Friday, December 31, 2010

7 months old


Once again, this month has snuck up on me. It seems like I was just posting on Jack's 6 month birthday and here we are at 7 months already. He is a busy boy these days. Here's the latest:

*He is sitting up on his own.
*He is very mobile, rolling to get whatever he wants. He's even scooted on his knees once or twice.
*He LOVES to eat! We've switched to formula now, and he gets soooo excited when he sees his bottle. He continues to love solids, too. I make the majority of his baby food, which usually consists of bananas, homemade applesauce, avacados, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes and once in awhile some jarred organic baby food as well.
*He is starting to really babble. Lately, he's been making more definitive sounds, like "mm's" and da's. Jason thought he heard him say da da, which may be true, but I'm not counting it as his first word yet!
*As with Hannah, we had a bit of a concern with his weight at his 6 (and a half) month appointment. After making some changes, including adding more formula and baby food, he's right back on track.
*He's starting to move out of the 6 month clothes and into more of the 9 month stuff.
*He takes a morning and afternoon nap, goes to bed around 7 and gets up about 8.

We are so blessed to have this little guy in our lives!

Christmas Day

It was a refreshing change waking up at our own house on Christmas morning this year. The night before, Hannah made sure to set out milk and cookies for Santa and sugar for the reindeer and finally went to bed around 9:30.

Santa did a great job on gifts this year, bringing the kids 3 each like the wise men brought baby Jesus.

Hannah's not quite to the age of waking up early in anticipation yet, so we got to sleep in until around 8:00 when Jason and I could no longer wait! We went into the kids' room and got them up. During the month of December, I had put a nativity scene in Hannah's bedroom, minus the baby Jesus. I told her that we would know it's Christmas when baby Jesus arrived. Sure enough, Christmas morning, baby Jesus was laying in the manger, and Hannah knew it was Jesus birthday!

I think Hannah was a bit unsure and still waking up at first, taking in all of the presents that had magically appeared overnight. It didn't take long, however, for her to dive right in.



Hannah's 2 favorite gifts were the kitchen and cutable food. She played with them all day!


Jack was happy just to play with the wrapping paper, but Santa did bring him a picnic basket of his own, too.


Once the morning settled down, Hannah, Jason, Jason's dad and grandpa headed downstairs to watch Hannah's new movie, Mary Poppins.


One of my favorite things about staying home this year was that I was able to use my China and have a nice family dinner. My parents came over early in the afternoon, so we were able to celebrate with all of the grandparents. We had prime rib and all of the fixings. Amazingly enough, everything turned out wonderful!


Hannah and Grandpa Cramer enjoying dessert.


Jason's parents left later in the day on Christmas and my parents spent that night. Another favorite present was Uno Moo. Hannah and Grandpa played quite a few rounds with some of their own "special" rules.


Jack, again, just content to have something to chomp on.


Santa was VERY good to me this year, too. I got a beautiful Coach purse and 6 settings of formal silverware to complete my set. Overall, it was a very merry Christmas.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Eve

Every year of my life, I have celebrated Christmas Eve at my Grandma O's house. However, living on the other side of the state and having little ones, we knew one day that would change. This year we decided it was time to start our own tradition and stay home.


Jason's parents and Grandpa Ocedek joined us. We all went to Christmas Eve service at our church and then came back to our house for appetizers afterward.


The kids were wired when we got home!


The kids then tore into their presents from Grandma and Grandpa Davis.



The night was definitely different, but I think we all really enjoyed the festivities.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Crafts

While Jack was hanging out in his exersaucer, Hannah and I have been working on some crafts.


A jingle bell bracelet

Making shapes with play-doh

The baby Jesus

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

FMG Member Party

Monday night, we attended the member party at Frederik Meijer Gardens. This is a Christmas event that we look forward to every year, even more so now that Hannah is getting older.
Jack was excited to be there, even if he couldn't see anything!


After enjoying cookies and Christmas music from a local choir, we made our way back to the train and trolleys. Hannah had a great view of the train up above while riding on Jason's shoulders.


Jack busted trying to snag some greenery as we walked by!


Our two little elves.

Not sure what got into Hannah, but she was not into pictures here...


..or here....


..or here.


I did get a smile out of here in the conservatory.


Merry Christmas!

Cramer Christmas

This year, for the first time EVER, we are staying home for Christmas. That being the case, we traveled to Frankenmuth last weekend to celebrate with my family.

We made a stop up to visit my Grandma Cramer. The kids were a big hit at Tendercare!


A group photo was just not happening.


The kids all dressed up for the party.


Jack sporting Uncle Todd's first Christmas outfit :-)


My mom hosted the family for a nice dinner. Here's Jack hanging out with Great-Grandma Oberholtzer.


After dinner, we moved upstairs to open gifts. Hannah and Kara checking out the video footage.


Jack just chilling with Great-Grandpa Cramer.


The girls had a great time tearing into their presents. Hannah eagerly tore the paper. Kara was more interested in dancing on the box :-)


Hannah and Kara checking out Buzz and Woody on Hannah's new table.


Jason was very pleased with his new set of Frankenmuth Brewery pint glasses.


Hannah showing off her moves for Great-Uncle Tom.


My mom was not exactly thrilled when she opened her set of drills from Todd and I. We thought she'd be grateful that Dad would be able to get to her honey-do list? She was a bit happier when we revealed to her that Todd had "forgotten" another present out in the car for her, a Wii!


Hannah getting a ride on the Neigh Neigh.


Jack taking his turn with Great-Grandpa O.


We couldn't forget our stockings! We all got lots of fun stuff.

Big Boy

Jack's becoming such a big boy...

Sitting up


Rolling all over and very close to getting up on his knees.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

33 months

It hit me just the other day that Hannah is much closer to turning 3 than she was to being 2. Where has our little girl gone?? Time certainly flies, but we're definitely having fun. Here's what she's up to:

*She says the most funny things. A few of her most recent reflections:

  • "Don't have no clean house" she says as she wipes the floor with her washcloth. After she's done, she tells me "Now we have clean house."
  • "Grass is covered" she yells as she sees the first snowfall of the season. She then insists on putting on her winter coat and mittens.
  • "Catch it" she tells me. She then says "It's running" in reference to her nose!
  • Instead of answering yes, she's starting telling us "sure". Funny girl!

*There's lots of talk about Santa right now. She explains how Santa is going to land on the roof but he won't be able to get in through the door so we'll have to let him in, we have to leave milk and cookies out for Santa and sugar for his reindeer (something my mom always had us do when we were little) b/c they work hard on Christmas night, and that Santa will bring her presents when she poops on the potty (we're still working on this one).

*Speaking of potty training, it continues... She's 1/2 of the way there. However, she is afraid to poop on the potty, so we're struggling with that. Hopefully she will catch on soon that it feels better to NOT have poopy pants! We haven't even begun to think about sleep time. We'd just be happy with 100% fully trained during the day!

*She loves going to church nursery to play with her friends, but we're prepping her about how she'll be going to children's church with the big kids when she turns 3. We've started bringing her into the beginning of church with us for singing since children and worship kids get dismissed shortly into the service. She does all right, but usually after the first song she asks to go to the nursery. We're going to have to work on her attention span.

*She likes to sing and is finally starting to sing most of the lyrics to lots of songs. Among them include the ABC song, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Love the Little Children, and My Favorite Things. She has a captive audience in Jack, so he gets serenaded quite often.

*She really likes doing crafts. We've made several Christmas projects this season, including a reindeer and wreath out of outlines of her hands and a pipe cleaner Christmas tree. Stringing beads and sorting keep her occupied for quite awhile as well.

*She's getting better with identifying colors. She's very much into matching, especially with her clothes.

*She basically gets herself dressed every day. I usually give her 2 choices of shirts and she chooses the cooresponding matching pants and socks. She's getting better and better at choosing coordinates.

*She is a big helper. I let her "fold" and put away their clothes. She actually is a big help unloading the dishwasher. She's also getting better about putting her pj's away after she gets dressed.

*She likes to go outside and play in the snow, but she isn't too fond of sledding this year. Jason has taken her out a couple of times, and he's ended up riding down the hill solo. I'm sure she'll get her courage up again this winter and have fun once again zooming down the hill.

My Favorite Things

Christmas at FMG

After church last weekend, we braved the snow and cold (which actually didn't amount to much here in GR) and went to Frederik Meijer Gardens for the first time this Christmas season. This is one of our favorite activities, and since we're members we usually have gone to the holiday party by now. However, due to other conflicts, we won't be going to the party until later on this month.


Hannah was so excited to see Santa's sleigh when we arrived!


Of course, one of Jason's favorites is the trolley.


Hannah being reflective for a moment. (Don't tell the staff that she was on the stone wall that you're NOT supposed to sit on!)


I was hoping for a picture of both kids together, but Hannah preferred to keep the spotlight for herself.

Like father, like son.

Trying to catch a couple of birds.


Three out of four of us in one photo. Not bad.