Tis the Season!

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at yo...GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER!" These are the jumbled Christmas songs that have been floating around our house lately. I love singing The Christmas Song to Sutton because it's so soothing and pretty; Rusty loves to jump in with Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer because it's fun to sing and makes Sutton laugh.
The holiday season is here! Cold weather, Christmas lights, trees and decorations, pictures with Santa and plans to visit family far and wide.
Sutton is 7 months old now and I couldn't think of a better age to experience a first Christmas. He's sitting up, scootching around (not quite crawling,) laughing and smiling at so many things and responding to us in so many new exciting ways. He makes the funnies faces when responding to certain words. He makes his guppy face when we say Paw Paw (which is what we call my stepdad, Jeff) and this completely cheesy grin when we're playing with him and being silly. Oh, and our baby doesn't giggle sweetly. He guffaws. His laugh goes something like this, "Huuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh, ah huuuuh, huuuuuuuhhhhhhhh, uhhhhh!" It's so funny! He's also becoming more accustomed to his Gerber Puffs snacks that we've been feeding him for about a month or so, now. He still makes some pretty funny faces while eating them, but he'll no longer just spit them out. I think his new tooth is helping the chewing process. We've known that one of his top teeth is close to coming in, but last night, I actually heard him grinding his top tooth and lower teeth together. So apparently, it's broken through the gum. We are now a three-toothed baby boy! I'm thinking about moving him onto Stage 3 food now, and seeing how he does with a few soft pieces to chew on.
Since it's Christmas -time, we of course had to take Sutton to have his picture made with Santa. We went last Saturday and it was a great experience! I can totally understand all the fun of taking children to do children stuff in a setting where there is absolutely nothing to do for adults other than watch their kiddos have fun. Sutton was a bit fussy (it was about his nap time) when we first got to the mall so I was a bit worried about him just being a toot when his turn came. We didn't have long to wait as we got there early (of course) and were third in line. However, once Santa showed up I think Sutton could feel all the excitement because he just went totally goofy and started cheesing and laughing like crazy. He was flirting with a mom behind us and I kept telling him that she was married and her husband was going to get mad. The couple had their little boy with them to take pictures and the dad was like, "Don't worry, kid, I'm not the jealous type!" Cute cute cute. So Sutton's turn came and we plopped him down on Santa's lap and went to stand by the camera. Sutton just kinda sat there. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't freaking out (I didn't think he would throw a fit, he's still pretty good about going to total strangers at this point.) So I started making faces and saying, "I'm going to get you!" which always makes him laugh. And he smiled! Not a full-fledged Sutton smile, but a smile nonetheless. We'll take it where we can get it!

Sutton's first  picture with Santa Claus!

That whole afternoon was a whirlwind of tinsel, trees and lights. We picked out our tree (I'm pretty sure Rusty would have bought the 12 foot Noble Fir if I wasn't with him. He joking pointed at it and we laughed, but  I'm pretty sure I saw a little longing in his eyes. We ended up with the 6-7 footer.) bought some ornaments and lights and headed home to decorate the house. We had only about an  hour to put up lights outside and get the tree in the stand before we had to start getting ready for Rusty's office Christmas party, so we brought Sutton's pack n play outside and went to work. Rusty and I took turns working on the lights, but he did most of the work and we got them all up and looking just lovely!

Goofing around with some reindeer antlers we bought him.

Since Rusty's company Christmas party is a pretty serious affair, we opted to get a babysitter for Sutton rather than bring him, although he would have been perfectly welcome at the party. Mommy and Daddy needed a night out, too! Our sitter was actually the granddaughter of Sutton's everyday sitter, Phyllis. AND her name is Kali! I'm sure Sutton was so confused, hearing someone else called by my name PLUS she looked so much like my sister, Brooke. He did great with Kali and Rusty and I had a great time!
We have lots of plans for the holidays: We're flying to DFW Christmas Eve to be with Rusty's family and I have off a whole week between Christmas and New Years, so we have lots of time to spend with our sweet boy!
Till my next blog! And I PROMISE it won't be a whole month from now!