Tayls of Life, Love, & Babies: Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful first Christmas as a family...and it's not even over yet! My brother is coming down to Hastings and we have our Christmas with him and my parents tomorrow. Gabi and I just came down with a cold, but hopefully it won't be too bad. Our baby's first cold....I feel so bad for her. Her little nose is all congested and she is really sleepy and cranky. Poor thing :( She still managed to give me a few smiles this morning which always makes my day. At least we just about made it through the holidays healthy....

Gabi made her first trip to Dad's work on the 23rd for their company Christmas party. All of the guys got to meet her and she got to see where daddy goes everyday. The party was during her nap time but she just couldn't sleep - all the new sounds and smells and people kept her little eyes open and alert. That was fine though, she was a very good baby and behaved the whole time.

Later that day we had our friends Alexis and Steve over for dinner. I made manicotti (such a pain to make but sooo good)! Then on Christmas Eve we had our friends Mike and Megan and their little girl Kate over for cocktails and appetizers. Christmas morning quickly came and my parents arrived around noon. We opened presents and Gabi was even awake for a good portion of it! She got some very nice things - books, clothes, toys...she was a very lucky girl! Nick's big gift from me was a PS3. Last year I tried to be creative with his gifts and he didn't end up liking anything, so this year I got him something I knew he would like! Nick spoiled me like usual. I got a beautiful watch, some really cute boots, and a new Coach purse :) I am a very lucky girl too! Nick cooked Christmas dinner while I while I entertained Gabi and my parents. We had ham, macaroni and cheese, rolls, green beans, and a delicious caramel apple dessert my mom made! Yum! FYI - baby diet and workout plan will be in full swing after New Years Eve...by two weeks post partum I had lost 23 lbs but I STILL have those darn 9 lbs to go to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have yet to get back to the gym with the holidays and Nick's long work hours, but I am excited to start back up this week!

On the 26th we went to Jason and Corinne's house for Nick's family Christmas. We had another great dinner as well as some great gifts. On the 27th we headed out to the Mishler Christmas. We also had some great food and a good time there, though at this point we are pretty much exhausted and Christmased out! Gabi did really well with all of the traveling and visiting over the holidays.

She is continuing to cry less and be less fussy. We have noticed that she really likes music, like singing stuffed animals and such. And we also found that the more toys we put in her pack and play, the happier she is. When we used to just lay her in the bare pack and play she would scream after about 10 seconds. Now that we have a bunch of toys in there around the edges and have added more hanging toys to the activity bar above her head she can be content in there looking around and kicking her legs for quite some time. She still loves her singing stuffed cow, but for Christmas my mom got her these big soft stuffed blocks. I stack those two high next to her and she will look at them and eventually push them over. She continues to be a great sleeper! She is currently sleeping anywhere from 3-8 hours at a time just depending on the night...usually getting up between 1-3am and again around 5-8am. Her little smiles are also becoming more of a regular occurrence. She seems to smile a lot right after she wakes up, but will also smile whenever something just plain makes her happy! She will be looking at the wall or out the window and just start smiling away! She also smiles at her cow, of course. There was so much to be grateful for this year...a beautiful, perfect baby girl, a wonderful hubby and daddy, great parents and families and so much more!

My first Christmas!