Hermey misses the North Pole

Last night, Hermey managed to get into the fridge! He had one hand on a half eaten cracker and one on the gallon of milk. He must have either wanted some milk or missed the North Pole and had to get a taste of cold or both.

Thanksgiving weekend

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend!

Andrew ate turkey with mixed vegetables for lunch on Thanksgiving.

Andrew is such a happy baby! He loves to smile all the time.

The rare times we get Austin to behave for pictures.

Bass Pro Shop pictures

I've been meaning to post pictures from our visit to the Bass Pro Shop last week. Here are a few snapshots. If you haven't been yet, it's quite the experience and completely free!

Hermey bakes

Every night we ask Austin what he thinks Hermey will do that night. Last night when we asked, Austin said "Maybe he'll cook something."

Well, Hermey must have heard Austin because he baked us chocolate chip muffins last night. He even took a bite of one! Unfortunately, he left a mess for us to clean up.

Hermey strikes again!

Hermey gets more adventurous every day. Last night, Hermey managed to get himself upstairs, open Austin's bedroom door, and climb to the top of Austin's tiny Christmas tree. When Austin got up this morning, Hermey was dangling there. And Austin was thrilled!

I'm totally loving Austin's imagination. He is completely into the magic of the Christmas season. I love his amazement at everything Christmas.

Hermey, night four

Last night, Hermey got brave. He decided he wanted to play Hungry Hungry Hippos. But, he needed some play friends. So, he crept into Austin's room and recruited some of his friends that Austin sleeps with at night. They set up the game in the playroom and played the game. Austin was so surprised.

Hermey, night 3

Hermey stayed up all night last night watching Christmas movies. His favorite? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, of course. Hermey hasn't caused quite as much mischief this year as he did last year. Not yet anyway.

Hermey's first official nights

Since arriving Friday night, Hermey has been a busy little elf. On Saturday night, he somehow made his way on top of the entertainment center. Sunday night, Hermey cleaned up Austin's playroom and set up his Hot Wheels and was playing. He also set up Austin's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer figures on the floor. Last night, Hermey wrote his name on Austin's chalkboard and threw chalk everywhere.

We're not sure what Hermey will do tonight. We'll let everyone know tomorrow!

Lost hair

Where in the world did Andrew's hair go? When he was first born, he had a head full of fairly dark hair. It was so dark, in fact, that Austin commented on it one night at dinner. He asked why we all (Gene, myself, and Andrew) had dark hair and his hair was light. So perceptive.

We couldn't get Andrew's hair to lay flat; it was a Mohawk. It was curly/wavy when it was wet. I loved it.

I knew the baby hair had fallen out when bald spots appeared. But, it seems like all of a sudden the baby hair that was once so soft and fine has returned coarse and thick in spots. Not curly, not wavy. We have spied at least one cowlick (poor guy) and it looks like the Mohawk hair-do may make a comeback.

Darn toy books

For the most part, we were finished Christmas shopping for the boys. Notice I said were. We were finished...until the WalMart and Target toy books came in the mail and newspaper. Austin was all over it. He put stickers on things that he wanted. There was only one thing that he marked that I'd already gotten for him.

Last Monday, my lunch hour consisted of making returns to Toys R Us. I know some people think I'm nuts for returning the stuff I'd already gotten. But, I would hate for him to be disappointed Christmas morning if nothing he'd marked was under the tree. The things we do for our kids, right?

Hermey's arrival

Our elf, Hermey, arrived Friday night. He was in the Christmas tree when Austin came downstairs Saturday morning. Hermey's first night at the Fambrough's was uneventful. He managed to make it to the top of our entertainment center.

Tonight, Hermey's been sprinkled with the magic snowflakes, his crackers and water are out on the table. Wonder what ol' Hermey will get into tonight?

I want EVERYTHING

Friday, I took off work to, among other things, take the kids to see Santa. We went to the Bass Pro Shop. I had seen a picture someone else had taken and the Santa was a good one with real white hair and beard. And, we wouldn't have to wait in a long line like we have had to do at the Galleria.

On the way, Austin and I talked about what he'd asked Santa for in the letter he'd written a week or two ago. This letter was definitely stream of consciousness "I want more race cars and more T-Rex stuff and an ambulance and a fire truck and a helicopter and a remote control car..." We discussed all of this to prepare for his visit so he'd be ready when Santa asked him "What do you want for Christmas?"

Austin (and Andrew) was the first in line. Austin climbed up on Santa's lap and froze. He didn't fuss or anything, just didn't want to talk or smile for the picture. I finally convinced him to smile and he did. I told him to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, what he'd said in his letter. Austin told Santa "I want EVERYTHING."

6 months old

Andrew is officially 6 months old. Well, actually that was on the 13th. Anyway, he had his check-up on Tuesday. Luckily, the ear infection has cleared up, thank goodness. Andrew weighed 19 pounds, 11 ounces (75th percentile) and was 28 3/4 inches long (97th percentile). Here's a stroll down recent memory lane. He's growing up way too fast!

So tired from playing

This picture was taken this week at the day care. It has to be the funniest picture yet.

Just plain miserable

Andrew is hard-core teething. I beleive he's been trying to cut his first tooth since the day he was born (see earlier post http://thefambroughs.blogspot.com/2008/07/teething.html). I swear he's either going to knaw off his finger or choke on his whole hand. His face is wet with snot and drool from crown to chin. No picture of this of course. No one wants to see his runny, snotty nose and wet chin and cheeks. Here is a picture of Andrew where he's not so wet.

The day care called me at work today and said that Andrew was fussy all day and pulling at his left ear prompting me to take him to the pediatrician. Of course, he has an ear infection. Luckily, we caught it early before it got too bad. I hope this is the last one for a while and he doesn't take after his brother; every time Austin would cut a tooth he'd get an ear infection.

Raking leaves

I guess it's just a part of growing up...raking leaves into a huge pile and jumping in. On Saturday, Austin recruited some friends to rake a pile of leaves. While Austin was focused on making a large pile, his friends got distracted and moved on. On Sunday morning, Austin peeked out the window and saw some older boys raking leaves. Austin ran over and joined in. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. One of the older boys asked Gene if they could rake leaves in our yard to add to their pile. Why would we say no?

Preference

Most nights I put Andrew to bed. I give him a bath, get him into his pajamas, and feed him a bottle. On occasion he nurses, but most of the time that's just to slow for him. A few nights last week Gene attempted to put Andrew to bed. He gave him a bath, put on his p.j.'s, and sat down to give him a bottle. Andrew freaked out. I was downstairs and heard all of this through the monitor. I let him scream with Gene for a little bit just waiting for him to calm down. Finally, after what seemed like 30 minutes of screaming, I went upstairs to relieve Gene. When I picked him up, he stopped crying and took his bottle no problem.

While I thought this was a natural preference, Mommy versus Daddy, I was wrong. On Thursday night, Gene had success with putting Andrew to bed. The problem? Gene was holding and feeding him on the opposite side from where I hold and feed him.

That my music?

Magic 96.5 started playing Christmas music last week. Crazy, right? Yet, I switched my radio from my satelite radio station to 96.5 one day this week just to get a taste of the season. I LOVE this time of year between Halloween and Christmas and I think Austin (and Andrew one day) will feel the same as me. Anyway, Austin heard the music on the way home and was thrilled. He asked me, "That my music, Mommy?" I said, "Yes it is." At the end of every song, he asked, "Another one coming on?"

Roll Tide!

Yesterday was homecoming at The Capstone. For months, we've planned on attending homecoming and marching in Alumni band. We decided to take Austin with us since my good friend, Kellie, would be bringing her son.

It was quite a long day since we had to leave the house at 7:30 to register for Alumni band. And who knew the temperature would be in the mid-70s on November 1st and that we'd be sitting in seats where we could practically touch the clouds? Needless to say, Austin only lasted through the 1st quarter. Here are some highlights of the day.

Halloween events

Last week and into Friday, there were all sort of Halloween events from the pumpkin patch and parties at school to the actual trick or treating. Austin has a large time and, of course, LOVED trick or treating Friday night. We had a lot of people over to eat dinner and then trick or treat and hand out candy. It was a blast for all of us!