Merry Christmas!

As we celebrate Christmas this year, my wish is that we can remember the real meaning of this celebration through all the distractions.  This day we celebrate the arrival of our Savior, the most wonderful gift of all.  Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Santa's Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Good-bye Sweet Rocky

Last Sunday, Rocky "Budro" Barnette went to doggy heaven.  He belonged to me and my mother and was 14 1/2 years old.  He was such a sweet dog with a sweet temperment.  He was the only dog Toby liked!  Probably because Rocky tolerated Toby biting his ankles.  :)  When Rocky was young, he used to roam our Brentwood neighborhood to play (before there were leash laws), but he would always come home at dark.  It was not unusual for kids to walk down our street and yell "hey, Rocky" if we were outside.  Apparently, he was popular.  He knew more people in our neighborhood than we did!  We love you, Rocky, and you will be greatly missed!

A Boy and His Dog

Tate using his boppy...and Toby using Tate's boppy.

Tate with his tongue out...and Toby with his tongue out.

Awww...aren't they cute? We hope they become best friends.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Santa has come to town and we have a picture of him with Tate to prove it! I still laugh when I think about getting Tate's picture with Santa. He obviously has no idea who Santa is, but for some reason, us parents have to stick to tradition and get our baby's picture made with this bearded stranger. I don't want to risk him being scarred for life becaue he did not get a picture with Santa his first Christmas. We are very fortunate he is not crying in this shot. He was asleep the entire time in line, but woke up as they placed him in Santa's lap. He did not appreciate being woken up from his nap. After a few shots, however, we did manage to catch this one of him looking fairly content. Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas!

3 Months Already?

No, I can't believe it has already been 3 months since Tate was born. Seems like yesterday I was nervous about bringing him home from the hospital. I miss those days when he was so tiny and was content no matter where he was because he was sleeping. But I also adore each new day because he is increasingly more interactive. I still melt every time he smiles at me. Last night, David and were laying on the floor with Tate, reading a book and listening to him "chat." I decided to try to tickle him and see if I could get a reaction. He's never shown any reaction before, other than to squirm in annoyance. I tickled him under his chin and for the first time, Tate let out a belly laugh! David and I just looked at each other in amazement! I tickled him again, and he laughed again! We had heard him squeal and chuckle in the past, but never laugh. We can't wait to torture him with more tickle sessions. ;)

To show how much Tate has grown, I thought I would post some "before and after" pictures.

1 day old

two months, 4 days old

_______________________________________

2 days old

20 days old

2 1/2 months old

(notice his head completely covers the "chicco" emblem)____________________________________________

4 weeks old

2 1/2 months old

(in the same outfit)

Tate Meets Finn

After 2 1/2 months, we finally got to meet Finley Bunch! It was so good to see her in person and to have Shawn and Carolyn back in Alabama. They arrived the week before Thanksgiving and were here for almost 2 weeks. We got some good Finn time in, however, it just wasn't enough. We miss the Bunches terribly and wish they would return soon, and for good!

As you can imagine, we took lots of pics of Tate and Finn together. Here are a few from our photo sessions. I've included quite a bit of pictures...there were too many cute ones to choose from.

Proud papas on the first night we met Finn.

Tate looks like he just cracked a dirty joke and Finn is embarassed.

Apparently, it was suck on your fist time.

Yep, we're still sucking.

Having a good time together.

Now, she's bored.

"Hey, Tate, listen to this! pfffffft!"

Gotcha!

Awwwwwww!

Jet lag set in.

Still sleeping...

And here they are hanging out during our Thanksgiving meal.

Hey, Carolyn, next time we need one of us with our babies!