life with baby – Page 4 – Myriad & Sundry

13 Months Old

April 17, 2014 No Comments

After losing quite a bit of weight with her bout of illness at Meemaw and Grandpa’s house, Coraline gained it all back this month. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 5 ounces at the doctor’s office yesterday (back again, of course!). We transitioned her to whole milk, and found that she didn’t really care much about the flavor difference, but definitely still has a temperature preference! It’s a little less convenient for us to manager since with formula we were able to use already warm water and now we have to warm up her milk as we used to.

This was her first taste of whole milk, in a sippy. However, to make it easier on everyone, we transitioned her on the bottle. We’ll do the sippy cup in a couple months; I have a feeling she’s going to be just like Jameson, refusing to drink significant amounts from the sippy until that’s the only option!

We’ve also practiced with the spoon a few times. She likes to guide my own hand, but pretty much plays with the spoon when she’s got full control. She always gets concerned when her food ends up all over her hands!

Coraline’s hair is growing so fast, and recently started to curl! I wonder if she may have gotten some of my hair after all? A mom can hope!

While she still isn’t doing much standing, she is finally starting to show interest in getting on her feet. She still doesn’t pull up, though she will occasionally try now. She almost exclusively will stand only against mommy and daddy when we’re lying on the floor with her. It doesn’t stop her from getting involved in everything we’re doing, though. She loves to be where we are at all times, playing with the things that Jameson is playing with.

She is pretty silly now. Coraline still loves being chased and held nearly upside down (we don’t usually do it all the way so no one tosses their cookies). She loves to lean against things, flinging her arms out and trusting we’ll catch her. Sometime this month she broke through one of her upper 1 year molars, we discovered at the doctor’s office. She may be breaking through more soon, since she has been having some trouble sleeping soundly lately, though thankfully we haven’t had to be up with her.

Now that we’ve experienced some warmer weather (excluding most of this week though, ugh), Coraline loves being outside. She’ll point outside and watch Daddy cooking on the grill. She just started waving this week, though I suppose that will count in her next month update!

We’re all getting anxious for her to start exploring her world on her feet I think, so I try to remember that this phase will seem like it just sped by and enjoy it while I can. She sure is!

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March Visit to Meemaw’s House

April 10, 2014 No Comments

At the end of March, since I am still out of work, I took Jameson and Coraline to visit with Meemaw and Grandpa. Our drive there wasn’t too bad; I think that Coraline is slowly getting better in the car.

Jameson jumped in right away playing with toys at Meemaw’s house. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really that warm yet, so we didn’t spend a lot of time outside.

Don’t let Coraline’s happy face fool you! Within a day of our arrival, she was starting to get sick. She just loved the dogs though, particularly Mayzee who was perfectly nice to let her pet her without getting all up in her face like Shiloh does.

The dogs are always a hit with Jameson too, and he finally seems to be getting a little too big for Shiloh to give him “hugs” constantly. He was so good with them both. When they’d follow him upstairs, he’d say “thanks for coming up with me” and enjoyed tossing their toys for a game of fetch (he wasn’t too keen on tugging the toys out of Shiloh’s mouth though). He even claimed Shiloh was his best friend once.

We did get bundled up and went outside one day. Jameson flew airplanes with Grandpa and wanted to swing in the baby swing (he fell off the big swing when he wasn’t holding on properly–oops!)

I can’t get enough of that excited swinging face! He drove the car around too, but then decided he was too big for it for now.

Coraline was out too, but it was really quite cold and I forgot gloves for her, so we grabbed a couple (mismatched) for her to put on while we walked. She was fascinated. Despite the cold, I did get out on a run with Grandpa which was fun, our first run together.

Even though Coraline was sick, bedtimes went pretty smoothly until our last night there. Each night, I’d put Coraline down first and then Jameson. A couple times she woke up as I was putting Jameson to bed, but I was shocked that they both fell happily asleep. Jameson couldn’t wait to get into Meemaw’s big bed (a blown up full size mattress on the floor is like sleeping in a bounce house to a toddler!)

Meemaw read them Hairy McClary from Donaldson’s Dairy which became a hit while we were there. We got a few more Hairy McClary books and some movies at the library near the end of the week. Our last night though Coraline woke up Jameson and both were up for a couple hours. It was difficult with just me there since they both wanted me. Jameson hung out in my bed with me until Coraline finally fell back asleep and then insisted on going back into his own bed.

Jameson was a big fan of the small cucumbers while we were there, eating them like pickles, whole.

Coraline practiced clapping on command! Whenever I chanted “fee fi fo fum” (just like Daddy does in the mornings), she would clap her hands. It was super cute, and a highlight from our trip which otherwise mostly involved her crying, fussing, clinging, or sleeping. Poor thing! She developed a persistent fever, which did respond to Advil, but returned every time it wore off. She stopped eating solid food, so I was thankful we were still continuing with formula for her bottles.

Meemaw brought out the dollhouse, and the kids both did some playing with it. Jameson enjoyed swinging the Little People from Coraline’s new Little People set high in the swing.

But… the box all the furniture and people came up in was quite a bit more fun for him.

Both kids spent a lot of time in their pajamas, though Jameson was by choice! He would stay in them all day if we let him. Coraline visited the urgent care once for her fever, where they told us it was viral. We followed up with the doctor when we came home on day 6 of her fever, and the doctor requested some tests including blood and chest xray. The white blood cell count was double the norm, and indicated an infection. We never got a certain answer, but when they ran a catheter the following day the almost-too-small-sample did have indications of a urinary tract infection. After a shot of antibiotic, she immediately started getting better. Within 24 hours, she was back to her normal self.

We didn’t let Coraline’s illness stop us from having a little fun at Meemaw and Grandpa’s though. We managed to get out at least once a day for a short period of time. I did take Jameson to visit and play with my friend Katie’s kids, Finley and Marky. Finley is Coraline’s age, so we were disappointed we weren’t able to get them together too.

Jameson and Marky played so great together, it was like they remembered each other! They played with Marky’s turtle masks, so when I needed to use a gift card received for Coraline’s birthday at a close Toys R Us store, we went ahead and used a portion of it for a mask for him.

Coraline was less than thrilled about being at the toy store though, ha! She did get some cute baby dolls out of it though. As Meemaw says, you can never have enough baby dolls.

Our last full day at Meemaw’s we went to the library and grocery store, where Jameson got to push his very own cart. It was very exciting for him, though he resisted our efforts to steer him properly. He wanted to do everything himself, of course!

We had a nice time (all except for maybe Coraline since she was sick). Jameson may even get to go to Meemaw and Grandpa’s by himself this summer. He said he’d like to, we’ll see 🙂

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Birthday Dinner

April 3, 2014 No Comments

Coraline’s big party was on Saturday after her birthday, a couple days following her actual big day. On her birthday, Brian’s mom and sister came over for family dinner (pizza) and cake, of course.

We opened some gifts first before dinner, and Coraline was very interested in the Mega Blocks from Grandma. Whereas Jameson used to tear things down at her age, Coraline likes to put things back together. She does her fair share of tearing down though, too.

After pizza, Coraline, with Jameson’s help, blew out her candle on her cake.

We tried getting Coraline to eat the cake again, since she didn’t like it during her cake smash session in the morning, but she still refused.

Afterwards, we opened more gifts from Aunt Melissa, and then a couple from mom and dad and Jameson.

She quickly got the hang of feeding her new baby doll!

And herself, haha.

A couple weeks prior, I took Jameson out for lunch and errands. He had a great time, and we went to the toy store to pick out a birthday gift for Coraline. Of course, he got a little something too (a little wooden train, Diesel #10). But he also picked out a great gift for Coraline, this little scooter bike.

It’s small enough that I think she’ll get some use out of it later this summer after she’s walking. I look forward to her trying to follow Jameson around as he rides his own bike!

The next day, Meemaw and Aunt Holly came up to visit before the party the following day. We opened some more gifts on Friday then too, and Jameson was excited to get a few things himself again, like this little zipper monster pouch for good zipping practice!

But in particular, both kids really enjoyed the airplane from Aunt Holly. The Little People were a hit, and Coraline received more Little People gifts at her party. Both Jameson and Coraline like to play with them!

Coraline had such a great birthday celebration from the day she turned one through her party. Now that it’s over, it’s hard to believe she’s one.

It means we need to make some changes over the new few months, like transitioning to whole milk and moving her from bottle to sippy (she never did like holding her own bottle, nor could she be trusted to eat enough if we weren’t holding it anyway, so that will be a big change!). I am thankful we won’t need to eliminate the pacifier this time though!

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The Big One

April 1, 2014 No Comments

At 12 months old, Coraline points to everything she wants now! And I mean everything!

We have a couple almost-words, like “dog”, “sock”, “hi”, and of course, mama and dada (all inconsistently and rarely said except for “hi” – she’s a big fan of that one). I’m also pretty sure she said “baby”, though it didn’t sound close to the word at all she used the same syllables each time she said it for a couple weeks. Since she started sign language class, I’ve seen all done and perhaps light (she opened and closed her hand a few times).

She loves to read books, most often the touch and feel books. I love this video of her around 11-1/2 months old. She looks at a book, says “baby” and plays at the play table — which is actually also a very rare occurrence. She isn’t a big fan of standing yet, so that’s a task for her us to help her learn!

Coraline only really likes to stand when it involves pretend walking. She does however get on two feet and hands and throws her butt in the air, so I wonder sometimes if she’ll just get up and start walking one day!

We’ve had a few, very few, warmer days, and she got out in the wagon for the first time with her brother. She loves the wind in her face.

Speaking of Jameson, I can tell they will be partners in crime before too long. Jameson loves to help her: bottles, eating, making her laugh. He’s a pretty big distraction at the dinner table for Miss Coraline!

This month Coraline got her 6th tooth, the 4th one on top. I thought maybe we were teething for a molar soon but that went away and I haven’t seen anything come through yet.

She loves being “chased” and caught, and still likes playing peekaboo. One of the new things we’ve really seen this month though is Coraline putting things back, or back together. She recognizes when toys or objects belong together, and the Mega Blocks she got for her birthday was a big hit.

She still likes to suck her thumb for soothing, primarily when she’s tired. If she doesn’t have a burp cloth though she typically won’t do it. She’s got a particular preference for the style of the burp cloths too, but luckily we have tons of them, so she has about 3 in her crib at all times.

Sometimes she’ll just lay down on the floor randomly for no reason, which always cracks me up. I wonder if it’s related to the fluid that is still backed up in her ear, the one which the tube came out of.

For now, we’ve opted to continue without putting the tube back in, since we haven’t had an ear infection since. However, the ENT is still concerned about the fluid in there, so we will be visiting the doctor more often and have started trying out a chiropractor which we’ve heard can help fluid drain properly.

Coraline is 18 pounds, 6 ounces (though an illness, probably a UTI, a week later caused her to drop under 18 pounds again!). She’s in the 25th percentile across the board with a good looking growth curve like her brother. She is slightly anemic, so we’ll be starting her on a liquid vitamin dropper with iron. Hopefully soon we’ll attempt a transition to whole milk as well!

The birthday girl loves to make a face where she wrinkles her nose up and scrunches up her face for a smile. It’s my favorite!

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Pink Pinwheel Party

March 31, 2014 No Comments

Coraline had a pink pinwheel party for her first birthday. Sometimes pink can be elegant and playful without being overwhelmingly girly, and that’s what I was going for. We rented a little community center nearby for her party since there are so many more kids with friends and family now! It was well worth it to reduce chaos, and that we we didn’t need to figure out what to do with Sasha, who is confined to our first floor at home now that she is older.

We had two kids tables, one of ours and borrowed one from a neighbor, which was a great idea. We had a lot of 2 and 3 year olds in attendance!

The kids had a little craft to make their own pinless pinwheel they could do as well, and while I think the parents enjoyed it, I think it would be even more perfect for 4-5 year olds. I prepared all the paper for the pinwheels so no hole punching was needed, and gave directions for finishing off the pinwheel. All you need are some pipe-cleaners, pencils, stickers and crayons, plus scissors & stapler for parents to secure the pinwheel.

Each table had pinwheels for a playful centerpiece (a few of the arrangements were taken with them by guests, a sign of a great little centerpiece in my opinion!!). To make the pinwheels, I used a spray adhesive to make double-backed 12×12 scrapbook paper, then cut them down with a paper cutter in various sizes from 8×8 to 11×11 (most were around the 9×9 range).

I made the pinwheels without using pins, to keep it safe for all the kids attending the party so no one might be pricked. Instead I used pipe cleaners and buttons (I will allow that the buttons were small and a choking hazard themselves, but trusted they would keep secure to the sticks under parents’ watchful eyes, as they did).

The pinwheels are attached to candy sticks I purchased at Jo-Ann, or pre-painted dowel rods I purchased from Factory Direct Craft. The two types of clear glass bottles were a relatively cheap find at Factory Direct Craft (I cannot find them online anymore), and I put sand at the bottom.

I wanted to integrate photos into her party, just as I did with Jameson’s, since I take so many and love the conversation starters they provide to guests. Since the room had a chair rail along the walls, I avoided doing the giant “1” in photos that I did with Jameson’s because it would’ve looked awkward. Instead, we randomly put photos around the room with painters tape.

She also had her monthly photos banner above her high chair. I made small pinwheels, secured with brads and a glue gun to the clothespins, hung on twine. The pinwheels are top heavy, so it needed to be against a wall where they wouldn’t move around much.

For food, we kept it simple party fare: pulled pork, pasta salad, cheese & crackers tray, veggie tray, chips and an assortment of dips, fruit salad and of course, dessert. I made the same yellow cake recipe from her cake smash into cupcakes, and tried a chocolate cake from the same site as well.

I thought maybe Coraline would like a chocolate cake since she wasn’t fond of the vanilla, but no dice. She did taste it though, but putting her tongue right out onto the icing!

Daddy cut up the cupcake a bit and she tried the actual cake, but for the most part she was content (and sometimes concerned) just to look around at all the activity.

Coraline is big into trying to put things back, and she attempted to buckle herself up without success.

Meemaw and Aunt Holly came up for the occasion; unfortunately Uncle Tyler and Grandpa had to miss it.

We also had some baby friends join us, and Jameson’s friend Nathan came as well ready for St. Patrick’s Day!

When it was time to open gifts, Jameson wanted to jump right in and help. He certainly entertained, putting a bag over his head!

Coraline wanted to “try” her gifts before opening them. She got a lot of great toys and adorable clothes. She’s become partial to the Little People dolls, as well as putting together the Mega Blocks (Jameson was always into taking things apart when he was this age, so it’s fun to see Coraline putting things together instead).

We were so excited with all our friends and family who were able to come. We saw cousins and uncles who we hadn’t seen in a year and nearly all our friends invited were able to join us to celebrate Coraline’s birthday!

I love this one of Coraline, playing peekaboo with Grandma with her hands which is new!

I can’t believe that our little girl is one. From here out, our little baby will be growing up into an awesome little girl.

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Coraline’s Cake Smash

March 13, 2014 2 Comments

This year, I decided to try and do a “real” photo shoot for Coraline’s first cake. Spoiler alert: she liked it just as much as Jameson, which is to say, they were quite a bit concerned with what was on their fingers.

For Jameson, I went the healthy route and made a cake from baby food. It tasted just like carrot cake, except better (if I do say so myself). I made a relatively healthy cream cheese frosting to go with it, and he wasn’t super impressed and didn’t dig in the way I’ve seen some kids do so. One of the things I’ve seen since his first birthday is the cake smash session, where baby gets a photo shoot all to herself, so I decided to give that a shot.

This time, thinking I would get better results from said baby, I made a traditional yellow cake. I used this 3 egg yellow cake recipe, because I only had 3 eggs on hand. It actually turned out great and very moist but solid enough that I didn’t accidentally carve it up while icing, and I’d make it again in a heartbeat. For the frosting, I realized I needed to get more ingredients regardless, so I went all out with a frosting recipe calling for 3-1/2 pounds of powdered sugar that I actually found on a couple different sites. I’m saving the leftover frosting in the fridge for the cupcakes I’m making for her party on Saturday.

I didn’t know, but for decorating cakes, a “crusting” type of frosting is recommended. I didn’t add all the powdered sugar (I did about 3-1/4), so mine didn’t crust too much and actually stayed just right for what I wanted for Miss Coraline. This frosting is intensely sweet but such a wonderful consistency.

For decorating, I borrowed a friend’s decorating bags from Wilton and her decorating tips. After doing a “base coat” of frosting to help the roses stick, you want the larger star-shaped tip, and you’ll just go around in the circle to make the rose. I wasn’t too worried about making mistakes or leaving gaps, I just made little “daisy” flowers between. I’m no professional, but I think it looks great! Here’s a great tutorial for even more professional looking results.

I even cut a slice out (which I later ate) to show her the insides, and helped her taste the cake itself, but still no dice. She’ll have plenty of opportunities to try it again in the next couple days. This still made for some super cute photos, and I’m really glad I took the time to do it!

Oh, that super duper poofy tutu? I made that, no sewing involved. The hardest part was cutting!

I figured, no sense in paying a lot for something that’s going to get ruined with icing. The ribbon was more expensive than the tulle so if you already have ribbon to use it would’ve been about $2 to make. But, I will say that if you want it to go all the way around you need more than 2 yds of tulle! I wasn’t too worried about not having enough; it reached a little over half way around her waist and I tied the ribbon in the back. Total cost was about $4! If you want to try your hand, check out this tutorial I followed.

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11 Months for Coraline

February 17, 2014 No Comments

This month was harder for little Coraline in terms of sleeping. While she was generally happy during the day, her nights were filled with crying out: Only for a moment or two before she fell back asleep on her own, but none of us liked hearing her cry out in pain for weeks at night, with pain medicine or not.

She finally broke through two more of her top teeth, for a total of 5. (And just days after turning 11 months old, she broke through the last of the swollen set, finally, for a total of 6 teeth). Hence her cute quirky crooked smile here she used while teething!

She spent most of this month teething, with a cold, and then got a yeast and bacteria infected rash under her arm. One of the tubes in her ear came out, unusually early (it was only in about two months). She’s currently on 4 medications, including two ointments, ear drops and oral antibiotics. Ooof! Poor thing.

Coraline figured out crawling within just a week after I recorded her video of the scoot she had been doing. She didn’t go backwards at all, and just straight up started moving forward. Sometimes she puts her feet down in what Brian calls her spider crawl which cracks me up, and rarely she’ll put both feet and hands on the ground with no knees, but straight in the air.

And she’s getting up on her knees! Not pulling up yet. This month, we’ve brought out the stand and play toy, to help her practice standing and pulling up. She loves the jumparoo and both jumps like a maniac and also swings herself back and forth like I never saw Jameson do in it, but she doesn’t do very much standing outside of those supported activities. Coraline has such little feet that I sometimes wonder if that might have something to do with it.

Our babbling has just started becoming more words and imitation. She mostly just says “hi”, and if I can say that aside from the babble of mamama and dadada her first real words have been “dada” and “hi”. We’ve started taking sign language class with her, as we did with Jameson. So far, I’m pretty sure she’s signed “all done” (or just being crazy at the end of meal time).

She’s learned to point with her index finger and I can see her little wheels turning. The other day she held up Jameson’s socks to us, and when I responded “sock”, she put it down on top of her own socks and stared at it.

Coraline has learned how to rock herself back and forth, though she’s still very conservative about it. She rocked herself in the glider during the monthly photos this month.

She’s a 17lb even small fry, just beginning to show preferences in what she’s eating. Yes to fruit, peas, and pasta. No to mashed potatoes, and many vegetables. Meat is hit or miss. She still practices the sippy, but since she doesn’t even take a bottle that well from us very often, we aren’t forcing the sippy issue yet. She’s a good eater like Jameson though in terms of just being able to do it: not a lot of gagging. However, she seems to be more prone to putting fistfuls of food (or anything else) in her mouth, so we have to have a hawk eye on her all the time now. A favorite game is to see who, me or her, can make it to the dog first who is eating her cookie treat and leaving crumbs everywhere.

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Coraline is Two Hands Old

January 16, 2014 No Comments

What a big month for Coraline! From Christmas, to New Years, to her first experience in the snow. Coraline even got her third tooth, which you can see a little in this photo! We were so lucky to be able to have Coraline home a lot this month with Christmas breaks, and unfortunately for a little illness from daycare, hand foot and mouth disease.

It’s hard to see here in this photo, but she had a rash on the backs of her hands and her feet up to her legs. This particular virus presented itself differently (and much milder) than the traditional form of the disease which is usually on the palms and soles of feet. The doctor did diagnose her though since he saw some sores in the back of her mouth, so we kept her home for a couple days. Luckily, it was over the weekend, so we didn’t need to keep her home as long as we would’ve during the week, since the doctor recommended 3-4 days.

She has been teething most of this month, getting a lot of teeth in. Aside from the one that came in, I believe her other top tooth is nearly broken through, and the two on either side have been swollen most of this month as well. It hasn’t prevented her from eating (well, she did get fussy with the bottle occasionally). She loves solid food, the kind which she can put in her mouth herself. She loved the ham that Meemaw made, and noodles are also a favorite. She’s had chicken nugget as well and cleaned it up. However, the baby food has gotten a bit more difficult, and she now lets us know that she’s done by spitting it out back at us. She can sit in her high chair for an hour or more if we kept giving her finger foods to eat!

Coraline has been putting everything, even items which are not food, in her mouth. I don’t remember Jameson being the same way, because he learned that things like the fuzz from dog toys don’t taste good. I have found now Jameson’s plastic coin from Christmas, a sharp piece of wicker from a basket, and fuzz in her mouth. She leaves it in there and rolls them around in her mouth until I realize she has something with gagging.

She’s pretty funny, throwing her head back against the jumparoo and jumping or swaying with her head back. She also learned to click her tongue, though she does it rarely. Her current favorite babble is nananana (having already done mamama and dadada earlier). Coraline just loves to show us things that she picks up, which is funny every time. She still twirls her feet, but she doesn’t want to sit still nearly as much now! She’s learned to scoot!

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Snow Play

January 14, 2014 No Comments

This was Coraline’s first snow experience on New Year’s Day! We unboxed Jameson’s old snow suit, but realized we had no boots for her so we improvised with pajamas, a couple plastic bags, and a couple layers of socks. We were only outside with her for about 20 minutes, but she had a good time looking around. She was pretty happy to be in my arms, and a little concerned and curious about the snow but overall did great!

We brought out the sled for Jameson who loved daddy pulling him. He didn’t even mind too much when he fell off this year and was really thrilled to be outside having fun. The process of getting two kids in their snow suits though was the least fun part.

Coraline was not a huge fan of Jameson’s snow covered mittens covering her face. Oops!

After Coraline went in, we let Sasha out for a bit. Sasha always loves snow balls. She acts like a puppy again in the snow, but like Coraline we limited her play time outside since she tires easily. She happily went back inside to nap afterwards.

We were excited the snow lasted into the weekend, since it always seems that it melts away before we get a chance to play in it. The rising temperatures made it perfect to build a snowman, and Jameson and daddy got to make too! They even pulled carrots up from the garden for noses.

When Jameson talked to grandma on the phone later about his snowmen, he said that he wanted her to bring a hat (he loves the Frosty the Snowman song). Unfortunately the snowmen melted before she could come over with a hat; maybe next time!

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Teddy Bear Christmas

January 9, 2014 No Comments

We arrived home on Christmas Eve, and after taking a bath and getting ready for bed, Jameson was ready for Santa Claus to arrive. For the first time, he was old enough to leave cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. Jameson then insisted on leaving an apple as well.

Santa arrived late that night and I snuck a photo. When Jameson got up in the morning though he was fixated on (and a little concerned about) the crumbs that Santa had left behind. In fact, he didn’t notice the presents under the tree until he had his full breakfast of two special yogurts (yogurts in a tube).

Then, he approached the tree and seemed a little confused actually about the big teddy bear waiting for him. I think because Coraline had just gotten a large pig at Meemaw and Grandpa’s house, he thought it was for her! After correcting him, he got pretty into it, and for the rest of our holiday break, he insisted on bringing the big teddy up and down the stairs to wherever he was. Since returning to work though we’ve managed to keep Big Corduroy as he’s called up stairs.

He’s called Big Corduroy because Little Corduroy was another gift from Santa. Santa typically brings something read, something to wear and something to play with at our house. Santa this year thought it appropriate for Jameson to get not one, but two teddy bears from his simple request.

Jameson also got two pairs of new pajamas, and A Pocket for Corduroy from Santa. Mom and dad got him a camera, a new truck hauler that carries motorcycles, and a cool extra long book about dinosaurs among a few other things.

We did have some drama in the midst of opening presents; Jameson appeared to be getting a little upset or jealous about Coraline’s gifts (perhaps because one of the boxes was big? or the book she got was really cool and one he also liked?) and he refused to open any more gifts until I told him the he got a cool book too and he opened his dinosaur book.

Coraline got a new sweatshirt from Santa, the Chick-a-Chick-a-Boom-Boom alphabet book, and a shopping cart from Santa.

We got her a book of all her favorite faces which I purchased from Pint Size Productions which makes custom board books. I was really happy with that book, and the pages are almost pearlescent and very high quality. We also purchased a Noah’s Ark for her and musical crawl ball. Of course, she isn’t much interested in that and wants to chew on all of Jameson’s toys instead!

Jameson was a big helper of course opening Coraline’s gifts for her.

Coraline then took a nap, so the last of her gifts waited until after she woke up. Sasha had some gifts too, of course, and opened two of them on Christmas (this particular one she got to open from Grandma and Poppa!)

Coraline woke up from her nap, and we did some Face Time with Meemaw and Grandpa and opened her last gift, the Noah’s Ark. She really likes taking things out of other things now (we have a little container looking like a milk jug with big coins in it) and now she’s just starting to put things back in it, so the Noah’s Ark is fun.

Jameson was really excited about Coraline’s shopping cart, which we insisted on waiting to put together after she woke from her nap. Little Corduroy (and all the other teddies eventually) went shopping.

After that Jameson was completely wiped out. We hadn’t even done the stockings yet, but he needed a break after a few more almost-melt-downs.

A little while later and after a snack, we opened some stockings! Coraline got a lot of socks! As well as some more puffs. Jameson got a new caboose for his trains, some musical toys, playdoh and more.

Later on, Aunt Melissa and her boyfriend Vince, and Grandma and Poppa came over to celebrate Christmas and have dinner! Coraline was in a fine mood in her lovely Christmas dress!

Brian decided on a fried turkey for the menu, and insisted that this new-to-him jacket from Goodwill was going to be his turkey frying and beer brewing jacket. The flannel underneath really completes the look, don’t you think?

After our wonderful meal of fried turkey, fried vegetable, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and wine we got to open more gifts!

Aunt Melissa got some tools this Christmas to go with her new house. We all got some wonderful, thoughtful gifts, and Jameson and Coraline were so excited to have everyone over!

And then Christmas was over! The anticipation always just seems to build up and then feels so anticlimactic when it’s over. But this year, the fun seemed to continue for Jameson into the following days as he continued to talk about Santa, or his gifts, or sang Frosty the Snowman (or Jingle Bells).

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