Christmas in Missouri

The morning of the 26th we took off to Missouri to do Christmas yet again with the Jaco family. More fun and food was to be had. Jay even got to take Laurel to the famous Christmas window in Cape Girardeau that he grew up going to each year.

The trip ended on a sad note as aunt Alicia's mom lost her battle with cancer. Our prayers are with her and our extended family grieving their loss.

Christmas with Mimi and Pop Pop

After opening gifts at home, we drove up to Mooresville and had Christmas again with Mimi and Pop Pop. What fun!

Christmas Morning 2008

Christmas with Nana and Poppy

Hmm...a funny looking man....

Can we play?

Hi everyone!

We spent this past weekend in Montgomery for a pre-Christmas visit. It was nice to see everyone even if for a short time. On Friday night we had a great dinner at Nancy Patterson's Bistro within walking distance of the house. The next day we had a family lunch at Derk's with everyone including David! Also, I helped Dad shop for Mom (He is hopeless by himself doing this!) and made a visit to Bass Pro with Jay. As an early present, Nana and Poppy babysat Laurel while we went out to dinner and a movie. We saw "Australia"...it was amazing! I highly recommend it!

More Christmas Photos...

First Santa Weekend...

Last weekend we had a Santa Extravaganza weekend with Mimi and PopPop up in Huntsville. She started the weekend with a party Saturday morning.

She was not the happiest to be with Santa....but granted, she was tired and hungry.

Laurel with Pop-Pop at the Lockheed Martin Children's Christmas Party.

After the party we made a quick trip to the PX and got to see Santa again. This time she was happy and we got a good picture. Unfortunately, it is printed and I forgot to take a picture of the picture to post it. I'll upload when we get the camera back.

Once we were done at the PX, we went to the North Alabama Train Museum and went on a Santa Train trip. And yes, Santa was on the train too! We also got to meet Granny Claus (Santa's Grandma)!


After the Santa Train we got a brief rest and then we were off again....to Santa's Village!

Santa's Village is at Constitution Village. It is quite the set up. You make ornaments, listen to a singing penguin, see real reindeer, listen to Mrs. Claus tell stories, write letters to Santa, decorate cookies, and so much more. Just above you can get a glimpse of the snow that is pumped every 20 minutes! It's a lovely bit of soap suds...but fun! We did not see Santa again as the line was never-ending....but we'd definitely seen Santa enough that day:)


We also spent so nice time hanging out back at the house. You can see her lovely example of "bed head" above as well as playing and trying out the new children's rocking chair.

What a great weekend!

6 month photos

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These photos are thanks to our neighbor. She is an aspiring photographer and I let her practice on Laurel. Are they not beautiful pictures? Thanks Cheryl...

Broken Camera...

So...our camera is at the camera hospital somewhere...Not sure what happened? I was just taking pictures of Laurel, my favorite subject, in various Christmas outfits...and all of sudden I took a picture and it turned out black? Strange...so we will update without pictures for a while...hopefully we'll have it back by Christmas...What a time of year to have this happen!

Well, today Laurel is 28 weeks old! So hard to believe! She is sitting confidently, napping well, and sleeping well (with the occasional bad nights). We have moved on to bananas and green beans in our solid food introduction. So far she seems to like it all!

I am trying my hand at making some of her food. At this point I've made avacado and apples. I'm going to try carrots and green beans soon! It seems a little time consuming...but I think it saves us money and in this economy, we can use that!

If you get a chance look that the blog to the right, "Baby Heath Updates". This is the baby of a cousin of Jay's that is awaiting a heart transplant. Please keep them in your prayers.

Sweet Potatoes

We moved on from rice cereal to our first food today. I decided to try sweet potatoes. She seemed to like it and ate like a champ!

Six Months

Laurel sporting her first Christmas outfits of the year....one of her Christmas pajamas!

Yesterday we went to her six month appointment. Everything is good! She is 16 lbs and 28 inches. This puts her in the 55th percentile for weight and greater than 100th for height. She also got 5 shots yesterday which she seems to be sleeping off today. All is well in Baby Laurel's world!

More Thanksgiving...

Happy Girl! Sitting so well!

The greater Burton clan at Smith Mountain Lake.

A version of the McPhillips 2008 Christmas card!
Aunt Grace trying to get Laurel to color...not quite there yet!

Rummy

We decided to break Laurel into the many card games that go on during a Burton Thanksgiving weekend. Here she is participating in her first game of Rummy...am I spelling that right? Next up...teaching her to hide the cards! Ha!

First Feeding

They say to wait till six months these days to start solids. Lucky for us, six months was Thanksgiving Day. She had her first feast too! I think waiting made the whole process so much easier. She is loving being a big girl!

Another milestone...sitting....in the tub!

Laurel is now able to sit in the bathtub! This has opened up a whole new world of water fun!

This cup is mine...

Lately we've noticed that Laurel is always grabbing at our cups and trying to bring them to her mouth. I decided today to get her first "Training Cup" or "Sippy Cup". What a hit this is! It's funny to watch her try and figure this new toy out! I'm sure it will take no time...

And sitting...isn't she doing great? She is mostly sitting by herself and learning to balance quite well. I can't get over how fast all these milestones seem to come.

One more thing, she officially has two teeth! The second one came in last weekend.
My new toy!I think I know how this works...Almost!....let's try this again...
Nope that not it either...There...I got it...but now I need someone to sit me up again!