No bye-bye Binki

Christmas was wonderful; spent at Aaron's parents house who always make it fun and special. I would have been better company than driftwood had I not gotten sick. Christmas Eve, Christmas day and the day after were the worst days. Still have a very sore throat but got my energy back. Porter had a blast and super cute and LOVED all his presents from Mommy and Daddy and Santa. ;) As for the binki, I'm cutting it down to only when he is in the crib or if we are not home and he's upset...hence the binki featured in these pictures on Christmas Eve. So it's not time to say good-bye, just "I'll see you less." See who is next to him sleeping? That's his teddy. He LOVES his teddy. "Cause he's my best friend"....Porter's thoughts.

Picture Scramble

Here is my Porter and a random scramble of pictures. First we have puppy Chia in her new Old Navy ($.97...regular price $5) pilgrim hat. Can't wait til next year to make the puppies wear the hats for Thanksgiving! Porter in the red 'jamies is from the visit to my parents in KY last month. The orange shirt and reindeer hat picture (asleep in car seat) was from this morning on our way to story time. Porter by the fridge and the gingerbread man picture was after story time week before last. It was his first piece of artwork!!! I know someday there will be too much and the fridge will be covered, but for now I'm enjoying his gingerbread men picture. Then the one of him sitting is while he watches Baby Einstein month or two ago. He is sooooooooooooooo cute!

And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Michelle and Chris!!! What is this...13 years? Love you Sanfords!

5 Santa's & BIG presents

Porter saw his 5th Santa Saturday! And has cried every time. I think it's precious and classic. Aaron thinks it's cruel. Aaaah what does he know. Porter will love the pictures and memories. I wish I had any picture of me with Santa as a kid! Here is the Santa list: First Santa was at Jubilee of Trees, then at Tuacahn (my favorite one), next Harmons (too fake cause too young, but nice), on to the Mall (my least favorite), and last but not least the Blvd Santa (the nicest)!!! Harmons and Blvd gave free pictures; I thought that was very nice. Thank you Harmons and Blvd!

Aaron's work Christmas party was fun. It was a "Christmas outfit" dress code and a contest for the best one. Aaron and I went as presents, literally. (Thank you Melissa and Jared for the boxes! We used their dice from Halloween and put wrapping paper over them; but don't worry, the dice are still there! You just get to unwrap them next time you want to "roll".) Porter has a BLAST sitting in them and just giggling. Took some coxing to get him to pop his head out for a picture.

Had to show you my holiday festive spirit; my Target Santa socks. Fun huh?

Me and 2 of my snuggly babies. Past 3 days Porter has been teething and at times has been a bit miserable. It's been a little while since he had teething problems. Has had a little cold this whole week too. Poor kid, but he is still as happy, precious, fun and cute as can be!Chia is actually keeping my neck really warm. Wish I could wear her as a scarf.

Story time

Story time at the library is now one of our favorite things. Okay, mostly for me but Porter likes the songs. The story ladies usually read a book, kids sing a song, book, song, activity (coloring), and treat (candy or cookie). Porter doesn't sit or listen to the stories but he LOVES the songs and dances...which for him is swaying side to side. I like that he interacts with other kids and gets out of the house and starts to understand a structured play time. Today the story lady read Santa stories, we sang "Jingle Bells" as the kids shook bells, sang "Must be Santa" while the kids held pictures of Santa and reindeer, colored a Santa that we the mom's cut out, and they got Christmas candy. This is Porter "holding" (wanting to destroy) his Santa that he colored by himself!!!! First time! The other times I hold a crayon in his hand and move his hand back and forth. Today he did it all by himself and I just fall more in love with this kid everyday.

SANTA...again!

Porter saw his third Santa this year at Harmon's. They do free pictures with Santa and this year the only way we could get a picture without a crying tot was to be held by Daddy, so we did a family picture! :) See what I mean? Why do I expect any different. He does have 2 more Santa's to see so I'm sure I can expect the same outcome. I don't care; it's still cute, classic, and good memories. =)
There is a book I want to get really bad called "I Believe in Santa". It is about the similarities between Santa and Jesus Christ. Remember the real reason for the season!

Kentucky woman + Halloween 2009

Porter and I traveled to Kentucky to help out my parents the last week of October. We flew out of Las Vegas (first two pictures are us in the airport--see the slot machines?--then pictures from the flight including Porter licking the window) to Nashville where we stayed with Stacey, baby Simon and Matt for a day, then headed to Kentucky to help pack the house. I had lots of fun holding and taking care of Simon while Stacey took every chance she could to get Porter up from his naps and hold him. This picture is me when I had carried Simon around and he fell asleep! This is Simon and Stacey in the airport; look at those cute fun precious chunky cheeks! His bum is the same way. =)

Porter loved to steal Aunt Stacey's nursing pillow to use as his own personal lounge chair.
He was a very good boy and an excellent helper. We packed so many boxes that we almost packed this little guy up too! Sure would have been a noisy box.
This was back home at one of daddy's softball games. He loves playing softball and Porter loves to go watch him.

He walked around all day in daddy's hat even though it drowned him. Can't remember why the unhappy face here but it had nothing to do with the hat. He loved that.

HALLOWEEN!!! May I introduce Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat?

This is me as a cat. I had a tail too. {meow}

Chancho and Chia wore their skeleton costumes earlier that week but we also dressed them up as a lady bug and bumble bee on Halloween.


The piano and pony are Costco toys. We have discovered Porter loves to "play" the piano and strum daddy's guitar. He will dance around when Aaron plays.

Merry Christmas Puppies!

Merry Christmas Chia (the little elf on the left) and Chancho (mini-Santa on the right)! Their first time meeting Santa and no crying. Good doggies. Love you my furry little family! (And thank you Petco for the pet/Santa pictures.)

Just set up our Willow Tree Nativity and I love it. It's so beautiful and simplistic. Remember the reason for the season. =)

My little Aaron

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!! My twin Stacey and her hubby Matt and my baby nephew Simon are in Vegas and I'll be there is just a couple hours!!!!!! I am so excited I think I just soiled myself. =P (We'll miss you Michelle!) As for Porter, he is such a mini-Aaron. Found some toddler pictures of Aaron and it's my Porter with curly hair! These pictures are "Morning Son" pictures, or pictures taken right after he wakes up. The other one is a precious moment with cousin Presley. These two could also be nicknamed "Mini-Miriam" and "Mini-Aaron".

SANTA!!!!!!

Porter saw Santa at the Jubilee of Trees!!! Not sure what he's asking for here but it's too cute. The rest of the time he cried (too close to nap time) and I have pictures of that on my camera but I'm glad the photographer caught this moment.

Porter holding a manly football; had to make up for the doll (even though this pictures was taken before). This child is precious, cute, funny, handsome, smart, curious, active, and just plain perfect.

Thanksgiving goodies

Gobble, gobble, gobble. Got together with two of my bestest buddies to have some good ol' fashion seasonal-holiday-festive fun. We made these turkey cupcakes and Oreo turkeys. How fun is that?! I'm LOVING house-wife life and not working. Allows me to spend all my time with my precious little son and to do little fun things like this that I never had time to do with studying or working. It's the little things in life.

This is my favorite Thanksgiving goodie...Porter-son!!! I love this sweet snuggly kid. He is getting so active and fun. He loves to play in the dog food and dog water (he squeals in frustration when I stand between him and that), moving furniture (he is constantly pushing around his Leap Frog table or the kitchen chairs or bar stools), and he just loves his puppies, his Daddy, and milk.

Have to put in another plug for my friend and visiting teaching companion; she made these CUTE cards for Thanksgiving. Her info is in a Halloween post.







When I went to pick up Porter from my friends house (she babysat him while I attended my sis-in-laws hip hop dance concert which was AWESOME and she was AMAZING!!!), he handed me this baby doll. I think he wanted me to put it to bed cause that's what you do with tired babies. Look at my poor buddy! So tired.


And for all you Twilight fans, I took pictures of the "New Moon" tree at the Jubilee of Trees. Porter and I went for a NICU reunion and he had his picture taken with Santa (not posted) and he cried. It was 30 mins from nap time...too close.