Christmas, etc.

Christmas was so fun this year! Having a child around truly makes the day extra special. Then again, every day is special with her! We spent the night with Mom on Christmas Eve and drove back to B'ham Christmas Day to spend some time with the McLanes. Alston wasn't too interested in the presents but she loved the ribbons an wrapping paper. We got to see some of our favorite people, The Youngs, before Christmas. We don't get to see them enough! Here are a few pictures of Christmas. I have some more randoms to post later, but I'm running out of time!


She was totally comfortable in Will's arms.

This picture of Alston makes me laugh.

Whoops, Alston, you blinked.

Jane loves her cheese puffs!

Rainer crashing out on the floor.

Jane is clearly not in the mood for Rainer's affections.

Sweet Rainer sharing a candy cane with Alston.

I left the plastic on there since she's technically not supposed to have sugar yet. She still enjoyed the heck out of it. And no, I didn't let her have it for long so she didn't swallow any plastic.

Goofball.

At the farm.

I have no idea why she is trying to eat her boot.

This is her camera face.

Opening presents!

She has just now figured out that when my camera beeps she is supposed to smile. I took a ton of this pose because it was so funny watching her head snap in the direction of the camera.

Posing!

Thanksgiving

Alston had a big time on her first Thanksgiving! We started out the day heading to the McLanes' Thanksgiving at Jeff's grandma's house which is so close to our house so we didn't have far to drive. Alston flirted with everybody and enjoyed sitting in her Papa Jim's lap. She fell asleep there and we came home and started packing our bags for our trip to Aliceville. Mom decided to have the Alston Thanksgiving meal the next day at the farm. As always, we had full bellies! I gave Alston some of my mom's sweet potato casserole, which is unbelievable, and she spit it right out. Oh, well. Below are some photos of our day!

Talking to her CC.


Sitting on Papa Jim's lap.


Deep thought maybe?


Clowning around.


Talking to Ted's awesome dog, Chloe.

Our first Thanksgiving as a family of three.

Sweet Olivia

This is Olivia. She is the daughter of one of my dearest friends. She was called home to heaven on November 6, 2010. She was only nine months old. I can honestly say in her short life, she touched mine. She had the sweetest spirit and her gorgeous smile was infectious. You couldn't help but feel happier when she looked at you with that big grin. I know her parents and big brother adored her and she was such a blessing for them. They miss her dearly and are hurting right now. Please, whoever is reading this, keep this sweet family in your daily prayers. I was looking forward to Olivia and Alston being the best of friends, so I will always tell Alston about her friend Olivia in the years to come. Psalms 139:13-16 says, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

My little Moo Cow....

Even though Alston has absolutely no idea what Halloween is, we couldn't resist at least dressing her up. We went over to the Pricketts' house to trick or treat this year (our neighborhood doesn't have enough houses yet to even have trick-or-treaters). They live in a big neighborhood and just walking down their street Halloween night is entertaining. We didn't stay long, due to being up past Alston's bedtime. Her room at school also had a Halloween party and those pictures are posted below.

Cruising the street....


Daddy and Alston...


Trying to get her to smile (as usual).


Mommy and Alston.


Back view of her costume taken at school by one of her teachers.


Side view.


My little Moo Cow actually smiling!!!

Recent pics

Alston had her six-month doctor's appointment on her actual six-month birthday, November 4. She is weighing in at a whopping 14.9 pounds and is 26 inches long. Her favorite part of the appointment was destroying the exam table paper. She LOVES anything paper or plastic. I mean, she will hear it from across the room and immediately turn her head. When we get home from the grocery store, I plop her on the counter (we don't show dad that trick because he is very protective of his little girl) with all the groceries and grocery bags and she has the best time. Also, she is sitting up! I am so proud of her. She continues to sleep well, but the time change still has her waking up an hour earlier. The good thing is she turns her crib aquarium on and talks to it for about 30 minutes. She had her six-month pictures made.....and I think we got her to smile in about three pictures. She just wasn't having it. Oh, well. The photographer said we could come back and try again for a few minutes, but I can't decide what to do. The photos of the three of us are my favorites. I will post all of them as soon as I decide which ones to order! Here are some recent photos from the past few weeks:

Finally sitting in her high chair.....


Playing with the grocery sacks....


One day before school....the tiny New Balances crack me up.


Strolling in Aliceville.


At her six-month appointment. This paper was in shreds by the time we left!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween, my peeps! Alston's class has their fall party this morning so I will post pictures of her in her costume later. Also, pictures of Ted and Raegan's wedding are coming up.

Fall is here!!!

Happy 5 1/2 months to Alston today! Here are a few recent pictures. I'm sure most of you have seen these from Facebook. I have more to come, of course, but they are on my actual real camera instead of my iPhone. What would we do without camera phones? Alston is growing so fast and yet, she's still petite. People always think she's younger than she is. I promise I'm feeding her! Having a girl is dangerous for my pocketbook, I've come to find out.

This was from our stroll yesterday. I'll admit it was kind of fun bundling her up because we pretty much couldn't stroll this summer since it was so dang hot.

I took this before I took her to school this morning. She was getting impatient, of course, because she always wants to go, go, go once you put her in her car seat.

Yesterday again.

This weekend strolling. She was looking at her daddy whom she loves a lot!


I just thought the hood was funny.

Her first attempt at holding her own bottle. Her aim was okay, but she couldn't figure out how to tilt it up in order to get the goods out. Nevertheless, I'm still proud.

We bought her a jumper and she's just not big enough to weigh it down so she can actually make it jump. She likes the toys up top, but she would rather rip them off and put them in her mouth.

My tiny girl.

This was taken at the farm while we were watching the game.

At mom's house. Not sure what the look is about.

Daddy and baby. This was taken one morning recently.

Well, hello there, Mr. Rabbit. She loves this thing.



We are officially sporting a bald spot. I hope it grows back in fast!!

She LOVES her feet and puts them in her mouth whenever she gets the chance. Lately as I'm feeding her baby food, she would rather have her foot in her mouth than the baby food. She also likes to tell them hello in the morning (with them in her mouth) once I take her pajamas off.

She is really loving her veggies these days, thank the Lord.

Strolling again. She was so exhausted from school this day.



Yummy carrots.

I have no idea what we were doing here.


And finally, my cool cat.

More to come later!!! JoJo, this one was for you!!!