Finally!! Catching up on December stuff: Part 1

Yay! I can now upload pics! AND it is so much easier now with our new computer, it is unreal. SO, be prepared for LONG posts and LOTS of them in the next few days.... probably the kind that only grandparents will enjoy making it through. But I have to "scrapbook" my favorite month of the year, even if it is a tad bit late. :)

After gymnastics one night, we decided to start decorating the tree. To go with this, R got to help Daddy make hot chocolate. Slowly stirring....

Ladling (is that a word??) into our Christmas mugs.


Yummy. Right up her alley.

Getting out the solid ornaments first. And fyi, that beach towel would later be covered up by something much prettier. :)

I had to help lift her so all the ornaments were not 3 feet off the floor.

This month, B started drinking out of cups! We are so proud.... this girl is a completely different kid after December 2009!!! She makes a huge mess of course, so she needs supervision. And we do use sippies too out of convenience, but she CAN do the cup which is great.

She ALWAYS wants to put her cups up to her forehead.... no idea. Thus, supervision required.

Showing off her new skill to Big Sis.

Another one of her December-acquired skills: pulling off ornaments. All the non-breakables were at the bottom.

I LOVE this pic. Little devious one.

These wooden candy canes have clips. She clipped them to her nostrils. Dork.

Our December snow!!!! Houston RARELY gets snow, much less in early December. It was fun, it didn't stick though. But R had fun just standing there watching it. Looked so darn cute all bundled up on top of her pj's.

LOVE this pic too.

On to the big Birthday Bash! The day after the snow was Brooklyn's Winter ONEderland birthday party. It was just a small family thing, but so fun. R helped me decorate a bit.

R helped with the "snow".

Party favors.

Eating lunch.

The birthday girl ready to eat HER lunch.

Brandon was doing something that B thought was HILARIOUS.

R helping me put the "1" candle on the cake.

Family Photo. B was transfixed on the flame.... guess that obsession with fire can start early.

R was MORE than willing to help B blow out her candle.

Then we had a do-over so Brandon could help too. :)

Cake Time!

Let me preface this with some eating history with Brooklyn. Starting baby food with her at 6 months was a cinch. However, she had not TOUCHED anything with texture above a puree since. I mean, run-of-the-mill applesauce would make her gag, gag, gag, puke. And puke HUGE. So, we had seen a specialist to see what we could do to help her eat. I have several friends with precious kiddos who have issues with eating (you know who you are, blessed girls!), so I was concerned and trying to get help for her and her oral sensitivity. Evidently this is fairly common with NICU kids. Anyways, we hadn't made too much progress, except she was starting to mush around Gerber puffs. Which was HUGE.

Fast forward to her party.

Her therapist and I had laughed about putting cake on her tray for her to stare down and eventually puke on at her birthday party. But goodness gracious, all babies are supposed to get to smash a cake! So, here I am... FORCING her to TOUCH it... hoping maybe she would at least play with it a little.

Resistance.

MAYBE a little icing...

"Hmmmmm... that was kinda good. Let's check this out..."

By this point, I am CRYING!! Absolutely could NOT believe it! I put tons of pictures of this process... not only because she is darn cute doing it but because it was a MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH moment for us!

In our family, we call this "scrunching." That whole tense-up-your-muscles-until-you-shake-with-excitement thing.

So proud of herself!!!!

The child never even gagged ONCE. Awesome!

"Hey Mom! You've just been feeding me the wrong stuff! Where has THIS been all my life?!?!"

"Hmmm. Got some stuck in my elbow creases."

"And maybe a little right here too."

"Here too."

So, as an update, she has been eating EVERY THING IN SIGHT since. Never gagged or puked a SINGLE TIME. Un. Be. Lieve. Able. Who knew God would answer my prayers through a Betty Crocker box cake?!?!

So, after a quick bath, we were on to opening presents.

She had just started crawling the day before, so this was a HUGE weekend for B!!

Austin and Reagan doing the opening, Brooklyn excited about her new lunch box to put all her new foods in, and Uncle Turbo yawning out of pure boredom. :)

Big kids loving the baby toy.

Brooklyn opening the pink sea horse that Reagan picked out for her.

Sister thank-you kisses.

B checking it out. She now LOVES this thing.

Big Cousin Austin showing B how to use her new phone. These kinds of phones are hard to come by these days, but evidently Austin had prior experience to share.

One of my FAVORITE pics of her in a long time. It's just so her. Our little Birthday Girl Snow Princess.

And, as promised, her 12 month pics in her chair.

We quit doing this with both girls at 12 months. I'm kinda sad about that.... although I'm kinda sad about all things gone that are "baby."

Amazing if you made it this far! And I still have lots of catch-up to play. But just a few more things about our little one-year-old before I'm done documenting:

*21.5 lbs at 12 months

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*her head went down from the 120th percentile to the 99th!!

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*signs "milk" and "all done."

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*will wave "hi" and do "TOUCHDOWN!" (she now does it automatically when she sees football on tv.... too funny)

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*her FAVORITE song is "If You're Happy and You Know It"

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*smiles, squeals, laughs constantly

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*still no words. No syllables at all actually. Please pray for that!!!! More later... (help from any speech path friends???)

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*crawls like a CHAMP. Starting to climb up on cushions and soft "stairs."

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*quite the cuddle bug. Loves to snuggle and bury her head in your chest. Love it.

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*loves TV way too much

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*turns pages in books way faster than I can read. Reading time goes by fast.

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*thinks her sister HUNG. THE. MOON.

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*Is the sweetest little miracle and the greatest gift to our family!