No Time to Blog...

because I've been too busy hanging out with Paige and taking pictures of her with Emma Claire :-)

Emma Claire is absolutely enthralled with her Aunt Paige.

The way she looks at her is precious! All of these pictures were taken right when we got home from picking Paige up from the airport.

It's almost like she recognized her from when she was in my tummy and Paige would talk to her!

She just laughed and giggled for the longest time, it was so sweet!

Well we're off to visit friends for a small New Year's celebration! I'm hoping to do a 2011 recap post tonight or tomorrow. 2011 was quite the year for us, it will be fun to look back on all that has happened!

The Loot

After Christmas I started to clean up all of the gifts and put them away...then I realized that I would probably want to remember what Emma Claire got for her very first Christmas. So before putting it all away I laid it all out and took some pictures :-) She was a very good girl this year and got lots of goodies.

Some of her presents are for when she's older, like the board games and books. She can sit in her jumpy bouncer right now but falls forward some...I'm thinking she'll be using it in no time! My Mom, Grammy, bought Emma Claire her first Disney movies! (Tangled, The Lion King and Peter Pan...Mommy and Daddy got her Winnie the Pooh) The Lion King and Peter Pan were two of my favorites when I was little! Santa brought her Elf on the Shelf! I can't wait to start that when she's older!

My favorite gifts that I got her were the books I made on Shutterfly.

I made a small book with pictures from her first month. I'm going to make one for each month!

Here's a little peek inside!

I am so excited to make her "Month Two" book! It will be so special to have twelve of these for her first year!

I also made a book for her birth. I'm not a scrapbooker and I hate making photo albums so creating an online book is the PERFECT way for me to record memorable events in our lives!

A little peek inside

I got a lot of gifts this year but I think one of my favorite gifts was this one from the Hubster...

The reason I love it so much is because it isn't just any book...

Emma Claire had her Daddy write a sweet note to me inside! Be still my heart, how sweet is that little foot!? 

The Hubster was also very creative with another gift...

I opened this bag to find my boots...my RUINED boots. Ha! They got something on them during our move and are yucky now :-( I was so confused until I found the other part of my "gift"

He's too cute! :-)

The Hubs got some fun stuff as well!

I got the Hubster a tactical bag that he's been wanting for a while!

He also got some Polos, fleece jackets, sweaters, and some things he'll need for work. Although I think his favorite thing was the pez I put in his stocking ;-) He's just a big kid at heart!

I can't wait for our future Christmas celebrations with Emma Claire. I can't wait to teach her about the birth of Jesus and what Christmas is really about. I hope to also teach her that it is more enjoyable to give to others than receive!

Emma Claire Eight Weeks

Well if I had to pick a best week out of the eight weeks Emma Claire and I have spent together...I'd have to say this has been my favorite so far. She has started sleeping through the nights, a trend that I hope continues, and is just overall such a happy baby! I really do think this is because of my dairy elimination. I'm going to do a post on that and breastfeeding soon, once I'm sure it's working! ;-)

Christmas baby!

Loves: Nursing, bath time, playing with Daddy, her swing, riding in the car (although getting in the carrier is a totally different story!)

Eating: This is hard to gauge. She eats every few hours. I just feed her when she wakes and then we play and I feed her again right before her next nap. She likes multiple feedings :-)

Sleeping: WONDERFUL! She has been falling asleep around 10:30pm and waking up between 7am-9am. She also takes a morning nap, afternoon nap, and a short evening nap.

Clothes: Bye bye newborn clothes :-( Seriously I'm not ready for her to be wearing THREE month clothes! Where did my newborn baby go?! This weekend I'm going to clean out her clothes because we have so many newborn outfits that don't fit anymore.

Fun Facts: Emma Claire has started to smile ALL THE TIME! Now she was a smiley baby before but now I can smile and make noises at her and she will just smile right back at me for a long time! I'm wondering if this is because she feels better without dairy in Mommy's milk???

Mommy Moments: I went to my doctor this week (late I know!) and everything was great! Here's a fun little story for ya...I got to my Doctor's office at 1:30pm for a 1:50pm appointment. I was back in the room at about 1:45pm. Well  no one came to tell me that my doctor left to deliver a baby right after I got undressed and ready. I was sitting there only wearing a little cover, waiting...and waiting...and WAITING. Let's not forget I was trying to keep my eight week old happy in her carrier the whole time. She was fussy because she was hungry and I was hesitant to take her out of the carrier to give her the bottle because I just knew my doctor would come right in when I did! Finally after little miss decided to potty I stuck my head out the door to get a nurse and ask if I would be seen soon. The nurse panicked and said, "oh...did no one tell you? She left to deliver a baby." I said that no one had told me and that I was getting dressed to go change the baby. Needless to say everyone felt really bad that I had been in the room for an HOUR AND A HALF. Yes, it had been that long. And I know...I should've said something WAY before that but Emma Claire had been really fussy and I spent that hour and a half trying to get her to eat/fall asleep so I had no clue it had been that long. Well wouldn't you know it...my doctor came running back to my room right as I was in the ladies room changing Emma Claire! HA! Of course :-) It sounds much worse than it was...the Hubster was WAY more upset than I was! The receptionist felt so bad that she gave me a $10 gift card to Dairy Queen. Kind of ironic seeing as I'm off dairy right now ;-) But it was sweet of them to do that.

Firsts: First Christmas!!! First time shopping in Old Navy, first time to go to Mommy's doctors office, first time to sleep TEN hours!!! :-)

Picture Perfect

Phone Pictures

First time in Old Navy!

First time at Mommy's Doctor office.

Little ham! I just love all of her faces!

Week eight was pretty great ;-)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Linking up {HERE}

This Wednesday I'm Loving...

{One}

PAIGE!!!

My best friend Paige is coming TOMORROW!!! :-) I am so so so excited for her visit and for Emma Claire to FINALLY meet her Aunt Paige!!!

{Two}

This sweetie

Who has slept through the night for the past three nights!!! :-) She's been sleeping between 9 and 10 hours each night. I REALLY hope this trend continues!!! Everyone is very happy at our house these days!

{Three}

Daddy

Emma Claire LOVES her Daddy and has started talking and cooing at him all the time. He loves it :-)

{Four}

The Fur-babies

Even if they want nothing to do with the ACTUAL baby...

Happy Wednesday!

I'm off to clean and get ready for Paige's visit!!! :-)

Our First Christmas

Our first Christmas together as a family of three was spent....

Admiring presents under the tree.

Loving the fact that we're "Mommy" and "Daddy" now.

Celebrating love.

Celebrating new life.

Wearing cute Christmas outfits.

TRYING to get a picture of all three "children". (This is seriously the BEST I got...certain furbabies were not cooperative.)

Waiting for Santa!

Napping.

Baking (and eating) cookies!

Putting together toys.

Cuddling with Mommy in the Moby. (Yes I know she's REEEALLY low...she slipped down while I was walking around cleaning/cooking!)

Talking to Daddy.

Smiling at Daddy

Discovering toys that Santa brought!

Watching Elf and opening Emma Claire's presents for her ;-)

Loving my hubby's cute wrapping and labeling and the fact that I'm Mommy now :-)

Cuddling with Mommy...whose hair isn't done and not a stitch of makeup is on her face! But we had to have a picture together on Emma Claire's first Christmas morning :-)

Celebrating our favorite gift that we got this year ;-)

Skype-ing with Grammy & GPop.

Enjoying our Christmas roast.

Lots of loving, celebrating, smiling, laughing, and cuddling. I wouldn't have it any other way :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Linked up HERE!