December Days

December passed by in a blur.  Life consisted of me trying to get back into the swing of things, which I feel didn't go completely miserably, but definitely wasn't as smooth of a transition than perhaps it has been with other babies.  I tried to live in the moment as much as I could.  Enjoying the beautiful things, and trying to ignore all that I felt I needed to do, but just couldn't find the time for.  

Austin is just such a fun boy, doing unexpected things that are just so cute.  One day I found him playing this way:  too small winter hat on his head, snorkel fins on his feet, and snow gloves he was intending to wear as well.  

Ashlyn got more loving from her aunts and uncles this month  Here she is with Aunt Nancy.

I love this letter to Santa from Jayden.  He asks for an iPod touch because at one point we thought it might be okay... bummer for him is that in the end we decided we weren't ready for that kind of change in our house.  He wants Santa to bring me an iPod charger (to replace the one that he accidentally broke while using).  He knows how much Dylan loves football and wants Santa to bring him one, and apparently at the moment he knows that all of Devon's pants have holes in them.  How thoughtful of him to ask Santa to bring some more.  Haha!

I can't help but keep on taking more and more pictures of Ashlyn. She is such a sweetheart, and we love having her in our family.  This is how most my babies sleep for the first few months of life.  It seems to be the best way to keep them asleep, which gives me some much needed sleep!  Eventually I wean them to the crib around 4 months or so.

Ashlyn has a light patch in her hair on the side of her head.  I'm curious if it will stay that way, or later in life manifest itself again.

Lauren loves limes.  It must come from how I started craving them while I was pregnant with her.  Nothing like a Cafe Rio salad  with just lime juice as the dressing.  Yum!!

I've started on my quest to catching a good picture of Ashlyn's smiles now that she is smiling.  Its always tricky for a while.

I couldn't help myself and take a selfie to record how Ashyln and I spent most nights while she was a newborn.  She slept wonderfully this way, and for the most part, so did I.  I just love snuggling with my newborns, and it makes nighttime feedings so much easier.  For probably the first two or three months or so, if Ashlyn was having a hard time sleeping, all it took was me snuggling with her to get her to go to sleep. Those are beautiful days.  It never lasts forever.

For all my other babies, the swing was a staple of getting my kids to sleep when they were newborns.  Ashlyn did not follow suit.  I still used it occasionally, but Ashlyn never had the same appreciation and love of the swing.  I love seeing my babies sleep and relax in the swing though.  They are just so cute.  I guess new babies doing anything is cute, though.

I LOVE snuggling with my newborns.  Having them sleep this way on you is heaven! (Another selfie by the way.  I never seem to have very many pictures of me with my kids, since I'm usually the one with the camera.)

Grandma and Uncle Ben came to help make sugar cookies with us.  It was perfect.  I'm not quite sure if we would have gotten this tradition done without their help.  Grandma held Ashlyn, and Ben helped me with getting the cookies rolled out and cut.  Ashlyn seriously loves to be held all day, which is making it so hard to do  just about anything.  Its hard to be too bothered by it, because I will be sad when I don't get to hold her all day as a sleeping newborn.  Of course, looking around at my messy house drives me crazy.  The days I do get it cleaned up are wonderful!