Watson at 10 months

Watson was 10 months on Christmas Day. How is that possible? Every time I turn around he's a whole month older and getting closer to that 1st birthday. I'm not ready for that. I'm still enjoying my baby. Being 1 means lots of big things, like walking (boo!), sippy cups and not bottles (again boo!) and other things I'm not ready for. I enjoy a baby, the bigger they get the harder they get to me (for the most part)!



Here are a few things about 10 months w/Watson man...



Sleeps like a champ-2 naps are long ones, about 1 hour or more in the a.m. and 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Nighttimes are at least 12 hours, sometimes more.
On his 3rd ear infection, they have been relentless w/him. he has an ent appt coming up for tubes. I'm crossing my fingers he can get them soon!
He is everywhere and wants everything he can't have to play with.
Loves playing with all toys



Loves blinds and windows, I have to keep all the blinds up that are his level at all times.
Really dislikes getting in his carseat. He likes to get in and just stand up and look around for a while before I strap him in.
Has been a good eater until he started on his last medicine. I think it's taking away his appetite for food but is still drinking his milk.
Changing his diaper is sort of like having to change a tiger's diaper. I have to be sneaky with it!
The dishwasher is a favorite, and cabinets too, again anything he doesn't need to get into he is all over. I can't take my eyes off him for a second now.
Loves swinging outside
Loves bathtime with Hayes, but really dislikes getting out. They love to splash and play and are so cute to watch.



I love him being this age. He's big enough to be fairly predictable with his schedule and little enough to still be a baby. We love you Watson!!! It's so much fun being your parents. We are learning a lot from you!

Our Christmas 2011

We are still trying to recover from our Christmas weekend! It was very full and full of fun being with each other and with all of our families. We decided earlier this month that since we were travelling to Dothan, we would do our own Christmas/Santa here at home with our family first. It was so sweet and so much fun and I'm so glad we did it like that. It was fun waking up in our home and opening gifts and we didn't have to go through the trouble of packing everything up to open later and then bringing it all right back home!


Do you see the gigantic blue sucker above? Well, that is the ONLY thing that Hayes wanted from Santa for Christmas, so she was one happy girl when she got a huge candy bowl full of blue suckers and candy canes, plus a bunch of other stuff. She leafed through her other toys with slight interest, but the candy was her favorite part!



Watson was all smiles and just trying to figure out all the madness with paper and toys and suckers everywhere that he couldn't have. He did get a football though and lots of other boy toys this year which were greatly needed for him!







On Friday (after a trip to the dr. for Watson w/another ear infection) we headed to Dothan for time with our families. We were able to spend time with all of our family, both sides, except for Honey. We missed her!















We squeezed in a whole lot in 4 short days of being with family. Hayes almost made it through the Christmas Eve service, she lasted about 40 minutes and then about the same length on Christmas Day. She tried really hard. Sitting still is tough I know when you are that age. She had crackers, toys and crayons and stickers and Nana and Papa though so she wasn't too bored!



We had good cousin and grandparent time. I feel like everybody got enough of us-haha! We all got spoiled with way too many gifts and we are very thankful for our families loving us so much and for taking good care of us when we come visit. I know it's not easy having a whole extra family to come stay, especially when they bring 10,000 lbs of stuff w/them plus a pharmacy at all times.



Happiness on a 4 wheeler-she and Bake got these fun motorized 4 wheelers and were so hilarious on them. I can't even describe it! Of course I have a video and may post that later. It really was SO, SO funny watching them learn to drive!


And here are my 2 on Christmas Day, as happy as can be to be posing for the camera!

My baby's first Christmas at 10 months old. Oh, I love him soooo much, infected ears, fussiness and all, bless his heart. He was a trooper the whole trip, good naps and good nights. THANKFUL for that.



Oh and I can't forget our Hunt's date night on Monday night w/Brent and Lindsey. Very, very nice and fun spending time w/them sans babies. Wish that happened more often!


Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too. Happy 2012!!

Riding the Reindeer

What are reindeer? My 2 have no idea. We took H & W to the galleria (CRAZY place, not sure what we were thinking) to ride the Christmas carousel since they have the reindeer out. They both LOVE a carousel ride, all smiles the whole nauseating ride. And those bright smiles make all the traffic, rain, and 10 billion shoppers worth all the trouble of getting there. The things we will do for our kids!!









He was fascinated with seeing in the mirror the whole ride.


Santa is coming early to our house since we will be with our family over Christmas. We haven't put much focus on Santa this month, just the fact this it's Jesus' birthday. But I think she is understanding that Santa brings presents and started talking about him and asking questions. And I got carried away and excited answering her questions with probably some not-so-truthful answers, and then Nathan called me out on it last night!! Our pastor's wife came to our SS class a few weeks ago and gave us these tips about keeping your perspective w/Santa:
1. Keep the main thing, the main thing (JESUS)
2. Rules without a relationship only lead to rebellion (not so much about Santa but just a good tip)
3. Do not lie! (like make up a bunch of lies about Santa-I'm finding that may be hard to do when she asks questions about Santa. She said answer their questions with a question-how do you think he comes down the chimney? why do you ask? put it back on them and let them use their imagination
4. Give them more do's than don'ts in their life.
It's always nice to have someone's perspective that has more experience raising kids/grandkids than we do. Our plan is to have fun with Santa, but keep our focus on the only reason for Christmas. Parenting is hard. We have so much to learn. I'm thankful for good godly models and mentors around us!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

H-35 mos
W-10 mos

McWane Fun on Monday

Nathan was off work on Monday, so it was a good day to take the kids to McWane with an extra set of hands. They both had a ball! Before now, it's been really easy to take both b/c Watson would usually stay in the stroller. Not this time though. He was on the GO from the second we got there, all over the place, and so was she. They had so much fun and both were asleep right out of the parking lot! Now is a good time to go since they just opened the snow exhibit.



























H-34 mos
W-9 mos

The Weekend before Christmas

The countdown is on, only one week until Christmas! This has been a really fun December so far. We've had alot of low-key activities this month-cooking, decorating, parties, Christmas movies, fun stuff at school, etc. which is just what we needed at their ages.


But we've also missed out on a few things since they're still so little this year, like things that happen during morning nap time and Candlelight at church and the zoolight safari, etc. But I know there is always next year and each year will be a little different the bigger they get!



One fun thing we have started this year is Christmas movie night. Hayes has never really watched a movie, she's not good yet at being still and following along. BUT, if you tell her she gets to stay up late, turn off the lights, put a huge bowl of popcorn in her hands, cuddle up under a blanket and tell her she gets to watch a Christmas movie, she will GLUE her eyes to the tv and watch. So we have done that twice now and it's been so much fun for everybody, except Watson, we wait until he goes to bed! He might get to participate next year if he can behave.Friday night we watched Sesame Street Christmas from 1979. It was slooooowwww and painful for us, but she LOVED it and has watched it 99 times since then so that's all that matters.



On Saturday we had Nathan's family Christmas pary and it was lots of fun! All the cousins were there, with exception of a few. We loved getting to see everybody. W and H both got some fun toys, and they both love this little Cars rocking toy that he got. He is so funny riding it!

Family pic of 3


Once big sister gets in, everybody gets a little exasperated b/c of her dislike of the camera. Seriously, how do people get good family pics?! Our 2 are complete wiggle worms when they see that camera.

On Sunday our cousin Sara Grace was baptized at her church, so we went to that and then they had a big yummy lunch afterwards. It was so sweet and I was so teary. Then she spoke during the lunch and I teared up even more. Baptisms are super emotional for me these days. Every time I watch one I think about Hayes and Watson! We enjoyed being with some of our B'ham cousins. They are right here close by and we still don't get to see them enough!


Sara Grace and Watson and Claire and Davis, and Hayes dancing onstage


Claire and Hayes


She found the stage and jumped and ran around like a wild woman


cousins Claire, Sara Grace, Alice and Hayes

So that was a long post about a good weekend. I'm thankful for all these memories I can post on here. I would forget everything we did if I didn't have somewhere like this to put them. Thanks for caring about our memories too if you are still reading!

Soaking up the Days

There have been lots of happenings around here lately during the month of December. Some important and some not-so-important for the blog, just lots of good family time and togetherness which I am most thankful for. But one to document was the Watson Family Christmas Dinner this past weekend. It's an annual family reunion for my daddy's side of the family and the older I get, the more I look more forward to it every year. Some of the people we see many times during the year and others this is the only time we see them! It was in Montgomery this year. We really missed my grandparents and my great aunt Ease being there. They always started preparing early for "the dinner" as in what they would wear, what we would wear, what songs they would sing and jokes they would tell. It was always a day in the spotlight for them since they loved and lived to be the center of attention together!


Santa made an appearance and brought gifts for all the kids. The bigger kids liked him, the younger ones not so much.


ELATED to see all her cousins. She didn't even sit w/us and thought she was big stuff with her cousins at their table.


Please get me out of this strange man's lap!!!!!! This is definitely my last attempt at Santa pics for this year. Neither of my children care a thing about him obviously and that is okay. There is alot for them to soak up around December with so many parties and activities going on. Our main goal for Hayes this year is for her to simply understand that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. I keep trying to expand on the Christmas story for her, and she gets sidetracked and starts asking for a snack or something. But I know she's listening and absorbing more than I think, hopefully.


There are lots of things I want to start next year when they are both a little older, but so far our December has been full of family time and I love it. Here is another milestone reached, both sitting up in the extra large buggy at Publix. Watson was all smiles until he realized that Hayes got a cookie and he didn't. So we may have to resort back to him in the front and her in the back so he doesn't know he's missing out on a treat!


Merry Christmas!