Santa

Santa came to Tessa's daycare yesterday with two of his reindeer (Blitzen and Prancer??). She loved it and she squealed and laughed. One of this pictures is with her teacher Ms Marlena and her two friends Samantha and Mekel.

Yesterday was also a big day because she has her first tooth coming in (still trying to get a picture of that) AND........ she has started crawling. It's not pretty, she army crawls and scoots and wiggles, but she gets there. It seems that electronic devices such as remotes, phones, etc. motivate her. I have a couple of videos, I'll post in a couple of days once I get them downloaded and edited.

Hope everyone has a GREAT holiday.

Growing Up

Well, my little bug is growing up (faster than I'm prepared for sometimes). Starting Jan 5th, she is officially moving to the Infant II room. They usually move up to Infant II when they become more mobile and active. Starting today and through the Holidays she'll spend a few housr each day there to get acclimated. Although she can't crawl yet, she somehow through a series of scoots, rolls, and lunges manages to move around on the floor. She can't control the direction yet. If she focus' really hard on a particular toy, she ususally ends up scooting backwards. But it's a big milestone (at least for me).

Advents Calendar

Nata gave us this cute German Advents Calendar. I put these little Ikea stuffed toys in for each day. It's so cute and such a fun tradition I remember from my childhood. Christmas time is when I miss Germany the most. I miss the sights, smells, Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market); Gluhwein (basically hot sangria); Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes); SNOW!!!!!

Tree & Family

We had a great weekend. Tessa was a little fussy after getting her shots on Friday. We had a fun dinner with Regina, Milton and Keagan; and Bobby and Summer. Keagan LOVES giving hugs and kisses to babies.

We also picked out our Christmas Tree, we got a beautiful Douglas Fir and will decorate it this week sometime. Tessa loves having the outside indoors. She stares at the tree constantly.

***********Milestone*********

I swear she's starting to say 'Mama'. I know it's more babble than actually calling me, but I don't care. In my heart she's saying 'Mama'. Mike's not so conviced yet.

My Bug

We had a great Thanksgiving up in the mountains. Tessa napped through the first half of dinner (which allowed us to eat an uninterrupted meal) and she woke in time for Schnapps and dessert. We had an awesome time at the Tree Farm (see attached pics). She had so much fun and just laughed through the rain and cold. She was so exhasuted she barely finished her bottle and fell asleep in my arms before we even left.

It was great to see part of the Sower's clan. Tommy was a little leary of this whole baby thing and I think he was afraid it was contagious. Tessa loved sitting with Aunt Chris while she sang to her. Omi and Grandpa were awesome at taking her in the morning so that mommy could sleep in. Although, Kirsten and I did get a scolding that made us feel like we were 12 again. Tessa woke up one morning around 4:00am and Kirsten, Tessa and I were playing and being a little loud. Mom walked in and said "Give me that Baby and go to sleep" and took Tessa. I guess we were being too loud and once mom took Tessa, she was asleep in about 10 minutes. I guess we're never too old to get a butt-chewing.

This coming weekend we are having a Hartley Family Thaknsgiving, so I'll post some pictures from that also.

***MILESTONE*****

Tessa has started getting on her knees and rocking. She can scoot backwards, and occaisionally launches herself forward, but I think this is more by accident than on purpose. She's getting close, though. She can also sit up for short intervals unassisted. But just like her daddy, she can't sit still for long.

Future Man

Tessa met one of her future husbands last night, Miles. He is the very handsome and laid back son of Aric and Claire. His mellow and chill attitude will definitely be a nice off-set to Tessa's 'All Jacked Up' life style. She also loved meeting her crazy Aunt Aly (who makes funny noises and faces like her mommy). I think Tessa is going to be a lot like me and Aunt Chris and Aly.............COOKY!

COLD

It's REALLY cold and windy outside. got to keep my little bug warm.

Back to Work

Well, I enjoyed a wonderful week with my best friend from Germany, Nata. We had such a great time and literally single handedly boosted the entire US Economy with all the shopping we did. You'll proably notice a little blip in the stocks. Yup, that was us. The North Georgia Premium Outlet Mall ROCKS!!!!!

Tessa is really talking a lot. She loves to play in her activity center and beats the crap out of the thing that makes all the animal sounds and names (in english AND spanish). I thought mike was hammering something, but alas, it was my little bug. My little Schatzie also learned a lot of German while Nata was here.

Up All Night

Tessa woke up at 1:00am and would not go back to sleep no matter what I tried. We fed her.....that didn't work. Rocked her....that didn't work. Finally we brought her into our bed and let her lay down with us. I have company right (Nata from Germany - YEAH) now and didn't want her to wake up. She fell asleep in our bed. It's the first time since she was born that she has slept in the best us. After about an hour I picked her up and put her in her crib, and OF COURSE she started crying again. So as soon as I picked her back up again she fell asleep. I sat downstairs on the couch for a while, but then I got cold and my arm was tired. So I went back upstairs (this is around 5:30am) and propped meself up on pillows and let her sleep in my arms. As you can imagine I was pretty tired and frustrated. Around 6:30am I finally got up, got dressed and then nursed her. When I was done nursing her she looked up at me and gave me one of her huge toothless grins and my heart totally melted.

I love my little bug. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight.

By the way, Happy Birthday Grandpa Snapdragon!!!!!!!!

Teasers

I took Tessa to a photographer last Friday and these were the little 'teasers' she posted on her web site. I'll send out e-mails when she gets all the pictures posted.

Daycare

Tessa is doing really well in day care. Ms Marlena does such a great job keeping the infants. She's teaching them sign language and reads them lots of fun books. When the weather is nice, they but the bouncy chairs outside in the playground and blow bubbles, which the babies LOVE to watch. It REALLY makes it easy to transition to work with her day care being so close. I can go and visit her anytime I want. Everytime I go visit or pick her up, she always laughing and playing with her feet.

FUNNY Weekend

We had a really fun weekend. I took these two video clips and HAD to post them. There is one of her belly laughing, it was so cute I was literally in tears. And the other one is of her in her bath tub, which she just LOVES. We always have to detail the entire bathroom when she's done because she splashes water everywear. She's my little water bug.

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween.  Tessa was a lobster, Mommy was a cat, and Daddy was a..........construction worker?  We went to Sandy Springs and celebrated with 'Hood.  Vicki and Casey had an awesome set up as usual.  Dad (aka Jose Cuervo) bought Rita.  Nothing like drinking ice cold margaritas when it's ice cold outside.  Omi was dressed as a REAL Sandy Springs Housewive, but people kept saying she looked like Lucy.  

Then today we had a get together with all of the Yoga Momma's and their baby daddy's.  I'll post some of those pictures when they e-mail them out.  We had all the kids in their costumes in one shot, it was SOOOOOO cute.

Video

Most of you guys have seen this, but I just LOVE this little video clip of Tessa in her jumper thingy.

New Technology

I love reading everyone's blog and I am determined to join the 21st century and become a blogger. I may not be able to text and IM yet, but I can blog dammit.

Of course the whole reason I am starting a blog is because of my beautiful baby girl, Tessa. She was born on 5.25.2008 and has been such a gift. I tell Mike every night how much I love my little bug. I have to resist the urge to just crawl into her crib at night and snuggle up with her.

I have adjusted to being a working mom fairly well. Luckily her daycare is only minutes away from the job site and I can go visit her often. I think the guys at work have adjusted well also (nothing like pumping at work). It's made for some awkward moments and funny conversation.

Anyways, welcome to our blog and I hope I will be a dilligent as some of my friends are at posting updates and pictures.