Aunt Shelby & Uncle Matt

Shelby and Matt were in town this past weekend, and we had so much fun together!! Jillian loved spending a lot of time with her Aunt and Uncle. Even with Jillian being scared of new people, she warmed up to Shelby and Matt really quick.

I had so much fun seeing my sister again - I've really missed her! I selfishly wish they lived closer so we could hang out a lot more :)

So let's get to it - here are a few pictures from their visit.

Like I've said before, Jillian loves faces!!

Jillian getting some love from her Aunt.

I loved seeing Shelby interact with Jillian. She has such an incredibly natural and gentle way with kids. They love her immediately!

Matt fed her mangos and bananas for breakfast. He was laughing at how much she loves food.

I unfortunately didn't get any pictures with my sister. We can't wait to see both of you again in a couple months!

7 months!

Today is Jillian's 7 month birthday!!

We had a really fun day - we went shopping with Bama! Jillian was a champ: 3 hours of shopping and meeting up with Jeff for lunch. She was happy, smiling and content the entire time. Lovely!

Jillian is at such a fun age (I know I say that every single month!). She's gettting more and more mobile - but no crawling! When we lay her on her tummy she's scooting, turning herself all the way around by moving on her elbows, and just starting to get her hiny in the air. I know she'll be on the move soon so I'm enjoying every minute of her pretty much staying in one area.

Here's Jillian at 7 months (pictures below this):

~Starting to get stranger anxiety (or I call it stranger danger. I like to rhyme :) ). When someone other than myself, Jeff or Bama takes her - she instantly sticks the lower lip out and either looks around for me or starts to cry. This makes dropping her off at the church nursery really hard these days.

~ Wears size 3 diapers

~ Eats 4 times a day, close to every 4 hours.

~ LOVES solids. And I do mean loves them - opening her mouth, leaning forward, banging her hands on the high chair and 'cooing' for more. My hands dont move fast enough. So much for 'airplane going into the hanger' Jillian doesnt have the patience for games :)

~ Today was the first time Jillian raised her arms and leaned toward me to get picked up. Bama was holding her, and she did that so I'd hold her.... melt my heart!!

~ She loves grabbing faces. Anyone's face is fair game if you're holding her. She also loves to try and put her hands in my mouth.

~ I think she's starting to learn her name. Unless she's really watching something or playing, she usually looks up at me when I call her name.

We had a quick little photo shoot this afternoon; I had a lot of fun playing with my new camera... so there are quite a few!

We love you SO MUCH Jillian. You're entire family does! Can't wait to see what month 7 brings our way!

Some Girl Time!!

Jillian and I went over to Kristen's house Friday for a fun playdate with her 8.5 month old twins! I got there and immediately noticed London has enough hair to make an adorable bow without the headband! I told Jillian she needs to focus on growing her hair so we can do this too!

I sadly didn't get any photos of Jones :( He went down for a nap and took a really long one - almost 3 hours (!!) and was still sleeping when we left.

Jillian had a lot of fun, and was quite taken with another baby in the room. You'll see in some photos that she had her hand on London after we sat them closer together.

How sweet are these two? Both happily chewing away!

Jillian loved looking at London

Miss London is SO happy and SO adorable!

We had a hard time getting them to smile at the same time without something in their mouths. First is Jillian smiling, then London smiling

Notice she's touching London

I love this series of photos.....

London decided she needed the ring in Jillian's mouth and makes a go for it.....

Kristen steps in and tries to stop London.

I love London's "What did I do?" face

London couldn't resist..... she really wanted it!!

We had SUCH a great time at Kristen's; can't wait for our babies to play together for years to come! Thank you Kristen!!

Christmas

I know this post is long-over due, but we've just been so busy, and this is a really long!

We had a wonderful Christmas! We spent 4 days at my parents house; Jillian got loved on so much I was a little worried she'd be spoiled when we got back to normal life. My parents love to hold her pretty much the whole time she's awake.

Our Christmas week started out with me opening my gift from Jeff on Monday night. I had been crossing my fingers Jeff would splurge and get me a brand new camera. I wanted a Canon Rebel XSi. And he did! ! I opened my gift early so I could practice quite a bit before Christmas morning.

Here I am practicing - and I was instantly in love! It can take quite a few pics per second, so now I can finally capture Jillian's beautiful smile!

On Christmas Eve I headed over to my parents early that morning to help my mom finish up cooking. Jillian stayed behind with Jeff so we could cook without any distractions. J & J showed up around 2pm, right when we finished cleaning up the kitchen. By then, the snow was starting to fall, but we decided to brave the weather and head out for Christmas Eve service at my parents church at 4. Being from Texas, this was a winter wonderland! I would even call it a blizzard (why not?). Jillian was great during the service; she loved the singing of Christmas songs and the candles at the end. She kept trying to grab any candle she got close to. After we got home that night, we stayed in and enjoyed the beautiful snow. So did the dogs! Austin had never seen snow before and he LOVED it!
The next morning, we were up at normal time, 7:15, and Jillian started her first Christmas morning! Here she is in her PJ's loving Christmas!
Then I changed her into her Christmas day outfit! I had been looking for probably 6 weeks for the perfect Christmas outfit for her. Much harder than I would have thought. I wanted something super cute and comfy since she'd wear it all day.

Opening her stocking from Bama & Unchie (my dad can NOT settle on his name, so this was his name over Chistmas. It's what his father was called. I like it; hope it sticks :) )

Mesmerized by the finger puppet.

Breaktime - After opening 2 stockings and a couple gifts. She needed to play!

Everyone took turns helping Jillian open all her gifts

Unchie loves to feed Jillian. I just love this picture and how she's grabbing his chin.

After her first nap, Jillian helped opened the gifts Nana and Papa sent.

There were so many toys inside this box!

Then Jillian got a precious doll from Great Grandma Judy and Phil.

Jillian also got a super cute hat and mitten set from Lauren & Alan. She wanted to try it on.

(I sadly didn't snap a picture of J playing with the toy Debra and Adir got her)

In between gifts Jillian got lots of playtime with Jeff. She loves to fake punch him in the eyes. Always gets a great smile and giggle.

Christmas is tiring - time for another nap

This last outfit was from Nana, and I loved it!!

We had so much fun celebrating Jillian's first Christmas, and making it special! Santa and her grandparents were very generous with toys and clothes, which is fun - but I can't wait til she gets older and can comprehend the real meaning of Christmas. To honor and celebrate the birth of Christ. I've always believed we are God's children and Jesus died on the cross for us; but having a child has helped me further understand just how deep Christ's love is for us. I would do anything for Jillian, and I cant wait til she can understand that Christmas is really fun, but celebrating Christ is so much more important.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years!