The first of many. . .

We began our Christmas celebrating with a visit from Jason's Uncle Lee. Lee lives in Florida and this was his first time officially meeting Blaine.






On Tuesday evening the 22nd we went to Jason's Grandma Dawes'. We had a really good timed catching up with Mrs. Dawes and Donald and exchanging a few gifts. Blaine did a great job considering that he had had only one early morning nap.

This is such a great picture of Jason's Mom with Blaine...



An attempt at a family photo...this is how it usually goes. Jason talking to someone else, Blaine being busy, and me trying to get the picture : )


On the 23rd Blaine and I followed our normal family tradition of visiting my Aunt Debra's. This is an opportunity for me to remember my cousin Brandon that was killed in a car accident May 23, 1997. This happens to be his birthday, and he would have been the big 3-0 this year!! It was nice to see my family and for Blaine to see some of my side of the family that he doesn't get to see too often.

On the 24th we usually try to get together and my Mom and Dad's but this year we began WAY sooner than we normally do, considering the two new babies that we added to our family since last Christmas...WOW what a difference a year makes, we do EVERYTHING a little earlier now! Blaine had a chance to play with grandma and grandpa Anderson and got LOT'S of gifts. My Mom and Dad bought Blaine AND Jackson Britax carseats for Christmas. Both of them needed new carseats and Melissa and I picked out the ones that we liked. Mom and Dad are very practical gift givers, so we asked for these for our boys!! : ) We chose the Britax Boulevard car seats

Blaine also got a really neat dry erase table and chairs from his grand-mama and granddaddy Anderson, as well as some blocks. I thought this might come in handy for when Al and Melissa come over to have dinner with Jackson...the boys will be able to sit at the "children's table" : )

Very short stay of the antlers on Blaine's head . . .



Loved this pic of Jackson opening his first present of the evening. . . he looks a bit mesmerized...




I don't know what Blaine's thing is about trying to poke Jackson in the eye....



Best buds in the making...


Jackson making a silly face!!



Blaine really liked taking the bows off of the packages!!


Blaine also got bunches of cool Leap Frog toys from Aunt Melissa, Uncle Al, and Jackson. I think his favorite was the guitar!!
Today was an awesome day . . . What joy I experienced today being with our families, and watching Blaine enjoy his first Christmas Day. This morning started off with my parent's and Jason's parent's coming over. . . . I put a breakfast casserole in the oven, and right at 7:00 am as expected Blaine woke up. I fed Blaine in his nursery, and then Jason (who had just gotten off of work) brought him out as I videoed:

Santa brought Blaine a thomas the train tent, a ride on dump truck, and electric 4-wheeler, coloring books, crayons, finger paint, play-doh, blocks, bubble bath, and lots of other little goodies. It was so much fun to see him overwhelmed with so many people here when he woke up and with all of the "stuff" in the living room. We had so much fun this morning watching Blaine, eating breakfast casserole and soaking in this almost one year old wonder!!






After Blaine had some time to play with his toys he went down for his morning nap. Once he got up we went to Jason's Mom and Dad's for Christmas there. It was so much fun!! We took ALL afternoon to open Blaine's gifts, and mine and Jason's. It was nice to do this at our leisure. We stopped several times for bathroom breaks, snack breaks, and Blaine took a nap break!! : ) We didn't rush...we enjoyed every moment of it!!

Blaine got so many different things...books, baby Einstein videos, a cool toy that has a "ride" that responds and makes things happen on the TV - can't remember the exact name of it, a "big boy chair with his name on it from Pottery Barn Kids, lot's of cute clothes, a "farm house", and the list goes on and on and on. . . here are a FEW pictures from the visit. . .



Jason and I also got SO MUCH STUFF from Santa *wink* *wink* : ) I got some Danskos that I have wanted for a LONG time!! I also got a Pandora bracelet and a few beads for it!! Jason got a new deer decoy (for shooting with his bow), a range finder, and a new pair of binoculars... just to name a few things!! This Christmas was obviously not about us, but Santa made sure that we weren't forgotten!!


I tried to post more pics, but I guess I ran out of room . . . .we had such an awesome Christmas and it was simply amazing how much MORE fun it was having Blaine. A baby changes EVERYTHING!! Now off to planning Blaine's first Birthday!! : )

Good, not perfect, but really good...

Blaine is changing faster than the speed of light!! I cannot get over how much he comprehends, even more than he can tell me right now. With the addition of the Christmas tree you can imagine that things got interesting...well really they didn't. From the very beginning Blaine really didn't bother the tree so much. I'm not sure if it's because he had already has his little tree for sometime (and it has COLORED LIGHTS...) OR if he really just wasn't that impressed with the tree, either way he hasn't made a huge fuss about our tree in the living room. We really watched him carefully in the very beginning and really made a big deal out of telling him "NO" about the touching the tree. We said you can look at the tree but no touching...we would say "NO NO, OHHHH NO" about touching the tree while making the gesture with our hand no no...now he looks at ANYTHING that we have ever told him no about and he makes the no no gesture. : ) It's amazing how quickly they learn isn't it???

Blaine is such a good baby...he is so pleasant and fun loving...he laughs and smiles constantly and is always thinking and MOVING!!! I am learning so much as a Mom. So much about picking my battles, and making sure that I pick the important ones, and go with the flow (so not my personality believe it or not). I have learned a lot from Jason about being a good parent, so much about letting some things go and focusing on what is important 10 min. from now. I am so lucky to have a husband that is invested in our family, even though he isn't here every afternoon or night (which I hate). I have to admit, I get frustrated some times when I'm here and it's only me..I occasionally resent the fact that he has someone (me) to make major decisions and worry about the logistics of life...but I also realize when he comes home and takes over, how lucky I am to have a husband that is capable and willing to let me have a few minutes to myself to have a bath, or a phone conversation, a lot of women don't have that.

ANYWAY... we had a great week and weekend...my Mom's family gathered here on Saturday. All of my Mom's siblings showed up, and even a few of us cousins to chat and catch up on what's going on with all of us in the last ummm...10 years : ) I LOVED it...I loved the chance to see everyone, talk to them, and reminisce about our parents/grandparents. We got to see Cailynn, Blaine's cousin, and Blaine had a BLAST with her. It was the first time that he had had the opportunity to be around another child so close to his own age, and it was FUN to watch. I cannot believe that I didn't get a picture, but I was really busy keeping up with Blaine...you have to have your eyes on him ALL the time...Jason and I took turns and I was busy catching my breath when I wasn't directly involved in what was going on. In fact the ONLY picture that I captured of the evening was this one...

I love my family, and i am so thankful that I was able to spend time with them. I want Blaine to know that Christmas is about getting together with family, playing with cousins, and celebrating Jesus' life. These are the important things in life...

Jason, along with our friend Jim helped to make reindeer food for the get together....I HAD to get a picture of this!!!




This is one of Blaine's favorite places to go in our house...the laundry room...Daisy's bowl is in the laundry room...he loves to sneak a splash in the bowl...




We bought storm doors right after we moved into the new house, but JUST had them installed, and Blaine LOVES them!!! I took a picture of the






Here are a couple of videos of Blaine learning to sit and "rock rock" in his rocking chair that my co-worker Robert gave him before he was even born...






Life is so good right now...not perfect (we all have our daily trials), but so good. I love my family

Trying to remember to soak it all in...

I had a very "relaxing" weekend. I speak often about trying to soak "it" all in. I hear people say all the time that they can't remember when their child was Blaine's age. I know that I will at some point have difficulty recalling some events, but I at least want to stop and revel in what is happening as it happens. I never want to wish this time in my life away, as difficult as it can be at times.

Earlier in the week we had a nice evening with Brandon and Jessica, Jim, and Courtney. We are so blessed to have friends that so willingly come our way so that Blaine can sleep in his own bed, same routine, no babysitter...we love them!! : ) We had a lovely dinner (turkey loin), and played some Guestures : ) It was fun, and if I remember correctly the GIRLS dominated!! : ) Either way we really enjoyed remembering that we are more than husband, wife, mother and father...we all need those moments...




This weekend Jason was off again!!! The time off on the weekend seems to come all at one time, but I know that the time working on the weekends looms in the near future. I have enjoyed every minute of it though. Friday Jason cooked tacos for us, and watched Blaine while I winded down from a long work week. Saturday Jason had planned an early morning duck hunt, but he opted out because of the weather... (later his hunting buddies called and said that they had a great hunt). We stayed at home all day (most of the day in PAJAMAS...YAY!!!), but walked next door to Jason's parents for Chinese food Saturday evening...Today we went to the early service at Jason's family's church, and came home and napped while Blaine napped before Jason had to go to work. I went to my Mom's to prepare for our Saturday gathering with my Mom's side of the family at our house. I am so excited for Mom's side of the family to get together...we haven't really done anything just for her family since my grandparents died many years ago. I want Blaine to know everyone in his family, and I want us to build some Christmas traditions that he can look forward to every year...I think that is an important part of a child's life...it certainly was mine!! I hope that next year we can do something to include my Dad's side of the family...I just thought it would be a bit much to do two gatherings the first year...but we are going to work on it for sure!! Today I spent the afternoon with my Mom and Melissa making all of the fixings for our first "Robinson" family gathering in a few years...we made some "green" punch that I LOVE, and peanut butter chocolate cookies. I know I say it often but I really wish that Al and Melissa, and Jackson lived closer!! Blaine made it through the day on one nap (much to my dismay). When we got home we went to Jason's Mom and ate navy beans and salty ham biscuits : ) I will pay for this tomorrow when I weigh in and have retained a pound of fluid...

10 more days til' Christmas vacation!!!

I am so lucky to have Jason as a husband. We are so different in so many ways, and I think that that is what makes us good together. Being different offers it's challenges...I am a type A get it done RIGHT NOW kinda person. Jason is a ummm type Z I'll get to it go with the flow kinda person. However a rainy day = Jason has nothing better to do/becomes a type A person...worked out well so we finally got a couple of things on the wall that I had been waiting to get up. We hung Blaine's name in his nursery (sorry no pic, he was in bed when I finally thought about it), and we put the "some people don't believe in heroes but they haven't met my dad" saying up that was in Blaine's original nursery - we loved it so much that we but it up in his new room. Still a lot left to do, but we are taking baby steps...We did get Blaine's Christmas pictures up too, I haven't decided where to put my portrait yet, but that's in the works...I love my husband!!


Here are a couple of pictures and a video from the week. Blaine is walking or should I say almost RUNNING now...he goes all over the house from one end to the next all day long. He is eating more and more table food, but still doesn't have any teeth...I know they are coming soon though he is drooling more and more and continues his daily low grade fever...I love him more and more every day (which is really scary)!!!

Blaine started to do this crazy thing with is arm while he was walking and Jason and I were trying to capture it on video. He is cruisin' just watch...






Blaine enjoyed the mess while I cleaned his closet out!! : ) I know, already and we just moved in less than 2 months ago...found this elmer fudd hat that is a newborn size : ) he has a small head...but very proportional hahahaha


Jason took this picture during the week while he was keeping Blaine...he LOVES Daisy's bed...we have even thought of getting him his own for Christmas!!