Anna Kate's First Christmas

Anna Kate had a fabulous first Christmas!! Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve because Bryant had to work on Christmas day. After we did Christmas at our house we headed over to Bryant's grandmother's house for lunch and to open presents there. After lunch we went to Bryant's mom's house to open presents. Then, Anna Kate and I headed to Beaufort to be with my family. Between the 4 places AK got lots of clothes, toys, books, bows, and money. I have only uploaded pictures from our house but I will post the others later.

We got up Christmas Eve morning and took a few pictures of AK in her Christmas pajamas and then headed upstairs to see what Santa had brought. Santa stopped here!!

Lots of new outfits for spring and summer

New toys and books! We didn't do a whole lot at our house because we knew she would get soooo much from all of the grandparents!!

AK in her Christmas pajamas

Ready to go see what Santa brought :)

"How does that work mommy"?

Opening presents!!

Excited to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

"Now, who is this guy?"

We had a great Christmas at our house and with all of our family! We hope you did too!!

Lots of Stuff!

We have been so busy lately that I have not been good at keeping this blog updated. This post is going to be several overdue posts wrapped into one. The most important thing has been Anna Kate's baptism on December 12th. We had AK baptized at my home church in Beaufort. I was baptized in this same church, in this same dress. She missed her morning nap that day so I was very nervous that she was just going to meltdown. She did great and fell asleep right after her part was over!Mommy and AK before. I love how you can see all of the details of her dress in this pic. My aunt Carol and her mother, Mrs. Betty made this dress 27 years ago!

Family shot. AK was not very happy here!

Us with the preacher

After church we had everyone over to our house for lunch. We had time to get a few pictures. This is Leslie, Me, Ginny, and Cinnamon.

Mrs. Sharon and Anna Kate "talking" to each other

The pretty rose bud vase my parents got for AK in honor of her baptism

Now for some more catching up. We took Anna Kate to see Santa for the first time. She really didn't pay him much attention. There were so many other people there she just wanted to be nosy and watch and listen to them.

We did manage to get a half smile

Now for some funny stuff!! We went to the doctor for her 4 month well child check up. She weighed 13.5 lbs (50th percentile) and was 25.5 inches long (86th percentile). The doctor said we could start giving her rice cereal. She LOVES it, however, it does not help her sleep any better. But anyway.....here are a few pictures of her 1st time eating off of a spoon :)

We have to pry the spoon out of her mouth and hands!

I think some of it may have gotten IN her mouth. Ha!

A Few of my Favorites...

We had Anna Kate's pictures done last week. All of the were sooooo good! Here are just a few of my favorites. There were many more good ones, I just don't have time to post them all!

4 Months

She is really catching up with Sophie!

Anna Kate is 4 months old today! Time is going by so quickly, especially since I have gone back to work. Last week was my first full week. AK is doing great with the transition. She has done better with her naps (most days!) She is also sleeping better at night. She can usually go between 6-10 hrs before waking up to eat. However, we have some nights that she is up more. She is such a good baby! She still eats every 3 -4 hours and stays awake for 2-3 hours at the time. When she is awake she is full of smiles and lots of "talking." She loves the jumperoo and playing on the floor with her toys. She is consistently rolling both ways and can scoot when she is on her belly. She loves to read books and bath time is still her favorite. She is so nosy! She loves to people watch anywhere we go and loves to listen intently to any conversation! We think she is beginning to teeth. She is chewing on everything! I have posted a video of one of her new "tricks" where she is blowing a raspberry! It is too funny! However, I cannot get it to play, so if you have any tips please comment! I also want to be able to post all of her monthly pictures beside each other so I can see them all at once. I don't know how to do this, so if you do, please comment too! Thanks for your help.

Christmas with Shutterfly

Christmas is coming soon! It will be here before we know it. Shutterfly is great website for pictures! We plan to get AK's Christmas cards printed through them this year. Shutterfly offers so many things: prints, calendars, photo books, home decor, etc. The website is very easy to navigate and is a great way for out of town family to view and order pictures. I am really excited to put together a photo book for Anna Kate's 1st year. I may have to break it down and do smaller books because we have so many pictures!! I also love the calendars where you can include family pictures for each month of the year. To me, they are a lot better than any store bought calendar!! Shutterfly.com is offering 50 free cards to any blogger who writes a post about their Christmas cards. I should only have to order a few more after this offer! Go to shutterfly.com to learn more!! I think this is the card I want to use for our family Christmas card

I love how we will be able to get some many pictures on one card!!!

Here are the links to some of my favorite shutterfly products:

Photo Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Calendars: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Happy shopping! I hope you use shutterfly for your Christmas cards too!

Happy Thanksgiving

This was Anna Kate's 1st Thanksgiving. We had both of our families over to our house to celebrate! We were responsible for cooking the turkey and Bryant did a great job! I can't take any credit (I really just stood and watched). Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

AK helping daddy season the turkey. She loves to sit in the bumbo chair and watch!

With her tutu and turkey on ready for all of her visitors to arrive!

Very tired after a long day!

Look who can wear a bow now!!!!

She has officially found her feet!

I like the bigger bow on her

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We sure did!

Last Few Days...

Just wanted to include this picture I took this morning :)

I go back to work on Friday :( I know AK will be absolutely fine because she is such a good baby. I am doing my best to think about this in a positive way. I know I will be fine once I get back into the swing of things. I just can't seem to wrap my mind around teaching again after being out for 3 months. I know that once I get back to work, I will be happy to be there. I love my job and all of my co-workers! And of course the kids too! I really have peace about leaving her because the ones who I am leaving her with love her just about as much as I do! Just say a little prayer for me on Friday :)

3 months old

Anna Kate is 3 months old today! She is getting to be so much fun! Her personality has really begun to develop and she is a very active little girl. She loves to people watch and has become very observant. She smiles just about every time she sees our faces and loves to watch Sophie. Just this week I have seen her first "real" tears and heard her laugh out loud. She is beginning to out grow size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes. Compared to her 2 month picture, she looks so big! She is rolling over both ways now and prefers to sleep on her tummy. I always lay her down on her back but as soon as I walk out of the room, she has rolled over and put her bottom in the air. It is so cute! AK we love every minute with you!!!

First Playdate

Today we had our first playdate at Nickie's house. She is Cole's mom and Cole ended up being the only boy with 8 other little girls! We had so much fun. The babies are all around the same age being born between June and October. Here are a few pictures :)

Mickey Mouse was on the TV and of course she found it!

Leighton, Cousin Abby and AK

Ava Grace

Leighton, Ella Grace, AKB, Charlotte, and Cole

Raegan, Ella Grace, AK, and Cole

As soon as we got in the car Anna Kate fell asleep and has been asleep for about an hour (which is a record nap for her!) Thanks Nickie and Cole for having us! Can't wait until our next playdate!

Goooooooo Pirates!

Today is Homecoming at ECU.......AK wanted to show her Pirate Pride!!!

Pumpkin Patch and 2 month "stats"

AK had her 2 month well child check-up on Oct. 7th. She weighed 11 lbs 1 oz and was 23.5 inches long. She has grown 4.5 inches since she was born!!! She did not get any shots because she has been sick. We go back for those on the 18th (not looking forward to that).

This past weekend we went to the pumpkin patch with Rex, Melisa, Jackson and Abby. We had a lot of fun. I know next year will be very fun when Anna Kate actually understands what is going on. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Checking out the animals

Aunt Melisa, Abby (yawning), me and AK

On the hayride with mommy and daddy :)

She fell asleep before we could get off the hayride to pick her pumpkin so Bryant picked one for her.

AK has been battling a stomach virus for a few days but is feeling much better! Here she is practicing sitting up in the bumbo chair!