It's the most wodnerful time of the year...

We love Christmastime! Travis got to see Santa...he didn't mind too much except for that he was sleepy and it was after his bedtime...he didn't scream or cry, but didn't hand out any smiles for the camera either. It probably helped that Santa's voice and eyes were VERY familiar to him...



Here are a few Christmas pictures. They make me smile!

Boutique

Come check out 40+ vendors (including me!) this weekend at this boutique. It is going to be awesome!

First haircut!

So, we gave Travis his first haircut. Before he was 3 months old. Goodness me! Anyway, I decided I couldn't deal with the mullet anymore. So, Mike held Travis while I cut and Travis cried (it was right before bath/eating/bedtime). I did most of it, but once Travis got pretty hysterical, I handed the scissors to Grandma...she has cut LOTS of hair and I knew she could cut the top quickly and painlessly. So here are the pictures!

Before...



During...







After...




Not perfect, but most parents have the luxury of giving their babies their first haircuts when they are able to sit up on their own! Goodness!

Have you checked out...

my new blog???

MADsCreations.blogspot.com

Happy Halloween!

Ode to the mullet.

Typically, newborns don't have a lot of hair. And when they do have hair it usually falls out in the first few weeks. Well, my little man was born with enough hair for 5 babies. And at (almost) 3 months, it still hasn't fallen out. It has gotten lighter and did thin out a little. But it has just gotten longer and longer...We need to cut it but I can't bear the thought of it...yet. Anyway...here they are! The 5 reasons newborns should not have hair....

1. Hair pulling and tears!
When he was first born, Travis would grab hold of his hair. It would hurt, so he would try to yank his hand away. Of course this just resulted in him pulling a fistful of hair and crying hysterically. I was constantly having to save my baby from pulling his OWN hair. This would happen when he was happily laying on the floor, trying to sleep, or any other time his hands were free!



2. Public petting
When you take your newborn in public, for some reason people feel the need to TOUCH your baby. If I don't know you, do I really want you touching my baby? This just gets WORSE when your baby has Elvis hair! Everyone feels they need to feel this giant head of hair, which results in complete strangers petting your newborn. After one trip to the grocery store, I swore I was going to start rubbing other people's hair back when they rubbed Travis'.... (p.s. if I KNOW you and know you wash your hand's after you pee, I totally don't mind you touching my baby!)

3. Greasy, sweaty hair smells
Turns out when 35 people are petting your hair throughout the day, it gets greasy pretty darn fast! In the hospital, they suggest you only give your baby a full blown bath 2-3 times a week and just wipe them down on the other days. This is SO not possible if your little guy smells like he ran a mile after not having his hair washed for 1 day. No one likes a smelly baby!

4. Dandruff
Has anyone ever seen Johnson & Johnson dandruff shampoo? I mean, babies get dry skin. And that includes their poor little scalps. But, what do you do when there is hair to catch all that dry skin? Yeah, my infant has dandruff. I guess he can't wear black...

5. Knots and tangles
So when Travis is going to sleep he turns his head from one side to the other to feel his blankies on his cheek. It is super cute. And it causes huge tangles in the back of his hair. My sister-in-law asked me the other day "Do you have to use conditioner in his hair?" I laughed but then it got me thinking...maybe he needs some Garnier Fructis?

I adore Travis' hair and think he is the cutest baby! But next time you are wishing your little girl had more hair to put bows to put in her hair...think twice about it...



(This pics are a little old...his hair is seriously longer now!)

Hear ye! Hear ye!

My super talented sister, Christy made this baby announcement for us. I just love it because it is so adorable! And my wonderful aunt Stacey took the pictures. She is so talented. She is for hire, although you have to travel to NY to use her services. :O) Thanks ladies!

Best video ever!

This is the best video ever...and a reminder of why I love (some) reality tv shows. Turn your speakers on!

Worry lines and stinky cords

So Travis will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. He is getting so big! And he is doing really well. For the most part he sleeps 5-6 hours when he put him to bed. Which makes his daddy happy. He doesn't sleep that long when it is blazing hot or he has just been circumsized, but that's ok!

So we got him circumsized last week and that was quite an adventure...The doctor told me it would be a 30 minute procedure and I waited in the waiting room. Well, 30 minutes came and went. Then 35...40...45...50...I am NOT a worrier but suddenly all these awful thoughts are rolling around in my head. I am thinking about this AWFUL video they made us watch in school where this little boys penis CAUGHT ON FIRE during a circumcision. Because of this, they gave him a sex change and turned him into a girl, he lived a miserable life and ended up killing himself. So I am suddenly thinking he is going to end up a girl who kills himself or maybe he had a reaction or something. I can feel the anxiety building up in my chest and I am doing everything i can just to hold back tears. After an hour the nurse came out and told me he was done and I got to hold my precious baby again and check that he was still a BOY. It just tooke longer then anticipated. No biggie. But apparently with the title "mother" comes a giant bag of worry. So all those times your mother told you she thought you were lying in a ditch somewhere, she probably actually believed that. And when you look at your mom and see all those wrinkles on her face, yeah those are from you! So tell your mom she is beautiful because of the lines. Here is a picture of him right after his little surgery...my happy baby.


So a few days before the circumcision incident, I took him to the doctor for his check-up. The doctor has you get your baby undressed and then leaves you in a freezing room and you feel like your baby may freeze to death. So I am holding my freezing naked baby and he is just sleeping-he doesn't care. (Again...the mother must constantly worry...) So the doctor comes in and I lay Travis down on the table. I look down and notice his cord is gone. "Where did his cord go? It fell off?" I asked. I started looking around on the floor for it since no one wants to see a nasty cord on the floor. As I look down, I see it HANGING FROM MY SHIRT! Apparently it got stuck to my shirt with the dried blood and goop that comes out of it. Nasty! It was pretty disgusting and amazing.

All in all being a mother is amazing and a blessing everyday. Travis brings Mike and I so much joy and we are so glad to be blessed with him!

It's a boy!

Travis Joseph Waller was born very early on August 6th. We were in the hospital for 25 hours before he was born. Labor was long and hard but so rewarding! After many hours of contractions we tried both pitosin and breaking my water. Neither helped labor progress very much. Luckily, we had amazing nurses who helped us along. I was able to have him without an epidural-Mike was such a supportive daddy. He was 8 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches long. And super cute!



After Travis' first bath the nurse gave him a comb-over! Made him look like a little old man...not the cutest thing in the world but made for some entertaining pictures.

Travis' first ride in his car seat...getting ready to go home. He wasn't really a fan of it.

Some pictures I've taken since we got home...





We are all doing well...Travis is amazing and Mike and I love being parents!

Super daddy!

Mike is such a proud daddy to be. He decided he wanted to make the baby something, so he made him burp clothes. He worked so hard cutting and sewing. He was very proud of his burp clothes. I hope he doesn't mind too much when Travis spits up on them!





We are very ready for this baby to come! My due date is in a week and a half. We can't wait! I have orientation for the Master's program (which I got into-yay!) this Thursday. So I am just hoping he comes after Thursday night so I can make it to the orientation! Fall will be crazy, as Mike and I both go back to school. We are hoping our poor little laptop will make it until we can afford to buy a new one. It is on the fritz lately, so I don't think it will make it too much longer, but I hope we can make it last so we have a way to do our homework!

Back to the baby...I had another shower and we got so much stuff! We have tons of baby clothes and cute things! The bassinet it all set up and ready for the little one. We can't wait! Here are some pictures from my shower..I don't know who that really fat girl is. Couldn't be me!

Summer fun!

So Mike's sister Chelsea is here from Florida. She's here for 6 weeks for the birth of our little baby! We picked her up from the airport and did some things in LA. We saw the Hollywood sign, the LA Ink shop, Griffith Observatory, and Farmer's Market.




We have enjoyed showing her around Cali. She has been freezing since Florida is so much hotter. For the first few days she wore a sweatshirt the entire time. While we are sweating and in the pool, shes curled up in a blanket and shivering. Weird!

We went to the beach with our family and had a blast. Mike went boogie boarding with Tyler and Tori. Samuel really wanted to go out there with the big kids, but wasn't quite ready!






Chelsea was so cold! But since it was her first time seeing the Pacific Ocean, she had to put her feet in it. And she thought her beach was cold!


Samuel and Trenton love the beach. Samuel loves to play in the water but Trenton likes to just run away from the waves and play in buckets.







Rosalyn loves giving the stink face...it is simply how she looks at you now...unless you are Grandpa or food.



We pulled out the food and suddenly Roz was best-friends with Chelsea....


As an adult, you have a different standard for food at the beach then you would at home. If it is a little sandy, you will still eat it. I think most of draw a line we refuse to cross. Remember when you were a kid and there was no line? Any food, no matter how sandy, was game. Yummm....




Good times at the beach!