Great Balance

Andrew has been doing a great job at sitting up lately and keeps his balance for quite a while. He hasn't figured out how to break his fall if he loses his balance yet but I'm sure he will soon enough. We're all real proud of him!

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning around the Brown house was a ton of fun! This was Julia's reaction when she saw that Santa came to our house and left presents...How exciting! This year it was definitely an American Girl Christmas for Julia! Almost everything Julia got came from that store. Thomas thought we bought the whole store but of course he has no idea since he's never even been there.

First she opened her big present from Santa.

She was quite excited to find out it was a changing table. Thanks Santa!

Some toys for her baby Chloe, Elmo and Curious George.

Julia was quick to get Elmo, Chloe and Curious George and change all their diapers. We had many messy diapers today from Julia's little friends but she was a great mommy and took care of all of them. She realized it's hard work being a mommy.

Opening the highchair from Aunt Kim and Uncle Bradley.

Elmo was the first one to check out the highchair and it was a perfect fit.

Andrew took his long morning nap like usual and joined us in the fun of opening presents after he ate of course. He definitely has his priorities set...eat first and then anything else after that.

Thomas took Julia to a new sports store at The Avenues and she picked out this basketball for Andrew...it was such a perfect gift.

We are so lucky to have two great kids...we're so thankful!

Julia really enjoyed opening presents and her stocking this year. She got so many nice things and at dinner she was able to tell us how she was thankful for all the new things she got from Santa and her family. It was very sweet when she listed off everything she was thankful for today.

It was nice having my mom here to celebrate Christmas with us. Andrew was all smiles but Julia isn't much into having her photo taken lately.

One group photo...Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Helping Daddy

This afternoon Julia was outside helping Daddy try and fix a section of our Christmas lights that went out. It was her first time up a ladder which was quite fun. Such a cutie in her hat! Less than 2 days until Christmas and we're getting excited for the arrival of Santa...How about you?

Gingerbread House

Since Thomas had the day off from work we thought it would be a good time to decorate our gingerbread house. Julia was eager to help out! She wanted to do it the day I brought it home from the store.

Daddy was putting up the walls of the gingerbread house with the help of Julia.

I was so glad Andrew woke up just as we started so he could be a part of the decorating too. Not that he helped or anything but it was nice having him there.

Julia did a great job of decorating the gingerbread house and eating the candies and of course the icing.

Julia and Daddy having fun!

Mommy and Julia decorated the roof of the house.

We had lots of fun decorating the gingerbread house. Thomas wanted to start eating it right away but I wanted to leave it out as Christmas decoration.

Looks pretty good. What do you think?

Sitting Up

Today we had a fun morning at home. I was able to get caught up on some things at home while Julia played and Andrew napped. After Andrew woke up we all played in the playroom. Andrew did such a great job of sitting up and playing with a ball.

He sits up alone for a bit then loses his balance and falls over. As soon as he started to fall he started laughing.

Once he fell down all the way he laughed some more.

Sitting back up and playing some more.

Falling down and laughing again!

Julia was having fun using one of Andrew's diapers to change her baby Chloe. She's going to be a great mommy someday! She's going to love her Christmas presents this year since she's getting lots of things to take care of her baby like a diaper bag (filled with diapers, wipes, changing pad, cream), crib, highchair, and food for her baby. She'll have everything a mommy needs to take good care of her baby! I'm so excited!

Ballet Christmas Party

Today at ballet Julia had her Christmas party. The girls could wear whatever they wanted but Julia still wanted to wear her tutu. They watched a movie, had a snack, got a fun Christmas crown in their hair, and did a little dance to Jingle Bells. She absolutely loved the crown!

Sleepy Girl

Last night right before dinner Julia feel asleep in Andrew's car seat. We tried having her take an early nap since she was up late the night before but she wasn't tired at that time. Instead she took a power nap for 10 minutes in the car seat. She loves to get in there and relax for a couple of minutes...but this time she was just too tired!

Christmas Cookies

This morning we made Christmas cookies and Julia was the best helper ever! She really is getting older and able to do so much more. Every year Thomas and I make the Christmas cookies his mom makes and this year we had even more fun than ever with the help of Julia. She really got into baking the cookies this year! The anise chocolate chip Christmas cookies are my all time favorite kind of cookie and I'm so glad Julia likes them too. We've all been having one for dessert each night after dinner...yummy! This year they taste even better than ever!

Julia is all ready and making sure we have all our ingredients! Actually we were just wasting time since Daddy ran to the store since we didn't have enough anise (Oops...who did the grocery shopping?)

Julia did such a great job stirring. She even said this is hard work, I need to rest.

Showing Daddy the cookies before we put them in the oven.

Julia had to make sure all the cookies were ready and in the shape of a ball. Her apron that she got last year for Christmas from my mom has been quite useful. We look forward to making cookies again next year with Julia and Andrew since it's one of our favorite traditions.

Miss Gail Concert

Saturday afternoon we went to see Miss Gail in concert from Miss Gail and the Jumping Jam Band. We first heard her play last Christmas time at Pottery Barn Kids and fell in love with her music for kids. Since then we've seen her many times around Atlanta. Her music is very upbeat and it's lots of fun to sing and dance along. We have her two CD's and listen to them in the car all the time and today we bought her new Christmas CD. They collected socks to hang on the tree behind them since one of her songs is called the Socky Walk.

Even Andrew had a great time listening to the music.

The first song she played was called Hey, Hey and Julia did lots of dancing.

A bit more dancing from our little love bug.

After the concert Julia even got her picture taken with Miss Gail. Oh yeah, Julia is also wearing her two bead necklaces that she got from a pirate party earlier that afternoon. After the concert we went to one of my favorite restaurants called Pure. It was yummy! It was quite a busy day for the Browns!

Oatmeal Anyone?

Andrew is just over 6 months so today he ate oatmeal for the first time. I can't believe he's already 6 months and ready for solids...time is going by quickly. Here he is right before his first bite of food.

He ate in his pajamas since I knew he would get a bit messy. No sense in getting him dressed just to change him right away. Plus we were heading out to a birthday party soon after so we didn't want oatmeal all over his clothes.

Of course he got a bit messy...don't they all the first time they eat? Andrew did quite well for his first time and I'm sure he'll be happy to eat some more oatmeal tomorrow. I bet he's going to love the fruits and vegetables!

I love this picture with his big smile..it just makes me smile! He's such a happy, smiley little boy.

Eating solids is just one of the many milestones along the way to growing up and as each one comes and goes it's exciting but also a bit sad as well because it's a small reminder that my little babies are growing up. We love this guy and can't imagine our life without him.

Frosty the Snowman

Tonight Julia, Daddy and I watched Frosty the Snowman. Julia took her bath before the show so she would be all ready for bed once it was over. We made some popcorn but Julia wasn't even interested in trying it. She said, 'When I get a little bit older I'll eat popcorn.' She enjoyed watching Frosty the Snowman and whenever he wasn't on the TV she would ask where he was. Hopefully she'll enjoying watching all the Christmas shows so we can watch them together each year. Watching the Christmas shows is definitely a fun tradition.

6 month well visit

Yesterday Andrew had his 6 month well visit with Dr. Bleekrode and everything went great. Our boy is growing quite well but that's not a surprise. He weighed 16 pounds 15 ounces which puts him close to the 50th percentile. I think he's a big guy so I can't imagine what a baby in the 75th or even 90th percentile for weight would look like...a pretty chunky baby I guess. Anyways his height is in the 90th percentile at 27.5 inches long and his head was 45 cm. We're going to start oatmeal on Saturday so Thomas can be around as well when he gets to try his first bite of food. Julia says she'll help feed him a little but mostly watch. It's been fun to compare Julia and Andrew's measurements. When Julia was 6 months old she weighted 11 pounds 9 ounces which was the 5th percentile and she was 25.5 inches long which was between the 25-50th percentile. Granted it's different since we have one girl and one boy but it's so interesting how much they vary in size. He got two shots and Julia felt bad for him since she hates getting shots...she's tells him, 'You'll feel better soon Baby Andrew.' Andrew is doing a great job sitting up with the help of the Bumbo that I'm borrowing from a friend. Oh, I almost forgot to mention but the last two nights Andrew has gone 11 hours without eating. On Monday night he ate at 7:00pm and woke up at 10:30pm but Thomas got him back to bed and then he woke up at 5:30am so I fed him and he stayed up for a little while and played. Last night I fed him at 6:45pm and he woke up at 1:00am but Thomas got him back to bed again and then he woke up at 6:30am to eat. I still got up at 1:30am to pump but it looks like the boy is learning to sleep through the night which is a big relief to us. Hopefully this trend continues.

Just Playing

My sister brought back our exersaucer and Andrew is loving it! He loves playing with the toys and spins around too! I took this photo the morning after he slept for 7.5 hours. It was the longest he's slept and gone without eating. I fed him around 11:00pm when he woke up and he slept until 6:30am. I was finally able to get some sleep...yeah! I was hoping he would continue with this schedule the next night but no such luck. Soon we're going to start solids so maybe that will help him sleep all night. He definitely loves to snuggle up and nurse to fall back asleep.