I'll be home for Christmas

     Tim, Owen, and I were very fortunate to be able to fly home to Georgia for Christmas this year. We had a wonderful time with our family and friends. We split the week pretty evenly between Tim's parents and mine. We saw a few friends, but mainly wanted to spend the majority of our time with our family during this trip. It seemed like Owen remembered his grandparents and aunts and uncle pretty well from previous trips and Skype. He showed very little separation anxiety for which we were really grateful. And we were also really excited because Owen learned a few new tricks while he was there too. The most exciting of which was that he started crawling on Christmas day. He also started babbling quite a bit more and started making several new consonant sounds. The most frequent is a "Puh" sound for all the many dogs that our families own. Whenever we said, "Look at the puppy, Owen," he would start making the "Puh" sound.
     Here are some photos from our trip.

Owen helped paint sugar cookies - a Rumely family tradition.

This really just meant that Owen got to eat part of a sugar cookie. And stay up two and half hours past his bedtime with a sugar high.

Frosting Puffs to our child's face doesn't make us bad parents, does it?

Hanging out with Papa.

Uncle Joseph was able to come over during the day and see Owen awake! The night before, he rocked Owen to sleep after getting off work. He was a natural.

Jodi and Marcus got some one-on-one time with Owen since they arrived early!

My "brother" Nathan finally got to meet Owen for the first time!

Uncle Larry and Aunt Barbara got Owen a bath toy. It was pretty fun until it sprayed him in the face.

So excited to open presents on Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's house.

Checking out his musical train.

Owen with one of his two stockings on Christmas morning. It's hard being the only grandchild.

Rocking a Santa suit and Converse hightops!

Opening presents with Grandpa and Grams on Christmas day.

Tickles and kisses from Grams.

The best of our family photos.

Playing with Nana and practicing his newfound ability to crawl.

My cousin Johanna and her boyfriend tried to feed Owen a bottle but he was too excited to eat!

Meeting my Uncle Justin. Already a Bulldogs fan, Owen promptly ripped his hat off.

I followed my Dad outside when he had Owen and captured this sweet moment.

Outside explorations with Grandpa are so fun, checking out plants and animals and all sorts of things.

Such a happy boy. And happy grandparents.

Owen played Peek-a-Boo Farm with my cousin Sarah.

Grandpa took Owen down to the pond behind their house to show him the ducks.

All smiles with Aunt Jenny before having to say goodbye.

      We had a great time as you can see from the photos. My inlaws also have some photos on their camera and I hope to see them at some point. I know we got a really great picture of Owen with them on the last night we spent with them.

Our Christmas

     We celebrated Christmas this past weekend because we will be going to Georgia to visit our families in a few days. We wanted to be able to have our own little family Christmas and start our own traditions with Owen. We began our day when Owen woke us up with a big family snuggle in bed. Then we moved our celebration to the kitchen to feed Owen and I made sausage balls like my mom typically makes for Christmas. While they were baking, we sat down around the tree with my Bible and Owen's book "Christmas in the Manger." Tim and I began the tradition of reading Chapter 2 in Luke before opening presents on our first Christmas together and have done it ever since. 

Owen paid very close attention. Even though there are no pictures.

     Then I read Owen his new Christmas book. It is a very cute book with a page devoted to each of the people and animals present at the birth of Christ. Owen loves to pat the pages and talk along with me.

Reading about Baby Jesus."I
 am the baby asleep on the hay. And I am the reason for Christmas Day!"

      Then we began opening presents, focusing mainly on opening most of Owen's gifts so we could get him down for his morning nap. Opening presents with Owen is so much fun because he still thinks ripping the wrapping paper is the most funny thing ever and he can grab the bows off and sometimes get the top off the boxes by himself if there isn't any tape holding it shut. He had so much fun playing with all the paper and ribbons.

And the fun begins...

Happy little elf.

My new rug is so soft and fun to touch.

Laughing at the sound of ripping paper.

Poppity Pop Dino! And a baby who can pull up to standing on pretty much anything!

Bows are the best part. And the paper. And what's inside. Okay, everything about opening presents is the best!

Peeling the tape off so I can get in that box.

Petting Follow Me Fred. Not so sure if we love him though.

Owen's special "tag" blanket.

This is probably Owen's favorite present. He plays with this activity table every day.

     We spent the rest of the day playing with Owen's new toys and having fun together. I made Christmas dinner for us to have that evening and we ate it off our wedding china.

Roast chicken, cajun tater puppies and pecan green beans. Yum!

Our 2011 Christmas card(s)

     I love sending and receiving Christmas cards. There's just something about going to the mailbox and pulling out a bunch of cards to feel the goodwill and love of the season. I practically race to the mailbox each day to see if we've gotten any. On a side note, I think this is the year for procrastination (or maybe people don't send Christmas cards anymore) because we've only received six so far. Since we're leaving next week, we might have to call some of them New Year's cards because we won't get them until we get back from visiting family for Christmas.
     This year was especially fun because we have such a cute subject for the photo on our Christmas card. In the past, we just sent a regular Christmas card with a letter detailing our year in review, but this year, we wanted to do a photo card. The only problem is that I can count the number of photos of the three of us on one hand and none of them seemed Christmas card worthy. So I just did multiple photo shoots with Owen to get the perfect photo for our Christmas card. Then the only problem was choosing the best photo because we had so many good ones to pick from. In the end, we selected three different photos and sent out three versions of our Christmas card once we found one with wording that we liked. (It had to say Christmas and not holidays, for instance). We tried to alternate who we sent them to so that if you got one version, chances are that someone else you know got one of the other versions. For instance, Tim's parents, his brother Joseph and his wife Leah, and Tim's sister Jenny each got one of the three versions so they would be able to see all of them at some point. 
     We also decided against writing a Christmas letter because most of our family and friends read the blog so they already know what is going on in our lives. In the future, I will probably include the blog address on our Christmas card for those who don't know it. 
     Here are the three versions. Each of them also had a photo of Owen with Santa on the back. Which one is your favorite?

What Santa is bringing Owen

     Christmas shopping for Owen has been really fun this year. I am so happy that he is the age that he is for his first Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I ooh and ahh over all the precious newborn pictures of babies with Santa hats asleep under Christmas trees like any other person, but I'm really glad that Owen will get to enjoy opening presents and playing with new toys. He is now at the age where he is bored with all his little baby toys that are basically made for chewing and grabbing and he is beyond ready to move up to more interactive toys with lights and music and pieces to manipulate, etc. So without further ado, here is what Owen is getting from Santa (err... Mommy and Daddy) this year.

Fisher Price Go Baby Go! Poppity Pop Musical Dino

This seems like a really fun interactive toy. And one that will hopefully keep Owen busy for a while putting the balls into the Dino and then chasing after them and retrieving them when they pop out. 

Tiny Love Follow Me Fred

This is a toy that encourages crawling and we're hoping that Owen will enjoy chasing it around the house. 

Circo Textured 30 x 50 Blue Chenille Rug

This rug has a really fun loopy texture and is soft and a really pretty blue color. I think it will look great in Owen's room and that he will enjoy playing on it.

Battat Fun Keys

Owen loves loves loves playing with our car keys so we decided he needed a pair of his own. No car though, Owen. You'll have to wait until you're 16 for that present. Haha! He already has a set of plastic colorful car keys, but he knows they look nothing like ours and aren't the real thing. These ones look much more realistic!

Personalized Handmade Tag Blanket

Owen loves finding the tags on blankets and stuffed animals. He will examine them closely, flick them back and forth, and suck on them occasionally. I thought a tag security blanket (it's about a foot square) would be perfect for him and found a lady on Etsy who would make him a special one and monogram it too!

LeapFrog Learn and Groove Activity Table

Owen has played with this table for a long time at his friend Rowan's house. Rowan's mom Joni told me that I just had to get one for Owen, so I did!

   Infant and Toddler Music Class

I signed Owen up for this weekly program that "will allow infants, toddlers and their parents the opportunity to explore musical instruments and to make music. Music is enjoyable for people of all ages, but it can be used for more. Research has shown that making music in groups can be useful in promoting cognitive, behavioral, and social skills, especially at such an early age of development. These skills and others will be experienced through playing instruments, singing songs, and movement through music." 

   Owen will also be getting some stocking stuffers on Christmas morning. We decided to wait on those until we were in Georgia as a special thing to do with Tim's parents who traditionally open stockings on Christmas morning as a family. He also needs some clothes, but because I have several Gymbucks coupons that I can't use until January, I will be doing his clothes shopping after Christmas when there will be sales and I can redeem my coupons at Gymboree. Also, that way I can see exactly what he might still need after he gets presents from our family and friends this Christmas.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

     Christmas preparations are officially underway at the Washington Rumely household! And I am loving it! I am also loving my sweet husband who puts up with all my Christmas craziness in the most good-natured way.  
     To begin the Christmas season, we took Owen to see Santa on Saturday before we went to buy a Christmas tree. We paid to be able to use our camera to take the photos instead of having the person there take a picture and print it out for us. Owen cried at first when we sat him on Santa's lap, but he calmed down once Santa let him play with his jingle bells. My mom says that it is exactly what I deserve because I was always scared of dressed up people when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure she even had to bribe me to hug Mickey Mouse when we went to Disney World when I was 10. 
     After sitting with Santa for a few minutes, Owen still was not entirely sold on the idea so we never got a smiley picture of Owen with Santa, but the suspicious "Who are you and why are you holding me?" picture was pretty cute too. Stay tuned for our Christmas card to see that one. We also let Owen check out some reindeer while we were there. 

     The place where we took Owen to see Santa also had Christmas trees, but after I didn't see any trees that I liked, we drove about 40 minutes away to Bill's Berry Farm to look at the trees there. We ended up buying a 7-foot-tall Noble Fir. We generally have bought Leyland Cypresses in the past, but the Noble Fir is so beautiful and full and smells so amazing!

When we dragged the tree inside, we realized it was much bigger than we had thought it was. And Owen was surprised that there was a tree suddenly placed in front of him.

      The next day we strung the lights and then waited until Owen was asleep so that we could hang ornaments together while drinking eggnog and munching reindeer cookies and listening to a mix of Christmas music. It was such a great time and especially great for us because the only other time we've had a Christmas tree while we were married, Tim had a 103 degree fever and was really sick so he just hung out on the couch while I decorated that year.

Our finished Christmas tree!