i promised pictures!

This is...

a sweet, sweet boy

the frame I won at Bunco! (♥ it!)

again, a sweet sweet boy

the first thing I saw this morning after I got out of the shower
(I SQUEALED with happiness!)
(and I know it's hard to tell, but those are HUGE wet, heavy snowflakes)

the black truck at 10:45

the black truck at noon

my front yard (and an adorable doggy)

the front of my house
(my roof is black under all that beautiful SNOW!)

the slushy road that went away about an hour later
(sad Stephie.)

the Winter Wonderland Village I created within my own home

after I fixed the drooping felt & added snow

another view
(one of those houses is missing a bulb, and the other one takes a tealight.
we're just going to pretend they're not home.)

a sweet, sweet PRECIOUS smile

an even bigger smile

the best thing that has ever happened to me!

Baxter wanting some attention

Baxter wanting to come inside - OUT of the snow

Baxter wanting attention again... =)


I hope that makes up for my lack of pictures over the holiday!

We had a great day today!  The snow was a great way to start my day, plus I got to go work out at CURVES (love it!) which just added endorphins to my already good mood.  Christopher and I stayed inside the rest of the day (even though the sun came out and melted all the snow.)  We watched movies, put up my Winter Village, (it was my mom's and I LOVED it as child - but she hasn't used it in several years and she offered to let me put it up this year and I am so excited about it! I don't own many Christmas decorations so the more that I can borrow, the better!)  listened to Christmas music, drank hot chocolate (MMM) and took lots of pictures!  I tried to get some good video in tonight too, because Christopher has really gotten into "talking."  I didn't get a good one of him talking to me - but I did get a good one of him laughing in his jumparoo.  He was in such a good mood!  The other video is of Baxter... and it is just TOO FUNNY not to watch.

catch up!

So -- I haven't blogged in, like, forever.

Or a weekish.  Whatever.

Thanksgiving was good!  Fried turkey, my mom's potato casserole, green bean bundles, rolls -- what's not to like?  After we had lunch at my parents house, we headed down to Texas to see my mom's family and they all got to meet Christopher.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a camera.  Ugh... I was so mad at myself!  But we had a great time seeing family and eating leftovers and I'm looking forward to Christmas!

Stephen and I hung out at the house all day Saturday and had a wonderfully relaxing lazy day!  Sunday was church with my parents, Papas for lunch, and then my mom took C while I went and did grocery shopping, then we just hung out at her house for most of the afternoon.  He had the cutest little outfit on for church... but again, I forgot to take pictures.  I have GOT to get back into the habit of taking pictures of him!  Poor guy, he is probably going to have retina damage from flashes going off in his face all the time. Haha.

Today we had a special treat -- Christopher's Uncle Jim and Aunt Cristin (Stephen's brother and his wife) got to stop by on their way home (Fort Worth) from Eureka Springs/Branson.  They spent about an hour with him.  And no - I didn't take pictures.  UUUGH.

Lastly - tonight I was invited to go play Bunco with a big group of ladies who get together once a month to play.  I had tried playing with Stephen and his mom this summer but we just didn't really "get" it.  I learned how to play tonight and had SO much fun!  AND I won first place!  HA!  Beginners luck.  It is definitely a game that is best played with lots of people.  Christopher went with me and was passed around from lady to lady and he did so great - he is such a happy, perfect baby and I KNOW I am so very blessed.

My next post will have lots and lots of pictures.  I promise!

Gonna go glue the camera to my hand now...

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

I put up my Christmas tree last weekend and I LOVE IT!

I have always wanted a white tree, so last year when everything was like 75% off at WalMart, I grabbed a tree for cheap!  After I bought it, I started to get scared that maybe white wasn't going to be traditional enough.  So when I put it up this year, I decided to decorate it in red and green.  I went to WM and found these three ornaments for $1

 

 

Then I bought a box of red balls and a box of green balls and a few strands of red beads.

The result is beautiful!  I absolutely LOVE it.
I especially think the white tree with red and green accents looks great in my red kitchen!

And becauseI love Christmas so much, and because I have a lot of other more traditional ornaments that I didn't use on this tree, I am going to put up a green tree in my living room.  We will probably do that this weekend.

And because I hate posting without putting a picture of C on here...
here he is, blue eyes and all...

Yesterday I got my skills tested and kept our friends Jeff and Mel's baby, Tatelyn, for 2 hours.

I was really nervous about keeping two babies, but I decided to try.  And let me tell you something, I got skills!

Haha, not really.  Christopher fell asleep before Jeff brought Tatelyn over, and slept the WHOLE TIME she was here!  And Tatelyn basically did this the whole time:

just rolled around on the blanket either staring at me or the television.  Then she fell asleep and stayed asleep for about 30 minutes, until her Nana came to get here.  It was super easy and I was so relieved!

Here's a picture of my beautiful tree in the dark.  You can see our Christmas lights outside too!

Show Us Your Pets!

So -- today is "Show Us Your Pets" over at Kelly's Korner's weekly "Show Us Your Life" blog.
I usually don't participate (although I love reading other people's Show Us Your Life blogs) but of course I HAVE to blog about my puppy babies!

I'm sure most people who read this blog know about my Silky Terrier, Baxter. 

BUT, did you know that Stephen and I also have an American Eskimo named Kodi and a Boxer named Bella?  They're our outdoor dogs. Once upon a time, we had a Yorkie named Zoe... but after we brought Christopher home, she started acting out (peeing on the carpets, pulling out trash, chewing things, etc) and we decided that it was in her best interest to go live with her Nana (Stephen's mom).  She is the middle dog in the middle picture in the collage below.  We miss her, but she is much happier at Nana's house!



So -- these are our puppy babies!


Before I had Baxter, I had a beautiful, wonderful, precious Silky named Toby.  He was like a CHILD to me.  He was killed by another dog when he was just a year old.  It was a really rough for me when he died, so my ex-boyfriend bought me Baxter to help me cope.  Baxter is Toby's half-brother.  I will always miss him!

Three Months Old

**I am SO mad at myself for not getting this post in on the 18th.  Sad thing is I already had the blog written, I just needed to take his pictures and post everything.  Oh well -- here it is!**

Christopher,

You are THREE MONTHS OLD! It is so hard for me to believe that you are already 1/4 of the way through your first year of life. The last three months have been so wonderful, and I look forward to many, many more months with you!

I had a really hard time letting go of you last month when I had to go back to work. BUT your Daddy is an awesome man and saw how hard it was for me and how much it hurt me, and he decided that I needed a few more months off work, so I get to stay home with you for a little while longer. I have been off for one week now and absolutely LOVE it. I was definitely made to be a stay-at-home mom. We usually hang around the house in the mornings then in the afternoons we take a trip somewhere - to visit your dad at work or maybe to Granny or Nana's house, or depending on the weather we may take a walk.

You have been perfecting your smile - you smile with your whole face! It's so precious and perfect! You just light up all over when you're happy, and it's hard to be upset or mad about anything when you're smiling.

Some fun facts this month...

--You are wearing size 3 diapers as of TODAY!

--You are wearing 3-6 month clothing.

--You've developed a new sleeping pattern that I LOVE.  You've been going to sleep around 8pm and sleeping until about 8am.  You wake up a few times throughout the night for your paci, but that's it!  Then in the mornings after you nurse, we hang out for a few hours and you take a mid-morning nap that lasts for 1-2 hours.  Sometimes you nap in the afternoon, but it is usually for an hour or less.  Then back to bed around 8 or 8:30!  It's wonderful and I hope that you keep it up!

--You nurse in the morning after you wake up, then have a formula bottle before you take your nap.  You nurse after you wake up from your nap - then in the afternoons you usually have one or two formula bottles and nurse another one or two times.  I am SO thankful that you switch between formula & breastmilk AND bottle & breast so well!

--You LOVE to watch TV.  Sleep and TV... you are definitely an Olmstead!

--You can hold your weight on your legs with me just holding you for support!

--You are DROOLING everywhere!  It's hilarious and gross at the same time.

--You love to stick your fingers in your mouth!

--You've discovered your tongue, and are constantly moving it around.  You like to stick your fingers in your mouth then move your tongue all over them.  (Of course, drooling all over everything at the same time!

I LOVE YOU LITTLE MAN!!!!

this is a robbery... stick 'em up!

Can you believe that tomorrow my baby will be THREE MONTHS old?!?  Check in tomorrow for his 3 month post!

 So -- my mom and dad were out of town last weekend and my dad ran across a hat for Christopher...

is it not ADORABLE?!?!?

but wait... it gets better.

MITTENS!!!!

this picture cracks me up.  It's like I've pointed a gun at him and said "stick 'em up!"  Love it!