Timeless Christmas

We are slowly digging ourselves out of the boxes and packing paper.  My kitchen is clean and organized thanks to my sis (thanks em!)

More to come soon but wanted to pass along this AWESOME video from our Elevation Christmas Eve Worship experience.  This song was one of my favorite parts...and the other would be over 2200 people giving their lives to Christ! Can I get an AMEN?!?!

Click HERE and play the video.  I keep watching it over and over- so cool.

We are planning to enjoy the last few days of vacation before we head back to work on Thursday.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!



"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14



Enjoy time with family and friends and don't forget the real meaning of Christmas!

xoxo,
The Staton Family


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Santa Time

We decided to make a day out of Anderson's first Santa experience.  Both sets of grandparents were nice enough to drive and meet us for lunch, play with Anderson and then wait in line for Santa.  We got there right after they opened and the line wasn't terribly long.  But the place was NOT very efficient.  I wanted to go and talk to the manager about how they could get more kids through, make more money and have a much better experience for people.  But instead, I just complained that it was taking forever and didn't want A to have a meltdown.  Can't you tell motherhood has made me more patient...NOT!
When it was finally our turn, Anderson sat on Santa's lap and started smiling from ear to ear.  He is such a poser and I love it!  It probably helped that 2 sets of grandparents and his own parents were making him smile.
After I picked him off Santa's lap and handed him to Mike's mom so I could wait to see the pictures.  About 30 seconds later, he spit up ALL.OVER.HER!  I couldn't help but bust out laughing!!  I wanted to give him a high five for waiting to spit up until after we got several cute pictures.  Way to go, A.

It was definitely a fun day and we were really thankful there were lots of extra hands to entertain Anderson.  Not sure he will be as happy next year when he meets Santa but at least we had one successful year!

Anderson gets so excited when he sees Nanny!

Good Morning

Our little family has been beyond blessed to live at the Russo's lake house for the past 2 months.  I sometimes "forget" to be grateful for a place to live while we are in transition.  I start complaining about living so far out, the long commute to work and Miss Beth's house and wanting my own stuff and not see another box for a long time.  Mike is very good about validating my feelings but gently reminding me that we should be grateful for such a sweet living situation.  

Then mornings like this happen...

Mornings where the baby is still sleeping and Mike and I get to sit on the dock and watch the Lord paint the sky with the most beautiful sunrise.  I will miss living on the lake and seeing the beauty each morning and night.   We are thankful for this transition and look forward to unpacking lots of boxes very soon!

Thanksgiving 2012

We spent Thanksgiving 2012 in Charlotte.  I was sad we didn't get to go to Em's house and experience Anderson's first flight, but it was nice to not travel.

Wednesday afternoon, Emily Chidester, was nice enough to make the haul to the lake in order to take some family pictures for us.  She got to experience taking pictures of a baby that gets cranky when its nap time and doesn't really smile on command.  She was SO patient with us and took a ton of great pictures (if you are in the Charlotte area, you should check out her website and book her now)!

Wednesday night we enjoyed the annual Russo Family Thanksgiving at the lake house.  There were about 35 people that came this year which was a lot less than normal.  Anderson was a champ- Praise the Lord!  He stayed awake long enough to greet everyone and then went to sleep the rest of the night.  I was worried all the noise would keep him up, but he didn't make a peep.

O'Malley came to stay with us the week of Thanksgiving since mom and dad were at Em's house.  He loved everyone being here over Thanksgiving and might have gain just as much weight as the rest of us.

Thursday morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and a baby who decided to sleep in.

We took our time getting ready and then headed to Kelly and Robby's house for the day.  We crashed the Norman/St. Louis Thanksgiving and it did NOT disappoint.  The food was amazing and I wish I could have eaten more.  AMAZING!!  Anderson got a lot of lovin from mama and daddy Norman as well as Aunt Scrappy and Uncle Scout.

We got home in time for Anderson to head to bed and we were not far behind.

Friday we woke up and enjoyed a lazy morning before heading to Davidson to meet Brad for brunch.  It was great to catch up with Brad and finally introduce him to Anderson.

Later that afternoon, we decided it was time to get our Christmas tree.  We usually get our tree from Lowes (don't judge), but we decided to support a local business is good ol' Denver.  They had a great selection and even better prices.  Anderson was amazed at the texture of the branches and really wanted to see how good it tasted.  That's when we decided it was time to buy the tree and head home.

After we put Anderson to bed, we hung the stockings and decorated the tree.  We wanted to put up a few decorations since we aren't moving into our house until right before Christmas.  We will un-decorate next week and then redecorate at the new house- woot woot!

All in all, it was a great first Thanksgiving with the munchkin! 

5 Months

Anderson,

Happy 5 Months...a few days late.  I'm really good about taking your picture each month, but not so good about writing the post.  Most months I have said, "this is my favorite month thus far". Well this month I might not say it, but I still love you.

We had a "rough" few weeks this month as you learned to roll from your stomach to back.  It was great in theory until you did it in the middle of the night and woke yourself up.  The first few nights, you woke up on your back and freaked out because you had no idea what happened.

This lasted less than 2 weeks but it felt like 2 years.  A few days before you turned 5 months, you learned to roll over both ways- PRAISE THE LORD!!  You began rolling all around and would play/talk in your crib if you woke up but went back to sleep.

You have been introduced to more foods this month: avocado, sweet potato, peas, carrots, apples, bananas and more prunes than you ever thought possible.  You have had a lot of prune juice and prunes to get things moving.  You still don't love cereal, but I'm making you eat it for another month then will only do solids.

Your favorite past time this month was the "jumper".  We were going to buy a new one on amazon and someone told us they had an almost new one at a consignment store down the street for 75% less.  I was sold right there and sent daddy there the very same day.  You would be happy if we left you in that thing all day long.  You are laughing and talking more and more and are "trying" to crawl.  You do the wiggle/swim on the floor and try to move but don't go anywhere.  I think it will happen within the month but that is purely a guess.  You had a lot of bumbo time this month so you could work on your neck strength and holding up those cheeks.  You are also sitting on the floor by yourself for about 30 seconds before you fall to one side. Your feet were found this month!  If you aren't sucking your fingers, you are grabbing your feet and trying to put them in your mouth.  Good thing you get a bath every night!

You have 2 teeth that the doctor said are about to pop through in the next few weeks.  You are still a pretty good napper.  Miss Beth says most days you are napping 2 hours in the morning and 1-2 hours in the afternoon.  You used to sleep for 30 minutes on our ride home, but that is hit or miss now.  You usually just talk and play on the ride home.

Bedtime is still 6:30pm because you can't last much longer than that.  You get so excited when we take your clothes off, it is hilarious.  You do a "happy dance" and get this funny expression on your face.  Our favorite time of day is always the morning when we walk into your room.  You smile and laugh when you see us.  You are 100% a morning person right now.

You are getting back to your normal 12 hour sleep habits at night, but have had a few middle of the night interruptions.  You are currently on a bottle strike and are waking up around 5am hungry.  You usually eat a bottle and then go back to sleep.  I just wish you would realize this wasn't a 24 hour restaurant and stop refusing your bottles during the day.  More on that during your 6 month post. 

Since you are teething, your 2 fingers are always in your mouth.  You will usually fall asleep with them in your mouth as well.  You still aren't terribly interested in the paci but will take it once in a while to settle your self in the car seat or our arms.

5 Month Stats:

Weight- 16lbs 5 oz (you gained 2 pounds this month!)

Length- def gotten longer but they didn't measure you at the doc this month

Clothes- Mostly wearing 6 month tops and 3-6 month pants. 

Eating-cereal/baby food in evening, bottle every 4 hours or when you decide you aren't on strike

Naps-2 hour morning nap, 1-2 hour afternoon nap

Night time-6:30pm-7/7:30am (a few weeks of waking up once or twice in the night b/c you flipped over.  Thank goodness that is over)

We love watching your personality develop each day.  I can tell your 6th month of life is going to be really fun!!
We love you sweet boy!