Christmas 2011

This Christmas season was one that we will always remember! I am looking forward to starting fun traditions with Reid in the coming years! This year we were so excited to take Reid to look at Christmas lights and he fell asleep before we even got to our destination! :) I just had to snap a picture of his little slipperless foot in the backseat...I LOVE BABY FEET!

We've done pretty much the same thing every year since we've been married. We spend Christmas Eve with my family. We always decorate Christmas cookies and play games before heading to church. After church we have snacky foods for dinner and then open gifts.

Reid loves his Uncle Thomas and Auntie Alli!

Reid loves dancing to Christmas music with Mumsie!

Reid loves listening to Popsie's silly duck noises!

Mumsie and Popsie's dog Jack LOVES Reid. :)

We had a little photo shoot before church... Reid loved the music at church!

Reid got so many great presents! He was having fun unwrapping his first gift!Auntie Alli gave Reid a precious, personalized book about his name. It made me cry!Reid (and Mommy) were so excited about his little chair! A couple seconds later he fell face forward off the chair and cried SOOO hard! Poor baby! We may have to wait a little longer for him to use it.

After we got home on Christmas Eve and Reid was sound asleep, Santa came!

Chris decided that Santa would probably want Diet Dr. Pepper instead of milk. :) The beautiful plate and mug were a gift that we received at one of our baby showers! I thought that was such a thoughtful gift!

We loved watching our sleepy boy check out his new toy!

He got a bath time Sophie, a book, and some yogurt bites in his stocking.

On Christmas morning we stopped by my parents' house for breakfast and stockings before heading to Gonzales with Chris' family!

Reid loves his Cousin/Aunt Christie!

I love this picture of Reid with his Grandpa! They always have lots of fun together!

The Sciba men...Reid was so excited to open more presents from Sue, Christie, and Seth! He was really concentrating!

Reid is definitely a Sciba! He loves Buccees! :)When we got home from Gonzales that night, it was time for more presents with Grandma and Grandpa! Reid loved this card and wouldn't put it down!

We are SO BLESSED!

7 months!

Our sweet Reid turned 7 months old today! He is our most precious gift this Christmas. We couldn't ask for anything more. He fills our life with JOY!

Our growing boy is now in all 12 month clothes and we are about to move up to size 4 diapers! He usually eats solids twice a day (lunch and dinner). He has tried sweet potatoes, squash, avacado, green beans, peas, carrots, pears, and prunes. LOTS OF PRUNES. His little tummy has taken a while to adjust to solids...poor baby.
Sleeping is the same as last month. We will just leave it at that. :)

Everyone that is around Reid always says what a happy baby he is! It is true. He is just the HAPPIEST little thing. He smiles, squeals, and laughs all day long! He loves the sound of his voice. He loves looking in the mirror and smiles the second he sees a camera. He is turning into quite a ham, which is surprising to me!
I feel like he is starting to get a little antsy during playtime. He isn't really at the point where he can play with toys yet. He is enjoying sitting up and holding/looking at/chewing on his toys, but I think he is ready to do a little more and start moving. He just started log rolling to get places this week. He is trying to get up on all fours, but hasn't quite mastered it yet. I can tell he is getting frustrated. He still loves looking at books (yay!), jumping in the jumperoo, going on walks, swinging at the park, and running errands with me!

We are so excited about celebrating Christmas with our little miracle! Sweet boy, we love you to the moon and back!

Teamwork

Being a parent is not an easy job, but good teamwork makes it so much easier and so much more fun! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful parenting partner! I think we have laughed more in the last 7 months than we have in 10 years. Chris is such a huge help around the house and with Reid. I love how we've gotten into our little routine as a family and it just runs like clockwork. We know who does what and when and how to do it. Nobody can make Reid laugh like Chris does! He can really get him going! Reid is not really a fussy baby, but he pretty much screams from the moment we take him out of the tub (because he LOVES bath time) to the time Chris gives him his bedtime bottle. Getting Reid into his diaper and pajamas is not an easy task! A lot of silly singing and dancing happened between the picture above and the picture below! Chris is a great distraction for Reid while I am trying to get him dressed for bed! :)

Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and daddy, Chris! :)

Fun with Friends

Last week we had our small group Christmas party! This is our third year to be in this small group and we are so blessed by the friends we've made.

Most of our group (a few of the guys couldn't come)...

Such a special group of ladies...
Today Reid's best friend Clara and Clara's mommy, grandmother LeeLee, and aunt Lolly came over for lunch! Mumsie and Auntie Alli came over too. We just love the Morris girls and love spending time with them.

Clara is such a BEAUTIFUL little girl and always has on the most precious outfits and bows!
Reid loves Clara and was so excited that she came over to play!

Precious friends are such a treasure!

Baby Bedhead

When I went in to get Reid after his nap, he was snuggled up in the corner of his bed. When I picked him up, he had a serious case of bedhead!

He was wearing his sleepsack in the first couple of pictures. :)

"Mommy, this is kind of embarrassing!"
Then he started posing. He loves the camera!

Parallels

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I have already been away from teaching for 6 months. I still find myself thinking about school a lot...not missing it exactly, just thinking about it. It might be because I pass by my school every single time I leave my house. It was my life for 6 years so it's hard to turn off the "teacher brain" sometimes. I think about things like what the kids are probably learning this time of year, the busyness and stress at the end of a six weeks, the preparation for the week before Christmas break. I even still have "teacher dreams". I've realized over the last few months that while there are many differences in being a mommy and a teacher, there are also a lot of similarities!

Here are a few that come to mind:

• At the end of the day you find interesting things all over your body. As a teacher it was usually marker on my hands, chalk on my pants, or unidentified stickiness on my arms or clothes. As a mommy it is usually spit up, baby food, or again, unidentified stickiness! :)


• Your day is a continuous series of quick decision making.


• You are always picking up after somebody (or 22 somebodies).


• You are always "on". There is always someone depending on you.


• You carry around a lot of bags of random stuff.


• SO MUCH preparation goes into being away from your job even if it's just for an hour.


• There is always, always, always something to learn. You never reach your peak and you can always improve!


• It never gets old to see your students or baby grow and learn something new.


• You question yourself all the time because someone else's well being is affected by how well you are doing your job. You lay awake at night wondering if you are doing enough no matter how hard you work.


• You are challenged and stretched in ways you never knew possible!

You're Here

During the Christmas season I am always amazed when I think of Mary. Having a baby boy of my own has given me a glimpse of how Mary must have felt when she held baby Jesus for the first time. I heard a song a couple of days ago that brought me to tears. It's called You're Here by Francesca Battistelli and it's BEAUTIFUL...

Hold on now, I've got to take a deep breath.
I don't know what to say when I look into your eyes.
You made the world before I was born.
Here I am holding you in my arms tonight.

Noel, noel, Jesus our Emmanuel
You're here.
I'm holding you so near.
I'm staring into the face of my savior, king and creator.
You could've left us on our own, but you're here.

I don't know how long I'm going to have you for
But I'll be watching when you change the world.
I look at your hands, they're still so small.
Someday you're going to stretch them out and save us all.

Noel, noel, God with us Emmanuel
You're here.
I'm holding you so near.
I'm staring into the face of my savior, king and creator.
You could've left us on our own, but you're here, you're here.

Someday I'm going to look back on this
The night that God became my baby boy.
Someday you're going to go home again
But you'll leave your spirit and flood the world with joy.

You'll be here.
I'm holding you so near.
I'm staring into the face of my savior, king and creator.
You could've left me on my own, but you're here, you're here.
Hallelujah, you're here!

My sister took our Christmas card pictures this year and I think they turned out so cute! I just love Christmas cards...sending them and receiving them! Here are the pictures that we used on our cards this year...

Decorating for Christmas took a lot longer this year than any other year. I had to do it in several small increments instead of spending a few hours all at once. I wanted to go for a more whimsical look this year which turned into an obsession with deco mesh.

The nativity didn't get "meshed". :)

Mom gets me a piece to my snow village every year. My parents' snow village was always my favorite part of their Christmas decor as a child.

This afternoon we went back to the mall to get a picture with Santa.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.

Luke 2:10-11