Our Merry Little Christmas Part 1

There is something so special about baby's first Christmas. The wide eyes, trying to grab decorations, eating the lights, the laughter at our contagious excitement, the eating of the wrapping paper, the grabbing the icing bowls, the winter boots, hats, mittens, dancing around the living room to the Christmas music... can you tell that we love Christmas at our house??

Since we left on December 17th for our Christmas Trip (see the future posts of "Our Merry Little Christmas Part 2 & 3) it seemed like our official Christmas was all finished before Christmas actually even arrived! The second that the US Thanksgiving was finished, Nica was excited to put up the tree and start to prepare the home and do Christmas cooking for the parties we were hosting!

Joe has taken it upon himself to be the baby-food maker in our home!! He love peeling and cooking sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, and pumpkin for Wes!!! 

 Here is Wes helping to hang up his little stocking that Mommy & Daddy bought him last year before we knew who he was! It was a special stocking for us last year, knowing that we'd have a baby by next Christmas! And now this year, our precious baby helped to hang it on the tree! So special.

Our beautiful tree...getting closer to completion!

 Our little sweet heart...

Our family went out one evening and did some Christmas shopping together. Wes just attracts girls no matter where he goes! These photos always crack me up.

 He's such a ham! He loves the attention.

Our Christmas shopping evening in the crisp Shanghai air wasn't complete without our visit to Starbucks for their Christmas coffees! yum!

 We stopped by the Hershey factory of Shanghai to get some stocking stuffers for each other's stocking! (Christmas shopping for each other is always best done together, in my opinion! We had so much FUN!!!)

Little Wesley (aka my little teddy bear) all bundled up in his teddy bear suit. Perfect for the crisp Shanghai air...and sooooo fun to just snuggle.

Joe's school Christmas dinner...and an evening out for the two of us! Always fun to get dressed up and go out with my hun!

 The cutest little family of Santa's helpers I've ever seen! :D

 After the dinner we just strolled HuaiHai Lu...the Magnificent Mile of Shanghai!

Wes seems to have forgotten how to hold his bottle by himself, so Monkey is put to good use!

We said goodbye to our dear friend Dominic this month. :( :( 

Our cell group had been meeting at his house, so now we're praying where to meet. Possibly our place, we'll see if people want to travel our even though it's not central to everyone in the group. We'll keep you posted about that! We miss you, Dom!

We enjoyed a fantastic little Christmas village that was set up close to our church one weekend! Darling little stands filled with Christmas baking, gifts, and experiences. We got some fun little gifts for each other (Nica found her cookie cutters!!!) and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere! 

Wes enjoyed some time with some of his little buddies this month!

Here he is with Simeon (from the US)

And shopping with his little buddy Stefan (from the Czech Republic)

And Micah (from Hong Kong)

We also got invited to another birthday party this month! Little Janie turned 1 this month. We've got a whole new genre of party invitations now! So fun! :D

We had a couple of Christmas parties at our house...and taught our Asian friends how to decorate Christmas cookies! Not many made it to the plates, but we sure had fun doing it together!! :D

Wesley getting kissed under the mistletoe! hehe

 Wes enjoying his first bar of Swiss chocolate!! (thanks, Marlene!!)

creative cookies

 

 

Micah helping us to child-proof our house. ;)

 

Wes has graduated to his big-boy stroller seat this month! Look at my little baby, so grown-up. sniff,

On our Family Christmas Night, Joey and I introduced some new traditions to our family! We had some beautiful Christmas books given to us, which we had fun trying to read to Wes (and not letting him eat the pages! haha)

A HUGE thank you to Nica's Aunt Darlene for making Wes his first stocking!! Christmas Eve came early in our house, as we opened our gifts the night before we left on our trip. You can't tell from the photos too much, but Wes was SUPER tired and anxious for bed! So we snapped the photos, then Joe and I ordered our own Christmas dinner (Mexican!) and enjoyed our Christmas "Eve" night with the baby in bed. ;)

I'll post the rest of our Christmas experience soon! This was definitely just the beginning of our Christmas adventure. Thanks to all of you for your prayers throughout our adventure! We sure miss spending time with you guys over the holiday seasons. We can't wait to see you soon, for Miriam & Lauren's wedding!! Yay!! 

Finally, for your enjoyment, a few music videos that amused us this season! This one reminds us of our own Christmas night at home together! haha

and this one just makes us laugh

Merry Christmas!

Joe, Nica, & Wes

Happy 6 Months, Wes!

Our baby is now six months old. It's such a joy to see him grow, discover more about the world around him, and learn new things every day. He brings us so much joy! Every day I stop and just watch him in amazement, watching him play, laugh, eat, trying to talk...I want to capture every moment--soak it all in--experience each second with him to the fullest. He captivates us with his laugh and sparkling blue eyes all the time! Happy half birthday, Wes!
We love you.

 

Since our return from Xi'an I have been feeding him rice cereal, mashed bananas, veggies out of baby food jars, and applesauce! We had fun making it together!! Well, mommy making it and Wesley chewing on the bowl, grabbing the peelings, and drooling all over the apples. I figured he's the one who will eat it anyway, so whatever. ;)

This is one of the first times I gave him rice cereal! He's now much better at eating than he was here. Part of it is mommy knowing what consistency to make the cereal, and the other part is Wesley catching on to the concept of opening his mouth and eating and not just grabbing the spoon! Now he opens his mouth like a little birdie, and I can never get it in fast enough!! haha, he's so cute. Here is a video clip of our first attempts at eating the cereal...

...and what Wes looks like when he wins the game and conquers the spoon!

Wes and mommy just goofing around

He loves to chew on his toes!

A couple of days this fall it was cool enough outside for him to wear this cuddly outfit given to him by Mirjam! He is soooo snuggly warm in it, mommy just can't stop hugging him! He feels like a plush teddy bear in it. We love it!! :)

All dressed up...lookin good... :)

He's at an in-between time with his clothes...9 months are a little small and 12 months are a little big...

...sigh...I love our little family

 

And here is Wes helping mommy pick out worship songs to lead at church! :)

He absolutely loves playing in his jumperoo!! Tim & Mike brought it with them when they came. There is something so special about just watching my baby play and have fun with his new toy.

haha, it's so hard to capture him on film!!! there are times that he just thinks something is so funny that he laughs and laughs till he gets the hiccups! Or he sits there and just coos and talks to himself and makes funny tractor noises as he plays. My favorite is when he grabs my hair and brushes his face with it to make himself laugh. Over and over! That makes me laugh, which makes him laugh more...he's so funny. As soon as he sees the camera, though, he stops! consistently. haha, guess there are moments meant only for the joy of a mommy. sorry. :D

Here he is playing in his johnny-jump-up that we got from Jon & Summer. Thanks, guys!! :)

Here he is...his first roll-over on film! Had to coax it out of him. Yay, Wes!!


Interesting stats: Now at 6 months old, measuring in at 73cm long, Wes' length falls into the 99th percentile compared to other babies his age according to the World Health Organization child growth standards. Our pediatrician says that he could be 6 feet tall!! haha, how he figures that, I'm not sure. At 9.6 kg (21 lbs 2 oz for our North American families!!) he is right at the average weight for other babies his age. So, according to the charts, he could be chubbier and still be okay. However, he's still very healthy, just doesn't have all the rolls that some babies get. The way he eats, maybe those rolls are still on their way!

Here is his birthday dinner! pumpkin and carrot, rice cereal, and applesauce!!
An amazing thing is that he eats ANYthing. Whether it's kiwi or banana or peas he doesn't even flinch with new flavors. He just gobbles anything down. And he never wants to stop eating. He's been that way with bottles, and he's now the same way with food! He just has this "I'm still hungry, keep feeding me!" look on his face! It's not till you experience his spit-ups 20 minutes after the meal that you realize he really didn't need as much food as he made you think. Then you start to monitor what is a good amount of food for him to eat. Don't leave it up to him. ;)

Happy (half) birthday, Wes!!! Zhu ni shengri kuai le!!



Love you all!

Joe, Nica, & Baby Wes