Carter's First Christmas!

Things have been busy, but oh so fun around here the past few weeks. We got Christmas cards/baby announcements out and mailed, took our first family road trip to Austin, and had lots of family come see us in Dallas to celebrate Carter's first Christmas! Here's what's been going on in pics...

Lots of snuggling with MiMi. We love having her so close! This night she babysat Carter while we went to Caleb's work Christmas party and got to be "grown ups" for a while :). We told her we would be out late....which was 9:40 :). Are we old yet?!

Stopped by Waco on the way to Austin to have some time with Aunt Ali!

We can't be in Austin without going to see Grandpa and GrandmaJo!

Carter receiving his first (of many!) Christmas gifts. Yea! Bath toys!

Nana got lots of snuggle time in...and Mommy got some naps :). Thank you Nana!

Aunt Beth and cousin Sofia with Carter. Sofia was very curious of the little guy---so sweet!

Uncle Stephen came over to open gifts with Burlie and Great Nana when we got back from Austin!

Snuggling with Burlie.

And this has nothing to do with Christmas, but wanted to document daily life around the house. Carter has blow outs on occassion but this was worth documenting. The changing table...

...and the carpet

...and Mommy's pants.

A Christmas tradition for us is going to look at Christmas lights, so Carter joined us this year for the first of many Christmas light experiences. First, we stopped at Starbucks for some hot chocolate!

Daddy was mesmerized by this tree.

Carter in his Christmas  pjs, slept pretty much through the whole thing!

On Christmas Eve Aunt Emily, Uncle Jeff, and the boys came over for some Carter time and to exchange gifts.

The boys with their gifts!

All dressed and ready for the Christmas Eve service at church! This is a longtime Christmas tradition for both of us. Last year we were in Colorado at a small little chapel with snow everywhere, this year holding my newborn  baby boy in our home church. I teared up a little bit during "Silent Night"....so blessed.

Christmas morning....Santa came! Carter got his 3 gifts--diapers, a toy, and a monitor! We also all got goodies in our stockings.

Christmas afternoon was full of snuggling and family time. Here's Mamie's first times with Carter.

He was definitely the star of the weekend, everyone just sat around and stared at him :).

Loving family time!

Great Grandaddy with Carter.

The boys--minus Stephen who was next door preparing the Christmas feast! I didn't get pictures, but it was a good spread  and our first time to have fried turkey--delish! Thanks Uncle Stephen and Aunt Diana for hosting a fabulous Christmas dinner!

Grandpa giving Carter a bottle.

...lots of snuggling. This is at Uncle Stephen's house.

Mommy enjoyed visiting and catching up with family while others played with Carter.

Uncle Stephen trying to calm Carter singing "Texas Fight"--it worked :)

Great Grandaddy feeding Carter a bottle.

Family left on Monday and we had some relaxing family time--do you see resemblance in this picture? I do!

Carter has been enjoying the bouncy in the bathroom while Mommy gets ready for the day!

We are definitely enjoying lots of snuggling, but he's already starting to hold his head up and when we put him on our chest he won't really snuggle up any more....he'll lift his head and look at you :). He has advanced from newborn to size 1 diapers and last night slept 6 hours in a row! I have a feeling that's not a constant, but we'll take it when we can! He's also outgrown 2 of his newborn outfits already, so we know he's growing well! We're still enjoying lots of visitors and love our nightly family time. Next week will probably become more our "routine" as Caleb will be working more full-time hours (he's been able to be more lax during the holidays going in later and coming home earlier) and our weekly "stuff" starts back up--Bible study, community group, track workouts (for Daddy!), and we're excited to add Monday playgroup to that list! We are still figuring out how to balance plenty of Carter/family time with our activities and will make adjustments as needed, but ready to get more "routine". I'm still loving motherhood and my heart is full everytime I look at Carter. We still can't get over how much we love him :).