Christmas Part 2

These pictures begin on Christmas Eve night.  We attempted another family picture.  Success!

 

At Gran and Granpa's house Jolie got to hang out with her cousin, Finley.  They are just seven weeks apart and were so cute together.  Jolie loved to hug him!

Jolie had a good time opening her puppy from Gran and Granpa.

On Christmas morning, at our house I did not get great pictures, but we have some sweet video of Jolie crawling into the living room and clapping when she saw her presents in front of the tree!

Jolie isn't quite sure what to do with her rocking horse, but she sure is cute sitting on it!

A family picture at Granny and Grandad's

I love that Jolie's first Christmas was a white one!  She was fascinated by the snow.

If you look closely, you can see that she was sticking her tongue out trying to catch some snowflakes.

Jolie with Granny and Grandad

Jolie clapped when she was her new vanity from Aunt Mel.  Jolie loves anything with a mirror!

She also loves Elmo...Mommy is so grateful for Elmo some days, too!

Aunt Rachel helping Jolie figure out her new toy

Cole modeling new shoes

Jolie with Nina and Papa at the SEVENTH and final Christmas!

Christmas was so much more fun this year and I know next year will only be better! 

Eleven Months

Jolie is ELEVEN months!  I cannot believe that her first birthday is just a month away! 

Jolie seems to be slowing down in the growth department but is definitely not slowing down in any other way.  She is so busy these days. She wont sit still for any length of time and likes to roam the house looking for things she can get into.  Jolie is extremely curious and wants to investigate everything and is still constantly asking "wassat?" Jolie is cruising along the edges of our couches, tables, and her toys all of the time.  She got a shopping cart and a dog push toy for Christmas and can walk behind them really well.  She isn't walking on her own yet, but I don't think it will be too long before she is.  She has 8 teeth now! You really see them when she's talking and smiling now and they make her look so big! 

Jolie is a fickle eater.  She always eats fruit and breads well, but I never know what she will do with veggies or meat.  She will eat any vegetable pureed but only likes finger food veggies when she's in the mood.  I'm always amazed at the quantity of food that little bitty girl can eat!  She likes food like her mommy :) 

Jolie has been taking two cat naps a day.  We tried to drop one to see if she'd nap longer...nope!   She still only slept for thirty minutes in the afternoon and was cranky all morning.  So, two short naps it is!  She teased us the start of Christmas break and for about a week slept until 7:30.  It was a wonderful Christmas present!  I thought it was going to be our new normal, but she has started waking up early again.  I'm still hopeful!

Loving on her bear :)

I think my favorite thing about Jolie right now is how affectionate she is.  She loves to give hugs and kisses and it melts my heart.  She loves on her dolls and Elmo toy while saying "Awww."  Lately she has been very generous with her kisses while I bathe her.  She plays and splashes, then pauses to pull up on the side of the tub to give me a kiss, and then repeats the cycle about ten times.  I love it!

Getting Ready for Christmas

We put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Jolie loves to look at it!

She went to visit Santa at the mall, but was not impressed.  She is very uncertain of strangers right now, even nice ones that bring presents. 

Jolie has a couple of Christmas outfits that I love, and I am making sure to get lots of wear out of them this month!  This is my favorite one, and it's even better because her little friend, Aubree, has it too!

Aren't they cute?? Hard to get a picture of, but very cute!

 
Most of the pictures we took looked like this.  The girls just couldn't keep their hands off each other!

We have our first of six family Christmas celebrations this weekend.  You'll be seeing lots of Christmas pictures from us!

Ten Months

Jolie turned ten months last week.  I cannot believe that we are approaching her first birthday!  It has been the fastest ten months of my life!

Jolie happened to be ten months on Mommy's birthday :)

Jolie definitely keeps us laughing right now!  She gets sillier everyday.  She loves to laugh and make others laugh!  She has enjoyed fake coughing/laughing for months, but has recently started using her fake laugh as a tool to get the attention of strangers.  Jolie will often "laugh" while we are in line to check out at the store or at a restaurant until someone around her makes eye contact with her...then she turns on the charm and flirts.  Jolie's new favorite things to say are "wassat?" (what's that/) and "whosat?" (who's that?)  She points at things and people and says "Wassat? Wassat?" over and over.  She especially loves pictures and we can't go down the hall without looking and pointing at the pictures and asking who they all are.  Jolie also says "uh uh" (uh oh) while dropping her cup or toys.  This has become one of her favorite mealtime games. 

She is still a great eater and is eating mostly finger foods.  She loves most fruit, especially bananas, blueberries, and pears.  Her favorite food is vanilla wafers!  When we get the box out of the cabinet she starts dancing in her chair and squealing with excitement.  It's pretty cute! 

Jolie crawls everywhere and is getting very fast.  She loves to be chased and giggles as she hurries away from us.  She gets into EVERYTHING and loves to try to go places she is not allowed.  She wants to get in the bathroom so badly and gets mad when we shut the door and spoil her fun.  She pulls up on all our furniture and can cruise along the edge of the couch or her crib. 

Cole and I are so excited about her first Christmas!

Nine Months

Jolie is a big nine months now! 

 

People often say, "Where did your baby go?  She looks like a little girl!"  Jolie is most definitely still a baby and I want to keep her that way as long as I can!  She is starting to look like a little girl with her long hair and her little body slimming down though.  At her nine month check-up, Jolie weighed 18 lbs 4 oz  (45th percentile) and was 28 3/4 inches long (80th.) We are realizing that Jolie inherited her mommy and daddy's allergies, poor girl!  We made our first trip to the doctor for something other than a check-up recently due to her snotty little nose.  A week later, at her check-up she had her first ear infection.  The last couple of weeks she's been very clingy and having trouble napping since she hasn't felt her best.  Jolie is finally starting to feel like herself again and is sleeping better.  We are all happy about that!  She now has six teeth, and you are really starting to see them when she smiles. 

Jolie is crawling all over the place.  She is fast and tries to get into everything! I absolutely love it when she crawls into my lap to sit with me.  Jolie is also pulling up on anything she can and once I've seen her let go and stand by herself briefly. 

One day Jolie had a blast chasing the Roomba.  Please excuse her unsnapped onesie and lack of pants.

 

Jolie can say "dada," "mama," "yay," and sometimes will say "bye bye" and "shhh."  I'm not sure she knows what any of those mean, but she will repeat us when we say them.

We are having lots of fun trying new foods now.  Jolie is getting better at feeding herself, and it is one of the cutest things.  She looks so big sitting in her highchair eating.  Some of her favorite new foods are Gerber meat sticks (she will NOT eat pureed meat), crackers, yogurt.  She still loves all fruit too.  Jolie likes veggies...just not enough to put them in her mouth.  She eats them well when I feed them to her, but just stares at them on her tray. 

She's just perfect :)

Happy Halloween!

Jolie had a very fun first Halloween!  On Sunday evening, we went to the church Funival where we got to hang out with lots of Jolie's favorite people.

 

What a cute little cow!

 

Jolie is very blessed with lots of little friends at church.  Jolie got to see her buddy Jaxon.

 Jolie with sweet Harper

 

Jolie and little Aubree

Jolie also got to see her grandparents!

Uncle Jason and Aunt Rachel

I love this one!

Jolie LOVES Katie!  We told Katie that we need her every time we take Jolie's picture.  Jo always has a huge smile for Katie!

Jolie also always smiles for her cousins!  Here she is with Marlee and Lilly (and Aunt Rachel.) Beau was around somewhere, but we never got a picture.

 

The little cow on actual Halloween 

In cow position

 

Jolie trick-or-treated at her grandparents' houses.

 



 

Cole had a football game, so that was our next stop...in costume, of course!

 

Later, Jolie tried on Mommy's first Halloween costume.  She is missing the little witch hat, but still pretty cute!