We are at home, still recovering from the busy busy weekend...catching up on sleep! On Friday night we left for NC to spend all day Saturday with Aaron's family in Hope Mills at Aunt Julie's house. It was memorable, as always. The sad thing is that I didn't get my camera out the entire weekend, so I don't have any pictures to show what we did...so sorry! Peggy took a lot with her camera, though, so hopefully I can get some from her to post later. Saturday night we came back to Raleigh to spend the night and then Sunday morning Grandma cooked an all-you-can-eat breakfast for the Flores family. We met Aaron's parents at Triangle Town Center for lunch, and then headed back. The fun part about that was that Aaron's sister Brooke came back to VA with us! She is spending the week here to help me with Vivian and hang out with her big bro. I will try to be better about getting my camera out.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Can't wait to see Christmas pictures on everyone else's blogs :)

Yesterday was Christmas! We hope everyone had a great one...filled with joy and glory to the newborn King. We celebrated at home as a family of 3 for the first time yesterday morning, and then after Vivian's morning nap we headed over to the Flores home where we spent the rest of the day eating, opening gifts, and watching movies. The only bummer is that Vivian had a runny nose all day and it was bringing her down a little. Our stockings at home. Mom made them for us...she's so crafty! I love Vivian's. She didn't have anything in it on Christmas morning, though! hehe

We got Vivian one gift...a ball that rolls around and makes noise that she can chase when she starts crawling. Here is a video of her "opening" it. Thanks to Grandma Carolyn for the "My 1st Christmas" sleeper that she wore all day yesterday! She was the first to open gifts at Papa and Gramme's house. So many!! Uncle Stephen helped her with a couple. She got several toys, a cute dress and onesies from Gap, an ornament, and a new stroller.

She's my favorite present to play with! (she got a new Nuk pacifier in her stocking at Papa and Gramme's.)

On Christmas Eve the family came over to our house for dinner. After we ate we played Catch Phrase. We missed you, Stephen (he was on his way down from DC)! Here's the yummy pot roast recipe I used:

1 3 lb roast (shoulder or sirloin tip)
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of celery
1 package of Lipton Beefy Onion
teaspoon minced garlic
pepper

8 hours on low in the crock pot!

On Friday night several of Aaron's guy friends came over to play poker. I made a huge pot of chili for them and after they ate they got down to business. They finished around 1 a.m.! Of course the women left them to their game and we went out to eat at Carrabba's....yum :) It was an awesome start to the weekend.

I think the game lasted so long because there were 9 players.

Today Vivian turns 6 months, and we've celebrated so far by going to the Y for her to play with friends and new toys. Here are some 6 month shots:

At 6 months Vivian:

-has rolled from her stomach to her back a couple of times

-is just now opening her mouth for me to try solids with her. We had kind of a rocky start after I progressed from rice cereal, but the last several days she's been more into it.

-is learning how to drink water from a cup! Dr. Beazley said to start with regular kids cups instead of sippy cups, but that's all they sell at the store! I'll have to look some more...

-can find and put her pacifier back in her mouth herself. It really helps at naptime, but I have a feeling this could lead to problems in the future...experienced moms, please email me!

-goes down for her naps without crying at all usually! It's taken us a while to get here, it seems.

-is still on a 3-3 1/2 hour schedule for nursing...it depends on how good her naps are. Her naps are getting more consistent, though...usually 1.5 or almost 2 hours.

-gets up between 7:10 and 7:30 and goes to bed around those same hours at night.

-is super, super sweet! I love her personality...I can't describe it well, so you just have to spend time with her :)

The drinking from the cup thing makes her look so grown up to me!

When Vivian is on this Baby Einstein mat, there are so many things for her to watch and play with, but she always goes for these photo circle things and she loves to "talk" to the animals! There is a puppy, kitty, frog, and duck. She just squeals and squeals for long periods of time.

Saturday night and last night the Christmas celebration at church took place. It was themed "Let the nations be glad". I went last night and was so encouraged! The choir did a great job, the children were adorable, and the dancers were beautiful. And of course Aaron was awesome. I could tell he was singing as loud as he could the whole time and it sounded so good! Most importantly, the scene of Christ's birth and his purpose in fulfilling the prophesies of the covenant of grace were portrayed very profoundly. It was worshipful. Vivian went, too, and she was so proud of her dad! She did great considering it was way past her bedtime. Mom, Dad, and Michael sat with us to help keep her entertained quietly. About 3/4 of the way through I took her to the nursery so she could play.

Yesterday Granddaddy and Grandma Carolyn came up from Pinehurst to have lunch with us and to celebrate Christmas. Mom cooked a great meal and we hung out at the Flores house together and opened some presents. Vivian opened her first! She really just wanted to eat it at first.
Hmmm...what's that?! It looks fun!I love my Raggedy Ann! Grandma Carolyn made this doll for her. It's precious.

She also made the women a warm wrap/sweater and the men these mittens. They keep the hands warm but they also have a hole for your fingers to get through...very practical!
Thanks for coming to celebrate with us!

Mom's pretty mantle. Can you pick out Vivian's stocking? :)

These are Vivian's first shoes! Well, actually they're not hers- we are borrowing them from Ansley- but they are the first shoes she has worn. How cute!

This afternoon we tried to take some Christmas 2008 pictures as a family. The problem was that we had no one to take the picture, so we were trying to get a perfect picture by ourselves (right background, right placement, right Vivian smile...), by setting up the camera with the timer. What were we thinking? It was a fiasco! But we did get some good pictures of the baby by herself. Here are some outtakes of our Christmas photos:HA! I just noticed how bloodshot Aaron's eyes are...he had just woken up from a nap. Everything about the situation went wrong. Vivian spit up on her dress and my sweater, for example (and after the photo shoot pooped down her tights and up her shirt).

What a helpful, patient husband and dad! And handsome, too! :)

"Mom, I'm getting tired of this! What are you doing to me?" (I fixed her up, went behind the camera to make her smile, Aaron snapped the picture, it wasn't good, I went back to fix her again and start the whole process over again for many times)"Well, maybe this is kinda fun..."

Merry Christmas!

Today we went for Vivian's 6 month well-check. Quick stats:
15 lbs, 9 oz. (5oth percentile)
26.5 inches long (75%)
17 inches head circumference (75%)

She got more shots and turned purple in the face, but was okay 1 minute later. I also took her down to the lactation consultant's office so we could do a before-and-after weigh-in, so I can know how many ounces she's getting when she nurses. It wasn't great news...just as I suspected, she's only getting about 4 ounces! Dr. Beazley said not to worry about it since she's growing well, but I'm waiting to hear back from the LC to see if I need to do something different. She never cries because she wants more, and even when I try to supplement with formula she won't drink any, which tells me she's full. ??? Maybe 4 ounces is enough to fill her little tummy?

Well, everyone's in bed (yes, even Aaron...he crashed around 8 pm! He's been working a lot) and I finally have a chance to catch up on blogging! Sorry for the dry spell. Life has still been happening, though! There are several posts below to make up for the recent lack. Today we had a pleasant surprise...Aaron came home during his workday for about 30 minutes to hang out with us! He and I decorated the small tree together. We use this tree to display all of the special ornaments we've collected. Check out how Vivian just sat and watched while we did all the work...how rude! :)
Whenever Aaron comes home, Vivian is all grins. She turns her head or body however she needs to just to stare at him.

The day after Thanksgiving another one of Vivian's friends was born at Roanoke Memorial! Adam and Kathleen Renard welcomed their baby girl (surprise!) at 6:49 a.m. Her name is Charlotte, and she weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz. (someone correct me if I'm wrong on the ounces...). Tonight was my first chance to meet her. Vivian and I took dinner over to their house. She is a sweetie! They are a happy family :) The church (Crystal) organizes meals for new parents for 2 weeks after the birthdate. It was so awesome to have that when we were trying to figure out how to take care of Vivian in those first weeks.

On Sunday night Billy and Crystal came over to eat. We were glad they brought their two girls, Gracie and Ava! These girls are so cute and full of energy. It was fun to play with them while the men had their theological conversations about sacrifice and evangelism after dinner.

Papa came to see the little Vivi girl on Saturday. It was a short but sweet visit!

We were pretty relaxed on Saturday as a family...all three of us took a nap at some point during the day. And that night we all went to the mall to see if we could find a Christmas dress for the baby. Success!

On Friday night Ryan, Sarah, baby Hurley, Carissa, and Keagan came over for a dinner date at our house. It was a great combination of friends. We hadn't had a chance to get to know Keagan yet, so that was fun. He and Carissa have become really good friends. We talked a lot about babies (because Ryan and Sarah are having one in March), and Starbucks (because Carissa just got a big promotion there!).

The lovely CarissaBaby is full and happy! We had chicken chili for dinner...it was perfect since it's getting so cold outside.