Hillam Family Christmas Party

The Annual Hillam Family Christmas Party was on Sat. Dec 18th.

It was held in Lehi, so it wasn't too far to travel.  My cousins did an excellent job putting it together! They had some really fun games and great food!

Jaina loves anything to suck on, like most babies.  She especially loves necklaces.

While waiting for the Man In Red to arrive we sang Christmas Songs. I caught Conli & Mara doing the actions to Frosty The Snowman.  This is 'two eye made out of coal'.

Mara was so excited to see Santa.  She thought that she was going to be getting her Christmas Wish gift from him that night. It was hard explaining that she would have to wait another week for her 'Tinkerbell playset'.  But she was happy nonetheless just to see him and get a surprise gift.

Yippee!! A new pony!!!!

Xander was super excited, Santa gave him 8, count 'em 8, Star Wars books.

Oh how this boy LOVES to read!!!

While waiting for her turn, Jaina started to fall asleep.  This is one of the few times she has sucked on her thumb. What a cutie!!!

Jaina got a new quiet book from Santa :)

The girls had to play with their loot :)

I just adore this picture. 

These cute girls with their Great Grandma

Karri was able to get a smiley pic of Jaina before she got too tired.

Christmas time is always fun. Thanks for the great party Hillam Family!!

The First Half of December

Mara decided one day to get out her swimming goggles and thought it was funny to put them on Jaina. I'm not sure if we ever put them over her eyes, but this is the pic I got :)

Jaina started sitting up by herself!! This pic is from Dec. 4th. 

She is a much happier baby now that she can sit.

Jaina fell asleep while watching a Jazz game. This is one of the few times that she's fallen asleep without assistance or in her own bed.  I guess basketball isn't her thing yet

Mara decorated a hat at preschool and loves putting it on Jaina. I think Jaina likes it too.

We met up with my family at Grandma Joan's house to put up her Christmas Tree.

12-7

Oh how these girls love each other!!

On Dec 8th we took the kids to the Provo Towne Center Mall to see Santa.  It's a Christmas tradition and my kids look forward to it every year.

(Jaina was asleep, so no Santa for her)

Since the little one is sitting, it was time to get out the big toys.  I'm just glad it keeps her entertained.

I just love sleeping pictures.  It always amazes me how much babies move around in their beds.  It's a guarantee that she'll end up in a different spot from where I put her.

My mom made these Christmas dresses for the girls and HAD to give them before Christmas. They turned out so cute!!  She had taken Lisa & I fabric shopping for them and I'm just glad that we were able to agree so something, because Lisa & I have such different tastes.

I LOVE THEM!!!!!

And here's Jaina in her dress too!

Mara had her Christmas Pre-school program on Dec 13. She did a great job! Her favorite thing was learning the words to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. She's been singing them non-stop for weeks!!

During Mara's program we (my mom & I) were getting texts from my brother Brent saying that Lisa was going to have an emergency c-section.  She has had placenta previa and was in the hospital for about the 4th time, she was exactly 34 weeks so the docs decided it was time.

At exactly 10 am my new niece Finley Kaye Ramey was born. She weighed only 5 lbs 5 oz. She was on oxygen for awhile but was doing great.  She'll stay in the hospital for a few weeks, but she's a trooper!

That night we took the kids on a drive to look at Christmas Lights then has some hot chocolate at home.  It was fun to see the lights and talk about Christmas.

I've seen these tag blankets before and never really understood the appeal of them, until I had Jaina.  She loves tags and ribbon!!!!  So I went through my fabric & ribbon and put this together with the scraps that I had!!  It's an 18x18 square made of fleece & minky, which were actually leftovers from a blanket I made Jaina, so they match.  I just love how it turned out :)

I also made another tote bag. I love the fabric!  This was for Xander's teacher Mrs. Brock, for Christmas. I love being able to craft things for gifts!

Jaina is 6 Months Old!!

Jaina turned 6 months on Nov. 28th

Here are her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz (90%)

Height: 26 3/4 inches (90%)

She is definetly my smallest baby, which seems funny considering that she's in the 90th percentile. Both Xander & Mara were over 20 pounds by 6 months. This just means that she's been able to wear her clothes a little longer than Mara did!

She's starting to sit up, if only for a few seconds at a time.

She still doesn't like baby food, even with caro syrup, sugar, or other things added in.

She still doesn't sleep through the night :( But we're working on it.

Her reflux is gone!!!  This makes for a happy mommy!

She loves her siblings and is happy to see them.

She likes to play with/suck on spoons. It's an easy thing to give her to make her happy.

We just love her!!

The Month of November

Wow!! I can't believe that it's taken me so long to blog!  Here's what we've been up to in a quick overview.

Fed Jaina Rice Cereal for the First Time: Nov. 7

She decided to throw up most of it, so it was an unsuccessful start.

Jaina & my cousin Lindsay's little girl Kairi

(They are 3 weeks apart)

They came over for a visit and the girls were wearing the same shirt!

Just a cute pic of my 2 girls.

We got a Jenny Jump-Up as a gift and I finally got it out. We only have a few door ways that it will fit in, so it's only been used this one time. But she loved it!

Since we decided to start on solids, we had to get the highchair out. Doesn't she look excited?!

Jaina & Grandpa doing his 'trick'.

He's done this with every child and grandchild :)

My cute kids on Thanksgiving Day.

We took the kids to see Tangled and loved it!!  I can't wait until it's out to own because it's definitely one of my favorites.

(as of this post, Mara has seen it 3 times in the theater)

Jaina got ahold of some building blocks and was having a jolly ole time gnawing on them :)

She's also an avid roller!!

On Nov. 27th, we were able to go to SLC with ALL of Pat's family!!  It was amazing! We went to dinner (with a party of 30 - needless to say, it was a long wait, but we got there early), then went to Temple Square to see the lights.  Luckily it wasn't too terribly cold and we didn't have to walk through snow. The kids had a good time, but we were there so late that some of the buildings were closed, so we had some trauma finding a bathroom, but it was a fun night anyway.

Here's the Tolman clan (minus a few that didn't stick around)

We had a great time!