The Crawford Family: It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

I have to admit.... I am not the first one to use that as a blog title in my family. David & Bonnie had that up after decorating their home, but it seemed to fit for this week :) I know they don't mind me copying a fantastic idea!!

Thursday was a pretty long day for Kaitlynn and I. She decided to have an "off day" today, which resulted in napping only 30 minutes at a time, eating about 2.5 ounces per feeding (normally 4 ounces), and being rather fussy! We got through the day whether we wanted to or not. :) Angi stopped by to take a few more pictures of our kitchen for our flyers & website. It was wonderful getting to see her - not sure how long it's been now, at least a month I think! While she was here, Kaitlynn got tickled at something and burst into fully out laughter for Angi! It was so precious. I was also planning on a Target trip with Kaitlynn in the afternoon, but with her having such an "off" day, I decided to wait and go once Kelly came in from work. Running errands on a day like today was just not an option with Kaitlynn. First of all, I absolutely LOVE Target these days. No, I didn't get any Starbucks this trip, but that is definitely one of the perks to the trips there. I love Target mainly because you can get everything you need in one stop! I finished up our Christmas shopping, got Kaitlynn many more diapers since we're still going through about 92 diapers a week, and found a few stocking stuffers for my two girls. The most exciting part of my trip this time - with the OKAY from my husband - I got Kaitlynn a 3-ft. pre-lit Christmas tree! I also found 12 miniature snowman ornaments to go on her tree. Kelly and I are starting our 1st family tradition - we're going to put a 3-ft. Christmas tree in our children's rooms - right now just Kaitlynn :) - and when they're old enough, let them decorate it the way they want! Once I got home, Kelly had already gotten Kaitlynn into bed - it was 7:15pm. We had another date night!! This time we lit the fireplace, and watched on DVR - Carrie Underwood's Holiday Special. It was a relaxing evening, and we were so excited to have two date nights in-a-row at home with our daughter sound asleep in bed!

Kaitlynn and her very own Christmas tree

Willa Grace wanted to have her annual Christmas photo near the tree!!

Friday was a great day, and a wonderful start to the weekend! Kelly and I decided to try not swaddling Kaitlynn during nap time today to see how she would do. She was fine during her 1st morning nap - took a solid 45-minute nap. However, as I was trying to get her down for her 2nd nap so she could rest before MOMS Club at 11:00, she was getting frustrated because her body didn't seem to relax. I went ahead and swaddled her, and she went right to sleep. I think we'll be swaddling her for a little while longer! After her nap, we headed to the MOMS Club Meeting. With it being the month of December, we had our holiday party! I dressed Kaitlynn up in one of her many Christmas outfits. We had Secret Santa for the adults, coloring & candy canes for the kids, and several goodies to munch on! I spent some time talking with our president, Sarah about being the Social Activities Coordinator. I love to plan things, and this seemed right up my ally! The afternoon proved to be a little different - Kaitlynn didn't take long naps again like yesterday, and was pretty cranky by 5:00pm. Once again, I was so excited to see Kelly come through our door for a few minutes of relief! Kaitlynn went down pretty early Friday evening, which allowed us to relax and catch up on some of our DVR shows.

Willa Grace and her BFF

Saturday was a great day! It finally felt like Christmas in our home. Yes, we've had all the decorations us since the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but it just hasn't felt like Christmas yet. It came so quick this year! I had a Cookie Swap & Jewelry Shop to go to at Angi's in the afternoon, so after Kaitlynn went down for her morning nap (which lasted for 2 hours!), we made ourselves some breakfast, and then Kelly helped me bake the cookies for today! We madeChocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies - they were very yummy! The Cookie Swap & Jewelry Shop was from 2-4pm, but ended up lasting until 5:00pm! There were about 10 ladies that came, and we all had a great time tasting all the goodies and shopping from Stella & Dot Jewelry. This is what I ordered.......Together Forever Necklace. The jewelry is really unique and inexpensive! After the party was over, I headed home so Kelly, Kaitlynn & I could go to our very first Christmas party of the year! We dressed Kaitlynn up in one of her many Christmas outfits and headed over to Janet & Vance's home for their annual Christmas party. If anyone knows how to host a real party, it's definitely the two of them! We had such a great time - there were a lot of "mommies" and "grandmothers" there that helped watch over Kaitlynn, rock her if necessary, and then bring her back when she got real fussy. We were able to stay for about 1.5 hours before we needed to get home and get Kaitlynn in the bed. While we were there we were able to get our Characture drawn, which turned out great! This was Janet & Vance's gift to everyone this year - Thank You! Angi, Amy, and Erika all showed up as well. Kaitlynn was definitely easy to get down after the Christmas party!!

This is Kelly's ideal morning with our daughter - watching sports!

After taking this picture, there were about 6 more plates of cookies

added to the table! This was female heaven on earth - cookies & jewelry.

*Erika*Kristen*Janet*Angi*Ami*

The McMillan Christmas Party 2009

Sunday finished off a great weekend. Kelly, Kaitlynn and I headed to church around 8:15 this morning. We took Kaitlynn with us to our Sunday school class - everyone loved seeing her again! This was her 2nd visit to Two By Two. However, she started "talking" a lot during our class - I looked over at Kelly and said "Let's try putting her in the nursery for service so we can enjoy the Sanctuary." In between Sunday school & church, we headed downstairs to the nursery, signed Kaitlynn in, got a pager, handed off our license, and took her to her room. We couldn't go inside the room, as they keep it completely sterile, but one of the workers met us at the door to take her for us. The service this morning was wonderful. Kelly and I enjoyed being able to focus, worship & listen to Bryant during his fabulous message on Jesus' birth. After the service was over, we were both anxious to find out how Kaitlynn did for her first time in the nursery! Everyone loved her :) They told us that she took a nap, and that she was such a snuggler. That's our girl!! We had a great afternoon at home - Kaitlynn went down for a nice, long nap (3 hours) while Kelly and I enjoyed an incredible meal - grilled steak, mac&cheese, and a salad! Yum...... I have to say - Kelly really knows how to grill steaks.... so good! Around 3:15pm, we packed up Kaitlynn and headed back to the church. Last year we went to the Johnson Ferry Christmas Festival - a big put-on by their 300-member choir & orchestra! It was amazing. I told Kelly I couldn't miss it this year just because we have an almost 4-month old. Kelly mentioned wanting to go this year as well, so we took Kaitlynn with us! Thankfully they had a 4:00 & 7:00pm today, so we were able to go to the earlier one before her bedtime! We were able to drop Kaitlynn off in the nursery while we went and enjoyed the Christmas Festival! Kaitlynn did great once again - 2 for 2!! Our next nursery experience will be Sunday morning, December 27th for church! Can't wait to see if we get 3 for 3! Do I enjoy leaving her in the nursery and being away from her - absolutely not, but do I enjoy listening and experiencing the Christmas season without being interrupted by our precious baby?? Absolutely yes!

This week has been an exhausting week for both Kelly and I. Kaitlynn has finally hit her 3-month growth spurt. Since she is about a week away from 4-months, and was born 2-weeks early, it makes since that she's hitting it a bit "late." She hasn't been sleeping well during the day or night, and she's been eating more frequently. Monday night she ate at 7:00pm, went down at 7:30 - slept until 11:30pm, ate, slept until 3:30am, ate, slept until 6:30am, ate and stayed awake until her first morning nap. Her naps on Tuesday were extremely short - about 30 minutes each one! She normally takes at least 1-2 long naps (1.5-2.5 hours). Also, even after eating 4 ounces, 1.5 hours later she would be hungry again! Hopefully this is her growth spurt. Kelly and I headed over to Nick & Amy's house Monday night to take them dinner. They had Caroline two weeks ago - precious! I cooked them & us baked spaghetti and croissant rolls. This was my first attempt at baked spaghetti, and it turned out pretty good!! Tuesday went well besides the lack of naps and the intense desire to eat constantly! I had two ladies over to the house around 10am. I met Shandy & Julie last week at the MOMS Club Meeting and they both have 3.5 month old babies. They were able to stay about 2 hours which was nice! I had planned a Target trip for Kaitlynn & I to get a few odds and ends, but with her state of mind the past two days, I waited and went after Kelly got in from work. Again, running errands with a cranky baby for whatever reason is not enjoyable! Kaitlynn & I spent Wednesday relaxing at home together. Tuesday night Kelly & I were up and down with both Kaitlynn and Willa Grace. Once one was fed, and back to sleep, the other needed to go outside and use the restroom! I think every 2 hours someone needed something. Kaitlynn did much better last night than the previous night. She went down around 8:00pm, slept until 1:00am, ate, started making noises around 3:30am but put herself back to sleep until 6:30am = getting up only once during the night! Since I had no morning plans today, Kelly & I opted to put Kaitlynn back to sleep after she ate at 6:30am. Since her naps during the day have been very short, we knew she could use the extra rest. She ended up sleeping until 9:00am! Each day we wonder how long a growth spurt can and will last..... BUT, at least she's growing and is very healthy! We cannot lie though - we are looking forward to our 10 hours of straight sleep from our daughter again sometime soon!!

Trying out our SuperSeat for the first time!! Now that Kaitlynn

has a grasp over her head, Kelly and I are working with her on

strengthening her back so she can sit!

"New toys..... SWEET!"

GREAT news! Kelly didn't have to travel this week. Unfortunately that also meant that my mom decided not to come down for the night. With my family celebrating Christmas this coming weekend, she needed the extra time at home. But, I was so excited to have Kelly home all week, especially through Kaitlynn's growth spurt! The extra hands at night have been nice.

I broke down and pulled out one of Kaitlynn's new toys since she has almost reached the 4-month mark! Just 3 more days until she's 4-months old! I pulled out her Super Seat (bumbo seat, activity seat, booster seat all in one!). *Pictures above* We also have a Musical Activity Jumper, but haven't started using that with her quite yet. Since she finally has a good handle over holding her head up herself, we're ready to start working on strengthening her back muscles so she can sit upright! Kaitlynn is still talking up a storm these days. She has started to talk in her car seat now when we're driving somewhere - knowing that it's either cry or talk! It's hilarious listening to her. She really enjoys talking to her nana's on the phone, and I know they both enjoy listening to her babble! It's the next best thing to real life babbling. Kelly and I both noticed this morning how long Kaitlynn is getting. She really has started growing a lot again. I cannot wait to take her to her 4-month appointment after the Christmas holiday! She sees Dr. Smail on Tuesday, December 29th. Amazingly enough, we're still in #1 diapers!! Each week, I keep thinking we're going to move into the 2's, but I keep having to buy one more box of 1's. Hopefully after our Christmas travels, we can move her into the 2 diapers.

"It's beginnings to look a lot like Christmas......."