Merry Christmas!

Christmastime Fun!

We have really enjoyed Cody's 1st Christmas! These are some of my favorite pictures from the last week. Cody was so cute one night "helping" me wrap a few presents. He was playing in the ribbon box and having such a fun time just giggling and rolling all around. It was past his bedtime and it shows how tired he was in some of the pictures....his eyes give it away everytime. He was actually in bed, talking and playing and wide awake so I couldn't resist getting him up and spending more time with him. I'm so glad I did because Jason and I had fun watching Cody play in the Christmas wrap. I've mentioned before how obessed with are with "moose" or "bear" outfits for Cody. Jason bought these pajama's in Alaska this last summer. They have a moose on the front and it says "I moose be dreaming". There's a little stocking cap too and he looks so cute in them! One of Cody's many sweet expressions....and another outfit with a Moose on it. My mom stopped by on her way to Austin. She was going to be with my sister while she had her baby and to spend Christmas there with my sister, new nephew and brother. We are spending Christmas in Oregon with Jason's family. We wouldn't get to see my mom again until after Christmas so I talked her into letting me take some pictures of her and Cody in front of our tree.

Northpark Trains

We took Cody to see the trains at Northpark Mall. We had a great time as a family looking at the trains, walking the mall, eating at Maggiano's and looking at the Christmas decorations. Cody was so fascinated with the trains and just watched them intently. I couldn't get him to smile because he was too busy looking around at all the sites and sounds!

Seven Months!

I'm sure I say this everytime I post Cody's monthly pictures but I can't believe that he is now 7 months and about to celebrate his first Christmas! Cody is so much fun these days! He sits up completely on his own...all the time. He will play with his toys sitting up and we even catching him looking up at the tv every now and then if it's on and watching it. He looks like such a big boy when he sits up. He will go from the sitting position to his belly or back and roll all around the room. Just tonight he was getting his legs pulled up to his knees in the position to learn to crawl! I have a feeling I don't have long until he's mobile....and I can't wait! He wants to move so badly that I think he'll be so proud of himself and less frustrated for having to stay stationary for the most part. Cody is sleeping through the night! He will sleep 11 hours. Usually from 7pm to 6am. He uses his paci only when he's sleepy and will find them in his bed and put them in his mouth by himself. He wakes up happy and will play with the toys in his bed until we come and get him. Then he kicks his feet in excitement when he sees us. He weighs about 16 1/2 pounds and is wearing size 3 diapers. He wears 9 month clothes! He's still longer than he is big so he wears bigger pants and smaller shirts. Cody also has 2 bottom teeth!! He has started saying "da-da-da-da" over and over. I'm not sure if he is referring to "dada" or just making a sound but either way it super cute. He will repeat it when we say it or just say it on his own. He loves to play hide and seek and the minute Jason comes home from work they play the game. He gets so excited to see his daddy and just squeals in delight burys his head in my shoulder until Jason says "boo" and then Cody looks up and squeals. It's the cutest thing! I get the same reaction when I get home on Tuesdays and Thursdays from work. He'll kick his feet in excitement, smile and reach for me. And I better be ready to hold him or he lets me know I didn't hug him. Then he looks at Sarah (his nanny as she affectionately calls herself) and smiles at her. I look forward to getting home from work on those days to see my boy! I miss him lots when I'm at work. He smiles and laugh a lot throughout the day. I love to run errands with him. He sits in the front of the cart and just smiles and looks around. If I talk to him or do something silly he squeals. Cody is eating 2 meals a day. He eats cereal in the morning with bananna (the real thing!) and a jar (or just a little more) of either carrots, squash or sweet potatos for lunch or dinner. He starts and ends his day with a bottle (6-8 ounces). He has 2-3 more bottles during the day depending on how much food he eats. He does not like peas or green beans and makes the funniest faces and gags when he try them. We gave him a lemon to suck on the other day while we were at a restaurant and he loved it....he only made a sour face initially and then it didn't bother him. He sits in high chairs when we go out.....but wants to grab anything in site and we are constantly picking up what he drops. But it's fun to be able to go out with him. We showed him the Christmas lights on our street and he seemed to really look at them. He loves looking at the Christmas tree at our house. Cody will go on his 2nd plane ride to Oregon to see his Grandpa and Grandma (and other relatives on Jason's side). He had his first big sickness this week and it was really sad watching him feel so bad. He's much better now but was in bad shape for about 24 hours. I never knew my mommy heart could feel so sad for my sick baby. It was nice to see him bounce back quickly. Cody also has a new cousin. Aunt Kristin had her baby boy 12/19 and named him Parker. Parker and Cody are exactly 7 months to the day! Cody is such a delight and brings so much joy to our home and family! I can't believe how big he's getting and how much more we fall in love with him each day!

Ho Ho Ho!

Cody loved Santa! He just stared at him and smiled and wanted to grab his beard. We've enjoyed this season showing Cody the Christmas lights, trees, ornaments, fun decorations at the malls, teaching him how to open a gift. Oh...and he has his first tooth, finally after a lot of painful moments! I saw a cute saying in the store the other day that said.... Merry Everything and Happy Always!

Cute Cody

Cody helping the students with their service project!

We are obsessed with moose!

Thanksgiving and our 1st Christmas celebration

Jason and I alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas with our parents and it was our year to have Thanksgiving with my mom. So, the 4 of us (Jason, mom, myself and Cody) headed to Seymour, TX where my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin's live. We missed Kristin and Clay but they stayed in Austin. Clay had to work and Kristin is too pregnant to travel. It was fun for Cody to get to meet some of his relatives. We had Thanksgiving at my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Carl's house. Aunt Cathy was a wonderful hostess and the food was delicious. Since we won't all be together at Christmas we decided to go ahead and celebrate together on Friday. My grandmother made Christmas dinner and we hung out at the ranch (where my grandparents live). The ladies in our family do a gift exchange and then everyone buys gifts for the kids. It was fun for Cody to get his first Christmas gifts.

Cody says Happy Thanksgiving

The ladies: Aunts, Cousins, 2nd Cousin, Mimi and Mom

Mom. Aunt Cathy & Cody Cody opening his first Christmas presents Aunt Cathy (my moms sister-in-law) and Cody

Cody and Uncle John (my mom's brother)

My 2 favorite bald guys! ha!

My Cousins: Lauren and Audra

Aunt Cathy and her grandchildren Lauren feeding Cody

Cody loved watching Mimi...she could always get him to smile and laugh

Audra and Cody

Decorating for Christmas

Cody was helping us decorate for Christmas. You can tell it was bedtime by the red under his eyes. His shirt says "My 1st Thanksgiving" and his hat says "Santa's Helper". We decorated just before Thanksgiving and we are enjoying our decorated house and our son's 1st holidays!

Cody's 6 Month Pictures

(This post is 1 1/2 weeks late in posting) Once again we are amazed at how Cody is constantly changing. This past month he has learned so much! He has started eating vegetables. We started with sweet potatoes and carrots. He loves carrots the best and gets so excited anticipating the next bite. I've been learning how to make his baby food so that's fun as well....and save money! He sits in his high chair and is such a big boy. He has also started sitting in high chairs at restaurants. That's fun and makes it much easier for us to eat. He grabs everything in sight and also drops everything he holds. So, we are in the stage of picking up things around the high chair. He also sits in the basket of shopping carts as well. He smiles and is so proud of himself when I set him in there. It's made shopping easier as well. He loves to be out and watch people and hear the sounds and look at all the colors. He's an easy baby to run errands with. The biggest milestone this month was learning to sit on his own! It seems like he mastered it overnight. He sits on the floor and plays with his toys for long lenghts of time. I love it! We have a basket of toys that we put in front of him and he'll pull the toys out one by one and play. He's gotten so vocal! He loves to just talk and talk and use his voice to try and communicate what he needs/wants. We have started trying to teach him a few signs. Right now we are starting with "more" and "all done". So far he just looks at us like we are weird but hopefully he'll figure it out. He has started trying to hold his bottle on his own. He can get it to his mouth but can't tip it high enough to get anything out. When we are feeding him he will put his hands on the bottle to help hold it. It's so neat to see that he knows how it works. We've also started trying to teach him how to use the sippy cup. Cody is sleeping from 7pm to 6am. He still will wake up once but for the most part we are not feeding him in the middle of the night and trying to get him to go back to sleep on his own. I would love for his bedtime to be 7:30 or 8 but right now he is ready to go to bed by 7. He falls asleep at night listening to music. He's started rubbing his eyes when he's tired. Cody still smiles all the time, leans in for hugs and kisses and kicks his feet when he's excited. His laugh is contagious. He's at the age now where we can play peek-a-boo or other "games" and he gets excited. We've started reading books with him and he loves to anticipate turning the page. Right now it's small cardboard books with very few words but he will sit in our laps and and look at the pages. When the book is done he looks at up, kicks his feet and makes his noise letting us know he wants to read it again. It's so fun to be able to start reading to him. He is still in a size 2 diaper but not for long. We still haven't had to buy diapers (because of our diaper shower) and have 2 more packs of size 2 left so I'm trying to stretch him even though he's probably ready to move up to size 3. He wears 6-9 month clothes. Weight: 16 pounds (25%) Height: 26 inches (50%) Head: 17.5 inches (75%) It's hard to get him to smile when we hold he camera up because he's more interested in the camera. So, this months pics didn't quite capture his smile! But I love this outfit on him. We have an obsession in our house with Moose and I loved this the minute I saw it. We love this little guy so much and look forward to what he'll be learning next!