Family Christmas Cards

I love sending out Christmas cards. Before I was married, I handmade my cards. I continued to do that the first year that we were married, but then realized that I no longer had that much free time on my hands! Enter the birth of our first child in 2009, and any free time I had just flew out the window!

When you are short on time, but still want to send out really cute Christmas cards, there is nowhere else you should turn but to Shutterfly! They have a HUGE selection of Christmas cards to choose from. Whether you want a card with one picture or multiple, printed on photo paper or cardstock, a folded card or flat card -- their selection is second to none!

For me, the hardest part of the Christmas card process is narrowing down my selection and ultimately choosing only ONE card from the hundreds available. They have really sweet Christmas cards with a Christian message, adorable Christmas/holiday invitations for all of your holiday parties, and even New Year's cards if you just can't get around to sending them out until after Christmas!

I won't admit how many hours I've spent, just pouring over the Shutterfly site, trying to decide on a Christmas card design. I think, though, that I've finally narrowed it down to my top three design choices:

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card
I love the clean layout of this one, and the swirly design behind the monogram is just too cute! My only problem is finding enough pictures to fill in all of the spots!



Dotted Collage Christmas Card
I am a sucker for polka dots -- LOVE them -- so of course, this card sucked me in! I would make the main sentiment a bit larger, to stand out, but otherwise, this card is adorable!



Retro Plaid Christmas Card
The plaid on this card reminds me of a Burberry scarf...love it! Plus, the little Christmas tree and the simple design are so easy on the eyes.







However, no guarantees on if I'll actually use one of those three designs...as I was looking at their site just now to get the links, I found a few more that I love equally as much! Did I mention I have a hard time making decisions sometimes?

Shutterfly is currently having an awesome promotion, especially for bloggers! All you have to do is go to this link and fill out the form. Shutterfly will then email you details on what you need to do to receive 50 FREE Christmas cards! Can't beat FREE! For all you non-bloggers, there are still great deals to be had at Shutterfly. For a limited time you can save up to 30% on all cards and can also receive free shipping on orders over $50 (use code SHIP50). Check out Shutterfly today for all of your Christmas and holiday card needs!

18 Month Update!

Dear Luke,

Wow, what an exciting couple of months you've had! You took your first trip (including a plane ride) in June. We went to Jacksonville, Florida to visit some friends of ours. You did so great on the plane. I stocked up a backpack full of toys and goodies you'd never seen before, so as soon as you started getting bored with something, I just pulled out another new item. It worked like a charm! During our time in Florida, you got to go to the beach for the first time. Oh my goodness, it was PURE BLISS for you! You couldn't get enough of it! We were there for about 4 hours and you had missed your nap so you were SO tired, but you didn't dare sleep. You didn't want to miss one single bit of it! :) You loved to dig in the sand and fill up buckets with sand and water. You also really enjoyed sitting at the edge of the water and finding lots and lots of seashells with Daddy. We made sure to bring home a whole bagful for souvenirs!


(fun in the sand!)


(hanging with Mommy at the beach)

At the end of this month we'll be taking another trip...a road trip this time though! We'll be driving down to San Antonio to go to the wedding of one of your Daddy's friends. It's a 4 hour drive, so we'll probably have to stop and take some breaks. We are staying in a hotel on the riverwalk and I can't wait for you to see everything there. We will definitely be taking you on a riverboat ride and hopefully we'll also get a chance to ride the trolley over to Mi Tierra for breakfast -- YUM!

Your language continues to expand and you impress me everyday with more and more words added to your vocabulary. In just over 2 months, the list of words you know and say regularly has almost tripled! I am trying my best to keep a running list of the words and how you pronounce them (since that's the best part!). Here's what you are saying at 18 months (in addition to the ones I documented at 16 months):

belbow -- elbow

kneee -- knee

feeee -- feet

dank doo -- thank you

mooo -- move

goo me -- excuse me

mone -- come on

peee -- please

eye -- eye

mou -- mouth

gigi -- Grammie

poppy or bobby -- Poppy

bay-bee -- baby

poo poo -- poo poo

doo-choo -- fruit chew

yeth -- yes

nack -- snack

cracker -- much better pronunciation than @ 16 months

gen -- again

mo -- more

bee-bee -- blueberry

goo -- Luke

cocky -- chair (you think every chair is a rocking chair)

bai-per -- diaper

bat -- bath

boo coo -- Blue's Clues

buh -- bug

turt-ul -- turtle

bobble -- bubble

ga-gog -- hot dog

biiiite -- bite (you ALWAYS want a bite of whatever we are eating!)

melmo -- Elmo

Mommy

Daddy

Tonight before your bath, I attempted to get you on video saying some of your words...you cooperated a bit...(3 videos)







You are such a happy little boy. You are rarely every grumpy or grouchy and if you are, there is a reason for it. Either you're hungry, or you're tired, or you aren't feeling well. You have started having a few little fits, but they are very mild and pretty rare. Your Daddy and I are constantly communicating with each other so that we can always attempt to be on the same page with your discipline and what is acceptable behavior or not. I'd say that at 18 months, you are very well behaved. There is almost no place that I'd not take you. You do great at restaurants, you love to go shopping and sit in the basket, and generally just like being out and about. You also enjoy going to lunch with me and my friends -- you have your priorities straight! :) You start to show signs of going a bit stir-crazy if we're in the house all day, so I do make it a point to try to get out for a little bit every day (even if it's just to go down the street to visit Grammie).

(having a conversation with your lion)

Dare I say it...but your sleeping improved TREMENDOUSLY at about 17 months old. You started sleeping through the night consistently -- and I mean THROUGH THE NIGHT. As in, not waking up at all! This is HUGE for us, and I don't think I can emphasize how excited I was when this started happening. At first, I thought it was just a fluke...but then it became your new norm. You even slept through the night while we were in Florida and you were sleeping in a Pack 'n Play. That's when I finally realized that it was probably the real deal. I can't tell you how happy this makes me and how much more rested I am these days. However, in the past few weeks you've started getting a new tooth, and so it has affected your sleep somewhat. You've been waking up once a night, but I can usually get you back to sleep in 15-20 minutes or so. It also seems like you're sleeping more hours at night now. You used to only need about 9 hours or so at night, but more and more, you are getting 10 and even sometimes 11 hours of sleep in a night. I love it when we have 8am wakeup times! Happy mommy!

(napping with Daddy)

Oh and on the topic of teeth, you have a whole mouthful of them! You have 12 (and a half) teeth right now. You have the 4 center ones on top, the 4 center ones on the bottom, and your 1st set of molars on the bottom and top. You've been working on getting your first incisor/canine tooth on top and it's been a booger -- it's taking FOREVER to come through!

You're a pretty incredible kid when it comes to mealtimes. I don't know if you take after me and your dad or what it is exactly, but you are a GREAT eater. You like so many things and you'll give anything a try at least once. I'm making "specific" food for you less and less, and more often you are just eating whatever it is that Daddy and I are eating for dinner. Just this past Friday night, we had steak, asparagus, zucchini, and squash and you loved it all! You also love almost any kind of fruit and eat some at every meal. Your favorite fruits right now are strawberries, blueberries, and grapes. You also love pecans and sunflower seeds. You really like to snack throughout the day, so I always keep a snack cup filled for you with your favorite things -- goldfish, wheat thins, dried cherries, raisins, pecans, etc. But even with all of your eating, you're still pretty trim. I haven't taken you in for your 18 month checkup yet, but according to our scale at home, you're just over 21 lbs! I do think you've grown significantly taller though, because you are easily grabbing things off the countertops these days! I think part of the reason that you don't gain a lot of weight is that you never.stop.moving. EVER. You go go go all day long and you are busy busy busy.

(trying asparagus for the first time)

Mommy and Daddy love you so very much sweet boy. We cherish our "goo hug" (group hug) at night before bedtime and the multiple kisses we get before you go to sleep. You have enriched our lives more than we ever imagined and we wake up each day excited to spend it with you and to see what you will learn and explore next. I love you Luke Jackson!

(hanging out under the barstools)

Love,
Mama

Sleepin' through dinner!

I was looking through all the pictures and videos on my phone tonight and came across one that I'd nearly forgotten about! I can't believe I never uploaded it before now, but it is just too good to pass up! Watch for yourself! (Video from iPhone, so the quality is less than stellar.)



The poor little guy was SO tired, but we needed him to eat dinner before he could go to bed. I feel pretty sure that this will be one of the only times that ever happens!

16 Month Update!

Dear Luke,

I know I haven't been very diligent in updating this blog about all of the exciting things you do everyday...it's just that you are SO BUSY all the time! It's all I can do to just keep up with you! I did want to take a few quick minutes to document what is going on with you at 16 months old.

It seems in the last couple of weeks that your vocabulary has really started to take off. You mimic so much of what we say and you'll try to say almost any word we ask you to. Here are some of the words you are saying right now:

Cah -- car, truck, bus, etc

Cah-cah -- tractor

Nana -- banana

Wah or wah-wah -- water

Bah -- ball

Buh -- book

Cack -- cracker

Mama (you also draw it out lately and say maaaaa-ma in a sing songy voice -- so cute!)

Dada (same as with mama)

Pop or pop-pop or papa -- Poppy

Niiiice -- nice

Nee -- Annie

Hi -- you say this in the proper context, and also wave while doing it

Bye-bye -- same as above

Haa -- hat

Nooooose -- nose

Gaagaa -- glasses

You also are understanding SO much of what we say to you. If I ask you if you're hungry and if you want to eat, you will run over to your high chair and hold your arms up for me to put you in. When I ask you if you need your diaper changed, you know what it means and usually run the other direction! When I say it's time to go bye-bye, you run to the garage door. When I ask if you want to go outside you run to either the front or back door.

You've also started testing limits. Recently you started trying to reach up onto tables and pull on the bases of the lamps. I have told you 'no' when you do this, so now you will go over to the lamp, put your hand on it and say "no." Sometimes you will go put your hand on the lamp and look at me and say "hi", as if it will distract me from what you are really trying to do! Silly boy! You also know that you aren't supposed to stand on your books, so just yesterday, you laid a book on the floor, stood on it, and then looked at me and said "nooo" with a big smile on your face. It's all I can do to not crack up laughing when you do this stuff!

We are still working on your sign language and you are learning the signs very well! Whenever I introduce a new sign, it's just a matter of a day or two before you have it down! So far, here are all of the signs you know and do on a regular basis: milk, more, cracker, bird, banana, water, baby, and eat.

You can identify all of the parts of your face -- eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Your favorite thing to do the past couple of days is to show me your nose, as well as the nose of anything you can get your hands on. My nose, daddy's nose, Grammie's nose, Poppy's nose, your Superman doll's nose, the pull-toy puppy's nose, etc! And you say it soooo cute -- "nooooose".

And I can't write an update about you without addressing your sleeping. Oh my dear precious Luke -- why oh why don't you like to sleep? I've finally accepted this fact, but I don't have to like it! Honestly, you do great for a couple of nights, and then you'll have a lousy couple of nights. I guess you just don't want us to get too comfortable with anything! You typically sleep anywhere from 8-10 hours at night total. If you sleep in one long stretch of 8 hours, then that'll be it for the night -- you're totally rested and ready to go! If you are up a few times throughout the night, you tend to get more like 10 hours of sleep total...I guess it's not quite as restful for you that way (I CAN RELATE!). I also think that you are slowly starting to give up your afternoon nap. Some days, such as today, you still need it, but more often than not you just take one nap, usually around 11am or so. And of course, keeping with your style, that nap can be anywhere from 45 minutes to over 2 hours long! Thankfully, I most always lay down with you for that nap, so I that I can get caught up on my sleep somewhat too!

There is never a dull moment with you, sweet boy! You keep me on my toes, you keep me laughing, and you give me more joy than I ever thought possible. I love you bunches and bunches baby boy!

Love,
Mama

Blogging from my phone

Testing to see if I can post to my blog from my phone.

And just for grins, here's a cute bedhead pic of Luke after his nap the other day. :) Love that kid!

Posted from my iPhone