Merry Christmas From Our Home to Yours

Merry Christmas everyone!
Uncle Brett is here for the holidays! Yay!
Christmas Eve at the Hargrave's
Our Family
Christmas morning with Grandpa
Oh, look! A xylophone! Just what I wanted!

What's in here, Gramme?
And it was a great one!



We had such a wonderful Christmas! On Christmas eve we went to mass and then to my folks' house for their annual Christmas eve party. Today, on Christmas morning, we woke up and opened our stockings from Santa and Nicholas got a couple gifts from mom and dad. Then it was back to Gramme and Grandpa's house for brunch. Gramme and Grandpa got Nicholas a beautiful ornament to commemorate his first Christmas and the xylophone that he will soon enjoy playing with. Later in the day we visited Jeff's side of the family for Christmas dinner. Boy, are we all stuffed! Nicholas enjoyed the ribbons on his gifts as much as his actual presents and surprised us all by sitting up on his own for several minutes today! The best part is that we will always remember Nicholas's first Christmas because of the beautiful white snow covering the ground!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with joyful blessings!

A Visit With Santa Claus

Today we visited Santa Claus at Westfield Mall. Nicholas's cousins, Zoie (who's 6) and Alex (who's 2) came along and Eva (their mommy) and I were really excited to get a picture of all 3 cousins together. Zoie sat on Santa's lap first and told him all the toys she's been dreaming of for Christmas, and after she was finished Jeff placed Nicholas on Santa's lap. Alex, who hadn't napped, really did not want anything to do with Santa which is why you will not see him in in either photo. Once Nicholas was placed on Santa's lap, Zoie smiled for the camera on cue. Nicholas, who is the most smiley boy I know, however, did not smile one bit. He just stared at this old man in a red suit with a long white beard. He didn't take his eyes off Santa for one second. After a minute or two he realized that neither Jeff nor I was very close to him and his look immediately changed to...
this!

Sorry the picture is so blurry...I was laughing so hard because he is simply not a crier. He never cries! Look at Zoie so sweet and happy... and Nicholas bawling and Alex not even in the picture.
I thought kids were suppose to love Santa?!

Snowy Day Fun

It has been snowing non-stop here and we have a least a foot of snow with some really deep snowdrifts! We are loving it! Today Jeff and I rode around the neighborhood on my quad (we took turns while Nicholas was napping). We were happy to get out of the house yesterday to finish our Christmas shopping and today we took Nicholas to the doctor for his 2nd flu shot and then went to Jeff's sister, Eva's house. We love, love, love the snow! Jeff is like a kid on Christmas morning...he can hardly sleep because he wants to play in the snow!

Snowed In: Baby Turns Seven Months Old

Wow! So many toys!

Playing in his new ExerSaucer

Lost in a good book

Lovely snow in the backyard Jake playing in the snow

Yum! Oatmeal and applesauce!

Today Nicholas is seven months old and because the weather outside is frightful and the fire is so delightful, we spent the whole day inside! Jeff braved the blizzardy weather this morning to grab a few groceries and some last minute Christmas gifts while Nicholas and I snuggled by the fireplace and watched the snow swirling outside the window. Later in the afternoon Auntie Eva stopped by to deliver Nicholas' Christmas present a few days early...a new ExerSaucer! Nicholas loves the barnyard theme and happily played with his new toy for a while after dinner. He promptly fell asleep this evening after a day filled with fun! Nicholas is almost sitting up on his own and has started rolling over. We love our little guy so very much and are simply amazed with how much he has changed and grown in seven months!

Winter Wonderland

In our front yard
Sleepy boy

In the hills

We got snow today! Yay! Around 10:00am it started snowing in town and we got an inch or two which in some spots looked like much more because the wind blew such large snowdrifts! We bundled Nicholas up and managed to snap one photo before the wind was just too much to handle. Then we drove up into the hills where there was even more snow, but little baby Nick fell asleep on the way so no more photo ops with him, which was okay because it was seriously 22 degrees...much too chilly for our little bubbie. It's suppose to be in the low to mid 20's all week with more snow on the way. Jeff will have to bundle up at work this week!

We hope you are enjoying the snow as much as we are!

Christmas Jammies

I bought Nicholas some cute Christmas jammies to wear on Christmas eve, but I started getting nervous that he wouldn't be able to fit into them because he's getting so l-o-n-g! So I put them on him the other day to make sure they still fit, and, whew, they did! So I couldn't resist taking a couple of photos of him. As you can see from the top photo he can sit up by himself supported by a chair or pillow for short periods of time and has started rolling over! Yay!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Nicholas is wearing his polar bear snowflake shirt in the hopes that this Christmas will bring us snow! Last year we were lucky enough to have a light dusting on Christmas day and mommy and Nick are hoping that we might see some this year too!

Baby Boys

Here are a couple of photos of Nicholas' new friend, Brayden. Brayden was born in October so they are 5 months apart. His mommy is my co-worker, Jamie, who just returned to work after her maternity leave. We are so lucky to get to bring our babies to work with us! Nicholas absolutely loves other babies and Brayden was no exception. He grabbed for Brayden's hand and wanted to touch his face and both boys got so excited and started moving their arms and squealing. What a couple of cuties! I have a feeling they are going to be great friends!

O Christmas Tree

Nicholas in front of our Christmas tree
Christmas Village
Stockings waiting for Santa to fill

Yesterday was the start of the Christmas season for the Gustafsons! Jeff, Nicholas, and I went to mass in the morning together to celebrate the beginning of Advent (such a treat because it's usually just baby and me), then keeping with our holiday tradition we started last year we went and picked out a new ornament for our Christmas tree. We got a cute little baby boy angel holding a puppy to represent Nicholas and our dog, Jake. Then we drove to La Center and cut down our tree from Jeff's co-worker's tree farm. We found a perfect little noble and enjoyed decorating it together this evening when Jeff got home from work. Well, mostly Jeff and I did the decorating while Nicholas made suggestions on what ornament should go where. Also, I found the cutest stocking for Nicholas a few weeks ago and was able to get his name embroidered on it. You can see it in the middle of our two white ones. This Christmas season feels fresh and new because Nicholas is here...I am loving every minute of it! This is going to be my favorite Christmas yet!

First Thanksgiving

Sitting on the fancy table (with a little help from daddy)
Stuffed after eating so much yummy food

Mom and Eric
Jeff, me, Grandma Hargrave

Daddy is so silly!
The beautiful and festive Thanksgiving table setting

I am thankful for all the people in this room

My Grandpa is the greatest!

Yesterday Nicholas celebrated his very first Thanksgiving. He's too little to eat turkey...but he did try some yummy carrots for the first time! We had dinner at my mom and dad's house which was so scrumptious that we stuffed ourselves! Later in the day we went to Chris and Eva's house for even more delicious food and played some games until mommy and daddy had to take our little sleepy boy home and put him to bed. It was a great day! We are so thankful for all of the blessings in our lives-especially our family and friends!

Baby's First Baketball Game

Mommy and baby watching daddy (sort of). Nicholas seemed more interested in his froggie rattle!
I'm just so happy to be here!

Court action
Man, watching those guys run so much makes me thirsty!

Daddy dribbling the ball

Tonight Jeff was invited to kick-off the Washougal High School basketball season by playing in an alumnae game. It was the even grad years against the odd grad years with Jeff playing on the even team. The evens were up about 8 points the entire game until the end and they had trouble making some of their final shots. The final score was a tie: 55 to 55 and it was really fun to watch! Both Nicholas and I were impressed with Jeff's skills...he played great and made most of his shots!

Baby Babble

I have just started noticing that every single word I say around Nicholas ends in a long 'e' sound. Here are some examples of words I use on a daily basis: blankie, binkie, nappy, sleepy, baby, silly, froggie, beary, bathy, story, bookie, diapey, duckie...ok, I think I'll stop now. I could probably go on and on, but I think you get the idea. Jeff informed me that I have been talking like this since Nicholas was born, and I think it's kind of funny that I didn't even realize it until he was six months old! Now I am hyper aware of my speech and try as I might...I just can't stop the baby babble! Oh, I'm sure when he starts acquiring words and repeating them I will pronounce things correctly, but until then I'm just having fun making up silly words for our little guy!

On another note, our poor baby caught his first cold and has had a runny (there I go again!) nose for two days. He's such a sweetheart though. He hasn't been fussy at all and just keeps smiling and playing all day. He has been taking longer naps, but other than that you wouldn't even know he wasn't feeling well! We are lucky to have such a laid-back, easy-going baby.

Baby's Half Birthday

Today is Nicholas' half birthday-he's 6 months old! I gave him a present by letting him play with some "new" toys. The blocks have been sitting on his bookshelf since before he was born and my cousin, Koby, gave him the musical turtle which has been there just as long. He loved laying on his blanket and reaching for the blocks and was happy to find out they jingle when you shake them! He also liked looking at the turtle that makes sounds and sings songs when you press its buttons.

It has been a wonderfully delightful 6 months of parenthood and I have treasured every moment I get to spend with our son. Here's to the next 6 months which I'm sure will bring us even more joy and laughter!