Our Christmas (Recap)

It seems to be the norm that I'm behind on my blog posts.  There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day and here it is almost half-way into January 2012 and I need to back up to write up a little bit about our Christmas.  I took plenty of pictures to document Charlie's first Christmas.  Charlie had so many cool Christmas outfits and bibs for this holiday season and I'm hoping that I got a picture of him in all of them. 

Honestly, a lot of the month is a little bit of a blur and seemed more hectic than any past year.  So, without pictures, I will have fond memories this year of going to Bon Air Baptist Church's Christmas Choir Special to see Matt's mom and to hear the wonderful music as always.  We spent time with family and also enjoyed our friends.  We went to the Hamrick Holiday Potluck and did a very quick mini-Tacky Light Tour which got shortened due to Charlie falling asleep at the first house (oh well...next year!).  Charlie didn't know what really was going on but he did love the Christmas tree and all the lights and glimmer and he sure is enjoying all his many gifts.  He enjoyed the paper on the packages even though he wasn't quite up for unwrapping a gift all on his own.
We celebrated with Matt's family early this year. We had such a wonderful day with a huge delicious breakfast.  Following breakfast, Matt and I realized that I forgot the most important thing for Charlie...his bottles!   Ugh!  I was pretty disgusted at myself and we realized it about 5 minutes before he was due for his next bottle SO Matt had to drive 40 minutes round trip to grab his bottles while we tried to keep Charlie happy and content!  Charlie actually did great and I felt pretty bad about the whole fiasco.  It feels like whenever we go anywhere, it takes me about an hour to pack up the house before we leave. 

Anyways, back to the wonderful day...Charlie so much enjoyed his time with his Aunt Courtney, Grandpa and Grammie. (so did Matt and I!)

Grandpa and Grammie read to Charlie.  This is a tradition in the Wheawill house to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus from the Bible.  Of course, this year, instead of it being read to Matt and Courtney, Charlie got to hear it.

 

We enjoyed visiting and we were blessed with many gifts.  It was a wonderful day with family.

On the 22nd, we traveled to Grundy to stay and Pop's and Mim's house.  We took it easy while we were there.  Charlie did great with the traveling.  He likes (and we like) to travel at night because he sleeps. Mim had a rocking chair that her grandfather made which was perfect size for Charlie and he loved it since she carefully placed 'his' ornaments on the tree that he could grab and play closest to the chair.

Meredith and I decorated Christmas cookies which reminded me of old times. 

So, we just relaxed and enjoyed time with family as you can see from all the pictures.  (Sorry if it's picture overload.)

Mim is an excellent cook and always seems to fill our bellies full when we visit.  We enjoyed Christmas Eve services.  Unfortunately, no pictures of the whole family but here are some prior to leaving to go to Church.

Charlie spent more time checking out the nursery with Mim than in services. 




Christmas Day was such fun.  Matt and I brought Charlie in to see what Santa brought.  We were very surprised that Santa was crazy enough to bring us a cat since Wally doesn't get along too well with cats.  (Luckily, this cat is still around and has survived even though Wally does bark at her.)

 

We just spent a lot of time with the family and Charlie had a blast rolling around on the floor and practicing crawling while we were opening presents and he played with the gifts as I opened them for him.

 

We headed home on the 26th and enjoyed a visit with Matt's family.  Christmas came and went quickly.  The decorations are put away and it feels nice to have space.  Everything came down just in time because Charlie is officially on the move.  Oh, how different things will be next year.

Merry Christmas!

Happy 7 months Charlie from your Mommy

Charlie,

Mommy hasn't been great about updating the blog but Mommy is backing up a little to write this blog as if it was your 7 month birthday.  Mommy and Daddy managed to take the pictures but in all actuality, your letter is exactly 2 weeks behind.

This month has been a fun month with more firsts.  You got to celebrate your first Thanksgiving and what a wonderful fun-filled weekend with family, good eats, and much smiles and giggles.  Your Aunt Meredith came to see you and you also got to spend thanksgiving day in Virginia Beach with at your cousins, Katie and Sam, Uncle Walter and Aunt Lisa's house.  You enjoyed all the family time and did great with your trip.

It's a shame that you don't get to see Katie and Sam more often.  I think you found that Katie would be a great babysitter and Sam could teach and show you all kinds of fun toys. 

 

Your Mommy and Daddy enjoyed Sam's toys too.

 

This month was a hard month for you.  You have battled conjuctivitis which meant that the week before Thanksgiving, you stayed at home from daycare with your Grammie.  You didn't mind at all getting a bunch of love from Grammie.  Mommy and Daddy are thankful that Grammie was able and willing to take care of our rather puny boy.  Luckily you recovered quickly.  However it didn't last long as a week later, you got an ear infection, virus with hives and respiratory infection.  It seemed this one took you a little longer to recover.  While I would much rather have a heatlhy little boy more, you were especially cuddly during these times.  Of course, it's not kind to have extra congestion for you and I'm sure the extra medication and antibiotics didn't help your reflux either.  You definitely seemed to have a worse month with your reflux, throwing up about every other day.  Daddy and I are hopeful that once again, with your doctor's help, we may have found a plan to help your little stomach.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

As for your sleep, you tend to wake up once a night.  Sometimes more often and sometimes you make it through the night.  You have trained your Mommy and Daddy to stick to the 7:30 bedtime rule after a couple of nights where we pushed the clock and you were up 4 times.  We have learned that there are not many things that are worth messing up your sleep!

You have had many new foods and seem to be doing pretty well overall.  You have tried avacodos, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, bananas, carrots, and squash.  You like your food and I can't say that I've identified any clear dislikes. 

Your clear fascination seems to be with crawling.  Every day, I think you may be well on your way.  Mommy isn't in too big of a hurry and knows it will happen soon enough.  You manage to get where you want to go by scooting and rolling.

Other than that, you LOVE remote controls and cell phones.  Anytime, you can get to those items, you are happy! 

You sit unassisted better and better each day.  Although, we know not to leave you because when you decide enough is enough, you fly backwards as hard and fast as you can, not concerning yourself with that precious noggin.  You are such a big helper in the kitchen by playing while we cook.  It seems to be one of your favorite rooms in the house.  You love the shiny dishwasher and fridge.

Charlie, I don't know how it's possible for you to get cuter every month but you somehow manage to do it.  I miss you terribly during the workdays and love on you all weekend.  It's sure not a bad life! How did Daddy and I manage without you?

We love you!