Christmas Eve

This Christmas was so special with Lilly around! We celebrated Christmas this year in Longview and did our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with our family of 3, mel & cace, mom (lulu) & dad (j pop), memaw & papaw, aunt kim, uncle greg, jordan & meredith. Below are some pictures of the delicious food! It was fun and a nice change of pace to take some pictures of still objects since I'm normally trying to catch my cute wiggle wort on camera. Mom and I cooked and cooked for 3 days preparing all the yummy goodness! Somehow I didn't get a pic of the desserts which were wonderful as well. After dinner we ended the evening by doing our traditional readings of the Christmas story in the Bible and Twas the Night Before Christmas by candlelight.

the centerpiece... my mom is so creative! she cut these branches out of the woods, put them in cool glass jars, sprayed snow on them, and then decorated them with red balls and bird ornaments. very whimsical!!

uncle greg sneaking a turkey taster and memaw chatting it up

spinach rockefeller

cornbread dressing, cheese grits and cranberry sauce

yummy salad made by aunt kim

smoked turkey... Greenberg of course!

peppered beef tenderloin

cace and mel being santa's helpers in the kitchen

On Christmas night we had chili, duck gumbo, and turkey sandwiches with the whole crew once Aunt Jenn, Paige, Nancy, & Andrew arrived. Unfortunately Dad came down with the flu on Wednesday before Christmas so sadly he spent the majority of the holiday quarantined in his bedroom. He was a trooper and a great patient! He wore a mask and was able to join us for some present opening Christmas day. I can't believe I don't have a picture of him in his mask... but he is probably grateful.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I can't believe Christmas is almost here! This is by far my favorite time of the year. I love all the decorations, Christmas carols, family traditions, cool weather, gingerbread lattes, twinkle lights, the hustle and bustle of NorthPark, family time, and most importantly celebrating the birth of Christ! I hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas and some sweet time together as you reflect on all the blessings God has provided and look forward to a wonderful new year!

Jeremiah's favorite part in prepping for Christmas! The lights! He loves doing it every year and this year was exceptionally fun because he got to come up with a new design for a new house. I was impressed and I must say it definitely competes with the other lights on the street that were professionally installed. I love my very own Clark Griswald! :)

We had quite the adventure picking out our 1st Christmas tree as a family of three! Since we moved, the tree now goes in the family room which has vaulted ceilings. So... I decided we didn't need to measure our ceilings because surely they do not make a tree that tall. We went to Lowes and picked out the perfect tree. Surrounded by all the other trees and on top of the car the tree did not look that big. When we got home and got it inside it was a different story. It in fact was the perfect height and the tip top of the star barely touches the ceiling... but it is a large tree! In fact we joke that we feel like the Nutcracker when the people shrink under the BIG Christmas tree!

Look at the height of the french doors compared to the tree to get a feel for the size...

Waiting in link to meet Santa! Jeremiah went early that morning to get a ticket and when we went back at 4pm we only had to wait about 8 minutes! Amazing!

Santa attempting to wake Lilly up for a picture!

2 months old

It's hard to believe Lilly is already 2 months old (really 2 1/2... I'm behind)! She is smiling tons and makes the cutest cooing sounds! She also recognizes my voice and loves to stare at me and her daddy. She is still sleeping like a champ. At 2 weeks old we dropped the 11pm feeding and she goes down about 10pm now and wakes up at 6am, 8 hours straight! Then she eats at 6am and then goes down for another 2 hours. She naps in her crib during the day but sleeps in the pack n play in our room at night. She is on a pretty consistent schedule of feed, awake, then sleep. She is a very happy baby and tons of fun to be around!

I just love her roly poly thighs and chipmunk cheeks! She loves to grasp tightly to my fingers. She loves bath time! Thank goodness for the Puj tub. She will imitate too. If someone sticks out their tongue she will smile big and stick her tongue out too. She loves to be read too as well! Story time is one of her favorites. She is also going through a little spit up stage. Kind of gross; I'm covered in it often... but I don't mind. :)

Lilly also has great control of her neck and head. She got to try out her Bumbo seat and loves it! She enjoys looking around at all that is going on around her. She can hold some toys. Her favorite is her rattle. She will shake it as she watches her mobile and listens to the music in her crib. She also loves her bouncy seat. She hung out in it often and watched me while I wrapped Christmas presents! She also loves her play mat. She loves looking at the lights and animals hanging around her. She bats at them and loves looking in the little mirror.

L giving Uncle Barrett the stink eye... So glad he came to visit!

She is outgrowing lots of her clothes. :( Lilly also loves to stand up and "bear" weight. She seems so strong! She has found her hands, clasps them together, and I find them in her mouth often. She can track objects and if I walk away her eyes will follow me. She lost most of her baby hair except for her little monk mullet around the back and her new hair is coming in much lighter, kind of a dirty blonde!

Lulu brought Lilly a Santa hat!

2 month old pic... look at me grow!

Sporting her strawberry hat all the way from Italy! Merci Aunt Sara and Uncle Jon!

I'm smitten with these two! Do you see a resemblance??

Happy 2 months Lilly! We can't wait to see what month 3 will bring and look forward to celebrating your 1st Christmas together! We love you so much!

2 Month Stats

Height: 23 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 11 pounds 1/2 ounce (70th percentile)

Head Circumference: 38 1/4 cm (50th percentile)

Project GO!

If you are interested in participating in an AWESOME mission trip this summer check it out here! It is with Buckner International and they are serving in Russia, Guatemala, Mexico, Kenya, Peru, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and the Rio Grande Valley! They will be ministering to orphan children, caregivers, in-country staff, and short-term mission trip groups. I wish I could go!

Christmas Play Date

Today Lilly and I had a special treat... a Christmas play date! It was so fun to get all the kiddos together and catch up with great friends and yummy food! This is also Lilly's first real group baby pic! So exciting!

Check out Daniel going after the younger women!

Campbell, big Lily, Ellis, Daniel, and little Lilly

HO HO HO

I must say... I LOVE Santa! Call me crazy, but there is just something magical about child-like faith and old St. Nic. This year was Lilly's first time to meet Santa. Sadly she wouldn't wake up, but thankfully she wasn't screaming. :) As Santa said... she is dreaming about what she wants for Christmas! This is the same Santa that I used to visit at Northpark Mall when I was a kid. I was even on CNN news with him when I was 5 years old. It was so special to see him again and continue a wonderful tradition. I had butterflies in my stomach and goosebumps all over!

i LOVE lilly

i'm obsessed! so precious... who's jealous that i get to hang out with her all day, every day!? :)

getting in the Christmas spirit!

We ventured out on our first horse drawn carriage ride to look at Christmas lights! We left from Highland Park Village with our Starbucks in hand and I will say it was wonderful. Just the thing to put you in the Christmas spirit! I love HP village this time of year... absolutely magical! Lilly did great! On the ride we kept her bundled in her bunting and she slept most of the time.

someone please comment on jeremiah's hat! ha!

Lilly, meet Tuck! Her 1st pic with a horsey!

Tia Mel and Lil in their matching hats!

Tons to be thankful for...

This Thanksgiving was so special with miss lilly around. She definitely got lots of attention and was passed around for all to hold! We started off the holiday in Dallas with Jeremiah's family. It was fun to all be together but we missed you, Jon and Sara! Then we headed to Longview. My grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins all came in and it was so special. We had an extended family photo shoot too to document our new addition.

We ate tons (thankfully mom and aunt kim went to the trouble of cooking dairy free for me and lilly so we got to enjoy the thanksgiving feast goodness too), roasted marshmallows and made smores by the fire, watched some football, ate my favorite Pizza King (sans cheese... and i must say still delicious!), played with and held Lilly, visited with friends, helped mom and dad decorate for Christmas, celebrated my mom's b-day, and thanked God for all the blessings in our lives!

love her...

look at lilly soar...

love this picture! memaw loved on lilly all weekend!

papaw getting some play time!

the whole wright clan

so sweet

mere and lil posing for the camera