We had a lovely Christmas this year. We elected to stay home for John's first year in order to establish our family traditions. We did a pretty good job getting go those traditions. In the end we decided that even if we don't start every tradition this year it wont be the end of the world.
My Mother and youngest brother came for Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning. I'm so glad they did come because I was really needing a break from baby duties and it made it feel more like Christmas with my Mom here. We watched movies, went to church, baked & cooked way too much... so everything was just perfect!
Here's the short version of Christmas morning. The entire morning took about an hour because of the bible reading, hymn, general chatting and John not knowing how to tear into a present yet. If you really want to see the long version I guess we can arrange something.
I love Christmas! Maybe next year we can get Grandpa & Meme to drive up for Christmas Day.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas
Hope you are having a blessed day celebrating Jesus' birth! I'm so thankful God sent his only son to live, die & save us! What a wonderful reason to celebrate.
I'm also thankful for this baby boy!... even if there was some heartburn along the way...
I'm also thankful for this baby boy!... even if there was some heartburn along the way...
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Hair Cut
John's hair is really starting to come in. Sadly, he's lost his super-soft-bran-new-baby hair and has replace it with just-slightly-coarser-curly-when-it's-long hair. I wanted to even his hair out a bit. He had some crazy bawl spots and was developing a weird mohawk thing. I figured by evening him out before his hair got to crazy it would be less shocking.
Steven held John in his lap, keeping his curious arms down. Then, I braced his head and took the good ol' clippers to it! We were prepared for screaming and thrashing, but were pleasantly surprised by a calm baby. This kid does not fit the mold... he sleeps a lot and doesn't mind bathes!
These are the pre-hair cut shots.
And the post-hair cut shots... not much of a difference, but I like it that way.
And here's the remaining hair. Now I threw it away (in the compost) because I didn't think it was sanitary to keep it. My mother & an aunt have since informed me otherwise. Just for the record, I will probably save the next clipping... which may be in a couple of month, because this kid can grow hair for sure!
Steven held John in his lap, keeping his curious arms down. Then, I braced his head and took the good ol' clippers to it! We were prepared for screaming and thrashing, but were pleasantly surprised by a calm baby. This kid does not fit the mold... he sleeps a lot and doesn't mind bathes!
These are the pre-hair cut shots.
And the post-hair cut shots... not much of a difference, but I like it that way.
And here's the remaining hair. Now I threw it away (in the compost) because I didn't think it was sanitary to keep it. My mother & an aunt have since informed me otherwise. Just for the record, I will probably save the next clipping... which may be in a couple of month, because this kid can grow hair for sure!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Pulling Up
Yep, John is starting to pull up on things. I'm kinda amazed. I was just talking to a friend about how John couldn't pull up yet & she said it was too early. I guess I need to stop complaining because he turns around and proves me wrong!
His favorite thing to pull up on is the walker. He's getting close to launching himself out of it when he's actually in the walker so we may have to put it away soon. He also likes the DVD area. I had to put tape over the handles because he figured out how to open them a long time ago. He like to pull up on the couch, especially if we are on the couch. And he will definitely try to scale you if you are on the floor. He has tried the coffee table a few times but hasn't mastered it yet.
The hard part of all of this is the falls. He's taken some pretty good falls and gets really frustrated. He keeps on trying and falling and I guess he will learn but in the mean time I'm here listening to all the crying and trying to comfort him.
His favorite thing to pull up on is the walker. He's getting close to launching himself out of it when he's actually in the walker so we may have to put it away soon. He also likes the DVD area. I had to put tape over the handles because he figured out how to open them a long time ago. He like to pull up on the couch, especially if we are on the couch. And he will definitely try to scale you if you are on the floor. He has tried the coffee table a few times but hasn't mastered it yet.
The hard part of all of this is the falls. He's taken some pretty good falls and gets really frustrated. He keeps on trying and falling and I guess he will learn but in the mean time I'm here listening to all the crying and trying to comfort him.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
John's morning speech
John is kinda funny in the morning. I get his breakfast together and then get him up. After he drinks most of his bottle, I start to feed him oatmeal. Lately he has started to "talk" while eating. I was telling Steven about it because it was so adorable and he wanted me to video it. So, here it is for everyone to enjoy!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Cuteness on a Toothpick
I saw this on allrecipes.com & I had to make it for my MOPS' Christmas party. I'm not going to lie, the penguins took a while... but I did it while watching Rachel Ray so it went by quickly... but it still took an hour. The cheese ball igloo only took about five seconds, so I guess it made up for it. All that to say they were a big hit! If you like olives you will love devouring these cute little guys!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Backyard Movie
Our backyard was a movie theater for a night! It was GREAT! And cold... but Great!
Some of our friends set up their projection screen and we watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We did it as an outreach to get to know some of our neighbors. We know a few (and they are great!) but we wanted to meet more. Unfortunately only a neighbor we already knew came. BUT it was still a blast. I think it I would have timed it a little better (i.e. not during finals) we would have had more of a turn out. Oh well, next time!
Here are some bad pictures. I couldn't quite get a good shot... just use your imagination. You can't see it but there are about six kiddos snuggled under all those blankets.
Some of our friends set up their projection screen and we watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We did it as an outreach to get to know some of our neighbors. We know a few (and they are great!) but we wanted to meet more. Unfortunately only a neighbor we already knew came. BUT it was still a blast. I think it I would have timed it a little better (i.e. not during finals) we would have had more of a turn out. Oh well, next time!
Here are some bad pictures. I couldn't quite get a good shot... just use your imagination. You can't see it but there are about six kiddos snuggled under all those blankets.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Three WONDERFUL years!
Three WONDERFUL years ago at 1:30 pm
I married the love of my life, Steven Swindell!
Second best decision of my LIFE!
It's been great babe... I LOVE YOU!
It's been great babe... I LOVE YOU!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Longies
It's about 70 degrees today, which means it's Winter here in Texas! Yeehaw! Just kiddin'... but it is really winter and I've been working on a pair of longies for John.
I completed them over Thanksgiving, but I just recently got them on him. I used the pattern with "I love this wool" from Hobby Lobby on size 7 needles. I wouldn't say it was a quick knit, but it was fun. And a great project to do while watching tv!
For those of you who I lost at "longies" ... Longies are basically a wool diaper cover that doubles a pants. You put the cloth diaper on the baby and then the longies are water proof so they don't get everything soaked. I've put a onesie on over his longies (it makes them look more like baby legs) or just a shirt on him, but either way I go he's super cute! The extra layer is nice during his naps. His room gets really cold and I usually layer him up for naps & night time.
Okay... here's some pictures of Mr. Cuteness...
I completed them over Thanksgiving, but I just recently got them on him. I used the pattern with "I love this wool" from Hobby Lobby on size 7 needles. I wouldn't say it was a quick knit, but it was fun. And a great project to do while watching tv!
For those of you who I lost at "longies" ... Longies are basically a wool diaper cover that doubles a pants. You put the cloth diaper on the baby and then the longies are water proof so they don't get everything soaked. I've put a onesie on over his longies (it makes them look more like baby legs) or just a shirt on him, but either way I go he's super cute! The extra layer is nice during his naps. His room gets really cold and I usually layer him up for naps & night time.
Okay... here's some pictures of Mr. Cuteness...
Monday, December 13, 2010
Finger Foods
I've been trying to encourage John to feed himself. I'd gave up on it a couple of weeks ago, then I saw him put something in his mouth while playing on the ground... so I figured it was time to try again.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Christmas Projects
I've been busy with Christmas projects and unfortunately I can't share some of the projects I've been working on because they are gifts... but I'll try my best to remember to take pictures to share with everyone later.
HOWEVER...
A couple of days ago I made our stockings. I was going to just buy them (after all it was pretty close to the cost of materials to make them) but I couldn't find stockings that I liked. I wanted variety but I also wanted them to coordinate.
My sister came down for the weekend I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off Lone Star Quiltworks. Unknown to me, they were having a 20% off sale of EVERYTHING! (for the whole month, btw) It was very hard to resist. And Steven was with us so I went ahead and got all the stocking fabric, with his approval.
I only spent $20 at Lone Star and I had the rest of the materials to make the stockings at home. If I would have bought everything to make the stocking it would have come out to around $10-$15 a piece... a pretty close price comparison. HOWEVER, I love the way these stockings turned out and I couldn't find anything like it online. (Don't laugh, we don't have a mantel yet so these are attached to the wall with push pins... yes, next to the light switch... they may be moved befor Christmas)
I'm still debating if I will embroider our names on them. I like they way they look just plain and I'm not sure if it would take the stocking to the next level... or not. Jury is still out.
On a funnier note, we started looking at the Christmas fabric when choosing fabric... but we ended up in the Civil War Repo section. I laughed! But we did find fabric we liked. There is not much I don't like in the CWR section at Lone Star. John's was the only one that came out of the Christmas fabric.
HOWEVER...
A couple of days ago I made our stockings. I was going to just buy them (after all it was pretty close to the cost of materials to make them) but I couldn't find stockings that I liked. I wanted variety but I also wanted them to coordinate.
My sister came down for the weekend I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off Lone Star Quiltworks. Unknown to me, they were having a 20% off sale of EVERYTHING! (for the whole month, btw) It was very hard to resist. And Steven was with us so I went ahead and got all the stocking fabric, with his approval.
I only spent $20 at Lone Star and I had the rest of the materials to make the stockings at home. If I would have bought everything to make the stocking it would have come out to around $10-$15 a piece... a pretty close price comparison. HOWEVER, I love the way these stockings turned out and I couldn't find anything like it online. (Don't laugh, we don't have a mantel yet so these are attached to the wall with push pins... yes, next to the light switch... they may be moved befor Christmas)
I'm still debating if I will embroider our names on them. I like they way they look just plain and I'm not sure if it would take the stocking to the next level... or not. Jury is still out.
On a funnier note, we started looking at the Christmas fabric when choosing fabric... but we ended up in the Civil War Repo section. I laughed! But we did find fabric we liked. There is not much I don't like in the CWR section at Lone Star. John's was the only one that came out of the Christmas fabric.
Steven's...
Mine. I LOVE my body fabric!... every time I see it I smile!
And John's! We love his top fabric.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
A new trick!
I've been trying to teach John how to do this for quite a while now, and he finally got it! Oh happy day!!! It gives me hope that he will eventually start to interact with me more... especially in the sign language department. Enjoy!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Video Update of John
I'm playing catch up over the Thanksgiving break... it's nice to have extra help with John and people around to cook & clean dishes. I've been editing video clips. This is a pretty long (almost a short film) of John during different days in November. I just put all the extra footage of him that didn't have a specific purpose into one video. It's mostly of him army crawling and rocking on all fours. At the end I started to tickle him... you can't watch a baby laughing without smiling. Enjoy!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thanksgiving 2010
We had a wonderful day with the Swindell side this year! Here's the four generation photo... Jim (Grandfather), Calvin (Great-Grandfather), Steven (Father), and of course John!
Here are the Sisters (Jim's) with their gold aprons... I've got more on the gold aprons to post for a later date, but until then you will just have to wonder! :)
John was the star of the show. Everyone wanted to hold him and play with him. He just smiled and showed off his almost-crawling-but-mostly-rocking-on-all-fours skills. I'm sure it will be like this for the next couple of holidays...
With Mimi & Grandpa
some play time with Grandpa Calvin
Our dinner was delicious, of course, but John got his first turkey this Thanksgiving. The poor kid probably had 20 sets of eyes staring him down while he was trying to eat. I think he liked it, but you can be the judge (there is a video at the end).
John's Grammie (my Mother) made a great bib for John for Thanksgiving... it got a lot of compliments! We actually forgot the high chair so we had to "strap" John to a chair... see if you can find Steven's belt holding John onto the chair.
Here are the Sisters (Jim's) with their gold aprons... I've got more on the gold aprons to post for a later date, but until then you will just have to wonder! :)
John was the star of the show. Everyone wanted to hold him and play with him. He just smiled and showed off his almost-crawling-but-mostly-rocking-on-all-fours skills. I'm sure it will be like this for the next couple of holidays...
With Mimi & Grandpa
some play time with Grandpa Calvin
Our dinner was delicious, of course, but John got his first turkey this Thanksgiving. The poor kid probably had 20 sets of eyes staring him down while he was trying to eat. I think he liked it, but you can be the judge (there is a video at the end).
John's Grammie (my Mother) made a great bib for John for Thanksgiving... it got a lot of compliments! We actually forgot the high chair so we had to "strap" John to a chair... see if you can find Steven's belt holding John onto the chair.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Operation Christmas Child
Our church is big on Operation Christmas Child Boxes. I think we've done them every year we've attended our church... and we even did one this year.
Some friends of ours do one box for each one of their children. We thought that was a great idea, so we did a box for a boy in the youngest age group, 2-4 years. I think it will be more fun when John is old enough to pick out toys and stuff to go inside, but this year Steven and I picked out everything. I even hope to have John write a letter or draw a picture for the receiver. You can even track the boxes now... such a great teaching tool!
When I was packing our box I decided to grab a few photos (mainly for John's scrapbook) so I thought I would share them with you!
Here's the loot!
Partially Packed...
All inside...
Wrapped up and ready to go...
John gave it a taste for good measure...
And ready to give! What a cheerful heart you have John!...haha...
The collection dates were 11/12-11/22. If you didn't do one this year, you can do it next year!
Our church collects all of them and one homegroup delivers them to Samaritan's Purse. We actually make a celebration out of it. Every homegroup brings a banner... and with a church full of college students it can get pretty interesting... and when we present our boxes we carry our banners in front of our homegroups. We worship, have the Lord's Supper, give the boxes as an offering, pray over them and have baptisms (we only have baptisms twice a year). It's a lot of fun and hopefully our box will bless some little boy!
Some friends of ours do one box for each one of their children. We thought that was a great idea, so we did a box for a boy in the youngest age group, 2-4 years. I think it will be more fun when John is old enough to pick out toys and stuff to go inside, but this year Steven and I picked out everything. I even hope to have John write a letter or draw a picture for the receiver. You can even track the boxes now... such a great teaching tool!
When I was packing our box I decided to grab a few photos (mainly for John's scrapbook) so I thought I would share them with you!
Here's the loot!
Partially Packed...
All inside...
Wrapped up and ready to go...
John gave it a taste for good measure...
And ready to give! What a cheerful heart you have John!...haha...
The collection dates were 11/12-11/22. If you didn't do one this year, you can do it next year!
Our church collects all of them and one homegroup delivers them to Samaritan's Purse. We actually make a celebration out of it. Every homegroup brings a banner... and with a church full of college students it can get pretty interesting... and when we present our boxes we carry our banners in front of our homegroups. We worship, have the Lord's Supper, give the boxes as an offering, pray over them and have baptisms (we only have baptisms twice a year). It's a lot of fun and hopefully our box will bless some little boy!
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