Christmas Recap (Warning - long post with lots of pictures)

We had a great Christmas this year. We were blessed to be able to visit with lots of family and spent lots of time together. It was wonderful to be able to see everyone, but it's not always the most restful time for us. Both Russell and I have lots of family in the Houston area and in an effort to make everyone happy we end up making the rounds. There may be a time when we have to make changes, but it's difficult to know how to handle making a change to traditions. We're the first in both of our families to get married and have children and therefore are the ones that are affected. It's a delicate balance that we're striving to accomplish. Now, onto the pictures...


Christmas Eve at the Rover's (Amber's grandparents, with her Dad's side of the family)

Family pic

4 generations of Rover/Wiggins
Drew with (Great)Gramps

Opening presents (this one is a great folding table and chair set).

Christmas morning at Gigi and Grandpa's (Russell's mom and step dad, with grandparents and Auntie Randi - Russell's sister)

Drew and Gigi

Look what Santa brought!

It's a great place to eat some breakfast and open your stocking...

Family pic

Russell and Amber

Handing out presents

Opening presents (he was starting to figure out that there were fun toys under all that paper)

Drew's new Magnadoodle

Christmas at the Blankenship's (Amber's mom's sister's house with her mom's side of family)

Drew loved playing with Aunt Carole's dancing snowmen

Amber and Aunt Becca

Drew's first set of Legos (I'm sure there will be many more to come)

Russell's new Polar Express train (it was the year of the train..)

Drew's new train set

Puzzles with Aunt Carole and Uncle Ron

"Do not unwrap until April..."

Cousins on the staircase

Christmas at Uncle Dan's (Russell's mom's brother)

Christmas with the Wiggins' the day after (Russell's dad and step mom, grandparents, and Dad's side of family)

Drew and Papaw reading

Drew, Papaw Dave, Ben and Buster playing in Drew's new tent

Drew's new toy box, built especially for him by Papaw

After Christmas Russell went skiing in Winter Park with his dad and sister. They had a great time and everyone came back with all bones, ligaments, and tendons in the same shape that they left!

Randi, Dave, and Russell

Russell (isn't he cute???)

Russell and Randi

And finally, here's a few pictures from after Christmas...
Drew helping Daddy put together his new wagon (before he went skiing)

Drew going for a ride with Grandpa Randy

Drew and Gigi on the carousel at the mall

Drew and Grandpa playing in the play space at the mall

Christmas cookies

One of my favorite (though time consuming) Christmas traditions is making cookies to share with family and friends. It was always something fun that I enjoyed doing with my mom and sister when we were going up and is a tradition that I plan to continue with my boys (for as long as they'll put up with it.) Drew "helped" last year just a little bit, but this year he really started getting into it. It takes a little longer than if I did it myself, but the memories are priceless and make it all worth it.

Ready to make cookies with Mommy

"Mommy, why are you putting stuff on the counter? You're making a mess..."
"Ooooh, you'll let me get messy too???"

Rolling out the dough

Using cookie cutters

Putting on sprinkles (with Daddy's help)

22 weeks

I had my 22 week appointment last Friday (postponed a day because of the snow). Everything checked out great and we're measuring right on track. He's moving around a LOT and had a good heartbeat of 143 bpm. I'm feeling pretty good these days and am trying to capitalize on these moments while I can. I can hardly believe that he'll be here in less than 4 months!!! (Teaser: we have decided on a name, but you'll just have to wait to find out what it is!!!)


Now, here's a little glimpse into the future. We bought Drew a baby doll to try to help him start to make a connection between the "baby in Mommy's tummy" and a real baby. (BTW, it's really hard to find a baby boy doll - go figure, huh? - but I found one and I'm pretty proud of myself.) Drew is pretty good so far about being gentle with the doll, although he does like to poke at it's eyes. It came with a hat and a pacifier. He likes to pull the hat off, but then says "uh-oh" and wants you to put it back on. It's pretty cute. I know that we'll have plenty of issues to deal with when the baby comes in April, but at least it's a start.

SNOW!!!!

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sight! SNOW!! In Southeast Louisiana!! It doesn't happen very often, so it's an exciting surprise when it does pop up. This was Drew's first chance to see snow. He was pretty amazed at what he saw, but wasn't completely sure about what to do about the cold, wet stuff that was falling on his head. Russell was even able to come home and share this special time with us. His boss told him that there were just some things that you shouldn't miss and sent him home. The snow has stopped for now and is just about all melted away, but we'll have these memories (and our pictures) forever. Enjoy and stay warm!!

Drew looking out the back window at the snowSuch excitement!!

What exactly IS this stuff???
I'm not so sure I like this...
Mommy and Drew
Daddy making snowballs
Drew's snowballDrew and Daddy throwing snowballs at Mommy (video)

Drew and Daddy