Christmas in Rewind

Wow! I've been meaning to post about our holiday celebrations, but have been sidelined due to illness. Glad that is over!

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed spending lots of time with family. It was the first time in several years that I have not been on-call and I loved every minute of it.

People were more than generous to Miss T! Our living room is starting to look like Toys-R-Us. And it is so exciting that Teegen is starting to interact more and more with these toys.

Here are some photos of the celebrations. More to come this week, including Teegen's 6 month well-baby check and a preview of our upcoming vacation.

Teegen and Annagrace are checking each other out. "Hey I know you!"

"Yeah, I know I'm cute, but you can tell me again if you want!"

Teegen trying to crawl. She didn't get herself in that position. You have to put her on the floor that way.

Waiting on Santa...is he ever coming?

Snoozing with Pop...I think this was right after she threw up in his face.

Posing with Aunt Jilian, Annagrace and Sophie in the hats Aunt Jilian made for them.

Teegen and Sophie

Cracking up at one of Pop's jokes

Lost in thought

Zonked

Christmas Preview

Just a little preview of Christmas morning. Are we raising a little fashionista or what?

Sunday Silliness

Too cute for words! Teegen discovered she has a tongue.

Sweet Potatoes!!!!!!!!

Teegen enjoyed her first "real" food last night. How do you think she liked it? She smelled like sweet potatoes the rest of the night.

Umm...Mom, this is not cereal

Interesting texture, color is okay, taste...well not too bad.

GIVE ME MORE SWEET POTATO!!!!!

It must be love...

Teegen's BFF Thorn came to town for a Christmas visit today. Can you tell they love each other? We had a great time opening presents. Thorn loved his new guitar and Teegen is totally rocking her new faux-fur leopard print swing coat.

Kisses!

Thorn, Leanne and Teegen! Thorn would smile after the camera flashed!

Too much jumping....

Christmas Photos, Take Two!

Tonight, we had the chance to let our good friend Kim photograph Miss T. Even though Teegen didn't feel well, Kim got some great shots. Here are a few of my favorites:




Thanks Kim for helping us capture some great memories!

Monday Cuteness

Giving Thanks

In the days building up towards Thanksgiving, I've been quite emotional. Every time I see a commercial depicting family traditions or special events, the tears start coming. And more times than I can count, I have just held onto my sweet baby girl and told her how thankful I was for her.

I have so much to be thankful for this year. Much of it has not changed since last year. I'm still so thankful to have an incredible husband who has really been a rock for me to lean on over the last year, and has turned out to be an amazing father who is so in love with his girl. Still have a great dad, who has turned into an awesome Pop. Still have great siblings and their respective spouses. And while we may not get to be around one another as often as we would like, the love and connections we have are still strong. Last year, I was thankful for my two nieces, Hannah and Sophie. I am so proud of them and so thankful to have been blessed with niece number 3, Annagrace in January. And I would be remiss not to mention my closest friends --you know who you are-- who managed to keep me sane the first part of the year and helped out tremendously during the last past of the year.

I have been thinking a lot this week about Teegen's birthmother and what she is doing this time of year. Without a doubt, one of the things I am most thankful for is the decision she made. What a gift!

And of course, I am most thankful for the beautiful baby girl we get to call ours. What a journey we have had! She has a shaky start in life, but has come so far and is growing and changing in leaps and bounds.

Our very first picture! Teegen at 2 days old! Just the start of our journey

Someone thinks that they're a rock star.

Someone is quite the Daddy's girl

"I don't care what you bribe me with....I will not smile for you!"

Kicked back and relaxed. There's nothing like a good night's sleep!

1 + 1 = 2

On Thursday, she barely had one tooth. By Saturday, there were two! Click on the picture to see them better.