9 month tess and merry christmas!

well, it's christmas eve, and several days past tess's 9 month birthday, but i've been busy living life instead of writing about it! i do apologize for my lack of posting, but between baby, family, and work, i just don't have a lot of time for me - since blogging is pretty much something i do for myself, though i appreciate that you all partake in the reading :-) but that's ok, i wouldn't have it any other way right now.

sweet baby girl is getting so old so fast! she had her 9 month pediatrician appointment this week, and her doctor, dr. mann, basically told us she's a genius (which we already knew). she's way above average for all of her developmental milestones and, in his words, "one of the most social 9 month olds i've seen in a long time." yep, that's my kid!

she loves pulling up on anything and everything. she looks like a rock climber, looking for her next hold and pulling herself along every obstacle. she lets go with one hand, then the other, standing for a few seconds on her own before falling on her bottom. [behind her baby gate prison]

she eats tons of solid foods, including most all fruits, veggis, and starches, chicken, turkey, and beans, and now some dairy like cheese and yogurt. she's still breastfeeding in the morning and evening, but she drinks bottles of formula during the daytime. she's sleeping through the night, with few middle-of-the-night awakenings, and goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up around 5:45 but will snuggle in the bed for an hour or so nursing, cuddling, giggling, and playing with mom and dad. i love it. it makes me so sad when i have to get up early for work and can't take advantage of snuggle time, but i recognize how blessed i am to get that time with her most days.
tess loves playing with toys, reading books (especially books that play sounds or songs), being tickled, singing the "eensy weensy spider", making faces, squealing and shrieking with joy, meeting new people, waving, clapping, and dancing with mommy or daddy. she says the words mama and dada and knows what several other words mean including no, hungry, and eat. she can pick up little pieces of food with her fingertips and get it into her mouth. she CAN use a sippy cup and hold a bottle for herself, but prefers for mom and dad to do it. she LOVES bathtime, and she does ok for naps. naps have been a challenge her whole life, but as i type, she has been sleeping for almost 2 hours, the longest morning nap i think she's ever taken in her crib! she's moved into a convertible carseat - in "cowmooflauge" print, and we hoped it would help her enjoy car rides more... it sort of does, maybe. i think she's more comfortable in it, but as long as she's rear-facing, i think she'll be unhappy in the car. which, according to dr. mann, will probably be until she's about 18 months due to her weight.

and on that note, 9 month turtle stats!
height - 26.25 in (10th percentile)
weight - 16 lbs 5.5 oz (15th percentile)*
head circumference - 43.5 cm (45th percentile... for her huge brain)
*she hasn't gained much weight since her 6 month visit, which both surprised and concerned me, but dr. mann said it's ok because she is still fine for her height/weight ratio, and she must have been using most of her energy to grow tall instead of wide. still though, i'm going to be pumping her full of formula and food to make sure i'm not starving my poor baby! ...and also to get her in the front-facing weight range as early as possible!!!

these days we have a more normal-ish schedule, definitely for bedtime and wake up time, but her first nap is usually somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30, she eats solids 3x/day, and her second nap is usually around 1:30 or 2:30. occasionally there's a quick third snooze around 4ish, but not every day, and usually that one is in the car traveling somewhere. other than that, we spend our time playing, hugging, dancing, and going places (usually like wal-mart for exciting things like dish detergent). i'm working 2-3 days a week - monday, saturday, and every other wednesday or thursday, so i'm up to 20-30 hour a week at work (which i think i already explained before), which i enjoy. unfortunately, during the weeks that i work 30 hours, the house usually ends up a wreck, and that's embarassing, but what 'ya gonna do??

the only two areas tess seems to be behind in are her teeth - still none showing, though the doctor said when they start, she'll probably get lots all at once, because they're all right there; the other being hair. i don't think she's officially "behind" per se... but i would love to clip a little hair thing in there (no huge bows please, but a little one would be sweet!), but alas, her strawberry locks are probably 2 cm at longest!

[tess helped decorate!]
[and helped pick out and bring home her first tree!]

alright, well the turtle has awakened, and i must get back to the christmas eve festivities! have a blessed christmas weekend!

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

santa baby...

i've definitely been in the christmas spirit recently. with the tree and our lights, i've been excited for the season to get into full swing. i'm kind of a scrooge when it comes to playing christmas music in OCTOBER, but once thanksgiving is over, bring it on! i love that the weather has gotten cold (finally), and although i was crabby about getting rain instead of snow at our house, while it rained just 20 mins west of us, i am enjoying having our house decorated and getting stuff ready for the big day. our plans this year include the christmas eve lovefeast at ckmc (a mostly annual tradition), christmas morning/afternoon at my parents' house, and dinner with andrew's mom. then, we both took off until january 2nd, so that we could have a real vacation together before little baby k's born in april. oh, and in honor of the little bean... this is an actual ultrasound from 18 wks that i modified using picnic - how cute?!
i was going to print them off and put them in the christmas cards (which we sent out in time for christmas this year!), but i didn't get around to it, so blogland can enjoy them instead.

let's see, what should we catch you up on... last weekend, we went to the carefirst christmas party. it was ok, not as much fun as past years in my opinion, but i'm sure the fact that i was playing sober sally, and had worked that morning, and had swollen ankles before we even arrived did not help my mood. it was nice that they put the event on and good to see my coworkers out of a work setting, but we called it an early night.

later in the week, lillie decided to give me a heart attack when she ran out of the open gate and went missing for about 6 hours... beginning around 7:45pm. yes, this means we found her around 2am... and that i'd pretty much been crying my eyes out for a good 4 hours. see, she has run off before, but we can usually hear her still, and she's come back within 30mins to an hour. this time, i thought she was surely hit by a car or shot by a neighbor. andrew searched, he drove the nearby streets, i wandered around the woods (until i thought i might be shot), andrew searched again, and then we almost just gave up and went to bed, but andrew, feeling sorry for me sitting there calling for her and then collapsing into a fit of sobs before going to bed decided to look one more time. after not finding her, he was returning home when she popped out of the woods behind our house. he brought her back, and she was relatively unscathed. she had cuts and bruises and smelled like cow poop, but nothing huge. when she saw me crying, it was obvious she felt bad for running off. we bathed her in the tub and went to bed, but she looked guilty and sulky for the rest of the night. i took her in to work (the vet) the next day, and other than developing a skin infection, is no worse for the wear.

yesterday, we both worked and then andrew got a haircut out in durham, so i met mom for lunch. we came back here and were lazy for the rest of the day, ordering pizza in and watching silly shows on the tv with the dogs laying around the living room. this morning, we got up and had a nice breakfast, followed by completing our christmas shopping in a total of 2.5 hours. pretty impressive especially considering that we hadn't done ANY at all before today AND that we bought my christmas present from my mom to me (strange to buy your own present, i know, but she told us to), so i am now a proud owner of a brand new sewing machine! woohoo! my first project... as soon as we can buy some fabric... will be stockings to hang on the fireplace. hopefully these will be completed before christmas, we shall see.

now, andrew is finishing painting the baby's room while i prepare for the mandatory sunday afternoon nap :-) pregnancy does have some benefits -- hehehe. and, la piece de resistance... 25 week belly pics:
there's no denying there's something growing... besides my chest :-P

playing catch-up

well it's been a long time since i've blogged, but i have so many topics, i'm not sure which one to write about! unfortunately, i think that leads me to listing, so here i go!

the weeks of pregnancy continue passing, and i am getting larger. with the abundance of my bosom (shall we say?), it is hard to see that my belly is actually getting much larger, but i can tell it is. [you can see that i am THRILLED about the idea of pictures being taken of me in my bloated state] i had some back problems a week or so ago, but barricading myself in bed with thousands of pillows each night has really helped. i have been blessed to have had a relatively lighter work schedule this past month or so, but even working 40 hours like i am this week, i'm doing ok getting through it. i also bought new work shoes, which i believe are contributing to my better back situation. though things like new orthopedically correct shoes are expensive, i have found they are a pregnancy necessity. and, though not a necessity, andrew did buy me a replacement ring to wear on my ring finger since my wedding set has been too small for me for a while now. i finally feel like i'm married again! (i know it's silly, but having the ring on just makes me feel better.)

thanksgiving week was an interesting one for us, as we both worked all day every day except thanksgiving itself. it was sort of a bummer to not have a long time off to celebrate my favorite holiday, but we got to spend some time together with my parents, and that was nice. plus, there was a plethora of traditional foodstuffs, which cannot be forgotten! i know there are pictures, so i'll have to commandeer them from my mother.

the following weekend we got a somewhat impromptu visit from my cousin, michelle, which was awesome. we hung out, talked long into the night (for us old fogeys anyway), and had a TON of laughs. my face actually hurt from all the smiling. there's nothing like family and a good friend wrapped up into one package to remind you what it means to be happy. she offered a lot of pregnancy sympathy as well as a ton of baby-raising advice, and she's a great christian-married-woman sounding board. i really enjoyed her visit. i enjoyed it so much so that i completely forgot to take a single picture! for shame!

this weekend, andrew and i were extremely productive -- i got a wonderful christmas bonus from work, so the penny-pinching we've been doing was able to lighten up for one weekend at least. it was really nice. we got a beautiful christmas tree and decorated it, bought decorations for the house and have been putting them up, did some general shopping for things we needed, and la piece de resistance, we bought a couch! i have been searching for a couch to replace the one we have for at least 2 years now, and though we did not get a sectional as planned, we bought a couch that i love, that will hopefully be very comfortable for me during my huge months of pregnancy. it'll be delivered right before christmas!

today was my day off, so i got to sleep in, have lunch with andrew, straighten up the yard/porch/driveway a little, put up some garland, re-install the driveway lights, and clean the kitchen. and as soon as he gets home, we'll make some dinner -- on days like this i love our quiet little country life :-)

the holidays are coming

this was the first weekend that i felt like the holidays are right around the bend! my work schedule has been a little strange recently, but i have been blessed with several saturdays off, so i have been able to enjoy having two days in a row with andrew - something i haven't really had since i was teaching. it has been so nice. i hate that it will come to an end after this week, but i do have the week between christmas and new years off, so i guess that will be ok :-)

in honor of the cool air and weekend off, i decided to make a crock-pot of venison chili yesterday that we served over rice with all the fixin's, and i even made cornbread. i felt oso domestic, and according to our friends, whitney and scott, i make excellent chili - yay! i don't have any pictures, but i'd be glad to share my recipe if you're interested. i used venison because andrew had some from a friend at work, but i look forward to substituting it with beef, chicken, or another protein in the future since the venison is a little tougher of a meat.

along with the chill in the air and the chili in the crock pot, this weekend sure felt like fall, and i know i've said it before, but my FAVORITE holiday is thanksgiving. i don't know if it always has been, but i just have such great memories of it from when i was growing up. we always used to pack in the car and drive from our house down to savannah to spend it with my dad's family, which included his brother and sisters, their kids, my grandma sara, aunt faye (who was really great aunt faye), granny (my great-grandmother), and random others depending on the year. i was never thrilled about the drive, or even about the sleeping arrangements - grandma sara smoked a ton, and her whole house made us stink the entirety of our time there, plus matthew and i were "the young cousins", but something about all those people together, being family, making food, and being thankful really felt good. we haven't gone down there for a big family gathering in a long time - all the "kids" have grown up and have families of their own, and granny, faye, and grandma sara have all passed away, but i still think of thanksgiving as the best holiday of the year. i don't even think it's about the food, though who could dislike a holiday created around gluttony ;-) but thinking about it and feeling the holidays in the air always makes me happy.

i think that your favorite holiday says a lot about you and what you value in life - what's your favorite holiday and why?

this year is bringing a lot of firsts with it for andrew and me, but that also means it's bringing its share of lasts as well. this will be our last holiday season without a child in the house, which means the last one without the craziness that brings, so hopefully we can take advantage of that and do some fun married-without-children things... though i am starting to feel uncomfortable a lot of the time, so things like camping (where i don't have my big cushy bed) are out of the question! we'll have to see!

the belly's getting bigger, perhaps i'll post some pics in a few days - you'll just have to keep checking back!