3 things I opened were Hallmark Christmas ornaments for Gage. I had no idea, but MeMe decided that every Christmas she was going to buy him ornaments to hang on next years tree. When we have enough to fill up his own tree, we are going to do so. For now, they are on the big tree! I think all of these ornaments are so cute and they mean so much to me! I'm looking forward to seeing what MeMe has in store for this year!If any of you have Traditions that you do every year, I would love to hear about them! I'm always looking for new ideas!

9 Month Check-up...

Today was Gage's 9 month check-up with Dr. Nolen. When we first got there, he started getting a little antsy, so I sat him down beside this play table. Before I knew it, he had pulled up and was standing beside it playing. He stood there for a good 10 minutes and was having so much fun!

We weren't scheduled for any shots, just simply a check-up so I went by myself. I have never been along when he gets shots because I just simply didn't think I could handle it. When we got there, the nurse asked if he had all his flu shots and I told her he only had the first half. You know where this is going I'm sure. Yep...he had to have the other half of both them. I thought I was going to pass out, but I'm proud to say I didn't! He only cried for a minute and did well with both of them.

He weighed 23 lbs 14 oz (90%) and was 31 inches long (98%). Dr. Nolen said he looked great and was doing well in everything! Thank Goodness!!!

Up we go...

Until this week he has never pulled up. I guess I should say, I have never seen him pull up. Well, Sunday night we put him to bed just like always. Usually when he wakes up we hear him "talking" to himself on the monitor. We go in his room and he's usually laying on his back playing with his passy. Monday morning, instead of hearing his usual talking, we hear a horrible thud, followed by a scream. Michael ran into his room and found Gage laying on the floor :( We hadn't moved his mattress down yet because we didn't think we had any reason to. Gage tends to be pretty lazy and never took any initiative to try to pull up at all. Apparently he thought the middle of the night would be a good time to practice. As soon as his Daddy picked him up he instantly stopped crying and gave him the biggest grin ever! I assume he thought his "trick" was pretty funny...I didn't think so! It scared Michael and I to death! He is now pulling up on everything and loves to stand up! I guess he was waiting until his "tricks" were perfected before he showed them to us! As bad as I hate to say this, I have a feeling we are going to have many more years of things like this to come! Gage is a very mischievous little boy who is afraid of NOTHING, and I'm not sure he feels pain. If he does, I've never been able to tell. I suppose he has inherited his Daddys clumsiness and his Mommas pain tolerance. HA!

Just so you know, we have moved Gage's mattress down as far as it will go!

Growing up...

Last Saturday the 27th, my little man turned 9 months old :( I can remember when he was born thinking I wouldn't be one of those Moms that always wished their kids hadn't grown up. Guess what...I kinda am! Every month when I sit down and type his birthday post, I almost get tears in my eyes because he's growing up so fast. When will it ever stop?

He is wearing 18 months clothes and it won't be long before we move up to 24 months. He is still in size 4 diapers, but barely. The next case will definitely be size 5!

This month has been one of the most exciting months yet. He has taken off into a full blown crawler. As much as I love seeing him get around and go places, he is wearing us out trying to keep up with him. He is one of those babies that is very mischievous and there is scared of NOTHING! The rougher you play with him, the more he likes it. I guess he's going to be a big, tough guy like his Daddy ;) His favorite thing to do is play ball. We roll it to him, and he throws it back at us, clapping the entire time!
For some reason, Gage still doesn't have a single tooth. It is absolutely driving me crazy to still be giving the poor child baby food, but there isn't much else he can eat without teeth. We have started giving him some solids, but not many. Thanksgiving Day was the first time he ate an entire meal of solid foods. Needless to say, HE LOVED EVERY BITE! Since then we have been trying to feed him more "people food".

He started waving "bye bye" and clapping a lot lately! He waves and says "bye bye bye" to everyone he sees and often waves at his toonies, AKA cartoons. He gets excited about everything and everyone he sees and is constantly clapping about it! It is SO cute! I hope he stays this friendly forever! He must get his friendliness from me. I have never met a stranger! He is still VERY sweet and loves his Momma! That's most important right ;) Actually, I think he is still a Mommas boy, but he LOVES his Daddy just as much. The very second he sees Michael, his eyes light up and his arms go out! I guess he's more fun than me. I wouldn't have it any other way!

The stockings were hung...

I am so excited to be joining Kelly's Tour of Homes again. I originally posted this yesterday, but decided to make a few changes and join in on the tour. Hope you enjoy!

Mom put our tree up, but left the rest up to me. Sadly to say, I'm not the best at decorating or getting seasonal things done before the season is almost over. However...I love Christmas so much that I can't wait to start getting things up. Anyway, here's our finished tree! I LOVE IT!!! Thanks again MeMe!!!

I usually hang our stockings on the mantle where they belong, but this year it just didn't work. Our tv takes up too much space so there was no room for stocking hangers and I'm pretty sure my Dad would have killed me for hammering nails into the mantle he worked his tail off to build for me. Can't say I would've blamed him ;) So this is what I did. We have a bar that overlooks our living room and the stockings hang perfectly on the edge. I think it looks ok. What do you think?

One thing I don't like is a tree with no gifts. I don't have many bought, but I thought I had better go ahead and get the ones I have, wrapped. While I was wrapping, I looked down and this is what I saw... hmmm...at least he was having fun! His Daddy will be so proud when he finds out he was playing with bows ;) I finally got the bows I needed away from Gage and got the presents under the tree. Sad thing is...Gage and my friend, Jodie, are the only ones with gifts. I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean they were the only ones that acted right ;)

I hope everyone else is loving the Christmas season as much as I am! I feel like a kid again!!

Happy Birthday...

Yesterday was Michael's 32nd Birthday, so Gage and I went after work to get the rest of his gift. I bought him a recliner a few weeks ago thinking it would barely be here in time for his birthday. Turns out it came in 3 days after I ordered it so he got it early. It seems like every holiday or birthday we have around here, someone gets an early gift and has nothing on the actual "day".

That in return, leaves me looking for something last minute so there is at least a gift to open. Michael has been asking for a new wallet, so guess what he got...a new wallet! He liked it a lot, but I think Gage liked it more. Perfect to chew on!

We took him out to eat at Applebee's for his birthday dinner. A friend of his (Uncle Adam) went with us, and we had such a good time! Gage ate Macaroni and Cheese for the first time and LOVED it! He acted as if I was giving him ice cream or something...don't worry, that came later!

When we got home, our interior decorator, AKA MeMe, was here decorating our tree. I have to admit, I was a little worried about how the lime green mesh would look, but it turned out looking AWESOME! Mom is so good at things like this and I'm terrible so I usually talk her into taking on the task. I'm pretty sure she was worn out after she finished. I hope it was worth it! Thanks so much for decorating our tree MeMe! You did a great job!

Happy Birthday to the best Daddy and Husband EVER!!! We love you!!!