My Special Christmas Gift

Under the Christmas tree was a very special gift for me. It was a pair of pearl earrings bought for me from my Grandpa Louis. He knew that Mommy wanted to get my ears pierced before my first Birthday, so he bought me a pair to put up for Christmas back in August before he got sick. He liked to shop a little early sometimes. He was out school shopping with my Aunt Kim for clothes for Stephanie and he seen them and liked them. Kim had them put up for me secretly awaiting to surprise me and my parents with my special Christmas gift. Pearl is my birthstone and they are absolutely beautiful! I am sooo very thankful for my special surprise gift and it will always be cherished. Now.. Mom is even more determined to get my ears done........

Christmas Morning with Mommy & Daddy

Okay, so I stayed up late and tried to sleep late. Finally, after 9:00 a.m. my Mom came in my room and woke me up to start our very busy Christmas day.

First,I started with a bottle and then we opened gifts. It seemed like a rush morning to have showers/baths and clean up paper and pack up the car with gifts. Never enough time..says Mom. But..I loved all of my gifts and even though it was a hard Christmas morning for my parents..they were soooo excited to share my first Christmas with me at our home and watch my reaction to everything!

For years the tradition has always been to have Dad's family over on Christmas Eve and after our gathering Matthew's mom picks him up to spend the night and bring him back @ Noon on Christmas Day. We have Christmas Brunch at Mamaw Fleta's & Papaw Jeff's and open gifts and then around 5:00 we head for Mamaw Cathy's and Papaw Mike's for dinner and gifts. Then at the very end of the day Matthew opens his gifts from Santa at home. Wow , what a long day!

My First Christmas Eve

It is tradition that Mom and Dad have Dads family over for Christmas Eve. Mom makes the ham, baked macaroni & cheese, and sausage dressing (Grandpa Lou's special recipe). Everyone else brings a side dish and or a dessert. It is a small gathering that consists of my Aunt Kim, Uncle Jack, and cousin Stephanie. Mom's best friend Donna and her kids always come over since her family lives in Kentucky and they are always free on Christmas Eve. For the first time in years my Grandma Kay came over and Dad's Aunt Shirley (Grandpa Lou's sister). Mom was very pleased by the extra visitors since it was a tough Holiday this year for all of us..... but especially Daddy & Kim. Grandma Fleta & Papaw Jeff usually stop by to eat too!

We ate, opened gifts, and had a yummy ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for dessert. Mom tried to write Emily's 1st Xmas on it..but that didn't turn out so well. It was a fun but late night. Mom & Dad said that it was the first night ever that I actually tried to NOT go to sleep. They thought I was trying to wait up for Santa Claus. It was after midnight when I finally gave in.....

Christmas Cards

Mom decided to make photo Christmas cards this year. She said it was a challenge to get a good pic of me and Daisy Mae at the same time. Here are a few of the other shots she liked but didn't pick for the cards. .........Good thing Matthew is pretty easy going!

Reindeer Games

Mom likes dressing me up and trying different poses and outfits with the camera....here are some of me with my new reindeer (check me out with my tongue sticking out @ her) and Mom and I dressed in our leopard print.

Six Months Old- Getting Ready For the Holidays

Six months old and getting ready for the Holidays. This month has been fun shopping and attending parties. We went to Marilyn & Billy Allen's (Papaw Lou's best friend) annual Christmas party. They had a room set-up for us with a port-a-crib so my parents could just stay up late and visit without having to wake me up to drive home. Dad and Matthew made their annual fudge and christmas cookies. It was a tradition in Dad's family the weekend before the holiday to do alot of baking and he uses his Grandma Nina's fudge recipe. This year Kim even came up to help Dad and take fudge home with her. We had my 6 month pictures taken at Jcpenney and Mom, Dad, & Matthew got in a few so we could have our First Family Holiday picture with me in it.

This month Mom and I joined Babystorytime at The Fishers Library on Thursdays. It was nice to get out of the house and be introduced to listening to stories while sitting on the floor. It was also time for my six month Well Check-up with Dr. Leedy. I weighed 15 pounds and my height was 25 inches. Of course, I got shots again.......

Mom decided to get the highchair out and start using it now that I can sit up balanced pretty good. So here is my first time in my big girl highchair. No more bumbo for eating......

Give Me That Sock! (More Floor Play & Rolling Everywhere)

I love playing on the floor! It is especially fun when Daisy Mae trys to play with me. She loves playing with Daddy's socks and have someone throw them for her. She was in for a surprise bringing it to me this time because I wanted to keep it! Mom says I can pretty much go anywhere I want by rolling all the way to get there. She says it makes her dizzy watching me.

My First Thanksgiving

Mom ans Mamaw Fleta started having our family Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before the holiday several years ago. It allows everyone to visit without being pressed for time and running to several other houses on Thursday. When Mom and Dad bought our home, Mom started doing it at our house so Mamaw could just do Christmas at hers. This year the Colts just happened to be playing, so we had extra entertainment. Everyone wanted to play with me on the floor and I had a blast!

On Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), this year was very different than any before. Papaw Mike and Mamaw Cathy rented Papaw's UAW Hall for a huge pitch-in celebration. They invited everyone they knew and extended the invite to others they didn't know. The idea was to have a huge family gathering made up of many families. They decorated the hall the night before, had cousin Richie- D.J. at the party, and the food...oh my gosh...so much food. Everything from fried turkeys, baked turkey's, turkey nuggets for the kids, and many many many desserts and side dishes. It was a major turn-out and everyone got to visit with cousins and friends that we don't normally get to do since nobody has a home big enough for everybody.

Aunt Kim, Uncle Jack, and Stephanie even came. Dad was very happy they excepted our invite so he could also spend time with his family. Especially this year, with the Holidays being tough for both of them. Mom was bummed later when she realized she didn't get any pictures at the hall because it was a busy day and she was overwhelmed with visiting and everyone seeing me and we visited alot with my new cousin Dakota because we hadn't seen her since the hospital.

I hope we try the Hall again someday when I can run around like the other kids..What a nice holiday!

Five Months Old- It's Fall

Fall is here! I am five months old now, and I have graduated from just cereal to other solid foods. My first was applesauce. Mom said a made a real funny face to it. I had to stay on each food for atleast 2-3 days to make sure I didn't have a reaction to it. After applesauce, I tried (in order) sweet potatoes, banana's, peas, peaches, pears, green beans, carrots, and so on.

This month along with Thanksgiving festivities, I went to my cousin Makenzie's Bowling Birthday party in Greenfield for her 6th Birthday,Nick Broaddus's highschool basketball game at Conseco, and my cousin Dakota Lee Malone was born on November 15th (pictured above with Mamaw Cathy). Yeah.. another babygirl close to my age!

I had my very first cold this month on the 11th of November. Mom was leaving for her girls Chicago shopping bus trip. I stayed with Daddy but Mom couldn't help but worry and call to check in several times while they were away....

I started sleeping in my own crib in my room on November 30th. Mom and Dad thought I was getting to big for the bassinet. Mom slept on my floor in my room the first two nights and after that they kept my camera monitor close by their bed.

My First Halloween

Wow, My first Halloween... I soon discoverd that this was a big day for my family. They had an Annual Halloween Chili Dinner. Mom made chili, special halloween treats, passed out candy, and mingled with the ladies. It was tradition that the guys took the kids to Trick Or Treat. They always have an open home for anyone who can make it.......

This year, Mamaw Fleta, Papaw Jeff, Mamaw Cathy, Papaw Mike, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Brandi, Aunt Shannon, Aunt Kim, Uncle Jack & cousins- Myles, Olivia, Peyton, Makenzie, Dallas and Stephanie- friends - Nick, Levi, & Makenzie & Donna were in attendance. I was a Pumpkin and Daisy Mae was Minnie Mouse.

Also, Cousin Olivia's actual Birthday is on Halloween. She turned 8 this year and her Mom brought a pan of brownies to celebrate with her. She is having her cake and real party over the weekend that we will attend at Pizza King. What a Fun Night!

Carving Pumpkins with Daddy

In my household Daddy is the hands on guy. He helped me carve and clean out my first pumpkins. Matthew of course set in with Mom and Dad. Mommy always cleans the seeds and lets them dry to season and bake them for a snack. She said when Matthew was little they also baked Halloween cookies when they did pumpkin carving and seed baking. They ate cookies, seeds, and popcorn while watching the scarey movie of choice to top off the evening. It sounds like I will have lots of fun in the upcoming years on this night. I am learning that Mom and Dad love Halloween. They go all out decorating our house.......

My Exersaucer

Okay so Mom couldn't wait to get me one of these things. Somebody should have told her that even though it says 4 months and up..some of us still aren't big enough. Here I am being swallowed by THE EXERSAUCER............

p.s. I did grow into it later and really started enjoying it!

Bumbo Play- My First Spoon Feeding

Grandma Fleta bought me this really soft but weird seat that I would grow to like very much. Her motivation for it was so I could still sit upright after spoon feeding me solids and drinking my bottles. She was hoping that maybe I wouldn't spit up everywhere. Mom said it didn't work with the spit-up but she liked the funny looking chair anyway. It become my seat for a lot of picture taken in the upcoming months....

Here are also some pics of my Mom spoon feeding me my cereal for the very first time.....

Four Months Old

This was a very rough month for my family along with many others to come..but they said that the joy a new baby brings still brought smiles to their sad faces even if they were tear streaking. I was told that me being here keeps Daddy, Mommy, and Matthew going thru the motions of everyday life and still something to look forward to........

This month I went to my 1st Annual Hayden Halloween Barn Party, we had dinner @ Daddy's friend Bruce's with the kids, and we took Aunt Kim, Uncle Jack and cousin Stephanie out for Kim's annual Red Lobster Birthday Dinner. It was very sad dinner for my family since Grandpa Lou wasn't there and they almost didn't do it this year...but they felt that he would want them to and he was there in spirit like he had been every year before.

Mom said on 10/12/06 I rolled over from my back to my tummy for the first time. She was in shock when she seen me do it on my playmat. She also thought I would do it from my belly to back first but I guess I like the harder way. Daddy got to see me do it when he came home but I wasn't as responsive for Matthew. He waited and waited that night to see me do it and I didn't do it again until the next day.

I had my 4 month well visit at Dr. Leedy's.....yes, shots again and I weighed 12 pounds and 8 ounces. My height was 24 inches. She was tickled that the Nutramigen worked and told Mom to go ahead and start me on solids(cereal). My bottles had already been weighed down with some cereal since I was 2 weeks old but now I get to eat it out of a bowl twice a day. Yeah!!!