Merry Christmas to all

Merry Christmas Eve!

We had Christmas with my family yesterday at my sister's house.

Benjamin was happy to pose for the camera (Thanks, PopPop for helping to get that smile!).

Benjamin was quickly over the pictures though.  lol.

Taking a minute for a family photo.  The all black was unintentional, but we took the advantage of it.

In case you missed that face.  (Touched up with photo editing, thus the color difference.)

Smiling for me that evening. :)

It helps that he had a full belly.  We made use of the real fruit teether prior to this photo.  

See the post below this one.

Then, I used the rest of the banana that wasn't in the teether and his brand new mashing bowl to make up some fresh banana baby food.

Before:

After:

It comes with a thing to mash it with that looks like a smaller version of a potato masher.  It works very well!

Another Christmas gift put into use...Baby food containers for freezing.  Those pears, carrot, and sweet potatoes from the other day are now frozen.

This morning we had our Christmas at home with Benjamin.

Of several gifts we received...

Josh got me a pair of Sterling Silver earrings with the Ruby birthstone (Benjamin's).

I love them!

Benjamin made, with a lot of help from Mama, a reindeer picture for his daddy.

So far we've had a great time celebrating Christmas.  Still more celebrating to come. :)

Real Fruit Teether

This is after several minutes chowing down on the teether.  It has a banana inside.  (FYI:  Banana is a pain to get out of the mesh afterwards).

Yes, I'm entirely proud of my 5 month old's fine motor skills.  He's becoming quite adept at taking things out of his mouth and putting them back in.  He's been practicing with his pacifier.  This teether is new as of this afternoon (It was one of his Christmas gifts from Grammy & PopPop).  He seems to like both sides.  ;)

More pictures tomorrow!

Simply Saturday

It was a busy day today with plenty of things accomplished.

Pictures of Benjamin from the 15th.

One of today's accomplishments.  

Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is homemade baby food -- sweet potato and carrots.  It is awaiting the plastic freezer containers that are going to be given to Benjamin tomorrow by Grammy & PopPop.  Don't worry.  He has some fun gifts coming too.  ;)

Fabulous Friday

5 months today!

A few pictures from the past month.  Hopefully a better post to update once I'm off on break later this week.

Most notable achievement:  Yesterday he started saying, "Da Da."  

Or more like...Dadadadadadadadada.  lol ;)

Hooray for giveaways!

The Muncks are having their 2nd giveaway.  

Stop by!

Click here. ;)

Happy Friday!

Playing at Grammy & PopPop's.  Look how strong he is!

Also, giveaway at the Munck's blog!  They're a great Christian family.  Stop by for a chance to win. ;)

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving

Benjamin with Great Papaw Holder

With both Papaws & Christianna

Frying the turkey

Our spread...Including special dairy-free mashed potatoes, turkey, & stuffing for me plus dairy-free "butter" in all of the veggies

Spending time together.  It was also our 4th wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving.

Benjamin eating his own Thanksgiving food.  Cereal & breastmilk.  Mmmmm.

Ahem...Do not put a Bumbo on an elevated surface and walk away.  I know not to, but apparently some people in this world ignored the warning on the seat, and then complained when their child was injured which caused a recall of these great seats.  They are now labeled as "floor seats", btw.  

Picture time!  (See our new king size quilt & shams)

I hope everyone had a great day with plenty to be thankful for this year.

In his own words

This is what Benjamin is thankful for this year.

I love his chubby little leg rolls. ;)

But I wanted some turkey too!

4 years ago this day

God has blessed me with a wonderful man.  Happy anniversary Josh!

Happy birthday to me! (and Christianna)

I was very fortunate to spend my birthday at home today.  I'm officially 29 now.  

Christianna isn't far behind. She turns 2 on Saturday. ;)

We celebrated at Josh's Mamaw's on Sunday.  Those are dairy free spice cake cupcakes with icing made using coconut oil.  Maybe by next year I can have that rich chocolate cake that I actually wanted.  The cupcakes were actually quite good.

Christianna kept blowing the candle out before everyone sang to us.  It was very funny.

My child, look how he's grown.  He'll be as tall as Josh before we know it.

The years do fly by.  On this day last year I found out I was pregnant with Benjamin.  Thankful to have him here with me this year to celebrate!