Oh-Bla-Di

…you get a brand-spankin’ new, super-duper television (with surround sound!) and the very first thing you watch is…

…Dora.  And you can be absolutely certain when the second thing you watch on it is “Dooty & the Beast”…in Blu-ray, ’cause it’s the only Blu-ray you own.

Don’t worry about us, though.  We’ve been streaming Dr. Who and enjoying the Bourne Trilogy ever since.  Just for the record, though, that “Dooty & the Beast” looks darn good in that fancy Blu-ray.

ETA (1/5): Not sure what kind of comment it is on our parenting, but Whoozers cried when the Best Buy folks took our old TV for recycling.  Definitely didn’t want to end up forgetting that!

Gosh, we love to be home all together.  Anyone got any stellar home business ideas that would make us rich enough to do this full time?

Noah had a birthday a couple of days after Christmas.  Since things change so quickly for babies, I figured it was time for another little update.

So, at four months, Noah:

:: Is so very happy.  This little guy only fusses when he’s really hungry or desperately needs some sleep.  Otherwise, he’s just content to be out in the world watching things go by.

::  Babbles, coos, and talks.  He’s got a ready smile and loves to talk to you, especially at his first diaper change of the day.  A long night of alone time means he has lots to share when he wakes up!

:: Has relearned to sleep on his back.  Although he’d been a tummy sleeper for the first few months, it was causing problems with his sleep at school, so we’ve helped him learn to sleep on his back and he does great now.

:: Has to have his Binky and his lovey shoved up against his face to get to sleep.  This has caused some trouble since he wakes up crying at night if the Binky falls out.

:: Has learned to blow raspberries!  He loves it when he can get a “conversation” going with you in raspberry language.

:: Is this close to rolling over.  But, he’s so comfortable on his tummy, he has little incentive to get it done.  It’s coming soon though, I just know it.

::  Loves Libby.  He’ll watch her walk around for several minutes and loves to grab her ears.  Thank goodness Libby is such a complacent puppy when it comes to the kiddos.

::  Has had his first solid food!  We started on oatmeal cereal a couple of days ago and, he’s slowly getting used to it.  Here’s hoping a few extra calories will help with the sleeping!

:: Weighed in at 14 lbs, 7 oz and measured 25.25 in. at his checkup.  That’s up two pounds and two inches from his last visit!

::  Fits in just great around here.  Noah loves his big sister and the feeling is definitely mutual.  These two are going to be two peas in a pod before too long.

It’s hard to believe that the first third of Doozers’s first year has gone by already.  Love our happy little dude!!

I have a ton of pictures to share of Christmas Day around here.  So, rather than typing thousands of words to describe them, I’ll mostly let them speak for themselves.  Suffice it to say, though, that we had a lovely day.  Ava was thrilled to find that Santa had brought her the purple present that she asked him for, and Noah discovered that he could blow raspberries on his very first Christmas.  Thanks to the magic of Skype, we even got to open presents with both sets of grandparents.  Highlights for me were watching Ava try out her new dance stuff (girl’s got some moves!) and watching Ava & Matt play with the new RC boats in the pool.

Here’s the photo recap of a really great day:

Noah woke up super early, so we got some good cuddle time in before Ava woke up.

Whoozers slept in on Christmas Day.  7am!  Clearly she doesn’t quite get it all yet.  

Thrilled to find her purple present,with a bow, that turned into candy!

Opening her stocking.  She eventually opened all of them for us.  Such a good helper.

Twizzlers for breakfast.  Whoozers is truly her mother’s daughter.

All mornings should start with mimosas, I think.  LaCroix is a great champagne substitute for Ava’s drink.

Happy baby boy on his first Christmas!

Noah’s first bear from Mommy & Daddy.  His is named Jack.  Ava’s first bear was called Jill.  

Trying on her new ballet shoes

Dr. Who T-shirts for everyone this Christmas!

Both kids received a bunch of books this Christmas.  Every time we opened one, it had to be read immediately!

Opening presents is tiring!

New tap shoes!

Pretty ballerina

We spent the bulk of the afternoon enjoying our new toys and just hanging out.  Matt and I never got out of our pajamas!  We played several rounds of Ava’s new Memory game and spent some time putting together a new Playmobil set.  (Special shout out to Cousin Laura, who sent this great Christmas set all the way from Germany!)

When we were all played out, we settled in with some popcorn to enjoy one of Ava’s favorite gifts…Beauty & the Beast!  Thanks to several viewings of the movie in the last couple of days, her “Belle” skirt from Grammie is now getting lots of use.

Settling in to watch Beauty and the Beast.  The perfect end to a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

We have a lovely tradition going for Christmas Eve.  We fix an awesome steak dinner (completed with twice-baked potatoes & green bean casserole), invite some lovely friends to join us, and then, as we sit down to the table, finally take the big sigh that means it’s really and truly Christmas.   There’s something cathartic about this meal.  After all the rushing around this season sometimes brings, once we sit down to the table on Christmas Eve, we get to hit the pause button on our lives.

Also?  It’s when all the picture taking starts.  

After we enjoyed watching the carousel go round and round (very popular with the 16 month set)…

…we wrangled the kiddos for our obligatory Caspers/Hoffmans kiddos in front of the tree photo.  Here’s last year’s.  How time flies.

Since it’s just the eight of us for dinner, we get to stick with just dinner and then break up the party in time for each of the families to do our own traditions at home.  After the Hoffmans left, we set out cookies for Santa and read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Then it was time to nestle our children into their beds to wait for the big guy to come for a visit.  With a baby in the house, there was no long winter’s nap for us and Christmas day started early!  More soon!