December 2010

December was full of new things. Dallas' first doctor's appointment was the first of December and he got a sticker from it. I thought it was appropriate where I put it. Later that month we all went to Bass Pro Shop to get Dallas' picture with santa. I called ahead and was told that there was a 3 hour wait but atleast you just go pick up a pass and don't have to stand in line. I was worried we would be really bored but actually we ended up having a lot of fun! The store is huge and there were a ton of cool attractions and things to look at. We spent a lot of time taking pictures of Dallas next to different animals. Dylan and I were laughing so hard. It is so much fun to pose Dallas in different situations. Dallas got hungry only 40 minutes before it was picture time with santa so I just fed him in a changing room. That was another first for me. Finally when it was our turn Dallas did such a good job! He was so happy and the santa was so sweet. After we were done we went to Hebron ward's christmas party that was fun too. That was the most Dallas and I had been out since he was born. Getting ready for christmas this year seemed very stressful to me. Now that we have a baby I really want each christmas to be memorable so I went all out on the tree, decorations, candles, presents, and food. We did for the first time the tradition we want to do of C.H.R.I.S.T week and that was also a lot of work but I hope it will be something fun and worth doing when our kids are old enough to remember. C- we made cookies and gave them to neighbors (I also hope in the years of doing this tradition that I get better at making cookies.) H-we helped the missionaries. They needed a ride to the temple so we took them up to Chicago and since we had Dallas with us we didn't do a session with them but we had a great day driving around, window shopping and looking for a blessing outfit for Dallas (which we never found). R- we went to the library and checked out some of our favorite christmas stories. We got very enthusiastic and checked out a LOT of books. It was fun and we didn't get through reading even half of the books but we drank hot chocolate and had some good laughs. I- We invited people over to our appartment for a little get together. It was originally going to be little but ended up having 18 people crammed into our little home but and I was very stressed out but it was very fun! We had chocolate fondue, played some games and we had the missionaries over to share a christmas message. Everything came together and it was really cool. S- This one we never really got to. We were going to go to an old folks home and sing christmas carols but I ended up spending ALL day going christmas shopping and wrapping presents. T- We spent the evening talking about the week, christ, and our testimonies then we watched the church video of Luke 2 set to the song "Breath of Heaven". On Christmas eve we went down to the Caggiano's and watched some christmas movies and I made Wassel. Then all of us slept up in Gabe's room, including Taitum. She was so cute and didn't mind that Dallas kept waking up all night. In the morning we went downstairs to see a ton of presents and I WOULD post the pictures of us opening them but I can't seem to find them in our files. I am so mad, but when I do I will add them. It was a good first christmas for Dallas. He got some cute clothes, a baby einstein movie, (my favorite gift because he loves to watch it and it is a great break for me to get things done). He got some books and toys, including his special stuffed animal Dylan and I spent a lot of time looking for and decided on a little monkey. His name is Mr. Monk :) We had a lot of fun with the family and had an awesome christmas dinner. Thank you to the Caggianos. I also wanted to include these pictures that I took in December. Look at how small Dallas' little foot is and how big his pacifier is!