Soich boys Christmas

A couple days after getting back from Gainesville, we went over to Chris & Missy's house to celebrate Christmas with the Soich boys.

The 'big' boys

Jayden, Austin, Brandon, Ryland

What a difference from just 2 years ago:

 Their dogs Bailey & Cooper had puppies.  Jayden was in heaven.  Ryland not so much!

Wordless Wednesday: Santa Baby

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Jayden and Ryland left with my mom on Wednesday to go to Gainesville.  I consider this an early Christmas present because it gave me time to do some last minute shopping, some more shopping, oh yeah shopping, cleaning and sleeping!  Hottie, C and I drove up Friday afternoon.  
On Saturday Hottie, C, and I drove to Thomasville, GA (about 2 hours north) to visit Hottie's mom.  Unfortunately, she had emergency colon cancer surgery on Thursday so we went to visit her in the hospital.  She was still in a lot of pain but was such a trooper to visit with us and even got up to walk a little bit before we left.  We made it back to Gainesville in time to go to Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Home for dinner and Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

 Merry Christmas Eve!   

Christmas Card 2011

Christmas party at work

This year school was in session until Thursday the 22nd but thankfully I only had to work Monday and Tuesday.  In addition to our Holiday Feast we added Holiday Wear to our office festivities!  I really wanted to have a Tacky Holiday Sweater Contest but instead we all adorned our Holiday outfits even borrowing sweaters from other faculty members. My coworkers were such good sports.  There were A LOT of laughs that day! 
There are 8 of us who work in my immediate office, plus 2 who work in the Freshman Guidance center, and 5 who work in the student services department.  Add the front office staff and PE department and you get quite a lot of food!  Here is just a little of the spread:    

I may have bit off more than I could chew (get it?  lol!  I crack myself up!) because I signed up for Hot Chocolate (best hot chocolate EVER; here is the recipe), Chinese cole slaw salad AND brownie/strawberry Santa hats for the luncheon!

I had also waited to make my coworkers gifts (Fools toffee thank you Grandma Stout) and lotto tickets (I didn't make those but you get what I mean) until the night before. Thankfully mom was in town and helped me out!  Extra hands and take out for dinner made it all possible!

5 Months old

Sleeping

Cooper is still sleeping from 8:30 pm to 5:30 am (work days, when I have to wake him up) or 6:30 am (school days, when I have to wake him up).   He had a few days this month were he woke up around 3:30 or 4:00 am.  That did not make a very nice morning for me.  I was worried about letting him "cry it out" in fear of waking up the whole house.  I don't know if it was coincidence or not but I was finally able to "let him be" one morning (Hottie left very early for hunting and I had Cooper sleeping in my closet) and we haven't looked back since!  He is getting on a more consistent nap schedule.  He usually goes down for a morning nap an hour after getting up/eating and sleeps for about an hour.  He patterns his afternoon nap about the same.  He still takes a cat nap in between diner and bedtime.  He just can't seem to make it through the evenings yet!

Eating
We are still giving him Zantac (1.2 ml) twice a day.  He eats 6+ oz at 5:30/6:30, 9:00, 1:00, 5:00, and 7:30.  We have only done rice cereal a couple of times.  It just doesn't seem to fit in the routine yet.  When I have the time to give him it (in the evening)  he  doesn't seem to have the patience to eat so slowly. Maybe this month!

Play
He loves his play mat, bouncy seat, excersaucer, and walker!  He has become quite the roller.  Won't be long before I can't leave him 'for just a minute'!  He loves his feet and I can regularly find him with wet socks!

Other Stuff

• He is still in size 3 diapers
• No more 3-6 month old clothing.  The 6-9 month fit him today.
• He is quite the ham. Smiling at everyone and then looking away
• He got his first hair cut this month.
• He drools ALL.THE.TIME!  It's crazy how soaked his shirts can get in such a short amount of time
• He still has a clogged tear duct in his left eye.  Some mornings he can't even open it; its so gunky!