Christmas with the Griffin Side

My mom's side of the family had Christmas at my Aunt Kay and Sandra's house in Galveston. The whole clan was there but for some reason I only took a couple of pictures. I need to get back to "annoying Emily picture taker". I'll work on that. All the kiddos had fun playing together. They all have someone to play with because Courtney and Madi are a year apart and Bella, Lexi, and Ryan are all within 3 months of each other. Maybe someday Brynlee will have a friend. We always have a great time when we get together. There are always lots of laughs. I wish we got together more often. Hint, hint family.

Try not to be too jealous that Jasmine and Ariel came to celebrate Christmas with us.


Daddy and Bryn

And that wraps up Christmas 2011!

Christmas with the Coxes

We continued our Christmas celebration with my side of the family. My grandparents came down from the Dallas area and Tim and his family came over. There were lots of presents and of course lots of good food.


Brynlee with her great grandparents


Brynlee and Courtney with Papa and Papaw


Brynlee and Nana


Brynlee and Uncle Tim

{apparently bella was not feeling the camera}


The three big kids. They love each other soooo much! Bella is wearing her new Jasmine costume. That girls loves to play dress up and Nana has lots of dress up clothes at her house!


I'm sure Courtney is teaching Alyssa how to use her new iPad. HA!


Notice the egg noodles are sitting on someone's plate..... that would be my brother. Apparently he thought he would take the whole bowl. He was mistaken :).


The kiddie table. Totally enthralled in their new Innnotabs.


My girls!

Christmas at Home

We continued our tradition of opening our family presents on Christmas Eve and then Santa came on Christmas Morning. What a special year it was to celebrate with our newest addition. I am so unbelievably blessed as a mommy. Isabella was so sweet to help her baby sister unwrap her presents.

I love these sweet sisters so much! They are my heart and soul.


The girls and I all got Toms this year. I love that they give a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair that you buy. I LOVE these shoes. They are so comfy and super cute!


Santa was good to the girls this year.


I love her little voice in this video.


I never post pictures of Gabby. Here she is in her Christmas sweater.

We had a great family Christmas. Terry and I both got some good stuff too! I love this time of year so much and it is so much more fun experiencing it through my kiddos.

Merry Christmas!!

Brynlee's First Bite

Christmas Eve brought your first bite of cereal. You certainly did not love it. In fact you gagged on it........ and threw up.

Christmas with the Richards'

We headed up to Corsicana to spend our Christmas with the Richards' side of the family. For some reason I only took 4 pictures this year. Bad Mommy. But we got to spend time with all the girls aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents while we were there. Bella enjoyed playing with her cousins and especially Papa Ervin. She gets a big kick out of him. I think it's because he is just a big kid. Hmm, must be where her daddy gets it from. HA!

Brynlee and Granny Richards


Bella and Papa Ervin. This pretty much says it all. The looks on both of their faces are priceless.

The girls with Aunt Angie

The girls with Granny Gail and Papa Ervin

Brynlee is 5 months

Dearest Brynlee,
You are so sweet. You are the sweetest natured baby and I could just eat you up ALL. THE. TIME. You giggle and smile a lot; those giggles and smiles melt my heart. You are still sleeping in your craddle beside our bed. It's just easier that way since you are still nursing. That's my excuse anyway. I think it's a good one. You had RSV this month and that was not fun. You had to get your first breathing treatments and now you will be more likely to have asthma. I figured one of my kiddos would get it from me. I'm so sorry. All that coughing messed up your perfect sleeping pattern. Mommy has not had one full night of sleep since Thanksgiving. I'm not complaining. I'm just tired :). It is slowly getting closer to being back to normal. Let's just hope RSV stays away.

Because of you being sick we didn't get to have you 4 month check-up until a week ago. Your stats are:

height: 24 3/4 in (55%)
weight: 12lbs 5 ozs (13%)
head: 16 in (29%)

Dr. T says you are right on track! She said we could start one very small feeding of cereal a day but she would prefer you to stay on just breastmilk since you are on the smallish side. We shall see. If you start acting more interested in food we will give it a try.


You are still wearing your size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes. I don't mind. You can stay little forever if you would like.

You LOVE your mommy and I can not get enough of that. You have even started reaching for me in your own way. If we are in the same room and I am not holding you, you are giving me the stare down. I'm pretty sure you are talking to me with your eyes and saying, "Over here Mommy! Come get me!" It usually works because I can not resist you. Oh boy am I ever in trouble!

You have recently attempted rolling over. You have been hanging out in your bumbo chair and your excersaucer. You are changing so much everyday. Let's slow down a little, ok.

I love you to the moon and back! Love, Mommy

Christmas Train

A local church in our area does a Christmas Train every year. They have thousands of lights and the train takes you through them. We really enjoyed it. Mom and Dad went with us and we even ran in to some old friends that we had not seen in a long time, added bonus. We had to wait about an hour and a half but it was fun to catch up with our friends and we also listened to Mrs. Clause read us the story of the birth of Jesus.






Love my sweet family!!

FCS Christmas Program

Bella had her Christmas program at school. They did a sweet version of the nativity. Bella was a camel by her choice. This girl has no problem when it comes to performing. There are no nerves that we can tell. She is such a little ham! I love it!

Ryan didn't really see the need to stand up. He was cracking us up. He just sat there and chilled. Silly goose.



Away in a Manger

I must admit I started crying watching Bella sing this song. There is something quite endearing about watching your 3 year old sing the words to this song.



I love this picture of all the grandkids with Santa.

Isabella's 1st Holiday Dance Show

Bella has been practicing very hard for her very first dance performance. She even had dress rehearsal. She has been so excited about about dance and seems to really enjoy it, especially ballet.

Don't you just love the new forced smile she is giving me. It cracks me up!



She got to watch all the older girls dance first.

When it came showtime she was ready to go. No nerves for this girl. She placed herself front and center and performed her little heart out. Yes, we were the first ones there and yes, we were sitting on the front row and yes, we both had cameras. This was a very exciting day for me and I may have gone a little overboard with excitement for a mall performance but oh what sweet memories we will be able to look back on. She did a great job and we were so proud of her!

My beautiful dancer!





Her fan club!





Her biggest fan!







Sitting with her dance friends before going on stage.



Front and center and ready to tap!









Yes, we even got her flowers!

More members of her fan club. Ryan looks very excited. HA!

and without further adieu.........
Bella's first performance!

RSV

Brynlee started coughing when we were in Dallas and it got progressively worse. Terry took her to the doctor this week and we have been visited by the dreaded RSV. Breathing treatments every four hours, even through the night. YUCK! It looks like this could be my kiddo with respiratory problems. I am so sorry to be passing this on to her. Asthma plagued me as a child and I really hoped that my babies wouldn't have to deal with it. Doctor said she would be more likely to have asthma since she had RSV. The crazy thing is, besides her having a cough you would never know she was sick. She is so sweet natured. Hoping to get rid of this mess soon. She has also decided to quite sleeping through the night. Her coughing wakes her up and then she thinks she needs to nurse. I am one tired mama!

sweet girl with her daddy.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:
my God that has allowed for this wonderful life
my two precious miracles that at one time in my life I never thought I would have
my doctor that was determined for me to have these little pieces of joy
a husband that could not have been or be more supportive to me, that loves me unconditionally
parents that have been my rock and support system my whole life
grandparents that have set an amazing example
a brother that could drive me crazy but that I know always had my back
a sister-in-law that makes my brother happy
a niece and nephew that I could eat up because I love them so much
aunts and uncles who I look up to
cousins that I can call best friends
a best friend that can make me laugh with ALL of her crazy antics
my coworkers that keep me on my toes but mostly in giggles all the time

I have so much to be thankful for. I have the best family anyone could ask for and I am most thankful that God chose me to be the mommy of these two beautiful little beings. I love them so much!

My very own lovies! My three very favorite people in this world!



So blessed!


Crazy cousin antics!! Happy Thanksmas!