Our Magic December

Happy New Year! We all survived the end of the Mayan calendar! Huzzah! I waited all year since my trip to Mexico to wear my Kukulcan (sp?) shirt that I picked up at Chichen Itza. I should have taken pictures of Mr. Mitchell and myself in our "end of days" shirts on 12/21/12, but I didn't. So you'll just have to use your imagination. That was a total sidetrack. Back to "Happy New Year!"

December is always magical, but it was even more magical with our little sprout. We started December with a Christmas party hosted by one of my mom's cancer patients. She got quite a few businesses in a shopping center to participate so it was quite fun. We went 'ice fishing,' visited Santa, met Nutcracker characters, met Dasher the reindeer, wrote Christmas cards to our troops overseas, and enjoyed hot chocolate and apple cider.

C.G. chilling with Santa.

Taking it all in.

The lovely Dasher.

Mr. Mitchell and I started Insanity to try and help me lose my baby pooch and muffin top. I still have 7 pounds to go to reach my pre-pregnancy weight and apparently all seven pounds have settled on my abdomen and in my arms. I'm putting myself out here by sharing this with you, but if you click here you can see where I'm at and where I'm hoping to get. I'm also hoping the public humiliation will motivate me to reach my goals.

C.G. has reached some fun milestones. Unfortunately we had the minor heartbreak of thinking the videos had been transferred to the computer, when they actually weren't, and then proceeded to delete the videos from the camera. Irreplaceable stuff. Be careful, people! We do have some pictures, however, that help slightly illustrate his growth. He's rolling from back to front, clumsily grabs things (mostly bumping things around with his fists until he gets lucky), discovering lots of new sounds he can make, and getting easily distracted by the world when he's supposed to be eating. **Update: We have since found some of our December videos that were "mis-filed." Whew!

He can very clumsily grab things...such as ewoks.

(Blogger insisted on loading this sideways.)
This is how he used to comfort himself,
but he has since discovered his thumb.

C.G. also got some fun things from family this month. Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway went to Florida to visit a couple of my brothers and go hang out at DisneyWorld, and Granty Patti wanted to give him a 'welcome-to-the-world' present.

His bouncer from Granty Patti.
He's enamored with his elephant.

Mickey from Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway.

My best friend had her baby three months before C.G. arrived. They finally got to meet this month, and it was so exciting! (At least for Jen and me. :) They're pretty much the same size, but Caleb has way more hair, and Jen's baby was very curious about it.

They don't look like good friends, but they are. 

And then, of course, there were the other Christmas activities: baking, wrapping, looking at lights, singing, nativities. I don't really have any pictures or amusing anecdotes about those so let's move onto C.G.'s first Christmas. He was given an adorable stocking by Aunt Angela, he received a Christmas ornament from every set of grandparents, clothes, books, and a stuffed animal.

He was confused about what
 you do with a stocking.

Now he's figured it out.

We bought him because he looks like Hobbes.

Sporting some new clothes from Gammy Earls.

Caleb with his loot.

And then we had my family's traditional white elephant party. Losers of games had to wear wigs; winners had to wear wigs and hats. Therefore, everybody tried to lose.

The tradition of freezing our pants off while the kids hit the pinata.

Sporting their wigs.

Wigs AND hats. My, oh my.

Proud wig wearers.

Less proud wig wearers.

My favorite wig wearer.

The most natural looking wig wearer.

Between this girl and her mom I hardly ever saw my baby.

December was a good month, and now that Christmas is done I'm ready for the spring. Here are my closing notes for the month inspired by one of my all-time favorite books Anne of the Island:

"I love [him] best when [he's] asleep...

...and even more when [he's] awake."

Again, Happy New Year!