David sampled deer for the first time last night. I pureed it as best as I could, but it is still has a little more texture than the chicken and ham he has eaten. He likes the taste, of course, it's just the way it feels in his mouth is different. Every time he takes a bite he makes the funniest faces trying to "chew" the meat and roll it around with his tongue.

Tonight we finished off our Christmas celebrations with my family. We were supposed to come up on the 26th, but we postponed it for a day due to the snow and ice. We, once again, had a wonderful Christmas with family.

He wasn't totally in the Christmas spirit because of the teething, but with a little help from his pacifier and Tylenol David helped Ricky and Cate pass out the presents:

and inspected a few along the way:

Then it was time to open the gifts (with a little help from Cate):

Daddy thought David could use one more festive piece to complete his outfit:

When it was all over, David (with very sleepy eyes) sat amid wrapping paper, gifts, boxes, and ribbons:

For Daddy and Mama, the entire Christmas season was so much more fun with the addition of our little baby boy! We can't wait for the years to come!

FIRST TOOTH!!!

In VERY big and exciting news.....David is cutting his first tooth!! He has been a bit grouchy and unable to sleep very well at night. But, he's coping with it pretty well and doesn't have a fever. Looking back, it probably started coming in on his 8 month birthday. He was grumpy nearly all day, but I just chalked it up to all the commotion of the prior days.

Another step away from being a baby....

It snowed all last night and was still snowing when we woke up! So, later in the morning, after it warmed up just a bit, we ventured out into the snow. We bundled David up as best we could- a pair of footed pj's, a long sleeve shirt, long pants, socks, jacket, mittens, and two hats. Daddy wanted to give him a small taste of the snow.....

I think it was a little too cold for his liking.

We took a family picture (Bogie was busy eating the snow).

Then we put down Daddy's waterproof hunting jacket so David could get a closer look at this white stuff. He didn't try to get any closer to it. He sat there for a minute and then a big gust of cold air blew through and he (and Mama) was ready to go back in the house.

I can't believe he is 8 months old today!

A Very Merry Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas day, I don't know where to begin. David woke up to find that Santa came to our house, rearranged our furniture, ate some cookies, and left him some fantastic toys!

He crawled straight to his gifts and started playing with them. He played with each one before it was time for breakfast and the first nap of the day.

While he rested, Ryan and I exchanged gifts. Then, it was back to David's presents. He checked out his stocking and opened presents from Mama and Daddy. But, mostly he played, played, and played with some naps and meals mixed in.

We stayed in our pajamas ALL day! It was so nice. We enjoyed each moment with our precious little boy- the BEST Christmas gift under our tree. His innocent excitement over the little things- tearing tissue paper, shredding wrapping paper, or the fun of an empty box was infectious.

It started to snow here shortly after dark. I hope there will still be some on the ground in the morning for David to see. But, if there isn't, it's still very exciting that his first Christmas was technically a white Christmas.

Last night we celebrated Christmas with the extended Whitelaw family at Twinkle and Boscoe's house. But, first David had a chance to visit with his great-grandparents for a little while.

He loved playing on the floor and then got to open presents!

Julie-Ann fed him his dinner and then it was off to bed.

The next morning he opened even more presents from Twinkle, Boscoe, Aunt Nicole, (soon-to-be) Uncle Michael, and the ones Aunt Carol and Sarah sent up from Miami.

We had a great time opening presents and eating dinner with family, but we had to get home to prepare for Santa! We were a bit rushed to get it all in. We got out all the ingredients and measurers (those are my measuring spoons from childhood). David and I made the chocolate chip cookie dough for the cookies, but our time ran out to bake them. I baked them once David was in bed. He ate his dinner and hurried to bed. I hope next year we will have more time to enjoy this tradition together. David seemed to be very interested in that cookie dough!

Now we are waiting for Santa to arrive. I can't wait to see what he brings David!

I just finished sewing David's Christmas stocking!! It's not perfect by any means, but I sewed every piece with love and hope David will like it. Here's what our mantel looks like this year:

We took some absolutely precious Christmas picture of David yesterday at Ma and Big Daddy's house. The little, red rocking chair was originally my brother Rich's.

David is such a happy and easy-going little boy these days. It doesn't take much to make him laugh and he is hardly ever upset.

Also, he is now an omnivore! He has been enjoying chicken and ham the last few weeks along with broccoli, spinach, blueberries, and pumpkin.

Tonight Ma and Big Daddy hosted a Christmas party for my Dad's family. David had a wonderful time playing with my cousin's little boy, Cohen. He and David were born on the same day!

David thought Cohen's hair was pretty cool spiked up with gel.

Today David and I helped my family pack boxes of food for needy people at their church. First, David had a quick (like always, for him) meal and took in all the action from his seat. Isn't he precious in the Santa suit Twinkle (Ryan's mom) got him?!

Then, we worked as a team and followed a detailed list of nonperishable items, collected them one by one, and packed them in the boxes. When we finished packing our 16 boxes, we prayed over them. There were over 500 boxes that needed to be filled in 2 hours, so it was quite chaotic in the room.

(that's Ma and Ricky in the background working hard)

Cate wanted to be in a picture too:

David absolutely loved the excitement, until exhaustion hit him and he had to take a break:

It's been a while since he's slept in the Baby Bjorn and I absolutely loved it! I cherish the time I get to have my little boy snuggled up against me because I know it won't be long until he is too big for it.

Later, when we returned to Ma and Big Daddy's house, he took a bath in their tub and had such a great time.

Today we began our family Christmas celebrations with my Mom's family. Everyone was so excited to see David when they arrived, but he was taking a nap. So, we ate, talked, laughed, cleaned up, talked some more and David continued to sleep. After taking a great nap, he played with my cousin's 2 year old little girl, Hannah for a little while. It's hard to get a good picture of a 7 month old and a 2 year old together, there's a lot of movement.

Then it was time to open presents!! He took his time inspecting the packages (making sure some were stable enough to pull up on), checking out the bows, and ripping the paper off piece by piece.

He even tried to use this one as a push walker... Guess we need to write a quick letter to Santa asking for one!!

The remainder of the afternoon was spent playing with Jessica, who has been away at graduate school in California for the last few months. They adore each other and had a great time breaking in his new Christmas toys together.

David met Santa today at our mall! We are fortunate to be able to go during the week, so there was no line when we walked up. David was fine while we stood there checking Santa out. But, he is generally not comfortable with strangers and Santa was no exception. In every picture of me with either Santa or the Easter Bunny, I am screaming and trying to get to my Mom. David was basically the same. Luckily, we now have digital cameras. This is the best one we could get:

Our mall has a cute, little kiddy train that runs around the ground floor. David loved watching it (and all the people) go by while we ate lunch. So, as we were leaving the mall we stopped to check it out.

A full day with Santa, people watching, and train inspecting can wear a little boy out.